Prince George Citizen February 21, 2019

Digging deep

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First Nations get win in ongoing legal battle with RioTinto Alcan

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

The stakes have been upped in an ongoing legal battle between two north-central B.C. First Nations and RioTinto Alcan over the diversion of water out of the Nechako River.

In a decision issued Jan. 30, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nigel Kent granted the Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations permission to seek a form of declaratory relief should they prove their allegations against the company. Specifically, Kent said they could seek an injunction that would require RioTinto Alcan to “reinstate the functional flows that make up the natural flow of the Nechako River.”

They could also secure declarations that would effectively require the federal and provincial governments to enforce the injunction.

It was the latest turn in a court case that dates back to October 2011 when a lawsuit against the company was first filed.

It hit a roadblock in December 2013 when a B.C. Supreme Court Justice threw out the action. But in March 2015, the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the lower-court decision and six months later, the Supreme Court of Canada denied RioTinto Alcan’s subsequent appeal.

Located about 185 kilometres west of Prince George, the Kenney Dam was constructed in 1952 and created the massive Nechako Reservoir which provides hydro power to Alcan’s aluminum smelter in Kitimat in northwest B.C.

The lawsuit claims that the 1987 and 1997 Settlement Agreements entered into by Alcan and B.C. and Canada are not defenses against the First Nations, based on constitutional grounds.

Kent said the plaintiffs may still “confront formidable obstacles” when it comes to proving their case.

“The dam has been in operation for many years and has been the subject of much negotiation and litigation since its inception and in which the Crown has presumably acted in bona fides promotion of the public interest,” Kent said. “The Crown has also been actively involved in creating downstream enhancement of the Nechako watershed area, including the initiation of programs aimed at the protection and conservation of the fish within the Nechako system. Establishing liability, whether in nuisance or breach of riparian rights, resulting in damage of a sort warranting a legal remedy may be challenging indeed, particularly insofar as overcoming any defence of ‘statutory authority’ is concerned.”

A trial on the matter is set to begin on Sept. 9 in Vancouver.

Herbicide persists in wild, edible plants, UNBC study says

Randy SHORE Vancouver Sun

Edible and medicinal forest plants that survive aerial spraying of glyphosate can retain the herbicide and related residues for at least a year, a new study led by a UNBC professor has found.

“The highest and most consistent levels of glyphosate and AMPA (aminomethylphosphonic acid) were found in herbaceous perennial root tissues, but shoot tissues and fruit were also shown to contain glyphosate in select species,” according the study published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.

Herbicides containing glyphosate are used by forest companies to kill aspen and other broadleaf plants in areas that have been logged and replanted with trees of commercial value such as Douglas fir and pine, according to the Ministry of Forests.

When herbicides are sprayed by plane, the spray can deliver non-lethal doses of glyphosate to nearby “non-target plants,” some of which may store the compound indefinitely or break it down very slowly, said author Lisa Wood, a registered professional forester and assistant professor of forest ecology at UNBC.

Wood found unexpected levels of glyphosate in new shoots and berries of plants that survived an aerial herbicide application made one year earlier.

These findings raise concerns about forage plants used extensively by First Nations in northern B.C. where most spraying occurs, she said.

The 10 species tested were selected for their importance as traditional-use plants, because some First Nations had expressed concerns about the long-term ef-

fects of glyphosate on wild plants, said Wood.

Glyphosate is typically broken down in soil by microorganisms over a period of months, but how long it persists in living plant tissues is unknown, she said.

“If a plant dies from an application it falls to the soil and there are microbes that gobble up the

glyphosate,” she said. “When they don’t die, they have interesting ways of coping, often by storing and isolating the glyphosate.”

Forest companies are obligated by provincial legislation to manage regenerating forests until the replanted trees are free-growing, which may require selective tree and brush removal and use of

herbicides to delay the growth of deciduous plants and tree species that crowd or shade timber stock species.

Chemical treatments are generally less expensive than manual control methods because fewer treatments are required, the ministry said.

About 17,000 hectares of forest land are sprayed each year, around 10 to 12 per cent of the area replanted each year. The total has been trending down since 2016 when the ministry relaxed brush control requirements in the Cariboo-Chilcotin.

Improved, fast-growing seedlings have also reduced the need for spraying.

The B.C. Wildlife Federation is poised to call for tighter controls on the use of glyphosate in forestry, citing in a draft resolution its negative impact on food and habitat for wildlife and the “growing body of evidence that suggests glyphosates are carcinogenic.”

Provincial regulations encourage chemical treatment by forest companies that want to avoid the expense of replanting cutblocks when timber species don’t thrive, said federation spokesman Jesse Zeman.

“Government guidance governing the use of glyphosate is an outcome of archaic legislation that puts merchantable timber first and all other values, including wildlife second,” he said.

HANDOUT PHOTO

Lisa Wood, a forester and assistant professor at the University of Northern B.C., is the author of a study on the impact of aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.

Last-minute appeal dismissed in Trans Mountain case

Nelson BENNETT Glacier Media

A last-minute appeal by Stand.Earth to the National Energy Board (NEB) to consider upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions associated with the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline has been dismissed, and a final report by the NEB on the project’s reconsideration will be made public Friday.

The $7.4 billion expansion (which will almost certainly cost more than that, thanks to delays) was halted last year by the Federal Court of Appeal.

It ruled that the NEB failed to properly consider the impacts of increased oil tanker traffic on the marine environment – specifically on the Southern Resident Killer Whale. It also ruled that federal officials failed in their duty to properly consult First Nations. The court ruling forced the NEB to recon-

sider the issue of marine impacts. That work is now done and a final report will be submitted to the federal government Friday. How far along the federal government’s work is on the First Nations consultation issue is anyone’s guess.

As part of its reconsideration, the NEB held new hearings, which focused specifically on the issue identified by the court: marine impacts. It was given a tight deadline for the reconsideration, and a narrow focus. It was not to open the project’s review to a full do-over, but would focus on the issue identified with the court.

The NEB issued a hearing order on Oct. 12, 2018. On Jan. 21, just one month before the NEB’s final reconsideration report was to be finished, Stand.Earth filed an application for the NEB to consider the upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions that

might result from the project’s expansion.

That loophole was opened by the Trudeau government, when it decided that the NEB would have to consider the upstream emissions related to the proposed Energy East pipeline project.

That additional requirement has been blamed by some, at least in part, for TransCanada Corp. pulling the plug on the Energy East pipeline project, although the resurrection of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project was also likely a big factor.

In June 2018, the Trudeau government announced Canada would buy the beleaguered Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project for $4.5 billion.

In August, literally minutes after Kinder Morgan Canada shareholders approved the sale, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the order in council that had approved the expansion, sending the NEB back to hear-

ings and Ottawa back to the First Nations negotiations table. In its ruling Tuesday, the NEB rejected Stand.Earth’s application to have the NEB consider upstream emissions. The NEB’s panel ruled that Stand.Earth’s application was not only late in coming, but outside the narrow scope of its reconsideration. As the NEB pointed out, the request that upstream emissions be considered as part of the original hearings had already been rejected by the NEB previously as out-ofscope, and when that decision was appealed, the Federal Court of Appeal rejected the application, upholding the NEB decision. As for the Trudeau government’s inclusion of upstream emissions as part of the NEB’s scope for the Energy East pipeline project, the NEB ruled Monday that “Energy East decisions were specific to that project.”

Hospital Auxiliary celebrates 100 years

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

The 100th birthday of the auxiliary to the University Hospital of Northern B.C. was celebrated Wednesday with an unveiling of a plaque in the atrium and the announcement of a major upgrade to Jubilee Lodge.

Each of the auxiliary, Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation and Northern Health have committed $100,000 to the project for a grand total of $300,000.

Spirit of the North CEO Judy Neiser said the idea is to focus on seniors for a change.

“Quite often infants and children are the primary (targets) of funding but we don’t necessarily look after seniors and people that have been in the community for a long time,” Neiser said. “So we decided that Jubilee Lodge was in bad need of refurbishing and so it’s $300,000 that will go to refurbishing and patient care improvements in Jubilee Lodge.”

Attached to UNHBC and adjacent to 15th Avenue, it holds 66 beds spread over a series of one-, two- and four-bed units. The lodge is 50 to 60 years old by Neiser’s estimation.

Details on exactly how the money will be used are still to be worked out, but over the years there have emerged “different and innovative ways for restructuring a care home.”

“There are ways that they can make it safer, there are ways that they can make it more comfortable and they can make it more appealing for residents to live there,” she said.

As an example, Neiser said each wing can be assigned a specific colour to make it easier for patients with dementia to find

their way back to their rooms.

The project will take about a year to complete, in no small part because they want to proceed with the least disruption to the

Gallery seeking submissions for Reconciliation show

fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

Reconciliation.

The Two Rivers Gallery is calling for the Aboriginal artists of B.C. to submit whatever art they wish to create with this term –Reconciliation – as the central theme. It might be the most important word in Canada at the moment. It might be the word that one day defines this era in Canadian culture.

It is a word entirely derived from the past eras of Canadian history, now branded with less progressive words like “colonialism” due to the turning of the tide from mutually agreeing to share the land but becoming instead an assumption of cultural dominance by a bully state.

That assumption was not benign. It came with violent and prejudicial practices on a widespread basis. All across Canada, for hundreds of distinct Aboriginal cultures, the incoming Europeans carried out hostile acts like land appropriation, bans on traditional cultural practices and governance systems, outlawing the right for Canada’s first peoples to be educated in the manner of their choice or to even retain lawyers to represent their interests, the wholesale taking of natural resources without permission or payment, forced adherence to doctrines like the Indian Act and worst of all the attempted cultural genocide carried out by the residential school system.

In many cases, no occupation treaties were signed with First Nations (this persists today, including most of northern B.C.), and where treaties were signed, there was little legal fairness in the agreements and innumerable breaches of those treaties since then.

It added up to a systematic attempt, First Nation by First Nation, to impoverish and thereby force-assimilate people into a foreign culture they once welcomed and shared. Whatever good came with it –universities, hospitals, utilities, etc. – came at the point of a gun, although few armed conflicts were ever a part of the growing imbalances of power.

In modern times, non-Aboriginal Canadians are in the process of recognizing those transgressions and trying to help instead of hurt. Modern Canadians were born into these conditions, were not the perpetrators of original colonialism, but benefit daily from it and are in a position to now awaken to the imbalances of the past and choose

what new paths to take for a shared future.

To that end, recent court cases have been halting colonial practices, various levels of government have been sharing revenues and insisting on private-sector relationships with whichever First Nations on whose territory they wish to do business, and initiatives like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ordered into action.

“The exhibition Reconciliation really emerged out of a talk I happened to hear a number of years ago by Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” said George Harris, curator of the city’s premier art gallery. “It was a very moving talk, and he challenged museums and galleries to play a role in that process of reconciliation. I resolved that we should do that at Two Rivers Gallery.”

The deadline for artists to apply for a spot in the show is Sunday.

Those who do submit work that is inspired by or speaks to the word Reconciliation will be included in the group exhibition scheduled to open in July. The works will be selected and set for display by Harris and special guest curator Rose Spahan, a Salish artist and curator based in Victoria.

“I’m quite confident that everybody’s going to have a different interpretation and different view of what Reconciliation means to them,” Harris said, for the potential of the show. “The theme of the call for submissions will no doubt direct people’s responses in one way or another, but the bottom line is, this theme of Reconciliation relates to other policies, to the history of colonialism, it relates to the period in which residential schools existed, it certainly relates to the impact it has had on individuals but also upon families and communities and languages and culture that continue to have long-standing and tremendously important consequential impacts.”

This exhibition is aimed at promoting healing and shedding light on the human costs colonialism has inflicted, but it is also about inspiration and education.

“I think there are a lot of non-Indigenous people out there, still, who have very little idea of the impact this has had on countless people, so it seemed to me that this exhibition was really a very important way of hearing the voices of the people affected by these policies,” said Harris.

Any B.C. Indigenous artist with work to potentially contribute to the Reconciliation show is asked to contact Harris as soon as possible by emailing george@tworiversgallery.ca or phoning him at 250-614-7800.

Tech giants called to testify in Ottawa in international probe of fake news

Citizen staff

An international committee of legislators, including Prince George-Peace RiverNorthern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer, wants executives from some of the world’s largest digital and social-media firms to testify on disinformation and “fake news” when it meets in Ottawa this May. The “grand committee” of elected politicians from nine countries, including the U.K. and Canada, has already been stymied in its efforts to hear from some of them at earlier meetings in London. Invitations have been sent to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff

Bezos, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as well as executives from WhatsApp and Snapchat, among others. Zuckerberg declined several requests to appear at the first meeting of the committee in November, sending a Facebook vice-president instead. This time, alternates will not be permitted, said Zimmer, who chairs the House of Commons ethics committee, citing “inadequate” answers to questions at the November meeting.

The meeting comes amid warnings from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security that foreign actors are likely to try to manipulate Canadian opinion with malicious online activity heading into the October federal election.

patients.

Over the century it has been going, the auxiliary has provided over one million hours of volunteer service and, through

Two people injured in highway collision

Citizen staff

Two people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a two-vehicle collision south of Prince George on Wednesday morning.

A stretch of Highway 97, near Stoner Pit Road, was closed for about an hour following the crash. Emergency personnel were called to the scene shortly after 10 a.m.

RCMP said the driver and lone occupant of a southbound pickup appeared to have hit a patch of black ice, crossed the

centreline and collided with a northbound sedan which was holding the two who were injured. All occupants were wearing seatbelts and speed or impairment are not considered factors in this collision, RCMP added.

“Police would like to remind the motoring public to drive according to road conditions and be prepared for winter travel which includes having good winter tread, an emergency kit, food, clothing and a cell phone,” RCMP said.

Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout puts the news in perspective every day, only in The Citizen

the hospital gift shop and the thrift shop on Third Avenue, has raised $5.6 million. It all started with a gift of $500 for an X-ray machine.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Lindy Steele, chairperson of the UHNBC Auxiliary board, accepts a plaque from Colleen Nyce, Northern Health chairperson, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary with the hospital.

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff

Nancy Greene Raine to help celebrate Hart Ski Hill’s 50th

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

A Canadian skiing icon is sharing a golden anniversary with a Prince George skiing institution.

They will stand together at a special set of events starting March 1 at a fundraising dinner. That’s when Sen. Nancy Greene Raine will personally celebrate the Hart Ski Hill’s 50th year in operation.

“It is also 50 years since her medals at the Olympics, and 50 years since the start of the Nancy Greene Association. She’s a great ambassador for the sport,” said Jess Hudson, manager of the hill.

At those 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France, Greene Raine powered her way to a gold in the giant slalom and a silver in the slalom, plus a strong 10th in the traditional downhill event. As a result, she was named the world’s No. 1 female skier in the combined event. That came a year after upsetting the European domination of the sport, winning the women’s World Cup title in 1967.

Those two years she was named Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year then was named Canada’s Female Athlete of the 20th Century in 1999. She went on to become the most decorated individual in the history of Canadian downhill racing, and then was named a Canadian senator in 2009 until her retirement in 2018.

To demonstrate her standing in the pantheon of Canadian sport, it was Greene Raine – along with Steve Nash, Rick Hansen, Catriona Le May Doan and Wayne Gretzky – who ignited the Olympic cauldron to commence the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Greene Raine is still a household name in Canada, as the namesake of the nation’s children’s alpine skiing league that introduces the sport to children. The Hart Ski Hill is home to the city’s Nancy Greene Ski League.

“We are so proud that Nancy Greene

(Raine), with all her stature, is coming to Prince George to help us work towards our next 50 years,” said Hudson. The ski hill has, in recent years, added better lighting, a terrain park, snow-making equipment, and soon a “magic carpet” conveyer lift to go along with its two other short lifts that service the 22-acre facility.

Few business incentives in spending-heavy B.C. budget

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s budget pays too little attention to the potential impacts of a slowing global economy and a shifting housing market, business leaders say.

Finance Minister Carole James is banking on continued strong economic growth to fund long-term social and economic programs amounting to $2 billion over the next three years, but that’s risky, B.C. Business Council president Greg D’Avignon said Wednesday.

He said the council, which represents many of the largest employers in the province, credits the government for the budget initiatives that support families and environment programs, but it should not take business for granted in a darkening economy.

“I would caution the government that to take the economy for granted is at their peril,” D’Avignon said. “There’s a complete absence of economic vision in the face of what we see are some increasing strong head winds facing the economy in B.C. and Canada.”

Recent economic data suggest Europe could be heading for recession, global trade is facing turmoil as the United States and China squabble and Canada is being hit by trade sanctions from the U.S., he said. Recent U.S. tax cuts also impact the competitiveness of products from British Columbia, said D’Avignon.

The budget includes a $400-million Child Opportunity Benefit for families with children up to age 18. Interest on student loans was eliminated, social assistance payments increased by $50 per month and support payments for children of foster parents were increased.

The budget introduced Tuesday included the minority New Democrat government’s $902-million Clean BC Fund to fight climate change.

“It’s almost as though the economy’s taken for granted,” D’Avignon said. “The consequence of that is we’re just not going to have the revenue or the means to support baked in, long-term costs when the economy starts softening as we’re seeing through a bunch of indices and anecdotes from the investors around our table.”

Real estate developer Jason Turcotte said the budget looks to tax revenue from home sales to help fund programs, but it hinders new property developments that create the wealth.

“There’s not a lot of incentive right now to move forward with projects and if that happens on any kind of mass scale we’re going to have a shortage of supply, which obviously doesn’t help affordability at all,” said Turcotte, vice-president at Metro Vancouver’s Cressey Development.

He said his company and others are delaying real estate projects.

The government introduced tax measures in last year’s budget to moderate B.C.’s real estate market.

The budget forecasts revenue from B.C. housing starts to drop almost 17 per cent this year and decline 6.4 per cent next year.

James said she expects the market to continue to moderate but does not foresee a crash because the province is considered a desirable place to live.

She downplayed the business concerns, saying B.C. is forecast to lead Canada in economic growth for the next two years and her budget has set aside more than $2.6 billion in contingency and allowance funds in the event of a downturn.

“We’ve built a very prudent budget that has caution built in and gives us the opportunity to continue to invest in the people of B.C. who continue to build that strong economy.”

Opposition Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said the budget does nothing to stimulate the economy.

Greene Raine will be the keynote speaker at a dinner March 1 at the Hart Community Centre. The event will also include a silent auction, 50-50 draw, a catered meal and dancing. Price is $60 regular, $30 for kids under 12.

Greene Raine will also take part in a pancake breakfast and will take to the slopes of

the Hart Ski Hill that weekend as well. For tickets to the dinner, buy them by email inquiry (manager@hartskihill.com) or in person at the Hart Ski Hill during their hours of operation at 3740 Winslow Drive. There are daytime and nighttime hours almost every day. Call 250-962-8006

Natural resources revenue expected to fall

As expected, curbs placed on B.C.’s housing market has resulted in lower new housing starts and a loss of about $325 million from property transfer taxes.

Last year’s budget installed tax curbs to slow down B.C.’s runaway housing market, including increases to the property transfer and school taxes on homes valued over $3 million, and a new real estate speculation tax.

But the government isn’t counting on that falling revenue to be made up from B.C.’s natural resource sector.

Revenue from forestry was up in 2018, thanks to record high lumber prices. But those prices have since fallen and going forward the government is expecting declining revenue from forestry, as well as other natural resource sectors.

Forestry revenue is expected to fall 16.8 per cent in 2019-20, due largely to lower lumber prices. Timber harvest levels are expected to drop by two million cubic metres by 2021-22. The government expects revenue from forestry to drop from $1.4 billion in 2018-19 to $1.2 billion in 2019-20 and to $1 billion by 2021.

While natural gas royalties are expected

Engineers

Citizen staff

More than 80 engineering students from across Canada will converge on UNBC’s main campus this week to learn more about sustainability and how it applies to their engineering career and everyday life.

Developed by the Canadian Federation Engineering Students, the Conference on Sustainability in Engineering on Feb. 22-25 will provide foundational knowledge on sustainability, while considering social, economic and environmental implications.

Delegates have the opportunity to learn from fellow students and professionals, learn more about some of the new and innovative concepts in the industry and have the option of becoming a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green associate.

“We are all very excited to be hosting the inaugural year of the Conference on Sustainability in Engineering and to be doing so at Canada’s Green University, UNBC,” said Anna Vu, one of the CFES co-organizers of the event.

to increase 68 per cent for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, over the next few years they are expected to decline, largely due to increased use of infrastructure credits and royalty programs.

Revenue from bonus bids and rents on drilling licences and leases for natural gas are also expected to decline over three years, from $276 million in 2018-19 to $145 million in 2021-22.

Revenue from mineral taxes and fees are also expected to decline.

The government expects revenue from mining to drop by 25.5 per cent over the next three years, due mainly to weakening metallurgical coal prices and increased mine production costs.

Revenue from energy and mining is expected to drop from $1.1 billion in 2018-19 to $861 billion by 2020-21.

Finance Minister Carole James warned that a global economic slowdown could have an impact on B.C.’s economy.

“I think that’s really one of the biggest challenges that all of us could face,” James said. “We know that China’s growth numbers are going down. We’ve seen the challenges with trade with the U.S. Those kinds of outside factors could have an impact...on our economy.”

“We believe it is crucial to incorporate sustainability within all aspects of engineering and this conference will help provide that knowledge. This marks a milestone within the engineering community as we are moving towards building a more sustainable future and we are proud to be a part of it.”

Besides the opportunity to learn more about UNBC’s Wood Innovation Research Lab, the Wood Innovation Design Centre and the bioenergy facility, delegates will attend sessions on Smart Cities, Engineering the Future of Food Production, Low Carbon Economies, Zero Net Energy Tiny Homes, Sustainable Buildings, Sustainability as a Strategic Business Advantage, Canada’s Low Carbon Energy Future, and much more.

Delegates will have the chance to take the LEED green associate certification course and participate in a competitive case study. The CFES is a student-run organization that represents 81,000 Canadian undergraduate engineering students from 51 undergraduate engineering student societies.

Sen. Nancy Greene Raine, who won a gold and silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics, smiles as she hoists the Olympic Torch at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops on Jan. 27, 2010. Greene Raine will be in Prince George on March 1 to help celebrate the Hart Ski Hill’s 50th anniversary.

Nelson BENNETT Glacier Media

CP PHOTO

Premier John Horgan, right, looks on as Finance Minister Carole James delivers the budget speech at the legislature in Victoria on Tuesday.

Canada rejects global ban on shipping recyclables

Mia RABSON Citizen news service

OTTAWA — Canada will not sign on to an amendment to an international treaty that would fully ban developed countries like Canada from shipping hazardous waste, including recyclables, to the developing world.

The amendment was proposed more than 20 years ago but Canada’s objection to it is resurfacing as the Philippines continues to press Canada take back more than 100 containers filled with rotting household garbage that were shipped to Manila in 2013 and 2014 labelled as recyclables.

The Basel Convention, adopted by all countries except the United States and Haiti, puts limitations on shipments of hazardous waste, and requires the destination country to be made aware of the contents of the waste and agree to receive it.

In 1995, an amendment was proposed to take the Basel Convention even further, and outright ban all shipments of hazardous waste – with or without consent – including waste intended for recycling. The belief was wealthy countries were avoiding the Basel Convention by labelling things as recycling. Canada has never agreed to it and still won’t.

At least three-quarters of the parties to the original convention have to agree to the amendment, and only two more countries need to say yes for it to be adopted. Debate about the amendment will again be on the agenda as countries meet about the Basel Convention in Switzerland in April.

“Canada, like other Basel Parties such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand for example, has not signed the amendment because the government believes that there are positive consequences to environmentally sound recycling and recovery operations,” wrote Environment Canada spokeswoman Gabrielle Lamontagne in an email.

That makes no sense, says Kathleen Ruff, founder of rightoncanada.ca, an online human rights advocacy site.

“Why on Earth can we justify shipping it all the way around the world to poor countries that can’t deal with their own waste anyway?” she said.

Ruff said the garbage rotting in the Philippines is proof of why Canada should accept the amendment and, given Liberal promises to be a responsible global citizen, the government should champion it.

In 2013 and 2014, 103 containers arrived

in ports in Manila from Canada, labelled as plastics for recycling, but upon inspection Filipino authorities discovered they were filled with household garbage, including adult diapers, food waste and discarded electronics. Except for a few of the containers that were illegally disposed of, most of the containers remain in quarantine in the ports. A Filipino court ordered Canada to take the garbage back, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during visits to the Philippines in 2015 and 2017 to deal with the issue. A bilateral working group was established last fall and meetings are to take place in the next few months.

When the shipments were sent, Canadian regulations applied the Basel Convention rules only to waste Canada considered hazardous. Lamontagne said that changed in 2016, so Canada now applies the convention to waste considered hazardous in the destination country. Lamontagne said that means the containers in the Philippines would be prohibited today.

However, Ruff noted the containers would still end up in the Philippines because they were labelled as recycling. They would only be barred if Canada adopted the amendment, she said.

For several decades, countries like Canada and the United States have found

Studies call for policies to reduce drinking

Citizen news service

VICTORIA — Two new studies say the federal and provincial governments must do more to reduce alcohol consumption after determining damages from drinking have surpassed tobacco use.

As part of the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project, researchers graded the federal, provincial and territorial governments on policy efforts to reduce alcohol-related harms.

Tim Stockwell, director with the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said the federal government earned a 38 per cent grade while the provinces and territories collectively achieved 44 per cent.

Ontario scored the highest grade with a C, although Stockwell said it has “gone backwards” after Premier Doug Ford moved to lower the price of alcohol with his “bucka-beer” legislation.

“We’re used to people being disinterested in these policies but what’s unusual with Ontario is that they’re deliberately, and publicly, and with glee, and relish going in an opposite direction that will create more problems,” he said. “I guess that’s populism for you, isn’t it?”

About 80 per cent of Canadians drink, and most enjoy a drink or two, so making alcohol cheaper is a nice, quick, popular thing to do, he said. But people forget there’s a bill at the end of making alcohol cheap and available, Stockwell said, noting that some of the tragic consequences include death, eco-

nomic costs, and more people with cancers and liver diseases.

“But that happens quietly in the background and claiming success in those areas doesn’t get you elected as well it does giving people cheap beer,” he said.

Norman Geisbrecht, a senior scientist at the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said while the impact of alcohol is more noticeable in accidents, behaviour and certain chronic diseases, there may also be an indirect impact on people’s mental health.

Heavy drinking practices will have an impact on the workforce, absenteeism and affect performance at work because people may come in when they are hung over or semi-intoxicated, Geisbrecht said.

“If you make alcohol more widely available it becomes a challenge with regard to people who are maybe addicted or maybe in recovery,” he said.

“Or it becomes more difficult for them to retain their abstinence or control their drinking if alcohol is more widely available or if its cheaper and if found at many different outlets.”

Stockwell said researchers looked at 11 different types of alcohol policy including availability, pricing and taxation, and health and safety messaging and then developed best practices based on extensive international research.

“There’s excellent practices in many areas and by most jurisdictions but they are very, very thinly spread,” he said.

Manitoba has a “wonderful” minimum pricing strategy, he said, adding that British Columbia and some other provinces have “fantastic” laws to deter impaired driving.

“And they’re being very effective but across the whole board every province falls down significantly in some areas even though they perform quite well in others.”

Provinces that scored the lowest were New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut and the Yukon.

Recommendations from the researchers include introducing a comprehensive minimum price of $1.75 per standard drink for liquor store sales and $3.50 per standard drink for bars and restaurants, and independent monitoring of alcohol promotions, including both social and other media.

Tobacco comes with graphic warning images of “people dying in hospital beds,” black teeth and diseased lungs, while there’s a “whole slew of warning messages” about pregnancy, schizophrenia and impaired driving on cannabis packages, Stockwell said.

“With alcohol we get lovely images of rolling vineyards or images of people looking intoxicated, strange names of drinks that encourage intoxication – so the opposite of health information,” he said. “There’s an absence of health information.”

While a lot of people would not be opposed to a few tough restrictions on these policies, most politicians hesitate to implement them, he said.

it cheaper to flatten plastic garbage into pallets and ship them across the ocean to Asian countries where companies buy the material and hope to recycle it for resale. Ruff notes many of those nations don’t have sophisticated waste-management systems, and are responsible for a majority of the plastics ending up in the world’s oceans.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is fond of citing a statistic that the equivalent of a truck full of plastic is dumped into the ocean every minute around the world. She is pushing Canada to eliminate plastic garbage entirely by 2040. But that would require much of the plastic produced to be recycled.

Schoenborn a threat to public, board rules

Citizen news service

PORT COQUITLAM — The British Columbia Review Board has ruled that the man who killed his three children while severely mentally ill remains a threat to public safety, although it recommends Allan Schoenborn should be assessed for supervised outings within six months.

Schoenborn, who’s now 50 years old, has been held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital since before a 2010 court decision that found him not criminally responsible for killing his daughter and two sons.

In a written decision released Wednesday, the three-member panel says Schoenborn is making progress in treatment, but it’s delayed by the risk of harm to him because he’s a target for others in the institution.

The Crown had asked that the review board remove the condition that Schoenborn be considered for escorted outings until he was mentally stable and his risk was manageable.

The panel members say in their decision that detention remains necessary, but note that Schoenborn is no different than others at the hospital who are granted access to the community.

The ruling says the unique obstacles to Schoenborn in this case are the acute level of threat to him and his public profile, something the man has no con-

trol over.

“Mr. Schoenborn has properly been subject to the full weight of the criminal justice system for close to a decade. There exists no principled reason or basis why he should be deprived of the policy objectives and presumptions Parliament has seen fit to entrench in the code for all (not criminally responsible) accused persons.”

The former Conservative government used Schoenborn as an example when it changed the law implementing a designation for a so-called high-risk accused.

The law would prevent offenders from being released from care and force them into treatment. A judge ruled Schoenborn didn’t meet the criteria of a highrisk accused in 2017.

The review board ruling says if the recommendation to consider outings for Schoenborn isn’t implemented, then it may want to hold another hearing to reconsider mandating outings for Schoenborn.

In a partial dissenting ruling, board chairman Bernd Walter said he would have been persuaded to order highly limited outings for Schoenborn under strict conditions.

“I cannot recall another accused who, having demonstrated the clinical response and the therapeutic progress that Mr. Schoenborn has, would after nine years in custody continue to be denied such a modest step.”

Filipino environmental activists wear a mock container filled with garbage to symbolize the 50 containers of waste that were shipped from Canada to the Philippines two years ago, as they hold a protest outside the Canadian embassy in Manila, Philippines on May 7, 2015. Canada will not sign on to an amendment to an international treaty that could bar OECD countries from shipping any kind of garbage, even recyclables, to the developing world.

Rising doubt in Trudeau

Canadians head to the polls eight months from today to elect a new federal government and many of them seem to be doubting Justin Trudeau’s leadership for the first time in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

As a new Leger poll released Wednesday showed, 41 per cent of respondents believe Trudeau did something wrong and another 41 per cent of Canadians aren’t sure, leaving just 12 per cent believing he’s not at fault.

Even the majority of federal Liberal supporters are questioning the prime minister’s behaviour. While only 10 per cent believe Trudeau is in the wrong and 27 per cent say he’s not to blame, a whopping 55 per cent aren’t sure.

Hardly a glowing endorsement.

That is not the kind of cloud a sitting prime minister wants to be campaigning under after Labour Day, when the campaign will kick off in earnest.

So Trudeau has six months to clean up this mess but he’s off to a horrible start. The resignation of Gerald Butts, his longtime friend and right-hand man in the Prime Minister’s Office, is a disaster. Why did he resign if he did nothing wrong?

Unless Butts resigned for the same reason

Jody Wilson-Raybould did.

The former justice minister, unceremoniously shuffled off to veterans affairs in the wake of Scott Brison’s departure, quit cabinet just hours after Trudeau said everything was good between him and “Jody” (he kept referring to her as Jody over and over, even though he consistently refers to his male ministers as Minister Morneau, Minister Saijan, etc.). Her resignation humiliated Trudeau and directly contradicted his “sunny ways” narrative.

In other words, she wasn’t happy with the way she was being treated.

to cut the Quebec-based engineering firm some slack on its legal troubles, Trudeau said he spoke to his justice minister about the case on Sept. 17. The date only became significant on Wednesday, when court documents revealed SNC-Lavalin was told Sept. 4 by federal justice officials that there would be no negotiations towards an outof-court settlement.

So Trudeau has six months to clean up this mess but he’s off to a horrible start.

Butts said he resigned to avoid becoming a “distraction” but maybe he wasn’t too happy with how he was being treated, either.

That’s the problem with this whole affair. It’s a huge steaming pile of maybe this and maybe that with only a handful of facts.

One of those facts was the other news

Wednesday.

Trudeau spoke to justice minister WilsonRaybould after SNC-Lavalin was denied an out-of-court settlement to avoid criminal prosecution for the company’s numerous fraud and bribery charges. When the Globe and Mail first broke the story two weeks ago that PMO staff had urged Wilson-Raybould

So there was a conversation but what was said is unknown.

More maybe this. More maybe that.

Wilson-Raybould certainly has reasons to be mad at Trudeau. The first Indigenous person to be justice minister, she was a star candidate recruited by the Liberals four years ago and her central role in the Trudeau government was touted as a sign the Liberals would be taking reconciliation with First Nations far more seriously than the Stephen Harper Conservatives had.

And she delivered in her role as justice minister. While Chrystia Freeland was stealing the headlines for her work stickhandling Canada’s position in negotiations with Mexico and the United States towards a new free trade agreement, Wilson-Raybould quickly and quietly went about delivering two major Trudeau campaign promises

YOUR LETTERS

Blunders to blame for empty seats

No, it’s not global warning, it is the vanishing of the Prince George Cougars “New Ice Age” as coined by the new owners when they took over ownership of the team.

For the first couple of seasons under the new regime, the future started out great with lots of promise. An exciting hard working group of players created an atmosphere of renewed interest in the team and an increase in fan support. Then some owner and management blunders abruptly turned team fortunes into a downward spiral. At trade deadline 2017, the hard-working and cohesive team spirit was decimated by trading away the heart and soul of the team for a dubious bunch of non-performing talent. Coupled with a business management decision to revamp and increase ticket prices in what turned out to be a rebuilding year, another catastrophic blunder.

The dilemma facing the team today is a result of these bad management decisions made two years ago. Last year’s mantra

During the Brodsky ownership era, we had a number of under-performing years but each season we always had four or five players and who were exciting to watch and had the talent for scoring goals. Today we have none and the future for next season looks dismal.

was that we are the envy of many other teams and the future is bright due to all the raw young talent that has been assembled. This season is rapidly coming to a conclusion and in fact the team has regressed into last place in the conference with the lowest output of goals in the entire league.

During the Brodsky ownership era, we had a number of underperforming years but each season we always had four or five players and who were exciting to watch and had the talent for scoring goals. Today we have none and the future for next season looks dismal.

The only way to attract fans back to the arena is to assemble a team of energetic, hardworking and entertaining players with a winning record and some revi-

sion to the ticket pricing. Raising ticket prices can only be justified when there is value for the entertainment. Mega 50/50s and other quirky gimmicks do no attract and keep loyal hockey fans. Also, the demographics of who comes out to hockey games is changing. Look around the arena on game days and the majority of spectators are middle-aged and elderly folks. Younger upand-coming generations do not seem to have a great desire to attend.

A Western Hockey League team is a definite asset to the city and surrounding district but keeping it here as a viable operation is going to be a struggle. Good luck on their endeavours.

Al Cameron Prince George

LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned or handwritten letters will not be published. The Prince George Citizen is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact Neil Godbout (ngodbout@pgcitizen. ca or 250-960-2759). If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the web site at mediacouncil.ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.

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on legalizing assisted dying and legalizing marijuana possession and consumption. It seems the thanks she received for that work was a cabinet demotion, which appears to be because she supported a decision made within the department she oversaw to prosecute SNC-Lavalin through the courts.

A mess from any angle and that Leger poll suggests most Canadians feel Trudeau is either fully or partly responsible for it.

Conservatives shouldn’t start celebrating too quickly, however.

Doubt in Trudeau doesn’t necessarily translate into support for their party or Andrew Scheer, their leader. While the federal NDP and their leader Jagmeet Singh are well back in the polls, it was Singh who has outmanoeuvered Scheer on this file, by quickly calling for an ethics investigation, a request that was promptly taken up by the ethics commissioner.

Eight months before the election four years ago, Trudeau and the federal Liberals were third in federal polls, trailing Tom Mulcair’s NDP and the Harper Conservatives. A lot can – and will – happen between now and Oct. 21.

Canadians are watching and paying attention, before filing their final decision in the ballot box.

Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout

—

Controversy holding to political formula

Political scandals – usually about money, sometimes about sex – have their own laws of physics. Their pathologies rarely deviate. In the case of l’affaire SNC-Lavalin, what we are witnessing is textbook.

It starts with a corporate culture that plays to win. International misbehaviour, the price of doing business in many places, has pockmarked the Montreal-based engineering giant’s history, and its main mess today is it allegedly bribed Libyan officials over a decade. A scandal intersects with seeding the ground of political influence. In this case the firm illegally donated $117,000 to Liberals and Conservatives. (A since-departed executive took the fall, and his plea and $2,000 fine sweetly shielded whom it supported.)

Political influence slices dually.

SNC-Lavalin is a world-class employer in Quebec and beyond; woe betides the politician who wishes anything but to worship the jewel.

Occasionally the influence yields a tasty dividend – a clever reform, even more cleverly buried within a 556-page omnibus budget bill, designed to extricate the company from its testy domestic trouble.

The new procedure fixes exactly, precisely, almost exclusively SNCLavalin’s mess. With no parliamentary review, the bill passed along party lines last year as a routine confidence vote on the budget.

In the next physics phase, the seemingly irreversible force meets the immovable object: Jody Wilson-Raybould, then justice minister and perhaps more importantly attorney general. The veteran prosecutor pre-public life was responsible in her portfolio for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, whose unenviable job involved deciding if SNC-Lavalin would face trial or capitalize on this process for which it seemed tailor-fit.

The process can produce a remediation agreement, a get-out-ofjail-rather-free card: admit something, pay something, continue to bid for something. A conviction, on the other hand, blockades a decade of federal contracts.

The crux of the scandal, as we all know, is (a) that Justin Trudeau’s officials allegedly exerted pressure on her to remediate, not prosecute, (b) she told the gang to pound sand, (c) she was relocated to a lesser portfolio at the earliest opportunity, but (d) left a trail of bread crumbs – a beguiling note about speaking truth to power and averting political interference. Someone – her, her confidants, a Prime Minister’s Office mole, the Russians – tattles to the Globe and

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Mail and all Hades breaks loose as we connect the dots and understand her note.

The physical laws of scandal follow: Trudeau denies the allegations and his team fans out to whisper what a pill WilsonRaybould can be. That an Indigenous woman could stand up to a revered Quebec firm is the subtext of the hurled colonialist crap. Trudeau doubles down, wonders whatever could be the matter, says his government has done nothing wrong, adds he has full confidence in Wilson-Raybould. That canard flies for about one sunset. Turns out the feeling isn’t mutual; she quits and hires a former Supreme Court justice to define her legal privilege as a solicitor with her once-client, now an adversary. In true textbook fashion, the prime minister again doubles down, jilted and scorned, “surprised and disappointed,” placing, of all things, the blame on her – the person, after all, who tried to keep the government from the scandal of remediating SNC-Lavalin’s exploits. Two sideshows accompany the main stage: a Liberal-heavy parliamentary committee professes deep concern and pursues a shallow investigation and the ethics commissioner lurks as a long-shot menace. Pay no mind. Here, then, is what the textbook says will play out, perhaps not in sequence, barring an unforeseen event:

1. A sacrifice will be necessary in the form of a high-ranking official. Just as SNC-Lavalin could claim it clobbered its corrupt cadre, so the government will say the same. That happened over a holiday long weekend in much of the country with the resignation of principal secretary and longtime Trudeau pal Gerald Butts.

2. Problem is, Wilson-Raybould is blocking the road ahead. She will get her moment to talk, and it will be exquisite and historic. She could rent B.C. Place and fill it faster than Paul McCartney.

3. The prime minister will blush and bear a permanent blotch. How scarring, we do not know. Scandal is dependent on vista, too, and Quebec’s is that remediation is the right thing. If Conservatives are drooling at their prospects, best to pull out the handkerchiefs. I hear there are some good manufacturers of them in Quebec.

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MONEY IN BRIEF

Currencies

OTTAWA (CP) — These

Payless ShoeSource closing its doors

Citizen news service

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Major North American indices advanced Wednesday on the affirmation that policy-makers would take a patient approach to future interest rate hikes.

The U.S. Federal Reserve released minutes from its two-day late January federal open market committee meeting.

“All eyes were on what it contained,” said Kathryn Del Greco, vice president and investment advisor at TD Wealth.

The minutes continued to support the view that the Fed will remain patient about its approach to interest rate hikes, she said. The release also suggested policy-makers would take a wait-and-see approach in part due to the recent government shutdown and ongoing trade negotiations between China and the U.S.

There were no surprises that could disrupt the market.

— Kathryn Del Greco

“There’s no new news in the details of the minutes,” she said, which offered a stabilizing factor to the marketplace. “There were no surprises that could disrupt the market.”

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 93.80 points to 16,031.24.

In New York, all three major indices advanced. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 63.12 points to 25,594.44. The S&P 500 index moved up 4.94 points to 2,784.70, while the Nasdaq composite inched 2.30 points higher to 7,489.07.

The Fed minutes also helped boost the loonie. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 75.94 cents US compared with an average of 75.54 cents US on Tuesday.

The Fed’s patient stance means the differential between Canada’s interest rates and those south of the border is not expected to widen, said Del Greco, resulting in a strengthening Canadian dollar.

In commodity markets, the April crude contract rose 71 cents to US$57.16 per barrel and the April natural gas contract dropped about three cents to roughly US$2.67 per mmBTU.

The April gold contract advanced US$3.10 to US$1,347.90 an ounce and the March copper contract gained about five cents to US$2.92 a pound.

Mounting debts and a challenging retail market are forcing Payless ShoeSource Canada Inc. to shutter all of its North American stores by May.

The Kansas-based discount footwear retailer said Tuesday that it will soon file for creditor protection in Canada, making way for liquidation sales at the 248 locations it owns in the country.

Those stores include two in Prince George – at Pine Centre Mall and at Westgate Shopping Centre.

The move comes just after Payless filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and after Ohio-based shoe brand DSW Inc. shut down its Town Shoes Ltd. brand and the 38 stores it had in the country, saying the “competitive landscape for mid-luxury, mall-based footwear has dramatically changed,

comparable sales have deteriorated consistently and generated significant operating losses.”

Payless, which was founded in 1956 and previously filed for bankruptcy in 2017, has faced a similar market, revealed its chief restructuring officer Stephen Marotta in a press release, where he said the brand had tried to rejig its operations to no avail.

“The challenges facing retailers today are well documented, and unfortunately Payless emerged from its prior reorganization ill-equipped to survive in today’s retail environment,” said Marotta.

“The prior proceedings left the company with too much remaining debt, too large a store footprint and a yet-to-be realized systems and corporate overhead structure consolidation.”

Documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday

show the company’s Canadian operations, which employ about 2,400 workers, had an oversupply of inventory as recently as this winter and was forced to sell merchandise at steep markdowns.

The documents said the company failed to pay February’s rent for 220 stores it owns in Canada and reported an operating loss of more than US$12 million last year. Marotta said in the filings the company has been unable to integrate its physical stores with a digital offering. Only 200 stores are equipped with such a service, he said, leaving Payless “unable to keep up with the shift in customer demand.” As a result, he said Payless will begin closing its 2,500 North American stores at the end of March, though some will be open until the end of May while the company conducts liquidation sales.

Little green men and greenbacks

In 1898, science fiction writer H.G. Wells imagined a sudden attack on London by powerful Martian techno-monsters, who obliterated everything in their path and drank the blood of their human victims. Forty years later, Wells’ Martian story was recreated into a radio show, set in the U.S., starring the coincidentally-named Orson Welles. The radio play, which aired in October 1938, came at a time when Nazi aggression was at the forefront of Western psyche. Earlier that year, German troops had invaded Austria and the portent of Nazi aggression loomed large. Famously, although the show was introduced as fiction, its delivery left many believing that the little green monsters were actually upon us. In the broadcast, the supposed regular programming was repeatedly interrupted with “emergency news bulletins,” wherein the fictional Martian invasion gradually unfolded until these interruptions frantically took over the airtime entirely. The drama was so convincing it caused some to become hysterical and the police were even sent over to the radio station to quell the resulting mayhem.

The next day, the front page of the New York Times declared: “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact.” In Chicago, the Herald Examiner decried: “Radio Fake Scares Nation” and

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” — Mark Twain

several others made similar claims. And thus the story about the story about the story became the story. At first, Welles was assailed as a crass opportunist, willing to sacrifice the peace and wellbeing of the nation for a buck. Later, he was proclaimed as a boy-wonder entertainment genius.

The broadcast has been the subject of no small amount of post-analysis. Originally thought to have panicked millions, most now agree that the actual impact was greatly exaggerated by the newspapers of the day, worried about increasing competition from radio. In fact, the show was not highly-rated at all and might have quietly stayed the second-rate Sunday night show it actually was, if not for the added press. The victim here is our sense that we can trust what we read, see, and hear. This is not a small thing. The term Zombie Statistics refers to false data that successfully penetrate the collective psyche (antivaxers beware). Add Russian tampering with fake Facebook movements, and even purportedly influencing the Brexit vote a couple of years ago and pretty soon it starts to hit

the wallet.

All of this can be unnerving for investors to say the least. Trillions of dollars every day change hands on the basis of the reliability of data and news. Not only must we strive to evaluate the right information, but there are extremely strict rules on who is allowed to trade on what information. A small sampling of these is listed here:

• We advisors are not allowed to make personal investment decisions based on specific news in advance of our clients. Breaching this is called “front-running” and it is cause for immediate dismissal.

• People who own significant portions of publicly-traded securities have similar, even more stringent rules restricting their ability to make trades based on news they are privy to. This is called “insider trading,” and is what got Martha Stewart an opportunity to decorate her own jail cell a few years ago.

• Government officials with advance access to macroeconomic data or pending regulatory changes must not personally benefit from it. Breaching this is called “another day at the office,” for at least one world leader who shall not be named, but as a “conflict of interest,” for most. Penalties can include jail time and significant fines. We live in a data-driven world, but not necessarily fact-driven. A 12 year-old child can make wild

Retail expert Brynn Winegard said Payless has long had issues because its business model was built around not always keeping inventory in every size for every shoe they sold but also because of the size of its real estate.

“Payless has had to decrease its footprint significantly, but they were over indexed in terms of how large and how much real estate they intended to maintain,” she said.

“Competitive pricing online is so much easier with lower overhead. The big discount and big box stores have margins that are razor thin finding it very hard to compete with online retailers.”

Payless, she said, also faced challenges from manufacturers increasingly circumventing traditional retailers by selling directly to consumers, often at lower costs.

and unverified rants about banks for 30 minutes and be hailed on social media as a financial genius. Thus, I’m actually a huge fan of print. They’re far from perfect but at least their words are filtered by educational prerequisites, editorial oversight and a robust code of ethics.

Similarly, our RBC Code of Conduct (I’m sure every bank has a similar one) reads in part:

“Tell the truth.

“Our work places us in a position of trust. RBC clients, shareholders, communities and our colleagues rely on us to be honest and do business responsibly. We do what we say we will do and earn the trust and loyalty of our clients, shareholders, communities and colleagues.”

Despite all the financial jargon we could throw at you, at the end of the analysis, we are salespeople – we sell trust and competence. If we don’t have those, turn around and run the other direction as if a Martian invader threatens a painful death.

Mark Ryan is an investment advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (Member–Canadian Investor Protection Fund), and these are Ryan’s views, and not those of RBC Dominion Securities. This article is for information purposes only. Please consult with a professional advisor before taking any action based on information in this article. See Ryan’s website at: http://dir.rbcinvestments.com/ mark.ryan

A worker puts the finishing touches on a new sign for a Payless ShoeSource store in Missouri.

New moon found around Neptune

Sarah KAPLAN Citizen news service

A diminutive nugget of a moon has been discovered lurking in the inner orbit of Neptune.

The moon, dubbed Hippocamp for the half-horse, half-fish sea monster from Greek legend, is about 34 kilometres in diameter and so faint only the powerful Hubble Space Telescope can spot it. But by examining data stretching more than a decade, researchers were able to discern its dim form from 4.8 billion km away.

“Being able to contribute to the real estate of the solar system is a real privilege,” said planetary scientist Mark Showalter, the lead author of a study on the discovery published Wednesday in the journal Nature. “But it shows how much we still don’t know about the ice giants, Neptune and Uranus.”

Showalter and his colleagues suggest Hippocamp is a fragment of a larger neighbouring moon called Proteus, broken off during a cataclysmic collision some four billion years ago.

Neptune has been explored just once in human history, with a brief flyby of the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. “But there are all these interesting processes going on there, that we only got a glimpse of,” Showalter said. “Atmospheric phenomena, rings with peculiar properties... and these collisions and breakups that formed the inner moons.”

“It’s not just a dinky little moon we’ve found,” he continued.

Moons such as Hippocamp “are witnesses to the formation and evolution of the planets they orbit. In my mind, they have very interesting stories to tell.”

Showalter, a senior research scientist

at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, Calif., is something of a distant moon detective. By accumulating scores of long-exposure Hubble images, then adjusting them to account for an orbiting body’s predicted movement, he has already uncovered two new moons each around Pluto and Uranus.

The resulting images “are not pretty,” Showalter said. The planets are so overexposed they become big white blotches, and the moons at their centers are little more than pale dots. The procedure generally does not capture enough data from the moons to allow scientists to take spectra – splitting light into its component parts to reveal clues about the moons’ composition.

Hippocamp is the first new inner satellite found around the solar system’s outermost planet since the Voyager 2 flyby.

Researchers were initially surprised to find the tiny rock so close inside the orbit of Proteus, which is more than 100 times its size. Observations suggest tidal forces have been slowly pushing Proteus away from Neptune; a few billion years ago, it would have sat right where Hippocamp is today.

“Our initial thought was that’s a very strange place to find a moon,” Showalter said. Proteus also has a massive crater on its surface, called Pharos, likely left behind after an impact from a comet or another passing object that nearly destroyed the moon at some point in its history.

Perhaps, Showalter and his colleagues suggest, Hippocamp is some of the shrapnel from that ancient collision.

Only by sending a spacecraft back

to the Neptune system to compare the planet and moons’ compositions can scientists know for sure.

Though the outer solar system is sometimes seen as dark, cold and dreary, the story of Hippocamp demonstrates how much activity has gone unnoticed in this distant region, said Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory who was not involved in the new research.

Scientists say Neptune’s icy largest moon, Triton, is an object acquired from the Kuiper belt sometime after the planet’s formation. Its arrival probably jostled the inner moons, causing collisions that flung some bodies outward and fragmented others.

“It’s just fascinating for dynamicists” studying how solar system bodies interact and evolve, Mandt said.

In addition, many of the exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system that have been discovered orbiting other suns, are roughly the same size and mass as the ice giants.

Further study of Neptune and Uranus could offer insight into those even more alien worlds.

“There is a lot each of these systems can tell us that we don’t know because we haven’t had the opportunity to visit and stay long enough to see it,” she said.

During the planetary science community’s last 10-year survey of goals for space exploration, scientists named a large-scale mission to one or both of the ice giants among their top three priorities.

Mandt served on a NASA committee to outline what such a mission might look like, but nothing has been funded.

Australian rodent first mammal to go extinct from man-made climate change

Ben GUARINO, Lindsey BEVER Citizen news service

Years ago, the small, ratlike rodents could be seen scurrying across the sand and coral rubble on the Australian island of Bramble Cay. Fishermen would sometimes see them while visiting the island, which is dotted with a few grass clumps, shorebirds and nesting sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef. As mackerel fisherman Egon Stewart told Queensland scientists in a 2016 report, around 2009 there had been “a heap of sticks and a smashed up dug-out canoe at the northwestern end of the island.”

When Stewart flipped over the pile, a few of the furry critters took flight across the island.

This was the last time, researchers believe, anyone saw a Bramble Cay melomys, a rodent with a round body, long whiskers and a lumpy tail. Researchers have suspected for a while that the Melomys rubicola had become the first mammal to go extinct because of human-made climate change and, earlier this week, the Australian government confirmed it.

Australian Environment Minister Melissa Price released a statement Monday noting that the Melomys rubicola had been moved from the “endangered category” to the “extinct category” – confirming what Queensland scientists had concluded some years ago. The Queensland state government had made the same ruling in 2016. Geoffrey Richardson, assistant secretary in the Department of the Environment and Energy, told Senate members Monday that for the past five years, researchers have been unable to find melomys on Bramble Cay, nestled in the Torres Strait, between Queensland and Papua New Guinea, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Sen. Janet Rice, a Greens party member who is leading a Senate inquiry into Australia’s threatened-species crisis, said on Twitter that the Bramble Cay melomys is the “first mammal in world to go extinct from climate change on this gov’s watch. A huge tragedy.”

Between 2004 and 2014, the amount of leafy plants on Bramble Cay shrank by 97 per cent after the low-lying island was inundated with salt water several times, due to rising sea levels. Without plants to provide food and shelter, scientists believe the rodents succumbed to local extinction.

Structure of atom informs shape of periodic table

For the past few weeks, we have been discussing the periodic table which celebrates its sesquicentennial in 2019.

The development of the table was based on chemical observations such as the stoichiometry of reactions or the formation of specific minerals. It was a great achievement derived from an understanding of how atoms and molecules react.

But when Mendeleev developed his table with its peculiar shape, there was no explanation for why it looks the way it does. At a casual glance, it is certainly not a simple structure.

The explanation for the periodic table emerged in the early 1900s. It began when Ernest Rutherford, Ernest Marsden and Hans Geiger were exploring the structure of the atom. Their experiment was very simple – they shot alpha particles at gold foil and measured the results.

To their surprise, most of the alpha particles passed right through the foil but a small fraction bounced back.

They correctly assumed the mass of an atom was located in a small nucleus and most of the surrounding volume was filled with electrons.

They came up with the “solar system model” of the atom which most of us are familiar with as the symbol for an atom.

Determining the structure of the atom

RELATIVITY

TODD WHITCOMBE

raised more questions – why was it stable?

Why didn’t the negatively charged electrons crash into the positively charged nucleus? And more importantly, since accelerating electrons give off X-rays and a circular orbit requires the electrons to be constantly accelerating, why didn’t electrons continually emit X-rays and run out of energy?

Niels Bohr was a post-doctoral fellow working with Rutherford. He had an interest in theoretical physics and was the first to afford an explanation for the strange behaviour of the atoms. In 1913, using two postulates (one proposing quantum energy jumps; the other quantizing angular momentum) he derived a theoretical basis for the atom.

Further, his work provided a very convincing theoretical explanation for the spacing of line spectra observed by the likes of Bunsen and Kirchhoff. He argued each orbit in an atom was an integer multiple of a fundamental wavelength and only integer values were allowed.

Quantum mechanics at the deepest theo-

retical levels is a complex subject but the concept of quantized transitions is easy to observe on a daily basis. Consider something as simple as climbing the stairs. Each stair is a separate and distinct integer level.

That is, there is a first stair and a second stair but none in-between. Further, when walking up a flight of stairs, it is impossible to step just halfway or three-quarters of the way up to the next one. You either make the step or fall flat on your face.

This happens with electrons in the atom.

They are either in the first orbit or the second orbit but nowhere in between. Shifting from one orbit to the other involves energy.

The input of energy lifts an electron to a higher orbit; the release of energy results in an electron dropping to a lower orbit.

Since electrons can only be in quantized orbits, Bohr’s model explained almost everything. But it soon became apparent that “almost” wasn’t enough. Other researchers realized the orbits the electrons occupied were elliptical and electrons have spin. It is a pair of electrons which occupy each atomic orbit.

Over the two decades which followed, quantum mechanics was born and our explanation of the atom was refined. Electrons don’t actually orbit the nucleus but occur as wave-functions occupying a region of energy-space around the nucleus called an orbital. The orbitals have shapes and forms

based on their angular momentum and principal quantum number. Each orbital can only hold two electrons and within an atom individual electrons are uniquely defined. And the nucleus contains both protons and neutrons. From the perspective of the periodic table, we now understand the basis for its shape and why the chemistry for the elements in each column is so similar as it is based on the orbitals occupied by electrons.

The first two columns on the left – headed by hydrogen and beryllium – have an s-orbital as their outer orbital which is filled with either one or two electrons, respectively. The block of elements on the right hand side feature three different p-orbitals and a total of six possible electrons giving a group six columns wide.

The odd structure of the table reflects the underlying theoretical structure. But is important to remember the periodic table pre-dated the explanation.

Is the table finished? By no means.

With the discovery of the structure of the atom and nucleus, scientists have been able to fill in the remaining blank in the heart of the table (technetium) and extend the table to 118 elements.

Most artificial elements are incredibly short-lived with half-lives only microseconds long but this work means it is doubtful the table will ever be complete.

The earliest image of Hippocamp, obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. Hippocamp is shown inside the red box, and an enlarged version is inset at upper right.

WIKIPEDIA PHOTO

The Bramble Cay melomys is the first mammal to go extinct as a result of man-made climate change, according to a statement by the Australian government.

Managing editor Neil Godbout puts the news in perspective every day, only in The Citizen

Masters proving unbeatable at worlds

American sit-skier claims fourth gold medal of championships

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

Oksana Masters warms up for her races at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships with her headphones on, listening to the likes of Foo Fighters, Eminem and Disturbed.

There’s one song not on the playlist the 29-year-old American sit-skier has been hearing over and over again in Prince George, but she never gets tired of hearing it. It’s the Star Spangled Banner and they keep playing it for her at the medal ceremony every time she receives a gold medal.

Masters heard that anthem again Wednesday after winning the women’s biathlon sprint at Otway Nordic Centre, her fourth gold medal in four races. She edged American teammate Kendall Gretsch in a time of 22 minutes 26.9 seconds with one miss in two shooting bouts. Gretsch (22:45.2, 0+1) also had one miss on the range on the way to her third silver medal of the championships.

“I don’t want to say I was getting a little discouraged at times in some results, especially in biathlon, but I was doubting a little bit of what I was going to be able to do,” said Masters, who makes her off-season home in Champaign, Ill.

Masters is coming off several surgeries on her elbow after getting injured halfway through the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Her result Wednesday provided further confirmation she’s back in prime-time form.

“The skiing felt amazing, our team made great skis,” she said. “I think I’m just getting lucky in biathlon – I don’t know what’s happening.” Andrea Eskau of Germany (23:36.0, 0+0) won bronze for the third time at Otway. “Oksana has been so dominant in this

ABOVE:

of the

during the World

crosses the finish line in the Biathlon Men’s Sprint, Standing, on Wednesday at Otway. Arendz won bronze in the race, his third medal of the championships.

sport the last two years so it’s exciting to see her doing so well this year, especially coming back from her injury, and it’s great to see her kind of getting what she deserved last year, this year, at world champion-

ships,” said Gretsch. The start temperature Wednesday was -4 C, a far cry from the near -20 C for Monday’s cross-country sprints, and that made for the fastest conditions so far at the

Oksana has been so dominant in this sport the last two years so it’s exciting to see her doing so well this year...

— Kendall Gretsch

nine-day event. In the men’s sit-ski race, 19-year-old Taras Rad of Ukraine poled his way to his second win of the championships (24:04.2, 0+0). Martin Fleig of Germany won silver (24:19, 0+0) and Aaron Pike of the United States claimed bronze (25:39.7, 0+1) for his first medal after two fourth-place results earlier in the week.

Pike and sit-skier Daniel Cnossen are part of a four-athlete American contingent with Masters and Gretsch and all have made it to the medal podium, with three days of racing still to come.

“Our team as a whole is crushing it,” said Pike, 32. “We only have four people competing and we’re still the No. 2 nation in the medal count and I think we’re representing our nation well, just the four of us.” Indeed, with 11 medals (four gold, five silver, two bronze) the U.S. ranks second only to Ukraine, which is running away with the team title, now with 27 medals (five gold, 12 silver, 10 bronze). France is third with six (four gold, two bronze) and Canada ranks seventh (one gold, two silver, two bronze).

Derek Zaplotinsky of Smoky Lake, Alta., just about got himself into medal territory, posting a career-best fourth-place finish (26:04.1, 0+1) in the men’s sit-ski race, one position better than his fifth-place result in Saturday’s cross-county middistance race.

“It feels good to finally put together a good biathlon race – the shooting was good and I felt good on skis too,” said the 33-year-old Zaptlotinsky. “I just wanted to replicate my mid-distance cross-country for intensity. I always knew I could shoot, I just had to get the ski speed up. see ‘I LIKE, page 10

Loss to Ontario puts B.C. into Scotties tiebreaker

Citizen news service/Citizen staff

SYDNEY, N.S. — Chelsea Carey and her teammates had a purpose when they formed a new rink ahead of this season. Their goal was to become a solid team that could grind out tough victories when needed. The Alberta champs have done just that this week at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Carey opened the preliminary round with four one-point victories in a row. The last three wins were more comfortable, the latest

decision a 12-3 rout of Quebec’s Gabrielle Lavoie on Wednesday at Centre 200. Carey was alone in top spot in the Pool A standings at 7-0.

“We’ve had to really battle through parts of this season and we’ve all stuck together, put our nose to the grindstone and done that,” Carey said. “This week is no different.” Carey had secured a spot in the championship round before her latest win. Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville earned their

berths with victories Wednesday afternoon. Homan booked her ticket with an 8-6 win over British Columbia’s Sarah Wark. McCarville joined Homan at 5-2 after a 7-5 extraend victory over Manitoba’s Tracy Fleury.

“For some reason when our team’s back is against the wall, we seem to play better,” McCarville said. “We bear down and we make those shots.” Fleury and Wark (both 4-3) will meet in a tiebreaker this morning (5:30 a.m. PT) for the fourth and

final spot. Wark’s team includes Prince George sisters Kristen Pilote (third) and Jen Rusnell (lead), whose father, Rick Fewster of Prince George, is the coach. B.C. beat Manitoba 7-5 in roundrobin play on Sunday. Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt (5-2) and Team Wild Card’s Casey Scheidegger (6-1) had already locked up two of the four Pool B spots entering the preliminary round finale Wednesday night. Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle and Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones won morning games to set themselves up for win-and-you’rein evening games. As it turned out, Yukon’s Nicole Baldwin locked up the berths for them when she posted a 13-6 win over Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories (3-4). That result ensured Jones (4-3) and Silvernagle (5-2) would make the top-four cut. Scheidegger ended up holding off Jones 7-4 while Silvernagle topped Birt 7-3. “I know with Jenn, she’s never out of a game,” Scheidegger said. — see CAREY, page 10

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Canada’s Emily Young finishes the Biathlon Women’s Sprint, Standing, on Wednesday at Otway Nordic Centre. Young, from Kelowna, placed eighth.

CITIZEN PHOTOS BY JAMES DOYLE/BRENT BRAATEN

Oksana Masters

United States competes

Para Nordic Skiing Championships at Otway Nordic Centre. BELOW: Canadian Mark Arendz

‘I like Prince George a lot’

from page 9

“Right now I’m kind of beating myself up because I missed one shot at the end in the second round and I just skied as well as I could. You have to take a bit of risk there to make the podium and I kind of rushed a shot and missed it but there’s always tomorrow.”

Zaplotinsky excels in distance races and he’s looking forward to today’s 15 km individual biathlon race and the 15 km crosscountry race coming up Sunday.

In the men’s standing race that followed, Canadian standing skier Mark Arendz (21:04.5, 0+0) utilized his long stride to reel in bronze in the six-kilometre sprint, his third medal of the championships. It wasn’t enough to catch Benjamin Daviet of France (20:17.0, 0+0), who won his fourth gold medal at Otway, while Grygorii Vovchynskiy of Ukraine (20:59.1, 0+0) was the silver medalist.

“I shot really well today,” said Daviet, through an interpreter. “For sure, on sprints, you need to be perfect and that’s what I did for the win today. After four races, I’m starting to feel a bit tired and sore in the legs and I think it will be really difficult for the end of the world championships, but we’ll try to do our best.”

Arendz, a 28-year-old native of Hartsville, P.E.I., started the championships Saturday with bronze in the mid-distance biathlon and won silver in Monday’s crosscountry sprints.

“The sprint is always a fast-paced one and so I started out hard on the course and maybe lost a bit at the end there with that strong start,” said Arendz. “When the guys are shooting clean, all three of us (podiumfinishers) were clean today it’s going to be a really tough ski race and I was a bit short today but hopefully that sets me up for tomorrow. The consistency’s there, it’s just missing that last piece that will make the win.”

The men’s 15km biathlon today includes four shooting rounds and a one-minute penalty for each miss, rather than the 150 m

Carey says she’s up to the challenge

— from page 9

Canada’s Brittany Hudak shows smooth form in the Biathlon Women’s Sprint, Standing, on Wednesday at Otway Nordic Centre. Hudac placed sixth in the race.

penalty loops in the sprint and mid-distance races.

In the standing women’s race, Luidyma Liashenko (19:47.2, 0+1) and her Ukrainian teammate Oleksandra Kononova (20:03.2, 1+0) finished 1-2. It was the second gold medal of the championships for Liashenko, the mid-distance cross-country winner Saturday. Vilde Nilson of Norway (21:07.5, 2+0) was third.

Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., (21:53.2, 1+0) was sixth and Emily Young of Kelowna (22:36.6, 0+1) placed eighth, both arriving at the finish together in the

“We knew we’d have to keep the pressure on until the very end because she has such a strong team.”

Carey, third Sarah Wilkes, second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachel Brown hold the No. 4 spot in the Canadian rankings. The Calgary skip’s father, Dan Carey, is handling coaching duties.

The Calgary skip won the Scotties in 2016 with a different lineup. Carey said she’s embracing the pressure and challenge of going for another title.

“My dad used to tell me when I was a kid that when you’re nervous it’s your body telling you that you’re ready to do something,” Carey said. “I’ve always tried to hang on to that.”

No medal for B.C. in Canada Games hockey

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

Steve O’Rourke’s dream of coaching his men’s hockey team to a medal at the Canada Winter Games ended Wednesday on the ice in Red Deer.

The Prince George Cougars associate coach watched his B.C. team lose 7-3 to Quebec in a quarterfinal playoff. B.C. opened Saturday with a 4-2 loss to Manitoba, beat Saskatchewan 4-3 on Sunday, then on Monday lost 5-4 to Alberta (the winning goal came with 30 seconds left), followed by a 15-1 win over Prince Edward Island. Alberta topped New Brunswick 8-3 in their quarterfinal Wednesday. Cougars prospect Craig Armstrong, a forward, had one goal in that game.

Semifinals and relegation games will be played today, with the medal matches scheduled for Friday.

Two Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club members continued their race for medals Wednesday on the outdoor long-track oval at Great Chief Park in Red Deer. Kieran Hanson, 16, finished 11th Wednesday in the men’s 1,000-metre race, covering the course in 1:17.87, while Eric Orlowsky was a 16th-place finisher in 1:20.21. They began the meet Saturday with the 1,500 m event and Hanson placed 11th, while Orlowsky was 15th. Orlowsky’s best placing so far came in Tuesday’s 5,000 m race in which he was 11th, while Hanson ended up 13th. In other Prince George results, Joel Ewert and his B.C. wheelchair basketball team lost 58-50 Wednesday to Saskatchewan. B.C. will finish its tournament today at 10 a.m. (PT) in a placement game against Manitoba.

B.C. went 2-2 in the round robin after wins over Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and a losses to Alberta and Ontario. Those two teams will meet in today’s gold-medal game. New Brunswick and Quebec will battle for bronze.

staggered-start event. A 16 km per hour wind added to the difficulty on the range.

“The conditions are fantastic compared to when it was minus-20 and the skis felt really great, we had fast boards and it was fun,” said Young.

Neither has replicated the medal success they had in Pyeongchang but their times reflect they’re well within striking distance of the world leaders. Hudak and Young are saving themselves for Sunday’s 15 km classic technique cross-county race.

“We used to be really spread out but our category is becoming much closer and the

gap between first and seventh is less than a minute, and it used to be three minutes,” said Hudak. “We’re getting much more competitive as a group and our placing might not sound the best but we know we’re getting closer and anything can happen.”

Cara Klug of Germany won for the second time in the women’s visually-impaired class.

The 24-year-old and her guide Martin Hartl also won gold in the mid-distance biathlon and silver in the cross-country sprint.

“It was quite hard because I feel quite sick today but the skiing was really good,” said Klug. “The last missed shot wasn’t necessary but I did it anyways.”

Klug is a B1 (most impaired) skier and has only a small sliver of side vision, a degenerative condition she was born with, and she relies on Hartl to give instructions. On the range, she uses headphones and aims her rifle sights according to the sonic beeps she hears, which get louder as she gets closer to the target.

“You need a lot of trust in your guide, otherwise it won’t work, and you need some self-confidence and I guess you just have to like the feeling of standing right on the ski and getting the feeling of being able to fly,” said Klug.

“I like Prince George a lot, I like the tracks, and for us it’s going very well. I’m a technical skier and I like it fast like that, otherwise I have to have too much power and I don’t have strength anymore.”

Klug set the pace with her adjusted time (21:51.3, 0+1), followed by Ukrainians Oksana Shyshkova and guide Vitalyiy Kazakov (22;47.0, 2+1) and bronze medalists Andriana Kapustei (24:35.9, 0+0) of Ukraine and guide Nazar Stefurak.

In the men’s visually-impaired race, Yuri Holub of Belarus and guide Dzmitry Budzilovich (29:44.4, 1+0) won gold, followed by Ukrainians Dmytro Suiarko and guide Vasyl Potapenko (21:24.1, 0+0) and bronze medalists Anatolii Kovalevskyi and guide Oleksandr Mukshyn of Ukraine (21:45.2, 1+1).

Thursday’s races start at 10:30 a.m.

Para nordic athletes loving Otway

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

Accessibility is a concern for para athletes facing the challenges of life in a world rife with physical barriers that impede their progress.

They’re not seeing those obstacles at Otway Nordic Centre.

In fact, the design and planning that went into creating the host venue of the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships is making it better for everybody connected with the event.

The athletes don’t have far to go to get to the course, the wax tents are right next to the trails and the biathlon range is a stone’s throw from the stadium area, providing spectators and coaches a wide variety of views of the athletes in action.

Even the weather is starting to cooperate. After a chilly start over the long weekend, the mercury climbed to -1 C under sunny skis Wednesday and until the wind picked up and clouds rolled in, it felt positively balmy by comparison. A large group of students from Hart Highlands Elementary School crowded around the hill overlooking the range and they let the skiers know they appreciated their efforts to put on a great show.

“I would say this has definitely surpassed expectations – it’s a World Cup venue we’ve never been to and it’s a place most have never heard of so it was a bit of an unknown,” said American sit-skier Aaron Pike, who won bronze Wednesday.

“It’s a beautiful place and once we got to the venue that’s when it really showed. It’s amazing sit-ski terrain and you can see from the live coverage it’s been awesome out here. They’ve had lots of fans, a whole busload of kids was out here today enjoying this perfect weather we got lucky with. The venue’s been great and the volunteers have been awesome.”

Pike’s girlfriend and U.S. teammate Oksana Masters, who captured her fourth gold medal in four races Wednesday, said the course layout and snow conditions on the Otway course are among the best she’s ever seen.

“This is pretty spectacular for a para

NOTEBOOK

nordic event where you can just get on snow right away, the way they have the wax cabins and you can just ski in and ski out of the lodge, you don’t have to walk up.

“When you’re driving through the town and you get here to the nordic centre it’s like a winter wonderland here with all the trees and you’re skiing through the trees, which is really unique. You don’t get that in a lot of sit-ski courses. There’s a lot of downhills, uphills and turns and you’ve got to be awake for it and it’s really fun, and the volunteers have been absolutely so sweet here.”

Czeching out the Cougars

The camera crew from Playo. tv Productions beaming the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships around the world were the guests of the Prince George Cougars for their game Tuesday night at CN Centre against the Everett Silvertips. Although the Cougars gave up three goals in the third period and lost 4-1 to the Silvertips, extending their winless streak to a team-record 17 games, the TV crew members did their best to cheer on the Cats, especially rookie centre Matej Toman, a native of the Czech Republic. It just so happened all 15 crew members are from the Toman’s homeland and they became the 18-year-old’s instant fan club.

“The guys were thrilled about the Cougars having a Czech player on the team and they spent the majority of the game making it feel like a European-style hockey match,” said Sascha Beck, the International Paralympic Committee broadcast manager.

“They were chanting his name and yelling ‘Go Cougars Go.’ It was really great. We thought that might be the good-luck charm that turned it in the Cougars’ favour but unfortunately they let in a couple in the third. But it was a good time and nice gesture to our guys.

“Some of them, it’s their first time in Canada. So to be able to see a bit outside the venue is important.”

Organizing committee chair Kevin Pettersen wants the skiers to experience all they can during their twoweek visit to the city as necessary diversions to their usual ski activities.

Through his contacts at Tourism P.G., the German team made arrangements to go to the Prince George Golf and Curling Club following Wednesday’s medal ceremony to get on the ice in a learn-to-curl session. Some of the other teams plan to attend the Spruce Kings-Chilliwack Chiefs B.C. Hockey League games Friday and Saturday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena as guests of MEDIchair Northern BC and a few will be driving up to Powder King for some downhill skiing.

“On Monday night the coach of the German team asked if there was any possibility of trying curling so I reached out to Leanne (Schinkel) at Tourism Prince George and they’ll have some great people there to help them discover curling, something they haven’t done before that is characteristically Canadian.”

Doping control

All 120 athletes were tested for performance-enhancing substances before the championships began and that testing will be ongoing during the races. All medal winners are tested after each race and a few random urine samples will be collected in the trailer located in the west parking lot behind the Rotary Lodge.

Paltrow says ski lawsuit is attempt to exploit her fame, wealth

Brady McCOMBS Citizen news service

SALT LAKE CITY — Gwyneth

Paltrow said Wednesday in a court filing that a man who accused her in a lawsuit of crashing into him at a Utah ski resort was actually the culprit in the collision and is trying to exploit her celebrity and wealth.

Paltrow was skiing with her children and friends in 2016 during a family vacation on a beginner run named Bandana at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, when Terry Sanderson smashed into her from behind and delivered a full “body blow,’ the actress’ attorney alleged in a counter claim filed in court. Paltrow said she was shaken by the collision and quit skiing for the day.

She said Sanderson apologized to her and said he was fine, her response to Sanderson’s lawsuit said. Paltrow had previously denied blame for the crash in a statement but had not yet offered a full version of the events.

“She did not knock him down,” Paltrow’s court filing said. “He knocked her down. He was not knocked out.”

Paltrow, known for her roles in Shakespeare in Love and the Iron Man movies and her lifestyle company named goop, said her injuries were minor and that she is seeking “symbolic damages” of $1 plus costs for her lawyers’ fees from Sanderson for defending herself against what she called a “meritless claim.”

Her legal response to Sanderson also called his lawsuit an “attempt to exploit her celebrity and wealth.”

Paltrow’s account differs greatly from the sequence of the events on Feb. 26, 2016 alleged by Sander-

son in his lawsuit filed last month.

He said Paltrow was skiing out of control and knocked him out, leaving him with a concussion and four broken ribs. Sanderson referred to it as a “hit and run” and is seeking $3.1 million in damages.

Sanderson, a retired Salt Lake City optometrist, told reporters on the day he sued that he waited to file the lawsuit for nearly three years because he had problems with attorneys and could not function properly because of the concussion.

Sanderson’s attorney, Robert Sykes, did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment about Paltrow’s response to his client’s lawsuit.

Sanderson’s lawsuit and Paltrow’s response to it both cite an incident report filed by a Deer Valley ski instructor about the collision.

The instructor, who was skiing with Paltrow’s nine-year-old son, said Sanderson was the uphill skier and hit Paltrow from behind. He said Paltrow had been making short turns as she skied behind her children, who were getting

ski lessons downhill from her on the same ski trail, according to the report provided to The Associated Press by Paltrow’s attorney through the actress’ spokeswoman, Heather Wilson. Paltrow’s lawyers plan to submit the report as an exhibit in the court case, Wilson said.

But the instructor said in his report said he did not actually see the collision and only heard Paltrow scream and hit the ground. He did not explain in the report how he knew that Sanderson caused the collision.

Sanderson in his lawsuit accused the instructor of filing a false report. Sanderson said he also heard Paltrow scream, right before he said she crashed into him, his lawsuit said.

Deer Valley Resort spokeswoman Emily Summers said Wednesday that the resort cannot comment on pending legal matters. Sanderson’s lawsuit against Paltrow also includes the resort as a defendant.

The resort’s attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit in a court filing Tuesday in which they denied that the instructor falsified the report and defended how ski patrol personnel responded to the crash.

The resort said its ski patrol hauled Sanderson in a toboggan to a medical tent after the collision. The resort denied it inflicted the emotional distress Sanderson said he suffered after the collision.

“A recreational skiing accident that plaintiff waited nearly three years to sue on simply does not constitute an event that renders a ‘reasonable person unable to cope with his daily life,” Deer Valley said in its court filing.

Stapleton, Dan + Shay lead ACM nominations

Citizen news service

NASHVILLE — Chris Stapleton and Dan + Shay lead the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards with six nominations each while Grammy album of the year winner Kacey Musgraves comes in with five nominations.

Reba McEntire, who is hosting the show for a record 16th time, announced the nominees in top categories on CBS This Morning on Wednesday.

The top category, entertainer of the year, is all male for the second year in a row, which includes Stapleton, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban. Even McEntire noted the lack of women in the top category during the announcement, saying “I doesn’t make me very happy because we’ve got some very

talented women who are working their butts off.”

And Musgraves is the sole female artist in the album of the year category along with Stapleton, Dan + Shay, Eric Church and Dierks Bentley.

The ACMs will be aired on CBS on April 7 from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

Stapleton is nominated twice as producer and artist for album of the year for From A Room: Volume 2, which he won last year for From A Room: Volume 1. He also seeks to win his second consecutive male artist of the year trophy and is nominated twice for song of the year for Broken Halos, for which he is also nominated as a producer.

Dan + Shay could make good on their first Grammy win for best country duo/group performance for Tequila, which has earned

Smollett suspected of filing false report

Citizen news service

The Chicago Police Department announced Wednesday evening that Jussie Smollett, the actor at the centre of a highly scrutinized case involving his alleged assault last month, is now considered a suspect in the criminal investigation for filing a false police report. Such an action would be a Class 4 felony.

Detectives also presented evidence on Wednesday to a Cook County grand jury, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

The announcement arrives days after police said they wanted to speak again to the Empire star, citing new evidence that had “shifted the trajectory of the investigation.”

Smollett previously told police he was attacked around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29 by two individuals who yelled racial and homophobic slurs, tied a rope around his neck and poured a chemical substance on him. He said at least one assailant told him “this is MAGA country” during the alleged attack. Chicago police said last month they were investigating the alleged assault against Smollett, who is black and openly gay, as a possible hate crime.

Police have not publicly discussed the new evidence that prompted them to request a follow-up interview with Smollett.

But they said the information came up in interviews with two individuals who were arrested by police last week and released Friday without being charged. Police say at least one of the two men – who are brothers and of Nigerian descent – worked on the Fox drama with Smollett, but declined to say whether the actor knew them.

In a brief phone interview Wednesday, Guglielmi said police had been in communication with Smollett’s attorneys as recently as Tuesday, but that detectives had not yet spoken with the actor. His attorneys have not yet responded to a request for comment on whether Smollett plans to speak with detectives. There have been heightened doubts about Smollett’s allegations amid increasing news reports, which cite unnamed police sources, that Smollett may have staged the attack. In a statement late Saturday, Smollett’s attorneys said he had “been further victimized by claims” he “played a role in his own attack.”

“Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying,” Chicago-based attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said in a statement, which said one of the individuals who spoke to police was a personal trainer Smollett hired to help him get ready for a music video.

them three nominations as a duo at the ACMs. They are also nominated for duo of the year, album of the year for their self-titled release and music event of the year for a duet with Kelly Clarkson. Dan Smyers earned four individual nominations for his work as a producer and songwriter.

“I was just refreshing the ACM Awards Twitter and I just kept seeing our name pop up and I was like, this has got to be some kind of joke or a mistake,” Smyers told The Associated Press on Wednesday morning. “

The multi-platinum swelling piano ballad Tequila reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart and hit their career best of No. 21 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart. Their follow-up, Speechless, kept the momentum going for the pair.

Gwyneth Paltrow is shown in April 2018 as she arrives at the world premiere of Avengers: Infinity War, in Los Angeles.

SANDERSON

Catharina Blok (nee Witvoet)

March 21, 1931 – February 5, 2019

Catharina (Rini) passed away at home, in the arms of her husband Dirk. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She had a smile and laugh that filled the room with sunshine.

Rini was born in the Netherlands, a daughter of Albertus and Geesje Witvoet. She was predeceased by her brother Harry Witvoet and grand daughter, Shannon Parsons.

In January, 1953, Rini sailed from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Halifax with only a trunk full of belongings and entered Canada through Pier 21 leaving her family behind. She bravely boarded the train and travelled across Canada to Edmonton sitting up the whole way. There she met up with her fiancé, Dirk Blok and they were married the next day, January 30th. They just celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. Together with her husband, Dirk, they built a life from next to nothing, providing their children with support and opportunities.

Rini and Dirk established their home in Prince George where they raised four children: Richard Blok (Lynn), Gerda Blok-Wilson (Galt), Maria James (Brian Shaw), and Maureen Parsons (Grant). She (Oma) loved her grandchildren: Nathan and Blake Blok; Claire, Andrea and Stephanie Wilson; David, Liah and Corey Parsons and her 12 great grandchildren.

Rini’s many passions included music, gardening, philanthropy, reading, wildlife observation, church life and faith in God, celebrations and good food. She shared these enthusiastically with all she met. Rini was a founding member of the Prince George Cantata Singers and supported the development of the performing arts in the city. Her beautiful contralto voice warmed the hearts of Prince George audiences for years and her vegetable and flower gardens were the envy of many professional gardeners. Her gardening skills transferred to reforestation and she worked for TAWA Enterprises through Western Canada during the 1980s along with Dirk.

Rini’s family is grateful to everyone who contributed to her care. Dirk, her soulmate since 14 years of age, provided round the clock care for the last three years. She often commented that she had won the million dollar lottery when she met him. Rini lived truthfully and expressed her love unconditionally. She embraced and was so grateful for her good fortune and new life in Canada. She will be missed greatly but the memories will live on.

A celebration of life will be held Friday, February 22, 2pm St Giles Presbyterian Church, 1500 Edmonton St. Rini and Dirk helped to provide clean water to 15 communities across Southern Ethiopia. The number one killer in the world is contaminated water and in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to HOPE International Development Agency for similar development: www.hope-international.com

Arvey Lawrence Webster

Passed away suddenly on Feb 14, 2019 at PGRH. Survived by brother Lloyd Webster of Cecil Lake, BC. His children; Cherryl (David) Garnot, Ray (Dee) Webster, Brenda Stewart, Holly (Brad) Jones, Rick (Deanna) Webster, Cindy Webster, numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. predeceased by wife Verna Webster, sons Lawrence and Dwight Webster, and sisters. He will be lovingly missed by all. funeral services to be held at Lakewood Funeral Chapel at 1:00pm Thursday Feb 21, 2019, luncheon to follow at Moose Hall at 633 Douglas St. Prince George, BC.

It’s with great sadness and sorrow we announce the passing of Michael Sindia September 11, 1951 - February 12, 2019 Mike passed away peacefully with his loving wife Sandi and sister Sandra by his side, on February 12, 2019 at Surrey Memorial Hospital. He was predeceased by his father Bob Sindia and nephew Darrell Sindia. Mike is survived by his best friend, soulmate and loving wife Sandi, mother Jean, sister Sandra (Ken), brother Danny (Judy), sons Rob (Tamara), Shayne, Jason, and Bryon, as well as 13 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren, many nieces and nephews, as well as a countless number of friends. Mikes love for life and happy personality, along with his wonderful laugh, will be greatly missed but will live on in our hearts and memories. He was a wonderful and loving man whom it was an honour to know. The funeral service will be held at Lakewood Alliance Church (4001 5th Ave, Prince George, B.C.) February 23 at 1:00pm with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Mike Sindia’s name to the Prince George Hospice House. Thank you!

BUSINESS

Gets some flack about being vague

cn centre april 6 to talk to the departed

Proud to be Canadian Citizens

From the trenches of a war-ravaged country to beautiful Prince George, one couple tells their story

Hungarian refugees Larry (Laurence) and Anna Herbert are still thankful to this day for the opportunity to become naturalized Canadian citizens. Here is a glimpse into how it all happened.

Larry Herbert was born in Kislod, Hungary in 1933. He was engaged to be married to Anna Gazso – a girl who lived down the street. Anna was also born in Kislod in 1938.

It was 62 years ago, that Larry picked up his wages for the last time and in the middle of the night the young couple and eight other young adults fled their county of birth by the light of the moon and headed for Austria to escape the tyranny of communism. They crawled through ditches to escape the guards who, if they caught them, would shoot them from tanks patrolling the borders. When they arrived at the bridge where their hand drawn map instructed them to cross the river, they found that the bridge had been blown up.

They continued on to a more dangerous area to cross the river and when they arrived on the other side the bullets were flying. They had to crawl in the marsh along the side of the river until they arrived at the border. To their relief, the border guards were asleep on the job so they were able to just walk across to safety.

Once they made it past the border and into Austria, they were housed in a refugee camp for a period of one week. They left the refugee camp with only the clothes on their backs. They were issued temporary passports and after signing documents agreeing to get jobs and pay back the airfare they were flown to Can-

ada. Larry and Anna and other refugees landed in Toronto, Ont. in December of 1956.

Anna said, “When we arrived in Toronto we were met by officials from the Canadian Red Cross. Larry and I each received $5 and the news that we did not have to pay back the cost of our airfare. That was great news and the $5 seemed like a fortune. The Canadians and the

Hungarian Canadians were wonderful to us. They shared their food with us and gave us clothing. They helped us send the news back home that we made it safely to Canada. We felt that we were lucky to be alive.

“We could not speak English but we did speak German so that was a start. We moved to Sarnia, Ont. because I had an aunt and some cousins living there.

The first thing we did was get a marriage license and we had a church wedding. We found work and started to learn the English language.

“We lived there for 13 years. Larry worked as a millwright at Canadian Oil and I worked in the hotel industry. We saved some money and bought a small house.

“In 1969 we heard that the pulp mills in Prince George were hiring. We took a holiday in July and went to Prince George. We couldn’t believe it but it was snowing in Prince George on Canada Day that year. We liked Prince George because of all the hunting and fishing and the fact that we would have a paid move to Prince George if we accepted a job at Canfor. The drawback was that there was very little housing and we could not find anything that we really liked.

“We returned to Ontario and prepared to move. Larry left for Prince George, I sold the house and sadly said good bye to all my friends and then I followed Larry.” Anna became a stay at home mom. They bought some land and had a house built. They sold that house and built another one because they needed a bigger house because their family was growing.

Larry worked at Intercontinental Pulp as a millwright and retired in 1993 after 24 years on the job.

They traveled a bit and then lived at Cluculz Lake for a few years until health issues caused them to move back to Prince George.

They had three children; John (deceased), Larry and Elizabeth. They had two grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. Sadly, their grandchild Ryan passed away.

Anna said, “We are thankful to have lived our lives here in Canada and especially Prince George. I am still in touch on a regular basis with my friends back in Ontario as well as my friends and family here in Prince George. They are all my greatest source of enjoyment.”

97/16 photo by brent braaten

Larry and Anna Herbert came from Hungary during the war and started their journey to Prince George in Ontario. SeniorS’ Scene

kaThy nadalin

LocaL author pens one book, writing two more

was writing something outside the usual Christian literary tropes.

A Good Death To Self has been given life.

This new book was penned by Prince George writer Solomon Goudsward, the young scribe’s debut novel, and it was launched recently with an event at Books & Company.

Bookstore staff called the new novel “an honest, funny, simple yet contemplative story of friendship, freewill, faith and change in a Northern town.” Goudsward told The Citizen that it took him three years of intermittent effort to create the book.

“It was just a matter of sticking with it,” he said. “I’ve written other stuff, and some larger projects in the past and did not always stick it through. I don’t know what it was about this project, but I just kept coming back to it.”

Part of the motivation was its underpinnings to his Christian faith, but another part of the motivation was knowing he

“There’s a lot of swearing and drinking which is often counter to what many in the Christian community consider their lifestyle, but that’s a choice, and it’s not what I wanted to explore with these characters in this setting,” Goudsward said. “I know it will not be popular with certain Christians, I know this is not really bestseller material just because it doesn’t fit into those nice, safe genres, but I think it’s a good read. It’s an indie style I think a certain set of readers will really enjoy.”

He’s aiming the book at the young adult population, but believes it also has wider appeal outside of that.

“It’s not the big coming-of-age adventure. It’s the facing of reality, and that is mild and simple and about the nuances of growing up. There is a climax but it’s not life-and-death stakes on the line,” he said.

Books & Company quickly sold out of their first shipment of A Good Death

To Self, so Goudsward had the pleasant problem of having to order more. It is also available via Amazon, and comes in paperback and ebook platforms.

For Goudsward, it was putting his local education to creative use. He went to Cedars Christian School for his grade school years, and is now in his third year of studies at UNBC.

He credits English professor Rob Budde for being a helpful force on his writing aspirations.

“One of the most important things I learned through this is, I’m capable of completing a book, which is important because I’m working on another,” he said. “It also played a part as my own therapy and working through my youth mentality. I was a year out of high school and trying to navigate the questions about what are we doing here? Free will, what does that all mean? Who do I get to be in my life? I wasn’t writing from a place of understanding the answers; I was writing from a place of being caught up in these questions myself. Answers are

not always the answer.”

What he did know for certain was the setting in which he was steeped. The most common writer’s axiom is “write what you know” and a big part of that could be restated “write where you know.”

Goudsward said being born and raised in Prince George “had a big influence on my writing and although it’s not called that in the book, the setting is totally a fictionalized version of Prince George.” He said he has a pair of primary works underway next.

One he calls “a very ambitious novel” inspired by Tolstoy “in vague terms –inspired by history and desire and some big ideas we sometimes have about other people.”

The other is something completely different, “a comedic collaboration” he is doing with his dad Ken Goudsward who is also a noted local writer and musician. To think of what they might come up with together is a tantalizing page-turner of an idea.

97/16 photo by Brent Braaten Local author solomon Goudsward held a book signing at books & Company and sold out. There’s more copies coming.

FRAnk peebleS 97/16 staff

Questioning ‘the best a man can get’

For 30 years, the Gillette Corporation has used the term, “The best a man can get” as its tagline. It sounded good, and it appealed to the cultural standard of competition, the idea that to be a real man, one needed to be the best, even if it meant to win at all costs.

Gillette advertisements showed how men shaving with their razors attracted the most beautiful models or had the most dominant athletic careers. The question arises, however, as to how well that ideal has served us. How realistic are these goals for the majority of the male population? Even if a man did attain those goals, was his life more satisfying? Was Gillette simply pointing us toward the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in order to sell its product?

Albert Einstein tells us, “The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

It seems that the decision makers at Gillette have been asking themselves these difficult questions. What does “The best a man can get” really mean? A recently released extended Gillette commercial thus begins by playing audio news headlines and asks, “Is this the best a man can get?”

It seems that the decision makers at Gillette have been asking themselves difficult questions. A recently released extended Gillette commercial thus begins by playing audio news headlines and asks, “Is this the best a man can get?”

Along with greater instances of certain stress related illnesses, men tend to have much higher incarceration rates than women, and global statistics show that men are much more likely to commit criminal acts of violence. Data such as

LessoNs iN

LearNiNg

Gerry ChiDiaC

this usually indicates that there are problems which need to be addressed.

Asking questions about the way we do things tends to make us uncomfortable. Perhaps this explains the overwhelming

... asking ourselves difficult questions and challeging ourselves to be our best is a characteristic of those who live the happiest and most peaceful lives.

initial backlash to the new turn in Gillette advertising. There are twice as many “dislikes” as “likes” for the commercial on YouTube, and comments are extremely critical. The media is also filled with editorials reflecting this backlash, with British commentator Piers Morgan leading the way.

What is interesting is that asking ourselves difficult questions and challenging ourselves to be our best is a characteristic of those who live the happiest and most peaceful lives. Effective people recognize their value and do not find these types of questions to be a threat. Perhaps that is where we need to begin.

We are born with a gender, and all genders are good. I am a male. I have a certain body type. Certain hormones are more prevalent and others are less prevalent in my blood. I have facial hair. Though I am taught certain standards by my culture, what I do with my maleness is my choice.

Gillette makes shaving products which they want men to buy.

Perhaps all that Gillette is asking is whether or not their advertisements in the past have helped or hindered men in embracing what it means to be male. It is admirable to publicly question oneself, and it can also be good business.

What does it mean to be the best that I can be? I value effort and determination, but the people I admire also practice compassion, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance, kindness and love. Some of the men I see as the “best a man can get” are Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Jesus of Nazareth.

It should be noted the qualities which made these men great have nothing to do with their maleness, and great women like Mother Teresa, Mary of Nazareth, Dorothy Day, Angela Merkel and Oprah Winfrey display similar qualities.

Perhaps the question we need to be asking ourselves is not “What is the best a man can get?” It is simply, “What is the best that I can be as a human being?”

Gerry Chidiac is a champion for social enlightenment, inspiring others to find their greatness in making the world a better place. For more of his writings, go to www.gerrychidiac.com.

announced its new razor, Gillette skinGuard, designed for men with sensitive skin in November 2018 in New york. Perhaps this razor reflects the changing role of their age-old slogan of “the best a man can get.”

End of in-days, hopefully

Home agaiN MeGan kuklis

When inclement weather hits Prince George, everyone shudders with horror, bundles up in all of their winter clothes and starts their car thirty minutes before they have to leave the house in order not to freeze. Most people will vigorously complain about the cold, head to work and rush home and stay there until they absolutely have to leave the house.

It is cozy, hyyge weather. It should be lovely and crisp and full of book reading and warm blankets.

But parents of school-aged children know the darkside of wintery weather: in-days at school.

Let me explain: when the school district dictates (as it should) that it is too cold for children to safely be outside, an in-day is scheduled.

The kids are excited because a) it is bloody cold outside and 2) they get to play inside games. What happens is that the jittery ants in the kids’ pants that are normally released at recess and lunch when the kids can play, run and burn off some pent up school energy are all contained in the classroom and then are released all at once when the children return home. Our children’s school (as with other schools) does its best to help with excessive energy (sometimes the kids

9716 file photo sun streams through the trees as steam rises from the Fraser river as recent temperatures plummeted.

have to run up and down stairs) but it is never enough. After two in-days in a row, teachers, parents and kids are climbing the walls. Homes (my home, at least) get fractious and cranky.

It is terrible.

But when the sun comes out again and the wind dies down and the temperatures warms a fraction, it is like a poem opens up inside of you – the kids go outside again. They get fresh air, they run around in snow pants (which is fairly hard work) and they laugh and play –again – out of the house.

Once the door shuts, the echo of the slam reverberates into your silent home. For five whole minutes, there is blessed silence and peace and no one is fighting… until the door opens again because someone pushed someone or threw their sibling’s mittens in the snow. It is a short-lived peace but it is welcome.

97/16 news service photo by Diane Bondareff Gillette

Swimming with the whale Shark

steve MacNaull Kelowna Daily Courier

In my periphery vision, slowly and steadily, a hulking, dark and indeterminate shadow appears.

My heart quickens and there’s an involuntarily sharp intake of breath on my snorkel mouthpiece.

I first focus on an elaborate pattern of white dots on a glossy black background. Huge gills below flutter in the water. A pectoral fin appears, working like a lazy pendulum, and five metres behind a massive tail sweeps.

I work the flippers on my feet harder to speed up and get closer, and suddenly, I’m eye to eye with a whale shark, the largest fish on the planet. Given his size, eight-metres and counting, it’s a surprise this shark’s eyes are no bigger than mine. As such, the stare down is startlingly intimate and initially frightening.

After all, this is a massive fish of the shark species.

But not to fear.

While this gentle giant has a gaping mouth, his teeth are miniscule and he’s interested only in feasting only on plankton.

Therefore, he is completely indifferent to my presence. So, as long as I follow the rules – keep a one metre distance and stay away from the tail – he and I are ideal swimming partners.

We establish a rhythm, him languidly propelling himself through the planktonrich sea feeding and me keeping pace. It’s mesmerizing, it’s intoxicating, it’s

one of those bucket list activities that can only be believed when experienced. After 10 minutes, guide Leo Ramirez

Continued on page 6

taps my shoulder to return to the group, which includes my wife, Kerry, to watch two other whale sharks feed while sus-

pended vertically in the water.

97/16 photo Courtesy of Baja Charters baja Charters takes groups out to swim with whale sharks, the largest fish on the planet, in the sea of Cortez.

Lazy days and divine dinners in Baja

Continued from page 5

Again, I’m fascinated.

But nothing can match my first time coming eye-to-eye with a magnificent whale shark.

Back on the boat, everyone is excitedly peppering Leo and marine biologist Mariana Padilla with questions.

I find out my one-on-one buddy has been nicknamed Diggy Diggy by the crew of Baja Charters, the tour operator we’ve booked for this once-in-a-lifetime thrill. He has a scar on his dorsal fin and is about 20 years old, a youngster, considering these creatures live up to 120 years and grow to 18 metres. Whale sharks, aren’t whales at all, but sharks. They earned the whale adjective due to their impressive size. Every winter, these docile and harmless sharks winter in the Bay of Cortez near La Paz, Mexico at the tip of the Baja Peninsula. And they’ve become a tourism spectacle. Several companies offer tours to interact with

these incredible beasts under strict government guidelines.

We chose Baja Charters because it has a stellar reputation and is the most luxurious of the operators.

After our whale shark fun, we return on the Island Kitty tender to the five-metre Island Cat catamaran for warm showers and more animated conversation over margaritas and steak-and-chicken tacos in the sunshine on deck. The whale shark encounter is the highlight of our getaway to the Los Cabos region of the Baja, which seamlessly blends a Southern California aesthetic with Mexican authenticity.

We enjoy that vibe and completely unwind at two of Los Cabo’s most luxurious hotels, both in the five-star Auberge Resorts Collection.

At Chileno Bay Resort we switch it up between lounging in a cabana beside the three-tier infinity pools and swimming and snorkelling in a protected cove of the Sea of Cortez. Our sumptuous room

provides the type of no-alarm sleep-ins that perfect vacations are made of.

We dine by candlelight clifftop at the al fresco Comal on blackened tuna and Sauvignon Blanc. Speaking of nouveau Mexican cuisine, after moving to the area’s second Auberge resort, Esperanza, we perch ourselves on the promontory that is Cocina del Mar restaurant for totoaba fish for two paired with Mexican sparkling wine.

With waves crashing below, it’s the most romantic and atmospheric dinner we’ve ever had.

Otherwise, we only leave our casita with the disappearing glass wall for couple time in the white hammock at the beach and quick plunges in yet another infinity pool.

Air Canada flies between San Jose del Cabo and Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto with the airline’s comfortable, new, quiet and fuel- efficient 737 Max jets. Check out BajaCharters.com, AubergeResorts.com and AirCanada.com.

Marine biologist

primed us for swimming with whale sharks during a demonstration with Freddie the plush toy replica.

97/16 photos by Steve MacNaull baja Charters’ 54- foot catamaran, Island Cat, ferries tourists out on the sea of Cortez to swim with whale sharks.

Mariana Padilla

Five thinGS to Know about wine

Wine appreciation can be a snobbish hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. We can love wine without being obsessed by it, and we can be knowledgeable about it without lording our superiority over others.

A basic knowledge of wine can keep us conversant in snobbish company and help us sort through the multitude of selections on the retail shelf, while still having a life. Most importantly, it can enhance our experience at the dinner table, where it matters most.

So with that being said, I introduce an occasional feature on wine’s basics, with five things I think you should know about a wine grape or a region, or some aspect of wine we may take for granted (corks, or corkscrews, for example).

My hope is to enhance your enjoyment of wine, which is, after all, the only wine appreciation that matters. And if this helps you score a point or two in conversation at wine tastings, so much the better.

Our first subject is cabernet sauvignon, perhaps the world’s most popular red wine grape.

1. Where it’s from: Cabernet sauvignon is the progeny of cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc, two grapes still prominent today. It originated, probably spontaneously, in Bordeaux in France, in the mid-1700s. Or thereabouts. For wine romanticists, that means the Bordeaux that Thomas Jefferson enjoyed on his visits to the region in the 1780s were probably not primarily cabernet.

2. Where it grows: To be honest, almost

everywhere wine grapes are planted, because it is so popular. But that doesn’t mean it performs well everywhere. It favours a temperate “Goldilocks” climate: Not too hot, not too cold. In its homeland of Bordeaux, cabernet dominates the red wine blends in the Médoc and Graves, two areas on the Left Bank of the Gironde Estuary, closer to the maritime influence of the Atlantic. Wines labeled St. Estephe, Pauillac, St. Julien, Margaux, Graves, Médoc or Haut-Médoc are likely to be at least 50 percent cabernet sauvignon. On the warmer, inland Right Bank, merlot and cabernet franc dominate the blends.

In California, cab is king. This is especially true in Napa Valley, which has become almost synonymous with the variety. It was the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars cabernet, from Napa, that dethroned top Bordeaux at the famous Judgment of Paris tasting in 1976, proving that

world-class wine could be made outside of France. Over the past two decades, Napa’s “cult cabs” have come to symbolize wine mania and helped (along with other factors) drive the price of Napa cabernet into the stratosphere.

Other regions produce cabernets that are downright cheap compared with Napa Valley. Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley and Sonoma Valley are prime examples, and farther south, Paso Robles grows some top-notch cabernet. So does Washington state’s Columbia Valley.

Other regions: Chile makes noteworthy cabs, from $ to $$$ (Colchagua, Aconcagua, Apalta), as does Argentina (Mendoza) and Australia (Coonawarra, Barossa).

3. What it tastes like: Cab sauv is known for dark fruit flavours: black cherry, blackberry, black currant (cassis). There may also be baking spice – anise, clove, nutmeg. Graphite is a common de-

scriptor, especially in Bordeaux; think of those No. 2 pencils you used to sharpen as a kid.

When underripe or overcropped (too much fruit on the vine, diluting flavour), cab can taste green and vegetal. Herbal flavours, such as mint or sage, can be good, and a hint of bell pepper is fine. Same with black tea or olive. Any flavour that just says “vegetables,” not so much. If it tastes like dried fruit – prunes, raisins – the grapes were overripe, and the alcohol is probably higher (15 percent or up). This is usually a stylistic choice by the winemaker; it’s up to you to decide whether you like it.

4. What to eat with it: Cabernet sauvignon is high in tannins, which make your teeth itch after you swallow the wine. Tannins are a status symbol for red wine, because they give it longevity in the cellar for long aging. For food pairing, just remember three words: fat cuts tannin. That’s why cab sauv is your ideal partner for grilled steaks, hamburgers, braised short ribs or any Flintstonian slabs of beef.

5. Cabernet doesn’t match our lifestyle anymore: See No. 4. As we move away from our “meat and three” menu toward a lower-fat diet, do we need such big wines? Yes, there are lighter expressions of cabernet, but there are also other grapes that are more versatile with the wide range of cuisines we enjoy today, and more appropriate with a less meatcentric diet. I am not predicting the end of cabernet, by any means, but perhaps other wines, such as cabernet franc, malbec, gamay, barbera and pinot noir, with their softer tannins and palate-friendly fruit, are more appropriate for today.

97/16 news service photo by Katherine Frey Cabernet sauvignon grapes at a Maryland vineyard in 2016.

97/16 news service pshoto by Stacy Zarin Goldberg

These wines show that high-quality cabernet sauvignon isn’t out of reach.

athletics, live music and the coldest night

The Occupation of Heather Rose

Until Sunday, Feb. 24 at Theatre NorthWest, #36-556 North Nechako Rd., The Occupation of Heather Rose will be presented. It’s the first play ever staged by Theatre NorthWest. Twenty-five years later the theatre is bringing it back. It’s

a beautiful heartwarming and inspiring play that charts the growth in the understanding of a naïve nurse working on the Snake Lake Reserve in Northern Ontario. For more information call 250-614-0039 or email FOH@theatrenorthwest.com.

World Para Nordic Skiing Championships

Until Sunday, February 24 at the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, 8141 Otway Rd., the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships see para Nordic athletes who are grouped into three classes for competition (sitting, standing, and visually impaired) and will compete in four cross-country skiing and four biathlon medal events over a period of 10 days. There will be about 140 athletes from 20 different nations, more than 200 coaches and officials at the event.

For more information visit www.caledonianordic.com.

Spruce Kings

Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. come on down to the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena and watch the action close up as the Spruce King play on the road to the RBC cup. For more information visit www. sprucekings.bc.ca.

Prince George Cougars

Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at CN Centre, 2187 Ospika Blvd., come support the Cougars in their regular season on their way to the championship. For more information visit www.pgcougars. com.

Chris Goodwin Live

Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Oakroom Grill, 104-1023 Central St. West, Chris Goodwin, a newcomer to the local music scene will perform country, folk, pop and rock. As a solo musician, Chris brings his unique voice and love of all music to his performances. Enjoy an evening of music suited for everyone. For more information call 250-277-1882 or email oakroomgrill@hotmail.com.

Lyle Bats and The Alkemist

Friday at 8 p.m. at the Omineca Arts Centre, 369 Victoria St., Lyle Bats and The Alkemist present an all ages show. Lyle Bats is a new musical projection from Williams Lake featuring Brent Morton. For more infomration call 250-5520826 or email info@ominecaartscentre. com. Entry is $10 at the door.

Live Music at Northern Lights

Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Northern Lights Estate Winery, 745 Prince George Pulpmill Rd., there are local entertainers presenting live music. This week will feature a performance by Red Wyne. For more information call 250-564-1112 or email nlewhabanga@ gmail.com.

Coldest Night of the Year

Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m. at St. Giles Presbyterian Church, 1500 Edmonton St., AWAC, Association Advocating for Women and Community, is hosting the Coldest Night of the Year, a two, five or 10 km family-friendly winter walk-a-thon

hosted in more than 125 cities across Canada to support individuals experiencing homelessness, hunger and other barriers by raising funds and awareness. All proceeds will go to AWAC’s various housing programs to support individuals in securing and maintaining housing. To register contact Alanna Le Cerf at 250-617-3037 or email programmanager@awacshelter.org.

Afro Fusion Dinner

Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the College of New Caledonia, 3330-22nd Ave., CNC Black History committee is hosting an Afro Fusion Cuisine Dinner and entertainment where proceeds will go to an endowment bursary.

Tickets for age 13 and up are $25 each, age 7 to 12 are $10, six and under are free. Tickets are at CNC Bookstore, UNBC Bookstore, DJ Afro Superstore and Books & Company. For more information call 778-349-1317 or email yangy7@cnc. bc.ca.

Mulled Wine Festival

Saturday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. and 2:30 to 4 p.m. at Northern Lights Estate Winery, 745 Prince George Pulpmill Rd., the winery is hosting its fourth Annual Winter Wine Festival. Tickets are $25, which includes a tasting mug and five to six 1.5 oz samples. Guests are asked to vote for their favourite. For more information call 250-564-1112 or email info@northernlightswinery.ca.

Miracle Theatre

Thursday, Feb. 28 until Wednesday, March 20 at 8 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on March 3, 19 and 17 at ArtSpace, above Books & Co., 1685 Third Ave., Halfway There is a professional theatre production with actors hired from across Canada.

This comedy is about friends for life and the surprises that arise when a new doctor comes to town.

This year’s beneficiary is the Community Foundation and all net proceeds will start the new Children of Prince George Fund. Tickets are $33 at Books & Co. or call 250-563-6637.

97/16 photo by Brent Braaten athletes at the The Prince George 2019 World Para Nordic skiing Championships get some unofficial practice in on the biathlon range Thursday at Otway Nordic Centre. a variety of events are being held until Feb. 24.

SportS

O’ROuRke behind Team b.C. benCh

ted clarke

97/16 staff

Steve O’Rourke has ditched his role as associate coach of the Prince George Cougars, to take on a new role as a head coach.

But that’s only for a couple of weeks. The 44-year-old Summerland native is coaching Team B.C. this week in Red Deer at the Canada Winter Games, following up on a group of under-16 players he first started working with at the WHL Cup tournament in Calgary in October 2017.

This is O’Rourke’s second Canada Winter Games experience. In 1991, when he was 15, he played as a defenceman for Team Saskatchewan in the Canada Games tournament in Charlottetown, P.E.I., while enrolled at a hockey academy in Notre Dame.

“This is such a unique experience, the Canada Winter Games, it’s such a massive event, it’s a mini Olympics and I was fortunate to be in it as a player,” said O’Rourke. “For the majority of us who play hockey, we’ll never be in the Olympics and this is like that. To go through the accreditations, to be there with other athletes from the other sports, and to go somewhere and be part of an athlete village and all the experiences you have, it’s an amazing thing.”

Having the Games in Red Deer is like a homecoming for O’Rourke, whose daughter Sophie was born there while he was an associate coach with the WHL Red Deer Rebels.

B.C. lost its first game 4-2 Sunday to Manitoba. Tyler Brennan of Winnipeg, the Cougars’ 21st overall pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft, stopped 37 of 39 B.C. shots. The boys from B.C. rebounded Sunday with a 4-3 win over Saskatchewan. Ontario and Alberta, the finalists in 2015, are the favourites again this time to make it to Saturday’s final.

“We have to play a good structured game right from start to finish and the big thing is just buying in,” said O’Rourke. “Our last group (in the WHL Cup), we kind of peaked at the right time and we were fortunate enough to beat Alberta in the gold-medal game.

“It’s the same philosophy we’ll put together, everyone will have a role and everyone will play a lot of minutes throughout it. No one’s going to be a star player

for us and everyone will be contributing right through the lineup.”

Brian Pellerin of the Tri-City Americans and former Cougar assistant Jason Becker of the Penticton Vees are O’Rourke’s assistant coaches. Brent Arsenault, a former assistant for the Cougars and Spruce Kings who now lives in Kamloops, is the team manager.

In 2015, at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George, O’Rourke’s son Ethan, now a member of the Swift Current Broncos, played as a centre for Team B.C. Following that tournament, the manager of the team, Cariboo Cougars GM Trevor Sprague, asked O’Rourke if he’d like to get involved as a coach in the under-16 provincial program and O’Rourke signed a two-year commitment.

The B.C. team in Red Deer is made up of eight players who are with B.C. Hockey Major Midget League teams and 12 from hockey academies. Fischer O’Brien of Prince George was part of the summer camp and his Cariboo Cougars teammate Matthew Magrath was invited to the Team BC tryouts two summers ago, but there are no local players from north central interior playing on the team.

Logan Stankhoven of Kamloops, a Kamloops Blazers pick, is playing for B.C., as is Kelowna Rockets prospect Trevor Wong. Fin Williams, a forward from North Vancouver, was picked as the flag bearer for Team B.C. for the Canada Games opening ceremonies.

“It’s a huge step for these guys to make that final 20,” said O’Rourke. “I know last year Alberta had 11 (WHL draft) firstrounders on their team.”

Winger Craig Armstrong of Airdrie, Alta., drafted ninth overall last year by the Cougars, is playing this week for Team Alberta, while Cougars’ defence prospect Hudson Thornton is part of Team Manitoba.

“We want to win but I want those kids to have a great experience and that’s why they all have a role on the team, we’re not going to ride one line,” said O’Rourke. “For me, we’re all part of the win or all part of the loss. The parents put a lot of money into all these steps and these kids deserve to play.

“We test these kids and interview them and push our agenda all the time about being a good person. We do individual talks with these guys and tell them

where they’re at and what they need to improve on. We had one guy, I won’t mention names, who was a fringe guy for us and we challenged him to be a better guy, a better person and the kid’s been unbelievable. He was a great player at (the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge) and he’s got a (college) scholarship. The point is to get to them before they get to a junior level and they’re not coachable or don’t play the right way.”

O’Rourke’s Saskatchewan team finished fifth in 1991. He went on to play defence in the WHL’s Tri-City and Moose Jaw, was picked in the seventh round by the New York Islanders, later playing at the University of Lethbridge and as a pro in the ECHL, UHL and England.

“Fifth place was pretty decent for us as a small province, and we actually ended up in a line brawl in the final game against P.E.I – a bunch of Saskatchewan thugs,” laughed O’Rourke. “It was a great event and I think they’ve improved it and it’s become bigger and bigger.”

The Canada Games men’s hockey tournament ends Saturday and O’Rourke will be back when the Cougars host the Spokane Chiefs, Feb. 25 at CN Centre.

97/16 photo provided by Prince George Cougars steve O’rourke, an associate coach for the Prince George Cougars, is Team b.C.’s head coach during the Canada Winter Games held in red deer.

Games usinG new Gender inclusion policy

lori ewing

Athletes at the 2019 Canada Winter Games can live and compete as the gender they identify with.

It’s another groundbreaking initiative for a Canadian multi-sport event that prides itself on being ahead of the curve.

“Inclusiveness is something we’ve done since Day 1, and so this is an extension of that,” said David Patterson, president and CEO of the Canada Games Council.

The Canada Games board adopted its gender inclusion policy in December, and it has been implemented for the Winter Games that are happening now through March 3 in Red Deer, Alta.

97/16 wire service 9716

“The CGC recognizes that sex and gender are not the same thing, and that individuals are born with different combinations of sex and gender as part of their identity,” the policy states. “This policy aims to set the conditions by which the CGC and its Host Societies will create a safe and welcoming environment for transgender or intersex participants at the Canada Games.”

The initiative comes after U Sports, the governing body of university athletics in Canada, announced a new transgender policy in September that allows athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their gender identity.

Patterson said the policy was put into place after about a year of research, and that they borrowed from U Sports, along with other Canadian sport organizations, such as Ringette Canada, that have strong trans-inclusion policies.

More than 100,000 athletes have competed in the Games since their inaugural year in 1967.

The Games are a stepping stone onto the international scene not only for athletes, but coaches and officials, and a catalyst, said Patterson, for other Canadian sport organizations right down to the grassroots level.

“As we make changes to how we do sport, we’re hoping that those changes become a catalyst to where that change happens at (other sports) events as well,” Patterson said.

Because athletes aren’t asked to provide their gender – only which gender they’ll be competing as – Patterson doesn’t know how many athletes the new policy will benefit.

“We’re confident that it’s more than zero, and that athletes who might not have been welcome are going to be more

welcomed,” he said.

The new policy, he said, will allow athletes to feel more welcome. Previous Games saw some athletes stay in hotels with their parents rather than in the athletes’ village.

“We’re in a good place in Red Deer where if an athlete identifies as trans, or identifies as non-binary, we’ll be able to make sure they can have a good experience here. Everything is built around the athlete’s best interest, and the athlete’s experience here at the Games,” he said. “As with any other athlete here, when they have a need, we should be the ones doing the accommodating, not the other way around.”

The Canada Games achieved gender equity -– equal number of female athletes as male – back in the late 1980s. It’s also the only multi-sport event that includes able-bodied, para, and Special Olympic

athletes, Patterson said. He feels that makes the Canada Games the most integrated multi-sport event in the world.

Athletes all compete for one team.

“If you’re Team Ontario, you’re Team Ontario,” Patterson said. “So that level of integration is quite unique, and so that notion and bias towards inclusiveness, this fits that. This is continuing the way we’ve approached sport.

“The big thing is we want athletes to be themselves here, because the joy and the beauty of the Canada Games is seeing athletes being themselves and doing great things.”

Gender inclusion signage has been posted in Canada Games venues in Red Deer that was similar to what greeted athletes at Canada Olympic House at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last winter.

“Within these walls, you are welcomed, accepted and respected,” it reads. “Here, no matter who you are or where you come from, you are at home, regardless of your sex, sexual orientation, race, marital or family status, gender identity or expression, sex characteristics, age, colour, disability, political or religious belief or non-belief. All that we ask is that you be ethical, excellent and inclusive in all you do.”

The Canada Games have seen a who’s who of the country’s sports stars compete, from Sidney Crosby to Hayley Wickenheiser to Catriona Le May Doan and Andre De Grasse.

More than 3,600 athletes and coaches are participating in 19 sports at the Red Deer Games, which opened on Friday.

Two B.C. auThorS refleCT oN SuCCeSS

Governor General’s Award for non-fiction in 2018 and is a finalist for the upcoming $30,000 RBC Taylor Prize.

After emerging in 2018 with bestselling, critically acclaimed memoirs, Darrel McLeod and Terese Mailhot reflect on the limitations of being labelled part of a new “native American literary renaissance.”

Although their books are rooted in personal experience, their storytelling transcends the particular to express the experience of loss and trauma with artistic integrity and profound universality.

Nehiyaw: Darrel McLeod on being proud When Darrel McLeod set out for Yekooche, an isolated community 75 kilometres north of Fort St. James, to interview for a job, he was also on a quest to find himself. It was 1989.

McLeod, raised in Smith, Alta., in a large Cree family, was teaching French immersion in an affluent Vancouver neighbourhood.

But the loss of his sister Debbie to suicide and the death of his mother, Bertha, had changed everything.

“I was desperate. My mother was my connection to my culture. I was losing my culture.”

McLeod sent resumes “to every Indian reservation I could.”

He landed the job in Yekooche where, during an orientation meeting led by the school superintendent, he met Dakelh elder Catherine Bird.

“Catherine turned to me and said, ‘So, you’re Cree. You’re our traditional enemy. You Cree men used to steal our horses and our women. For centuries. You’re our enemy. I don’t know what you’re doing here.’ ”

The school superintendent froze. “She turned white, trying to figure out how to deal with the situation.”

Suddenly, said McLeod, Bird slapped her knee and burst into laughter.

McLeod and Bird became fast friends, and shared many stories: McLeod’s childhood growing up “nehiyaw,” or Cree, in the Lesser Slave Lake area of Alberta, and Bird’s reflections on raising 11 children on her own, hunting, trapping and later working to preserve traditional languages.

It was Bird who told McLeod to preserve his own stories by writing them down.

“They will help people,” she said. McLeod says, “I knew it wasn’t just Catherine talking. It was the universe. It was direction, through this elder.”

McLeod, who lives in Sooke on southwestern Vancouver Island, became a chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations, before he began to write seriously.

Six years ago, in his first writing class with mentor Betsy Warland, he wrote about how his mother and sister Debbie had secreted him in a basket to hide him from social services authorities.

Over the next year, 26 short stories poured out.

His memoir, Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age, (Douglas & McIntyre) tells of growing up in a fierce, loving family touched by violence, cultural displacement, sexual abuse, religious indoctrination, inter-generational trauma, queer and trans realities.

McLeod has been “deeply humbled” by its reception: Mamaskatch won the

He just landed a U.S. publishing deal.

Mamaskatch has also placed McLeod among what some literary critics call a new “native renaissance.”

For McLeod, now working on a novel, it would be more accurate to see this moment more as “an upsurge, or a burgeoning” of “new and renewed voices,” rather than a renaissance, which implies something has disappeared or declined before a rebirth.

“We’ve always been here.”

Among authors he admires who happen to be Indigenous, McLeod cites Eden Robinson, Joshua Whitehead, Billy Rae Belcourt, Cherie Demaline, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Katherena Vermette and Terese Mailhot.

McLeod says he was influenced by traditional storytelling, although his family didn’t call it that.

“My great grandfather’s trapping cabin was a place with no electricity, no running water, so we’d all sit around and the adults would tell stories about things that had happened to them, historical things, new things. It was quite an art to be a storyteller.”

McLeod says the storytelling was “bicultural.”

His uncles would hook up an old wooden radio to the car battery and the whole family would listen, mesmerized by Story Hour on mainstream radio.

He credits his mentors Warland, Shaena Lambert and Douglas Glover, who published McLeod’s first story in his journal Numero Cinq, as well as the ancestors he connects to through ceremony.

“Since I published this book, ceremony has become even more important because I feel a responsibility to support the people who are reading my book while they are reading it, to ask that my ancestors be vigilant and to look out for them, too.”

McLeod says one of the most powerful outcomes of sharing his story has been renewed relationships with his family and other survivors of trauma.

“My mother always lectured us to remember who we were. You’re nehiyaw. Be proud. Never let anyone else feel that they are more than you or that they are better than you. I was always crystal clear about where I was from and who I was, in my mind and heart and I never felt the desire or need to be anything else.”

Transcending labels: Terese Mailhot’s storytelling

When author Roxane Gay announced the syllabus for her upcoming Yale University writing class, Heart Berries, by B.C.-raised Terese Mailhot, was on the list.

In an email to Postmedia, Gay said, “I chose to teach Heart Berries, because it is a gorgeously written memoir that demonstrates exceptional complexity and craft. I am teaching a class on writing trauma and there is so much my students will learn from this book about how to effectively and ethically write about trauma.”

Mailhot’s spare, poetic memoir of breakdown and, ultimately, breakthrough, was a New York Times bestseller and has garnered international acclaim.

97/16 photo by Nick Procaylo via Vancouver Sun Cree author darrel McLeod at english bay in Vancouver.

deNise ryaN Vancouver Sun

Bestselling Book is no ‘artifact,’ author says

Continued from page 11

In interviews that took place in Vermont and by phone, Mailhot reflected on the changes success has brought, and her complicated feelings about her work being labelled as part of a new “native American literary renaissance.”

“The terminology of the native literary renaissance services those who need it. It’s difficult to talk about without being somewhat resentful. I don’t use that term unless I’m talking to someone outside the culture,” said Mailhot, a postdoctoral fellow at Purdue University. “There were periods of time in which native people were always seen in the light of something stagnant and old.”

(The term “native American renaissance” was coined by American academic Kenneth Lincoln in response to a wave of important native American authors in the 1960s.)

Mailhot, 35, said she “perpetuated” the term occasionally when Heart Berries first came out because it made the book marketable, and in some ways was both “true and false.”

“I knew it would be marketable and would appeal to people who were interested in native literature as an artifact.”

ing up “weird and bookish and bullied” on the Seabird Island reservation near Chilliwack doesn’t necessarily reflect the experience of others in her community.

Pregnant at 19, she married in her band office, and lost custody of her son soon afterward when the marriage ended. Heart Berries details the unsparing agony of that loss, her subsequent breakdown and her reclamation of self as a writer.

You can look at a text and see it in historical context, but you should not look at that text as a representative of that culture.

There was truth to it, too: When she and Cheyenne/ Arapaho author Tommy Orange (There, There) were students at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico writing their breakout books, Mailhot said, “We knew we were doing something new. We really were a renaissance, there really was discovery and pulling away from old ideas on native literature and the tropes within it.”

But she sees the term as weighted with “inherent racism.”

“If I were a white guy, having a cool new book would be enough,” said Mailhot, who is now working on a novel.

Although Mailhot prefers to be seen as a “single self,” it doesn’t mean she is pulling away from her culture: “How I quantify success is through what I’ve been able to do for others, helping other native writers is really important to me. It’s the one good thing I can do within the community as a literary citizen.”

It’s important to Mailhot that her work is not read “as artifact” or through a socio-cultural or anthropological lens.

“You can look at a text and see it in historical context, but you should not look at that text as representative of that culture. I don’t want my book taught as a book about First Nations experience.”

Mailhot says her experience grow-

Therese Mailhot

“In order to break through as an artist, first I had to deal with my life,” said Mailhot. Part of that process was the memoir.

Mailhot said she has long been fascinated with the “Lifetime Movie, SVU, Oprah” formula of women who triumph over trauma.

“I wanted to subvert that and let people know that it’s OK not to be OK at the end of the story, that you still could be transcendent, and from an artistic standpoint I wanted a book that didn’t give the reader everything they wanted.”

“I wanted to ascend to something transcendent,” said Mailhot. “I debated every word.”

She didn’t want to explain her culture in the book — or have it “colonized as insight.”

“I didn’t want to look at being native. I wanted to look through being native. I wanted to make it art.”

Her success has allowed the mother of three to strengthen the relationship with her eldest son, who still lives with his father, but her outspokenness made it difficult to live in her own community.

“I’m doing a better service as an advocate for people I love there by not being there. In order to be critical and compassionate, I can’t be close. It’s sad, but a lot of people understand that sometimes you have to leave home in order to make something better.”

Vancouver sun photo courtesy terese Mailhot

Terese Marie Mailhot and her son Isaiah. Mailhot is a reknowned best selling author.

Vancouver sun photo courtesy terese Mailhot

Indigenous b.C. writer Terese Mailhot as a young child.

HealtH

Mars trip considered a possibility

Long-duration spaceflight does weird things to the human body, even at the molecular level, but so far there’s no reason to think humans couldn’t survive a two-and-a-half-year round-trip journey to Mars.

That was the recent bottom-line message from a NASA official and two scientists as they revealed more results from the agency’s Twins Study, which examined physiological changes in astronaut Scott Kelly during his nearly year-long sojourn in space while his twin brother, Mark Kelly, stayed on Earth.

The full report has not yet been published, but reporters got a summary at a news conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington.

Among the highlights: Scott Kelly’s bloodwork showed that his immune system quickly ramped up when he went into space, as if, at the cellular level, his body felt under attack.

“It’s almost as if the body’s on high alert,” said Christopher Mason, associate professor of computational genomics at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Some of the physiological effects of microgravity have long been known, such as impaired vision, bone loss, muscle loss and disruption to the wake-sleep cycle. The new research shows changes at the cellular level, including changes in gene expression.

“It’s mostly really good news,” Mason said. “The body has extraordinary plasticity and adaptation to being in zero gravity, at least for a year.”

That was echoed by Craig Kundrot, director of NASA’s space life and physical sciences division. He said so far the NASA research has found nothing that would make a Mars mission impossible.

The biggest concern is radiation: Such a mission would expose astronauts to levels of radiation greater than permitted under current guidelines. That wouldn’t necessarily prevent a mission, but it remains a concern.

He cautioned that the twins study has a very small study sample – two people.

“We don’t regard any of this as conclusive, but on the whole it’s encouraging,” he said. “There are no new major warning signs.”

NASA under President Donald Trump has renewed its vow to put human beings on the moon again, and on Thursday produced a provisional plan that envisioned astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028 as part of an international effort that would include commercial partners. The agency says that, unlike the Apollo program, the new moon program would be sustained and not merely a “flags and footprints” mission.

Any human mission beyond low Earth orbit presents a suite of health risks for astronauts because of the radiation in deep space.

The technological challenges associated with a human mission to Mars are obvious, but the physiological challenges are potentially just as significant. Kundrot said Friday that NASA envisions

a Mars mission that would require a 6-month flight each way plus 18 months on the Martian surface.

Such a mission might involve four to six astronauts, likely an international team. The psychological stresses of such a mission would be considerable.

“It’s the ICE conditions – isolated, confined, extreme,” said Steve Kozlowski, a professor of organizational psychology at Michigan State University who will make a presentation at the AAAS convention on Sunday.

Kozlowski has been researching technologies that could help astronauts monitor the quality of team dynamics.

“You’re going to be in a little tiny space, you’re not going to have virtually any privacy,” he said.

The time delay in communication across millions of miles of space will make conversations with people back home essentially impossible, he said.

“Your social world is going to be you and this small group of people for a really, really long time.”

nasa handout photo by bill ingalls

Nasa astronauts scott Kelly, left, and his identical twin brother Mark Kelly, pose for a photograph in 2015 at the Cosmonaut hotel in baikonur, Kazakhstan.

joel achenbach

97/16 wire service

CritiCism follows release of Canada’s food Guide

RFood

For thought

elease of the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide has been followed by many opinion pieces and press releases from the food industry, healthcare professionals and the public on what should, or should not have been included.

There have been a few common themes in criticising the new Food Guide including that it does not provide specific-enough recommendations, it does not take into account the individual needs of all Canadians and it is not culturally and socially inclusive.

One unmentioned point in each opinion piece I read was in regards to the public consultations.

Health Canada held several public consultations to gain feedback on what’s most important to Canadians when it comes to diet, nutrition and health. Although some seem quick to criticize the new Food Guide, I have not seen any mention of their suggestions being disregarded in these open forums; possibly because those who are criticizing did not participate. The reports from these consultations can be found at www. canada.ca by searching Canada’s Food Guide Consultation.

There have also been several misconceptions regarding the new Food Guide including that a dinner plate is replacing the rainbow and dairy has been eliminated as a component of a healthy diet. While the rainbow visual has been removed, it has not necessarily been replaced. The new Food Guide includes food photography and a picture of a plate which depicts real foods divided into three portions to represent examples of the foods that can be eaten in a day.

The plate is not meant to be the Food Guide, only a representation of the variety of foods that can be eaten in a day. You don’t need to eat every item on that plate, every day.

The 2019 Food Guide has also not eliminated dairy, but has included it into the newly-named “protein foods” category. It’s important to keep in mind the previous Food Guide was developed in 2007 and in the 12 years since, a wealth of evidence has shown the benefits of a plantbased diet and plant-based proteins. Still, dairy can be a part of a healthy diet and does not need to be eliminated from the diet for most people.

So why have so many “experts” been quick to criticize?

It may be because we live in a diet-

9716 photo provided by canada’s Food Guide

This image is only a guideline as to what to eat offering several food options.

focused culture in which anyone can call themselves an expert in nutrition as long as they have internet access. Food and diet are personal and polarizing topics and those with more extreme views are often the ones with the loudest voice.

The Food Guide is not meant to provide a meal plan for the perfect diet. The Guide is just that, a guide, to help you develop the skills and behaviours that are important to having a healthy diet and a healthy relationship with food.

One common question I receive from patients when providing diet education is: “Can you just tell me what to eat?”

There are multiple reasons why I, and many other Dietitians, will not provide meals plans and instead choose to work

with patients in developing the skills and knowledge required for them to be independent, active participants in their own health.

Meal plans do not encourage an individual to gain the knowledge and skills they need to make the best choices for themselves. Likewise, the new Food Guide, unlike the previous version, does not provide meal plans, instead focusing on behaviour change and knowledge development.

In reading many critiques of the Food Guide, it seems evident that it would have been impossible for the Guide to appease all.

One columnist wrote how the Food Guide lacks innovation by encourag-

ing Canadians to “cook, eat with other people, and consider water as their drink of choice” and is “quite condescending, with trite advice only an idealistic health professional would give ‘Enjoy your food,’ or, ‘Be mindful of eating habits,’ or the patronizing, ‘Be aware of food marketing’.”

Dietary advice and guidance does not need to be provocative to be valuable and recommendations do not need to be overcomplicated to be helpful. Behaviours and developed habits contribute to a healthy diet and lifestyle far more than restrictive meal plans.

Kelsey Leckovic is a Registered Dietitian with Northern Health working in chronic disease management.

Study finds bacterial profile of breast milk differs when pumped first

cassandra szklarski 97/16 wire service

A new study offers possible clues to why babies who drink pumped breast milk are at greater risk of asthma, allergies and obesity than those who get breastmilk straight from the breast.

Senior author Meghan Azad, a re-

searcher at Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, says the bacterial content differs between milk that was pumped first and milk delivered straight from the breast.

Pumped milk was associated with less oral bacteria and more potential pathogens.

Researchers considered many po-

tential reasons , including whether the mother delivered vaginally or by caesarean section, if she had previous babies, was overweight, and her age, diet, and ethnicity.

Azad says the one factor that was consistently associated with differences in the milk’s bacterial profile was whether or not the mom fed the baby only at the breast or sometimes using a pump. The findings were published recently in the journal Cell Host & Microbe. “In our other research we’ve shown it’s certainly better than formula, but it’s not equivalent to feeding at the breast,” said Azad. “So I think we still have more research to do before we know what impact it has on infant health.”

Kelsey lecKovic

Scene

LocaL tV series gets the nod

Geoff and The Ninja is nominated for six international Indie Series awards

Geoff & The Ninja made history when it became the first TV series to ever film all its episodes in Prince George.

It makes more history on April 3 when it becomes the biggest awards contender this city’s screen arts industry has ever had in a single awards show. Geoff & The Ninja (G&TN) was nominated in six categories at the 10th Annual Indie Series Awards.

The show is on the shortlist for: Best Directing – Comedy, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score.

“In all, there are 45 nominated series from around the globe: United States, Canada, Australia, Indie and the United Kingdom,” said the awards show organizers. “Crystal trophies will be presented to the winners during a gala ceremony on April 3 at The Colony Theatre in Los Angeles.

The two-day celebration includes a launch party, red carpet reception, press walk, presentation ceremony and official after party.”

Jon Chuby, the series co-creator and co-star (he plays Geoff while fellow cocreator Jeremy Abbott plays the eponymous ninja) said he and several others associated with the show would personally attend the ceremonies.

“This is a Hollywood-level event. We’re not going to miss it,” Chuby said. “Realistically, I didn’t expect us to get to any level like this. These nominations were really unexpected, so that’s great. We’re pretty stoked.”

He noted that some of the other projects in the running for an Indie Series Award included shows involving James Franco, Lou Diamond Phillips, Marina Sirtis, and many other seasoned professionals of the screen arts industry.

Alongside Chuby and Abbott on the G&TN nominee sheet include Prince George musician Curtis Abriel for his original score, Cori Ramsay and Caitlin Bennett for their costume design work, and Sabrina Mori for makeup.

G&TN can be seen online via the show’s official website or the OptikTV

YouTube channel.

After getting initial development opportunities through the CBC Comedy Coup incubator program and the StoryHive indie development program, Chuby and Abbott gradually worked their concept into a fully functional series. It was shown on the Telus television network OptikTV, making it the one and only series ever conceived of in Prince George to make it to full production while still based within the city.

The show has also become an official

participant in three screen arts festivals around the world.

Now, with the first set of episodes complete and out in the world, it is time for the production team to attempt new life for G&TN. That is partially why they are attending the Indie Series Awards in person.

“We’re trying to get the show picked up by a larger network, and extend the show,” Chuby said. “If you get into these rooms, hopefully you get interest from people with money to invest in making

more episodes, and picked up for distribution so more people see the show. We are getting our pitches ready.”

Anyone wishing to help can do so by simply watching each episode and sharing them on social media, so the production team can show ever stronger audience numbers to potential executive producers and distributors.

To check out the episodes and for more information visit www.geoffandtheninja. com or visit their Facebook page called Geoff & the Ninja.

97/16 file photo

Jeremy abbot and Jon Chuby, seen here at last year’s Northern FanCon, are local film makers whose project Geoff and the Ninja is up for several Indie series awards. The pair will attend the international gala on april 3 in Los angeles.

Symphony offerS Shining performance

Guest review

Sean farrell

The PGSO had another big success on Saturday, Feb. 9 with their mainstage concert German Masters featuring guest violinist Jasper Wood. The concert had a lively start with the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, which was a replacement for a previously billed work by American composer Adam Hill. I can’t help but think that Bartok might roll in his grave with the insinuation of being German, particularly with his emphasis on the musical folk traditions of the peasant class, as Hungary moved out of the Hapsburg era and was embracing modernistic and patriotic expressions. But nonetheless this was a suitable opening for the program and gave everyone in the audience a dancey way to warm up from the frigid temperatures having just made their way inside from the packed Playhouse parking lot.

Next, we were treated to a stellar performance of the Violin Concerto in E minor of Felix Mendelssohn, with Wood as guest soloist. Soon into the opening, I pondered if perhaps Maestro Hall might tend to take unnecessarily safe and overly measured approaches to tempo when performing Romantic era concerti. I felt this earlier in the season during the performance of the Chopin piano concerto. But this is also a matter of personal taste and interpretation.

Jasper Wood is such a technically accomplished soloist. He is an athletic performer, with an impeccable emotional vocabulary. His approach to the Mendelssohn, which truly is one of the four great violin compositions of the entire 19th century, was both playful and humourous, yet consistently elegant and refined, which is the perfect fit for Mendelssohn.

In this composition, there are many passages where the violinist is actually accompanying the orchestra and I wasn’t quite sure that the ensemble was fully coming to the forefront when the opportunity availed itself, but it was an absolutely delightful performance and was the perfect lead-up to the real highlight of the night, Symphony No. 7 in A Major by Ludwig van Beethoven.

This piece is potentially one of the most

famous classical compositions of all time – its combination of highly memorable melodies meshed with near-pyrotechnical playing, makes it a perennial audience favourite.

I was impressed with the very polished ensemble work of the orchestra and it really felt like there has been a different approach taken to rehearsals in order to produce such a high-quality presentation of this example of Classical era virtuosity.

Maestro Hall really shines in his role of conductor/performer in these big pieces and what a huge impact his passion and physicality has on elevating the finesse of the orchestra.

Flora Camuzet lead her cello section in the hauntingly beautiful opening of the Allegretto 2nd movement, and really captured the profound blend of tenderness and melancholy of this classic.

I also want to give kudos to percussionist Barb Parker. People so often underappreciate the vital role that the timpanist plays in Beethoven’s symphonies. In these works, the timpanist is very much the gas pedal of the orchestra and Barb really did a great job in keeping everyone bouncing along with dramatic, Napoleonic beats.

I know I have written this before, but it needs to be said again how much Maestro Hall has completely changed our local symphony orchestra, with such consistently professional quality playing, solid ensemble work, and great repertoire selections – almost a 180 degree change just over the past two seasons. It is to the point that I think the orchestra could now focus on some of the little details that mark a truly exceptional performance experience. Perhaps the

attire of some of the musicians may need a second look or, we could avoid having purses or backpacks on stage during the performance. I know these are nit picky items, but I’d like to think it’s a bit of a back-handed compliment to say that the visual now needs to come up to par with the high-quality performances that audiences are now enjoying with the PGSO. And, I do hope that with continued sell-out performances, we will get to build the business case for a bigger and better concert hall in our city. So, I encourage everyone to get their tickets to the next PGSO concert early – Sea Stories on March 9 – which includes masterworks by Faure, Smetna and Handel, and will feature the vocal stylings of Prince George’s Nove Voce choir. Tickets are available at Central Interior Tickets.

Alexa Chung shows quirky classics

97/16 wire service

Model and TV presenter Alexa Chung has a loyal fan base and her many admirers flocked to Saturday’s show in London’s redeveloped King’s Cross neighbourhood. They weren’t disappointed as Chung offered a new collection featuring her quirky, feminine take on classic designs.

For her second London Fashion Week show, called Off the Grid, the designer announced she had lost all interest in “prettiness” and was imagining a “gaggle of women” who have retreated to California’s Big Sur coastal wilder-

ness to reflect and regroup. There’s an independence to the collection, even as some of the models wear long coats with matching head scarves that are evocative of the American prairie. Many of the deceptively simple dresses emphasize the shoulders, giving the women an outline of physical strength, and much of the outerwear is masculine in style, particularly a forest green suit.

Chung showed an easy, eclectic touch in a collection that included long black coats, several sexy gold dresses, and a few beautiful green midi dresses, including one that Chung wore to the show.

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Maestro Michael hall leads the Prince George symphony Orchestra during their annual Pops in the Park concert last fall at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park. hall led the symphony in another delightful show earlier this month.

The saTanic panic

sidebars to history

willow arune

Periodically people seem to need villains to target and a form of hysteria develops from an alleged evil. It may be local or national, even worldwide. Almost unknown to our younger generation, the 1980s will forever be remembered for the Satanic Panic.

The panic started with a book that described satanic rites that supposedly occurred in Victoria. The next decade saw accusations that swept the United States and eventually surfaced in many countries. It ended, not with a bang but a whimper after the lives of those accused and others had been ruined. Some of those jailed were later exonerated; others received financial awards for the misery they had endured. Most simply tried to get on with their lives.

Michelle Remembers was co-written by a Victoria psychiatrist and his patient. In it, “Michelle” tells of the abuse she said she suffered as a child at the hands of satanists.

In lurid detail, she tells of rituals involving sexual abuse of children, often taking place in graveyards at night. Many of these tales were obtained under hypnosis. No proof of these events was ever found. Years later, after involvement in more than 1,000 cases, the psychiatrist, now married to “Michelle”, stated that the events did not have to be true “as long as Michelle believed them to be true.”

The book was a bestseller. It was at a time when fundamental Christianity was on the rise as was a growing awareness of child abuse generally. Thanks in large measure to the book, “recovered memories” were assumed to be valid and many professionals adopted the viewpoint that “children never lie” about such matters.

In California, the 1983 McMartin preschool case, based on allegations of satanic rites, was fodder for the media. Coverage was sensational and largely uncritical and negative. After seven years and $17 million, the case ended with no convictions. Over the next years, more than 100 preschools would confront similar accusations. A variant arose in Seattle where a newly hired daycare worker accused a child’s parents of abusing their child.

The Love case saw the parents convicted and sentenced to long terms in jail. The prosecutors failed to medically test the accusations of penetration; on a trip to her family doctor after the trial

concluded, the girl was found to be a virgin and the parents exonerated.

A similar case arose in Martensville, Sask. Prompted by a complaint that was assigned to an inexperienced investigator, operators of a daycare found themselves accused of heinous crimes. A group calling itself Believe the Children formed to urge the prosecutor forward, advocates of the “children don’t lie” concept. Finally, the charges were dropped and three of those accused were compensated financially.

Most of the satanic panic lies in the past. Over 100 childcare workers faced accusations and twenty or more were convicted.

In 1992, a couple running a small day care were changed, convicted, imprisoned and not released until 2017. Declared innocent after almost two decades in prison, the couple received $3.7 million in compensation from the state.

While law enforcement has changed in respect of such cases, many strongly believe that the evil of Satan walks amongst us. It is part of their religious beliefs.

Many sermons are preached against the evil of a very real Satan. Satanic rites are depicted in popular movies and on television causing those without any belief in God to believe in the evil of Satan.

So we remain on the cusp of further such accusations while mocking the witch trials of the 1600s.

Gucci to step up diversity hiring after ‘blackface’ uproar

97/16 wire service

NEW YORK — Italian fashion designer Gucci is announcing a major push to step up its diversity hiring following an uproar over an $890 sweater that resembled blackface.

The company also says it will hire a global director for diversity and inclusion, a newly created role.

Gucci also is promising to launch a

scholarship program to cultivate diverse design talent.

The announcement Friday came after Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri met in New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood with Dapper Dan, a well-known AfricanAmerican designer, and other community members to hear their perspectives.

Bizzarri says Gucci has spent the past days conducting a “thorough review of the circumstances that led to this.”

9716 image provided by amazon.ca Michelle remembers was a bestseller that talks about child abuse based satanic rituals.

PoPulation armageddon

This week I write a truly “Thinking Aloud” kind of column.

I would love to write about the whole unfolding irony of our selfdeclared feminist prime minister being taken down by a “gasp” strong woman, but that will have to wait for a later date when we have more details.

Instead, I will write a bit of my own story, and my own effort for “empowerment.”

When I was a young mom in the 90s with plans of having up to six children, the Population Armageddon people were expounding the dangers of an everincreasing population.

These dear folks never seemed willing to reduce the exponential harm of their own existence, but they were very eager to tell everyone else that they needed to be unselfish and either not have any children or just one or at most two.

To have any more was just considered vulgar.

The folks were especially happy to tell those in developing nations to reduce their populations, which I always found a strangely colonialist idea in those professing great enlightenment.

So here I was, in the sophisticated metropolis of PG, (compared to my home community where a family of six children was considered small) traipsing about town on business supply runs, banking, and parts pickup, with my three, four and then six kids in tow.

Our wedding ceremony had not included an exchange of rings.

At about four kids I looked down at my bare ring finger, at my gaggle of cuties, at the fact that I was nearly always in town alone with my kids as Daddy worked in a logging camp, and came to a conclusion; I needed a wedding band.

My obliging hubby got me one, which I

ThiNkiNg aloud

Trudy klassen

proudly wear.

But that didn’t mitigate the fact that I had six kids. At least now strangers knew that there was at least a “present” father to these kids, but still, the gall!

Sometimes I thought maybe I could explain it away and say I was a daycare worker, but then why the age gap?

I didn’t quite have the guts to go up to teachers or daycare workers in charge of 8 to 30 kids to ask them what made them crazy enough to want to spend their entire day with other people’s kids!

And all at the same age!

Cue to 2019 and this interesting study co-authored by a Warren Sanderson, a professor of economics and history at State University of New York at Stonybrook and written about in an article by Amanda Onion on ABC News.

The study apparently shows, lo and behold, not only will the population peak at nine billion in 2070, but that may be a generous estimate. Now instead of too many people, we might actually be in danger of having too few.

My rallying cry may become “Women of the world, unite, we must have babies!”

I am hoping that my kids will, if not fight over who gets to take care of us in our old age, at least not have to purchase a robot to be my friend and caregiver when I am old and infirm.

He who laughs last, laughs best. Hopefully that will be me you hear cackling with joy in my wheelchair.

Anesthesia safe for baby’s brain if limited, study says

carla

k. johNsoN 97/16 wire service

Anesthesia during a short surgery doesn’t harm a baby’s brain development, according to an experiment involving hundreds of infants in seven countries.

While the study can’t answer broader safety questions about repeated or prolonged anesthesia, it may ease the worries of millions of parents whose children have been put to sleep for common procedures.

“These findings should be reassuring,” said Dr. Mary Ellen McCann of Boston Children’s Hospital. An hour of surgery with general anesthesia “is safe for your child in early infancy.” She helped lead the study published last week in the medical journal Lancet.

It involved 447 babies needing hernia repairs. The babies, mostly boys, were randomly assigned to get either anesthesia with gas, or an injection that blocks sensation below the waist.

Since both techniques are commonly used, it was ethical for the researchers to set up an experiment.

They found no evidence of harm to brain development when they tested the children at age two.

Finally at age five the children took IQ tests and both groups’ average scores were in the normal range. There were no

differences in parent-reported problems such as autism, attention deficit disorder or speech delays.

“The level of evidence is strong,” said Dr. Santhanam Suresh of Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, who wasn’t involved in the research. The findings mean doctors “should not shy away from using general anesthesia in children undergoing simple pediatric procedures.”

Since 84 per cent of the babies in the study were boys, it’s unclear how the results apply to girls.

In the study, the anesthesia lasted less than an hour on average. Longer exposure could be more dangerous, as could anesthesia for multiple surgeries, McCann said, so it’s unlikely the Food and Drug Administration will change existing warning labels on anesthesia drugs for children.

Uncertainty about the drugs stems from studies showing brain damage in baby animals. Figuring out how these drugs affect children has been difficult, though, because very sick kids who get the most anesthesia also have other problems that can cause trouble with learning.

That makes it tough for scientists to sort out what causes problems.

Funding came from government and scientific groups in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Long IsLand MedIuM In P.g. aPrIL 6

christiNe hiNzmaNN 97/16 staff

The Long Island Medium, Theresa Caputo, who has a long-running TLC reality television series, said during a phone interview that it doesn’t matter if she’s doing a reading for one person or five thousand, the message heard will impact everyone.

Caputo will be making an appearance at CN Centre Saturday, April 6.

“Yes, of course it is different having a one-on-one than having a group reading but how I look at these large groups is they are all the same,” Caputo said, who made her first appearance in Prince George in 2016. “There’s only so many souls that I can channel in a two-hour period and I know that the souls who are going to speak that night are going to deliver and heal so many people at one time - not just the person I am standing in front of and that’s the incredible thing about spirit.”

When she’s getting ready to do a reading she just starts sensing and feeling things that don’t mean anything to her but are life-changing to those with which she will soon be connecting.

Caputo said she doesn’t want anyone to be discouraged about not getting a reading during the public forum.

“Honestly, I find when spirit is in large groups, especially in an arena, spirit is able to move me around that space because I’m not on that stage, I will be down in the crowd because spirit is going to guide me around the arena and have me stop and deliver messages right in front of you,” Caputo said. “You’re going to feel as if you were in my home or your home reconnecting you with the souls of your loved ones.”

There will be big screens set up so everyone can watch her in action and there will be a camera that will follow her around just like on her show, the Long Island Medium said.

“It’s displayed so you’re able to see, feel and be a part of the amazing experience and witness everything up close and personal,” Caputo said.

People often take to social media after a show and best describe the experience as life changing, even if they hadn’t been read personally, she added.

“They say they realize that others needed to hear from their loved ones more than they did,” she added. “And to me, that is absolutely incredible and to realize that is beautiful. The reason so many people are affected is that there

is going to be so many things said that night that you’re going to be able to connect with.”

Caputo said there will also be times when some members of the audience will hear what she’s saying and think she’s gone crazy but when she starts describing details others in the audience will be raising their hands as the ymake a connecting with her words.

“People will see how it is changing their life and it’s absolutely incredible,” Caputo said, who said she doesn’t know how she does it but during the show she said she feels like the energizer bunnysuper charged. Once she’s off the stage and back on the bus it’s a different story.

“Give me five minutes - I take my make up off, I wash my face and I’m passed out,” Caputo laughed.

Caputo gets reflective when talking about the gift she said she’s been given.

“This is my soul’s journey,” she said. “I’ve learned that I have to take care of myself. I meditate on a regular basis, I learned how to rest my mind, I take care of myself physically. I’m eating right and exercising and you know, just be kinder to myself. We all have to respect ourselves and realize we can’t put ourselves on the back burner.”

After years of sharing her gift of speaking to dead people Caputo is certain about some things.

“I know we’re all placed here on the Earth and each and everyone of us is special and have amazing gifts and it is up to us to find who we are meant to be here in the physical world,” she said. “I say this because since the age of four I always said to my mom I don’t feel right, I feel different than everyone else - I don’t feel like I belong here.”

Caputo said her mom would assure her that she wasn’t adopted and she belonged and it took Caputo until she was in her 20s to find a way to use her gift.

“But I learned that in life in general when things happen we beat ourselves up,” Caputo said. “We don’t respect, love and honour ourselves like we deserve to be and even with the loss of a loved one we beat ourselves up with shoulda, coulda, wouldas and only ifs and all of these emotions do not give us the ability to heal. They serve us no purpose. Spirit acknowledges these negative emotions and are telling us to release them to be able to love, honour and respect ourselves the way we deserve to be and to know that they are still with us.”

Tickets are on sale at www.ticketsnorth.ca.

Whimsy from Peter Mulvey album

steveN wiNe 97/16 wire service

Review Peter Mulvey, “There Is Another World” (Righteous Babe)

Midway through Peter Mulvey’s new album, he sings about the ravages of time on the tune Nickel and Dime. It lasts 15 seconds.

Mulvey always brings to his work whimsy and a willingness to push folk boundaries, and that’s the case on There Is Another World.

The Wisconsin songwriter-guitarist quotes Yeats, Rilke and Greg Brown, and that’s just in the liner notes. There’s also a literary bent to the lyrics, which can be cryptic or opaque but benefit from imag-

ery that’s vivid and sometimes beautiful. On the love song Owl, he describes two birds who “both dropped into the air.”

Mulvey pairs his words with inventive arrangements anchored by his fingerpicking and by producer Todd Sickafoose’s standup bass, with further colour provided by violin, pedal steel, accordion, clarinet and wine glass rims. Unusual chord progressions lend further unpredictability to the proceedings.

Mulvey celebrates nature on The Fox, mourns war casualties on To Your Joy, echoes Brown on Henry’s Only Daughter and gets his Irish up on Beckett Was a Bird of Prey. The 13-song, 34-minute set goes quickly, and not just because of Nickel and Dime.

Handout photo Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium, will appear at CN Centre april 6.

EthErEal sound fEaturEd by thE alchEmist

fraNk peebles

97/16 staff

The wild chemistry of music has been fused with the natural elements of backwoods farm life. The reaction is slowly boiling in the form of The Alkemist, the magical one-man-band act of Jay Myers.

Prince George was growing intoxicated with the aromatic music concocted in Myers’ lab.

He was a 10-year resident of this city when he followed the whispers compelling him towards the Haida Gwaii islands of the northern B.C. coast. He was there for the past three years.

But Myers is back in the area, living on a communal farm north of Fort Fraser (about two hours’ drive west of P.G.) where the songwriting inspirations and instrument rehearsals run deep. He will be back for a concert in his old hometown Friday to reveal the amalgam.

“We are very fortunate out here because basically all of our farm members are musicians, so almost every single day we are playing together, writing songs, jamming, forming bands, experimenting with all kinds of instruments,” Myers said. “You name (the instrument), we’ve probably got it. There’s something magical about stepping outside and hearing the bagpipes off in the distance. Everyday, there’s something musically interesting happening.”

The peace, quiet and support of the farm has allowed him to devote blocks of time to new skills on the various instruments he plays. He is noticing in his songwriting that finger-picking is becom-

97/16 handout photo

Jay Myers will perform at the Omineca arts Centre downtown Friday.

ing more common as he gets comfortable with that technique. He is also trying out alternative tunings so he is more assured of sounding original and fresh.

Also, giving lessons helps teach the instructor, as well as the student, and he has been giving private tutelage around the area.

“I’ve been definitely inspired by the landscape, as of late, inspired to use more metaphor just by observing my surroundings and seeing how they relate to the human psyche,” Myers said. “The farm has definitely been influencing my writing. And living in nature, and that goes back to Haida Gwaii too, has inspired my music to go in an atmospheric, ethereal direction as well, trying to catch

emotion with instrumentation. Even further to that, I find that I don’t have to sit down and work as hard at melody, it just flows out of me now much better than before. I’ve heard from other musicians that melody is already out there, song is already out there in the world, already formed, and its the musician’s job to just let it happen through them. I’m finding some truth in that lately.”

There’s a lot of truth to that, apparently. The Alkemist is just one of many platforms Myers is working from these days. He is also active with an Irish-styled folk duo and two punk bands.

He has been busy in the past – distant and recent – with acts like Canadian Waste, alongside Scotty Dunbar, playing

fiddle with Hujune, doing duo work with Sabina Dennis and Jessiquita Madrid, and he has been popping up at regional events like the MOM Festival in Fort St. James, ArtsWells in Wells, a Murray Ridge Ski Hill gig, and a fundraiser in Burns Lake for the victims of the summer’s wildfires. The Shovel Lake blaze came within three kilometres of his own home.

“We were on evac for a couple of weeks,” he said. “We got really lucky. It’s the third time in the past two years we’ve been on evacuation order or alert.”

The last time he put out an album as The Alkemist was about a year ago, and he has enough material written up that he’s contemplating the construction of the next disc. He and his partner are expecting their first baby this spring, so he knows he might have some competing forces for his time.

The Alkemist has performed at the Coldsnap Festival, as a supporting act for Saltwater Hank, in tandem with Sober Becky, and most recently with Corbin Spensley.

When The Alkemist performs Friday at the Omineca Arts Centre (at Third Ave. and Victoria St.) he will also have some on-stage collaboration to offer the audience.

“I’m playing with one of my musical heroes and someone I’ve been hugely inspired by, that’s Brent Morton of Drum & Bell Tower, who now goes by the name Lyle Bats,” Myers said.

It’s an all-ages show with doors opening at 7:30 p.m., showtime at 8 p.m. for $10 at the door.

Hootstock graduates to Homestock

fraNk peebles

Hootstock has come in to roost.

The annual eclectic music festival near 100 Mile House is not shutting the gate, but it is getting closer to home. The show was having success, so much so that the handmade event needed to settle down or risk flying the coop.

“Well Hootstock 2018 was an incredible success. The artists performances were exceptional as always, with 30-plus acts on five stages over the weekend,” said Steve Roy, one of the main organizers.

“Unfortunately as with a lot of small festivals we struggle with the ‘commercial’ success of Hootstock,” Roy continued. “Our family and friends have always subsidized the event by supplying the sound equipment, countless hours of labour and much in-kind support as well as thousands of dollars each year.”

If the family and friends put in a lot of time, supplies and money, Roy and his wife Astrid Hensey lived and breathed it, almost year-round. Roy said there was a lot of love for the Hootstock event, but there was also a lot of apathy around their town, and it was taking the fun out of the experience.

“Astrid personally spent so much time and effort before the event on advertising, community outreach, social media, and during the event making sure everyone was happy and fed that she mostly missed the performances and visiting with friends that we see on an infrequent basis,” he said. “For myself personally, and my buddies, we spent a week before setting up and a week after breaking down. So needless to say we get fairly burnt out. Coupled with the lack of commercial success as far as getting folks out to the event and the total lack of local support, we have decided to change things up.”

The festival will go on, but it will be simplified. Instead of the spacious Forest Grove community grounds, the show will go on with a new name reflecting the new location.

“For 2019 and beyond it will be called Homestock and it will be held at our farm in Forest Grove the same weekend, third one in July,” Roy said. “This event will be word-of-mouth only with invitations sent out to previous supporters of Hootstock. The event will not technically be a public event. The performances will not be as intense, so only one main performance stage, with a jam stage, so a little more casual.”

That’s not to say there won’t be effort put into the presentation. Roy, Hensey and festival friends will be building a new mainstage plus a community kitchen “and some artwork in the forest, something I’ve wanted to do for years.”

The farm already has ample camping, drinking water, outhouses and those basic amenities.

Musicians are invited to perform, but there is now a formula for payment in lieu of contractual guarantees. Acts will get remuneration based on a combination of their playing time in balance with attendance revenues.

The shows will also be set up for acts to record their sets either by video or audio feeds through the sound board.

“We are encouraging anyone that would like to perform to contact us and we will see if we can fit you in. I’m sure we can,” said Roy. “We have already had much interest, so get a hold of us sooner than later. We are super stoked for what is to come and we didn’t want the idea of Hootstock to become extinct, so we have just evolved into another form. I am looking forward to what will be.”

Anyone with an interest in attending Homestock or performing there can reach out at hootstockfestival@gmail. com.