CP PHOTO Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks steps down from the stage after speaking as Indigenous nations and supporters gather to show support for the Wet’suwet’en Nation before marching together in solidarity in Smithers on Wednesday.
Hereditary chief denies elected council’s authority
Amy SMART Citizen news service
SMITHERS — No elected band council or Crown authority has jurisdiction over the land, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief told a crowd of supporters and First Nations leaders gathered in the territory that has become a battleground for Indigenous sovereignty.
Chief Na’Moks said agreements signed by pipeline builder Coastal GasLink are illegitimate and the support shown by those gathered, and by many people around the world, proves the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders do not stand alone.
“Our rights to those lands have never been extinguished,” Na’Moks said during the gathering on Wednesday.
First Nations leaders from across British Columbia travelled to Smithers for the rally to show their support for the hereditary chiefs, after RCMP enforced a court injunction last week allowing the natural gas pipeline company access into the territory.
Following the rally, chiefs and supporters marched along part of Highway 16, which cuts through the Wet’suwet’en territory.
Chiefs and elected council members from several B.C. First Nations, including Haida, Gitxsan, Babine Lake and Lax Kwa’laams, stepped up to share their stories of resistance against industry and frustration with the application of Canadian laws during the gathering.
Wayne Christian of the Secwepemc Nation told the crowd that “legislative genocide” had been waged against Indigenous Peoples for generations, referring to colonial and Canadian laws he said have been used to take away land and deny rights. He said reconciliation cannot occur “at the end of a gun.”
Several leaders spoke about conflicts they have had with industry and cases where Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have shown
them the kind of support that they now want to return.
Harvey Humchitt, a hereditary chief with the Heiltsuk First Nation in Bella Bella, where a tug ran aground spilling diesel and lubricants into the waters, said it only takes one incident to cause devastation.
Murray Smith of the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation said Na’Moks supported members of his nation trying to protect eel grass from industry at Lelu Island, and again when they appeared before the United Nations to appeal for their authority to be recognized.
Man’s homicide under investigation
Citizen staff
Police are treating as a homicide the discovery Saturday afternoon of a body of a man in a ditch along West Lake Estates Road, off Blackwater Road, south of the city. RCMP were called to the scene at 1:30 p.m., three hours after volunteer fireighters were called out to deal with a vehicle fire on Chilako Station Road in the Beaverly area. The vehicle appeared to have been abandoned and police are trying to determine whether there is a connection between the two. RCMP said the man was 40 years old and from Prince George but released no
further details. They’re asking anyone with information about suspicious vehicles or persons on West Lake Estates Road, Blackwater Road, Lower Mud River Road, Chilako Station Road or McBride Timber Road on Saturday morning to contact Prince George RCMP or Crime Stoppers. Prince George RCMP can be reached at 250-561-3300 and Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca (English only). You do not have to reveal your identity to Crime Stoppers. If you provide information that leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward.
“You are in charge of your land, make no mistake about it. We are in charge of our land. And at times, we need to rely on each other for support,” he said.
The natural gas pipeline would run through Wet’suwet’en territory to LNG Canada’s $40-billion export facility in Kitimat.
The company said it has signed agreements with the elected councils of all 20 First Nations along the route, including some Wet’suwet’en elected council members who say they are independent from the hereditary chief’s authority and signed
deals to bring better education, elder care and services to their members.
However many who oppose the pipeline say the company has no authority without consent from the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
The hereditary chiefs say elected bands administer the reserves while they have authority over 22,000 square kilometres of traditional territory.
Ayla Brown, an elected councillor with the Heiltsuk First Nation, said divisions between elected councils and hereditary leaders have been overstated.
“We’re here to say we stand with you,” she said. “There is no division here.”
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said the hereditary system must be protected.
He said images of the RCMP arresting 14 people at a blockade of the pipeline last week have spread across the world.
“We know that small candle of flame that you had at the checkpoint has grown into a prairie fire across the country and the world,” he said.
Molly Wickham, a member of the Gidimt’en clan within the Wet’suwet’en Nation who was arrested when RCMP enforced a court injunction and dismantled the checkpoint, said she never doubted the righteousness of what she was doing.
“I witnessed excessive force against Indigenous people on our lands,” she said.
The RCMP has said it is launching a review of officers’ actions during the arrests, but police have said they found no initial evidence of misconduct.
Wickham asked anyone who held the checkpoint with her to stand up and about half a dozen in the crowd stood and raised their fists in the air.
She said she and others will continue to defend the land.
“This fight is not over,” Wickham said.
B.C. Cannabis Store seeking to set up shop in Prince George
Citizen staff
The first of what is expected to be a parade of applications to establish retail cannabis stores in Prince George will go before city council on Monday night.
The provincially-run B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch has submitted an application to rezone a spot at 120-6565 Southridge Ave., in the Westgate Shopping Centre in a former bank branch, for a B.C. Cannabis Store. The matter will be up for the first two readings on Monday night, setting the stage for a formal public hearing at a later date.
In a letter to the city, Michael Tan,
BCLDB executive director of cannabis operations , said it is seeking the spot because it’s in a “large retail complex and therefore consistent with the nature of the immediate area,” is easily accessible to customers and not expected to adversely impact traffic in the surrounding area. The store’s size would be about 2,000 square feet, “which is in the midrange of other retail stores existing on the subject site and in the surrounding area,” Tan said.
BCLDB has received support from Westgate’s owner, First Prince George Developments Inc., to proceed with the application, Tan also said.
CP PHOTO Sabina Dennis, a Dakelh woman from the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, takes part in a solidarity march in Smithers on Wednesday to show support for the Wet’suwet’en Nation. Dennis was carrying wood she had gathered between Prince George and Smithers to burn in a fire at the Unis’tot’en Camp near Houston.
Film fest bringing three independent films to town
Frank
PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Cinema CNC has a trio of independent films to get local audiences through the heart of winter.
The college’s movie screenings happen each Saturday, with showings at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The films are curated by a CNC-based committee led by professor Peter Maides. The selections are made to bring films to Prince George that would not normally come to the commercial theatre.
The three are Colette, which will take to the screen Saturday, followed by The Quiet Revolution on Jan. 26 and Sir on Feb. 2. Colette is directed by Wash Westmoreland with a stellar cast led by Keira Knightley, Dominic West and Fiona Shaw. It is fresh on the critic’s list of best films of the
past year, and, as Variety Magazine put it,
“ranks as one of the great roles for which Keira Knightley will be remembered.”
It is a bio-pic based on the life of celebrated French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Knightley) who came to Paris as the bride of celebrated author and popular social figure Henry Gauthier-Villars (West), known around French society as Willy.
Willy’s career, at that point, explained Maides, relied “on an army of ghostwriters to produce his work” while he led a flamboyant life of self-indulgences and numerous affairs. His partying and inattention to craft led to a downward spiral in his, and thus Colette’s, household finances.
“He enlists his wife as one of his ghostwriters, and though he initially dismisses her contributions, Willy soon decides to re-work and publish Colette’s writing under
his own name in order to save their family from financial ruin,” Maides outlined.
“As their marriage begins to deteriorate, Colette finds a place for herself within her writing and begins to explore her creativity through a variety of artistic avenues. Knightley quietly simmers as Colette, a trail-blazing figure committed to breaking through stereotypes and conventions. Rather than shying away from displaying Colette’s desires, Westmoreland highlights how her passion for life, art and human connection paved the way for other women to experience life to the fullest, unafraid of who they truly are.”
In the weeks ahead, The Quiet Revolution and Sir also come from the canon of international films released in 2018 that both entertain and take the audience behind lines of social propriety where people
are secretly pushing boundaries towards individual freedom.
The Quiet Revolution was directed by Lars Kraume and tells the story of East German high school students in 1956 who dared to express solidarity for victims of the Hungarian Revolution. The consequences are strong and shocking. Sir, directed by Rohena Gera, looks at the caste system of India despite the influence of modern times. A charming romance is nonetheless forbidden, but the two lovers from different social worlds nonetheless follow their passions.
Tickets to see films at Cinema CNC are always sold at the door for $8 regular, $7 for students, seniors and the unemployed. They are shown at the Stan Shaffer Theatre (Room 1-306) on the main floor at the College of New Caledonia.
Books inspire art, in Unbound show at gallery
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Throwing out books prompted the staff at the Two Rivers Gallery to get wordy with each other on the value of volumes.
The process of purging their in-house curatorial library turned a page in the head of assistant curator Meghan Hunter-Gauthier and others on the gallery team. Before long their debates about which books to hold onto and which books to dispatch became the basis of the exhibition opening tonight at the downtown art facility.
“Art is a great way to force people to think differently, challenge people’s perceptions. We had too many books. That process started conversations, and it grew into an idea that if we were having this conversation, if it was important in that way, then it must be something going on out in the broader public,” said Hunter-Gauthier.
“Space is an issue with books. When do you store large numbers of books in some kind of tablet format and when do you want to have the physical thing? This issue of using technol-
ogy or holding it in your hand is in play and, in the grand scheme of things, it’s a new issue. This exhibition is about our relationship with books and how we value books in contemporary times.”
The show is called Unbound and features visual art that is about books, or may in fact use books as the basis for the visual creations.
Hunter-Gauthier led a search for artists across Canada who had made bookish art.
She collected works from five in particular: Jennifer Bowes, Robert Chaplin, Adam David Brown, Angela Grauerholz and Guy Laramée.
It took months of searching. Hunter-Gauthier said there was research done in the publications of the Canadian visual arts sector, archives were excavated, and other artists and institutions were consulted to find as much art as possible to consider for the exhibition. As art was discovered, she would make contact with the artists.
“There was a long list, actually,” she said, underscoring how indeed the humble book was on the national mind in these changing times for the written and stored word. “All of these artists were brought together because their
art considered books or used books in some particular way, but not in similar ways. There is a great deal of variety here.”
Chaplin’s work, for example, uses actual books in sculpture form. Most of them are so literally books that they have ISBN numbers (the identity code for published works).
She said the conversation with the artists typically got started the same way. It was a cold-call. The artist would hear the pitch of the book being the central character in this scene. Would they be willing to include their work in that silent conversation?
“You never know what you’re going to get when you start to plan an exhibition,” HunterGauthier said. “I really didn’t have a vision for the show, the vision materialized as the works became more certain.”
The vision is unveiled tonight at the gallery at a free public reception at 7:30 p.m. One of the included artists, Bowes, will do an artists’ talk as part of the festivities. Live music and refreshments are included.
A second art exhibition also opens tonight at the same reception. Gary Pearson’s Excerpts From A Retrospective will also be unveiled.
Suspect charged after a break and enter, shots fired
Citizen staff
One man is in custody and RCMP are on the lookout for a second suspect following a break in at a local motel followed by a partially-thwarted attempt to escape police with some gunplay in between.
Pride Dawson Moore, 28, of Prince George, faces 11 charges, including discharge of a firearm with intent, from the incident that began at about 2 a.m. on Friday when police were called to the 1600-block Central Street motel.
Told two masked men had forced their way into a room, upon arrival RCMP saw the suspects flee in a white pickup truck that was tracked to College Heights. At 2:25 a.m., a snow removal contractor reported seeing the truck stuck in the snow near Domano Boulevard and Malaspina Avenue and that one of the vehicle’s occupants had fired shots.
“Fortunately, no injuries have been reported,” RCMP said.
With the help of a police dog and handler, RCMP followed a track along a forest service road at the end of Domano and, in the process, found two semi-automatic rifles, one loaded and one with a bayonet attached.
Moore was apprehended at about 4:45 a.m. while the second suspect remains on the lam.
Police believe the incident is drug related and the motel room appeared to have been empty at the time of the break in.
Moore remains in custody and police are working to identify and locate the second suspect.
HANDOUT PHOTO
The Malleus Maleficarum is part of the Unbound exhibit opening at the Two Rivers Gallery tonight.
Showing of their skills
ABOVE: Matt Worthington builds a doghouse during a carpentry competition at the College of New Caledonia on Wednesday, as part of the fourth annual Regional Skills Competition and Trades Day at CNC’s Prince George campus. Nearly 300 elementary, secondary and post-secondary students from Prince George, Quesnel and Vanderhoof competed in culinary arts, robotics, spaghetti bridge building, wind turbine building, welding, automotive service, cabinetmaking, carpentry, electrical and heavy duty mechanic competitions.
LEFT: Students take part in the electrical competition at the Regional Skills Competition and Trades Day at CNC on Wednesday.
Attempted murder charges stayed
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
A B.C. Supreme Court trial for two men facing several charges, including attempted murder, in relation to a home invasion slightly more than a year ago ended Monday with stays of proceedings on all counts.
Julien Naseem Abdala Yasin Lazarre and Thomas Joshua Toman had been facing six charges from the Dec. 16, 2017 incident.
Stays of proceedings are issued whenever it’s determined there is not enough evidence to achieve a conviction.
Although most matters that have been stayed are not reopened, Crown counsel can, within certain limits, restart the proceedings. The time limit is six months for summary matters and a year for indictable matters.
The decision came following a five-day trial last week. On the day of the incident, police were called at about 5:30 a.m. to a report of someone being shot during a home invasion at a 1300-block Strathcona Avenue residence.
Police subsequently arrested Lazarre after converging on a 2200 block Oak Street home and Toman was apprehended eight days later.
An RCMP emergency response team moves in on a 2200-block Oak Street home on Dec. 16, 2017 in the process of arresting a suspect from a home invasion the same day.
The victim, who is known to police, suffered non-life-threatening but serious injuries in a targeted attack, RCMP said at the time.
Along with one count each of attempted murder, the two had also been facing counts of aggravated assault, commit-
ting a robbery where a firearm is used, breaking into a home and committing an offence, using a firearm in an indictable offence and disguising one’s face with intent to commit an offence.
The two had remained in custody since their arrests.
Boy, aunt missing since Sunday
KAMLOOPS — A six-yearold boy and his 28-year-old aunt are missing and police in Kamloops are asking for help in finding them.
RCMP say they received a report on Sunday to check on the well-being of Nikaeo Supernault who was being looked after by Roseanne Supernault. They say the boy and his aunt have not been in contact with his mother since Jan. 13, and they are considered missing.
Police say they believe the boy is with his aunt.
Police describe Nikaeo Supernault as three-foot-six, 45 pounds, light brown hair, brown eyes and wearing a blue jacket, black pants and tan boots. They describe Roseanne Supernault as fivefoot-seven, 190 pounds, dyed blonde hair and brown eyes.
Liberal byelection candidate quits over racial comments
Laura KANE Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — The Liberal candidate running against NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a Metro Vancouver byelection dropped out of the race Wednesday after drawing criticism for an online post singling out Singh’s ethnicity.
Karen Wang apologized and said she did not want her comments to be a “distraction.”
“In trying to speak about my own story and the importance of people of all different backgrounds getting involved in this important byelection, I made comments online that also referenced Jagmeet Singh’s cultural background,” she said in a statement.
“My choice of words wasn’t well-considered and didn’t reflect my intent, and for that, I sincerely apologize to Mr. Singh. I have deep respect for him as the leader of his party and for his public service – and I would never want to diminish that in any way.”
Wang wrote in a since-deleted post on Chinese social media platform WeChat that she was the “only” Chinese candidate in the riding, rather than Singh, who she identified as “of Indian descent,” StarMetro Vancouver reported.
“If we can increase the voting rate, as the only Chinese candidate in this riding, if I can garner 16,000 votes I will easily win the byelection, control the election race and make history! My opponent in this byelection is the NDP candidate Singh of Indian descent!” she said, according to the newspaper’s translation.
Political observers said Wang’s sudden resignation bodes well for Singh, a former member of Ontario’s legislature who is Sikh and speaks Punjabi, English and French. The Liberals did not immediately say whether they would replace Wang.
The party said Wang’s online comments are not aligned with its values.
“The Liberal party has a clear commitment to positive politics and support for Canadian diversity,” it said in a statement.
The deadline for candidates to enter the byelection race is Feb. 4, and voters will cast their ballots Feb. 25.
Singh accepted Wang’s apology.
“I didn’t take it personal at all. I am concerned with divisive politics,” he said. “We see that in the south – divisive politics and how it tears apart a country. I want to focus in on politics that bring people together because we share so much in common.”
Conservative Jay Shin and Laura-Lynn
Tyler Thompson of the People’s Party of Canada are also running in Burnaby South.
The 2016 census shows about 42,000 people in the riding identified as ethnically Chinese, while 9,270 people said they were South Asian and 455 of those identified as Punjabi. The riding had a total population of 111,000 people.
Wang is the owner of a daycare business and ran unsuccessfully in the 2017 provincial election for the B.C. Liberals, which is not affiliated with the federal party.
In the nomination for the byelection, Wang defeated biotechnology scientist Cyrus Eduljee.
Before her resignation, experts noted her deep ties to the riding, unlike Singh.
On Tuesday night, Wang was out campaigning, running from door to door speaking in Mandarin to Chinese-Canadian members of the community. She also chatted with two people of South Asian heritage who promised their support.
She said she wanted to give back to her community.
“When I came 20 years ago with my husband ... from China, we came with nothing, zero,” she said. “I’m very proud of being a Canadian and I want to do more.”
Eric Li, a University of British Columbia management professor, said the reported English translation of Wang’s post was roughly accurate based on a screenshot he read.
“She just wanted to target a very specific group of voters, but at the end of the day you’re using a platform that literally everyone could download,” he said.
Race is a reality of politics, especially in diverse areas, but Wang’s comments went too far, said Sanjay Jeram, a senior political science lecturer at Simon Fraser University.
Morneau confident about economy
SHERBOOKE, Que. (CP) — Finance
Minister Bill Morneau is offering a rosy assessment of Canada’s economy in an election year, despite upheavals around the world that could disrupt global trade.
Morneau says the Brexit chaos engulfing the British government as it tries to extricate the United Kingdom from the
European Union is difficult for the global economy, but he says he doesn’t see a direct impact on Canada’s economy.
Similarly, Morneau is playing down the impact of the American trade war with China, which has indirectly dragged Canada into a diplomatic spat with China after it arrested a senior Huawei executive.
WANG
Addicted to our prejudices
Everybody is an expert when it comes to sports and politics. Canada would win every Olympic gold medal in hockey if the couch coaches were consulted. Canada would be a utopian paradise if only the prime minister would listen to the coffee shop sages.
Most of the time, no one has the audacity to claim they know more about health care than doctors and nurses, except for two significant exceptions.
The first is vaccinations. Somehow, despite centuries of success and hundreds of millions of lives saved around the world, there is still a significant segment of the population, both at home and abroad, convinced that vaccinations are to blame for all sorts of illnesses.
The second is addictions. No need for a background in social work, medicine, counselling, therapy or policing for most people to share their view of addictions and addicts. Their self-destructive urges are a sign of weakness and laziness, they are a drain on the health care and law enforcement systems, their so-called disease has destroyed lives and, worst of all, the world would be a better place without them. Well, yes, the world would be a better place without addiction, just as the world would be better without cancer and the world is a better place without smallpox
(thanks to a vaccine) and – very soon – po-
lio (also thanks to a vaccine).
To help educate more people and shatter myths and prejudices about addicts and addictions, The Citizen’s weekly sister publication, 97/16, is running an anonymous column called Ask An Addict every Thursday. “Ann” works in the mental health and addictions field. Her knowledge is both academic (two advanced degrees) and real world (a recovering alcoholic and addict). Each week, she will answer questions from readers wanting to know more about addictions. This week, she answers the question “Is there such a thing as responsible drug use?” Next week, she tackles perhaps the most important question of all: “When does someone know they’re addicted?”
Ann defines addiction as continued use with the full knowledge of the harm it is causing and the possibility it may even lead to your own death.
Even non-addicts would agree with that definition, yet they seem oblivious to the cruel irony of wondering why addicts can’t just will themselves to stop their selfdestructive behaviour. If they could do that on their own, they wouldn’t be an addict. That’s what being addicted means.
Some people come up with complicated reasons to support their prejudice towards addicts and addictions. They admit that addiction causes chemical changes in the
brain but argue that these can be overcome by the mind, as if the mind somehow exists apart from the brain. A growing body of research has shown how addiction reshapes the brain and has helped demonstrate the effectiveness of methadone and other drugs in curbing cravings and reducing effects of withdrawal from opioids.
Accidental opioid addicts are now sadly all too common, from teenagers all the way to seniors who were prescribed powerful pain medication in the aftermath of a horrible injury or as part of an ongoing illness, only to discover that their bodies and brains are now dependent upon receiving that constant relief.
For decades, the prevailing belief has been that tough love, perseverance and motivation are all that addicts need and if that’s not enough, well, that’s on them.
Brain scans clearly show that motivation is literally a chemical process involving dopamine. One guess on which chemical is significantly reduced in the brains of addicts. In other words, telling an addict that they can beat their addiction if they try harder is literally telling them to will their brains to produce more dopamine. That would be the equivalent of telling cancer patients that they need to motivate themselves to produce more white blood cells and stop making malignant cancerous cells. If only it were that easy.
YOUR LETTERS
Thursday thoughts
I would like to comment on some of the issues making headlines in our province and country. For one, the Canadian being given a death sentence in China for trying to ship lethal drugs to Australia is no different than the guy who murdered all those people at the country concert in Las Vegas. He is not killing them in plain sight but killing them nevertheless. The death and pain caused by people like him should have a heavy price to pay for actions like that. Justin Trudeau just doesn’t see the whole picture of what really happens if these gangsters get away with the drug dealings, the tragic burden put on families and the crime the users do to support their habits. Also, the disruption of the pipeline construction is just insane. Pipelines are the best and safest way to transport gas or oil. We
all benefit from oil and gas jobs and revenue for our province and country. We need good paying jobs and revenue here in Canada to live in the harsh environments and rough terrain that is our country.
I also believe that taking God out of our schools and a lot of our laws is a mistake. I know by saying this that a lot of people will condemn my opinion but they aren’t the majority. They just scream the loudest.
I would like to hear other people’s thoughts. Pat Moleski Prince George
Remember Stewart
Back in Stewart, we need to bring more news coverage on the sale of our trees that we so depend on for employment. The reaction here with the log export is to halt all log exports from all locations, then annex the oceanfront lot in Stewart and then sell it to World Port who in the future will need that land to expand their business. World Port has completed two parts of their three-part wharf expansion projects. Their wharf now can accept the world’s largest vessels. Stewart ships out ore to be processed or sold elsewhere. Mines from the Yukon and south through B.C. now can ship from Stewart which will save transportation costs to the many new mines opening up in the golden triangle and beyond.
Miles Thomas 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.
Addiction in its many forms is part of who we are as humans because our brains (and the brains of our mammalian cousins) are hardwired to seek ongoing gratification. Both the social prejudices and the accompanying government reliance on law enforcement have not only not improved the situation, they’ve made matters worse. A better path forward to help addicts combat addiction is abundantly clear but it will require a change in attitude across society. Billions of dollars could be saved each year, from emergency rooms treating overdoses to police officers arresting frequent offenders, if addiction was treated as a medical issue. Ongoing care, combined with therapy, counselling and other supports, such as housing, would still be significantly cheaper on taxpayers than the current model and that doesn’t even touch on the lives saved and the families kept together. Science has clearly demonstrated the popular understanding of addiction is as false as believing the Earth is flat and the sun revolves around it because that’s what it looks like. It’s time to change and hopefully Ann’s column can help make a difference. If you have a question for Ann, please send me an email (anonymous if you prefer) at ngodbout@pgcitizen.ca and I will forward it to her.
— Editor-in-chief
Neil Godbout
Time to move away from donation bins
For the past two decades, clothing donation bins have been a constant presence in many municipalities in British Columbia. They have allowed residents an opportunity to donate clothes close to their own homes. Over time, more charities became involved in the practice and, in certain areas of cities, the clothing donation bins sit side by side, practically competing for the donations of residents whose trunks are filled with garments they no longer require.
Yes, clothing donation bins are an important fundraising tool for charities. Still, they have brought their share of problems.
There have been many reports of bins that overfill and some residents have chosen to blatantly get rid of other items that are not supposed to go in or near a clothing donation bin.
Over the course of the past two weeks in Vancouver, I have seen abandoned board games, derelict furniture and even soiled mattresses casually dropped next to clothing donation bins. This is clearly not what the charities intended and it places a burden on municipal staff. For some irresponsible residents, the clothing donation bins have merely provided an opportunity for unauthorized dumping.
In addition, there have been at least six reports of fatalities since 2015 after people have become stuck in clothing donation bins. As a society, our reaction to these deaths has been devoid of empathy.
Canadians consistently rely on the news media to alert us if a particular toy on the market might pose a risk of injury, or a certain type of lettuce at the grocery store might make us sick, or if our make of car has a factory defect that requires repair.
Companies apologize and actively participate in finding solutions to the problems. Sadly, this same diligence that prompts recalls of dangerous items has been absent when discussing clothing donation bins.
A survey recently conducted by Research Co. shows just how much British Columbians have relied on clothing donation bins.
Almost seven in 10 residents (69 per cent) say they have donated clothes to a charity through a bin or drop box in the past year. The proportion of garment donors who rely on these bins reaches 76 per cent among women and British Columbians aged 55 and over.
One might assume from this
Mailing address: 201-1777 Third Ave. Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7 Office hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday
statistic that having these bins around is beneficial to all. Residents who want to donate can do so and there are cautions for people not to climb in. However, faced with the fact that desperate people escaping from the cold or rain will heed no warning, British Columbians think it is time to change course. Across the province, 70 per cent of residents agree with banning all clothing donation bins in their municipality. British Columbians of both genders and all generations and regions support this idea. So, where do we go from here? British Columbians believe that two groups must take action to ensure that donations can continue, charities can thrive and residents can ensure that their redundant garments find a new life helping others.
The first group that needs to modify its thinking is the charitable organizations themselves. Seven in 10 British Columbians (71 per cent) agree that charities should find a way to collect clothes without having to use donation bins.
There are other venues where the donations could be collected and this is where the second group – ourselves – is willing to play an active role. Almost three in four British Columbians (73 per cent) say they would have no problem taking clothes to a specific facility for donation, instead of relying on a donation bin.
All groups across British Columbia are in agreement on travelling to a venue to drop off their garments, including the two heaviest current users of clothing donation bins: women (75 per cent) and residents aged 55 and over (80 per cent).
The recent news of a fatality in a clothing donation bin in Toronto will raise this discussion to a national level. At this moment, British Columbians believe it is time to do things differently. Donors can certainly go a bit farther to deliver their clothes at a particular facility. This is, after all, an act of charity. We all have our preferences when it comes to what we donate and whom we give it to.
But continuing to rely on contraptions that have led to the death of fellow Canadians is the worst possible way to be generous.
— Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.
MARIO CANSECO
Guest Column
Chemophobia more dangerous than chemicals
Commercial products and advertising have a very strange relationship with chemical compounds.
On the one hand, there is Maple Leaf foods and their infamous spelling bee. This series of commercials and online advertisements featured various school-aged children in a spelling bee setting, attempting the names of various chemical compounds. The take-home message was “If you can’t spell it, you won’t find it in our food.”
At the other extreme is Oil of Olay Moisturizing Cream promising fewer wrinkles and a youthful glow via hyaluronic acid and Vitamin B3 or Vitamin C. For years, their advertising has been built around these chemicals and their benefits for beautiful skin.
“Better living (or looking) through chemistry” would appear to be their theme. These are only two advertising campaigns out of many. Lara Bars with their all-natural ingredients – none of those nasty chemicals. CLR with its capacity to remove lime scale and rust but with chemicals safe for the environment. Lysol with its disinfectants capable of killing 99.9 per cent of bacteria. Chemistry pervades much of the advertising we see.
In the late 1950s, the term chemophobia was coined to describe a fear or anxiety exceeding normal proportions about the presence and/or use of chemical compounds. The use of the term in publications and books peaked in the early 1990s. (Not surprisingly, it seems no one has ever bothered to use the term chemophilia – a love of chemical compounds.)
Chemophobia is often irrational and frequently based on either a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the science. For example, there have been various attempts to ban ‘dihydrogen monoxide’ not realizing this is a molecule with two hydrogens and one oxygen, more commonly referred to as water. And yes, water is a chemical compound. Nothing to fear here normally.
For the most part, advertising is relatively innocuous. But one area where there is a great deal of concern amongst practicing chemists and others is in the food industry. In particular, in the use of natural and synthetic as a method of distinguishing
chemicals. Natural carries connotations of healthy and beneficial.
Synthetic is quite the opposite.
Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Any chemical – natural or otherwise – can be toxic. It is not the origins of the compound but the dosage which matters.
This is encapsulated in a saying attributed to Paracelsus: “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison, the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison” or “the dose makes the poison.”
While water is essential for life, excess water can actually kill. I am not talking about drowning, but fatal water consumption. As an example, in 2005, a U.S. college fraternity forced pledges to drink up to five gallons of water in four hours.
The winner actually drank six gallons in less than four hours, but then died. Two others became comatose but managed to survive the ordeal.
There wasn’t anything in the water. It was just water. But as the body becomes waterlogged the concentration of sodium ions inside cells plummets while osmotic pressure forces cells to swell and burst. The brain swells and eventually it is no longer able to function leading to a shutdown of the autonomic nervous system and death.
Should we be afraid of water? No. It is not harmful when used appropriately. Indeed, three days without water is enough to kill the average person. I should add when I say water I am talking about all liquids such as coffee, milk, pop, juice, etc. Most are over 90 per cent water and with regard to water consumption, there really isn’t a lot of difference between drinking a glass of water and one of these other liquids other than caffeine being a diuretic. In any case, natural does not necessarily equate to safe. Nor does synthetic equate to deadly. Many synthetic compounds – from honey to beer to Vitamin C – are perfectly
Robot recreates the walk of ancient creature
WASHINGTON — How did the earliest land animals move?
Scientists have used a nearly 300-million-year old fossil skeleton and preserved ancient footprints to create a moving robot model of prehistoric life.
Evolutionary biologist John Nyakatura at Humboldt University in Berlin has spent years studying a 290-million-year-old fossil dug up in central Germany’s Bromacker quarry in 2000. The four-legged plant-eater lived before the dinosaurs and fascinates scientists “because of its position on the tree of life,” said Nyakatura. Researchers believe the creature is a “stem amniote” – an early land-dwelling animal that later evolved into modern mammals, birds and reptiles.
Scientists believe the first amphibious animals emerged on land 350 million years ago and the first amniotes emerged around 310 million years ago.
The fossil, called Orabates pabsti, is a “beautifully preserved and articulated skeleton,” said Nyakatura. What’s more, scientists have previously identified
fossilized footprints left by the 90 centimetre-long creature.
Nyakatura teamed up with robotics expert Kamilo Melo at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to develop a model of how the creature moved. Their results were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The researchers built a life-size replica of the prehistoric beast – “we carefully modeled each and every bone,” said Nyakatura – and then tested the motion in various ways that would lead its gait to match the ancient tracks, ruling out combinations that were not anatomically possible.
They repeated the exercise with a slightly-scaled up robot version, which they called OroBOT. The robot is made of motors connected by 3D-printed plastic and steel parts. The model “helps us to test real-world dynamics, to account for gravity and friction,” said Melo. The team also compared their models to living animals, including salamanders and iguanas. Technology such as robotics, computer modeling and CT scans are transforming paleontology, “giving us ever more compel-
ling reconstructions of the past,” said Andrew Farke, curator at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Claremont, Calif., who was not involved in the study. Based on the robot model, the scientists said they think the creature had more advanced locomotion than previously thought for such an early land animal. (Think more scampering than slithering.)
“It walked with a fairly upright posture,” said Melo. “It didn’t drag its belly or tail.”
University of Maryland paleontologist Thomas R. Holtz, who was not involved in the study, said the research suggests “an upright stance goes further back than we originally thought.”
Stuart Sumida, a paleontologist at California State University in San Bernardino and part of the initial team that excavated Orobates fossils, called it “an exciting study.” Sumida, who was not involved in the robot project, said the work provided “a much more confident window in to what happened long ago. It isn’t a time machine, but Nyakatura and colleagues have given us a tantalizing peek.”
fine. Admittedly, honey is synthesized by bees so most consumers would think of it as natural, but without bees doing their thing, honey wouldn’t exist. Is there really a difference between a food produced by bees and one produced by humans?
Recently, I heard an expert on CBC rail against processed foods. His contention was that processed food contained no food content. He pointed out processed foods have no nutrients and this is why they are leading to obesity.
The interview caused me to groan. Nutrients are chemicals we consume and use in our body. If processed foods contain no nutrients, then how could they be linked to obesity? If they are not rich in the nutrients our bodies would simply pass them through. We wouldn’t be getting an overdose of nutrients, which our body then stores as fat resulting in obesity.
Perhaps chemophobia is more harmful than chemicals to our health.
Climate change to hit northern infrastructure hard, study says
Bob WEBER Citizen news service
The impact of climate change on roads and other crucial structures in Canada’s North is likely to be even greater than feared, says new detailed research.
“These are greater impacts than anything I’m aware of,” said John Pomeroy, head of the University of Saskatchewan’s Global Water Futures program and lead author on a recently published paper.
Scientists have long warned that Canada’s northwest corner is warming more quickly than almost any other spot on the globe.
Using modelling techniques so detailed they take a supercomputer to process, Pomeroy and his colleagues say they’ve looked more closely than any other researchers into how temperatures are likely to play out over the next century.
They concluded that, if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current level, temperatures in the area around Inuvik, N.W.T. will go up by six degrees on top of the three degrees they’ve already risen.
“It’s hard to imagine what that world would even look like,” Pomeroy said.
Still, they’ve tried.
The researchers project about 70 per cent more snow will fall, but the snow season will shrink by almost a month.
That means spring runoff will more than double, causing the kind of heavy flows and floods that wash out links such as the Dempster Highway, Canada’s only route from the south all the way to the Arctic coast.
They say roads in winter will be vulnerable to a phenomenon in which melted groundwater seeps to the surface, then refreezes into a thick layer of ice.
Permafrost holding up buildings
and roads will melt and retreat by another 25 centimetres.
“They’re already seeing some of these problems,” Pomeroy said.
“Washouts are a common occurrence.”
The predictions are based on a modelling technique so precise that it can zero in on an area as small as four square kilometres. That’s small enough to predict the impact of thunderstorms that can produce flood-causing rainfall.
Pomeroy said the model’s accuracy has been checked by using it to “predict” past weather. It’s considered accurate if the results from the model match what actually happened.
“The model replicated current weather very accurately.”
The study has major implications for construction in the North. Last year, the federal government committed $570 million over 10 years for roads and other infrastructure in the N.W.T. The last link of the Dempster, from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, was opened last summer. Territorial governments have also been trying to open up areas for development.
“It’s going to be a challenge throughout the North,” Pomeroy said.
A customer checks out the ready-made food section at a grocery store in Cincinnati on Feb. 7, 2012. Chemophobia is the irrational fear of chemical compounds, including those used in processed foods.
TODD WHITCOMBE
Relativity
Christina LARSON Citizen news service
HANDOUT PHOTO BY JOHN NYAKATURA VIA AP
This composite image from video shows computer-generated and robotic simulations of a 300 million-year-old fossil, Orabates pabsti, walking.
May holds onto reins of power
Citizen news service
LONDON — British Prime
Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday to remain in office – but saw more of her power ebb away as she battled to keep Brexit on track after lawmakers demolished her European Union divorce deal.
May won a narrow victory, 325 votes to 306 votes, on an opposition motion seeking to topple her government and trigger a general election.
Now it’s back to Brexit, where May is caught between the rock of her own negotiating red lines and the hard place of a Parliament that wants to force a radical change of course.
After winning the vote, May said she would hold talks “in a constructive spirit” with leaders of opposition parties and other lawmakers, starting immediately, in a bid to find a way forward for Britain’s EU exit.
Legislators ripped up May’s Brexit blueprint Tuesday by rejecting the divorce agreement she has negotiated with the EU over the last two years. That it would lose was widely expected, but the scale of the rout – 432 votes to 202, the biggest defeat government defeat in British parliamentary history – was devastating for May’s leadership and her Brexit deal.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn responded with the no-confidence motion, and urged the government to “do the right thing and resign.”
May, who leads a fractious government, a divided Parliament and a gridlocked Brexit process, said she was staying put. May said an election “would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward.”
The government survived Wednesday’s vote with support from May’s Conservative Party and its Northern Irish ally, the Democratic Unionist Party. Many
pro-Brexit Conservatives who voted against May’s deal, backed her in the no-confidence vote to avoid an election that could bring a left-wing Labour government to power.
Had the government lost, Britain would have faced a snap election within weeks, just before the country is due to leave the European Union on March 29.
Political analyst Anand Menon, from the research group U.K. in a Changing Europe, said May had a remarkable ability to soldier on.
“The thing about Theresa May is that nothing seems to faze her,” he said. “She just keeps on going.”
May’s determination – or, as her foes see it, her inflexibility – might not be an asset in a situation calling for a change of course. The prime minister has until Monday to come up with a new Brexit plan.
May promised to speak to lawmakers from across the political spectrum. But she also said any new Brexit plan must “deliver on the referendum result,” which May has long interpreted to mean ending the free movement of workers to Britain from the EU
and leaving the EU’s single market and customs union.
Many lawmakers think a softer departure that retained single market or customs union membership is the only plan capable of winning a majority in Parliament. They fear the alternative is an abrupt “no-deal” withdrawal from the bloc, which businesses and economists fear would cause turmoil.
Labour lawmaker Ben Bradshaw accused May of being “in a total state of denial” about how radically her Brexit plan needed to change.
Green party legislator Caroline Lucas said May’s intransigence had led to the current crisis.
“This is a national calamity of the prime minister’s own making,” Lucas said. “Today has to be the day when we start to change the conversation about Brexit.”
Faced with the deadlock, lawmakers from all parties are trying to wrest control of the Brexit process so that Parliament can direct planning for Britain’s departure.
But with no clear majority in Parliament for any single alterna-
tive, there’s a growing chance that Britain may seek to postpone its departure date while politicians work on a new plan – or even hand the decision back to voters in a new referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
European leaders are now preparing for the worst, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was still time for further talks. She told reporters in Berlin that “we are now waiting to see what the British prime minister proposes.”
But her measured remarks contrasted with the blunt message from French President Emmanuel Macron, who told Britons to “figure it out yourselves.”
He said Britain needed to get realistic about what was possible.
“Good luck to the representatives of the nation who have to implement something that doesn’t exist,” Macron said.
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc was stepping up preparations for a disorderly “no-deal” Brexit after Parliament’s actions left Europe “fearing more than ever that there is a risk” of a cliff-edge departure.
Arms of U.S. taxation stretch into Canada
I’m a fan, but personally I have to wonder.
I picture Paul McCartney in heaven, stocking up on a few things before the journey to Earth. The music bin was not far from the mustering station so McCartney slid over to the booth, looked around and, seeing that he was not being watched, began filling his backpack, his pockets and even stuffed a few songs in his cheeks (hence the pudgy jowls he was born with). Thus he came to Earth with much more than his fair share of songs, which explains a lot. Even John Lennon once complained about the Beatles being Paul’s backup band.
It turns out that just as McCartney was leaving, the angels saw that he had stolen more than five decades worth of pop songs, so they got back at him by sprinkling a large bucket of earthly taxation on him, which was imbued with a magical timing device. At the peak of his fame and fortune, McCartney would be assessed a top tax rate of 98 per cent in 1971.
If McCartney had relocated to the U.S., he would have been better off, but not as much as you might think. The top tax rate in the U.S. in 1971 was 70 per cent.
As we’ve discussed before, U.S. citizens and U.S. Income Tax
indices.
Bank stocks in the U.S. rose as both Goldman Sachs and Bank of America reported strong earnings, prompting rises in financial stocks in general, said Les Stelmach, portfolio manager at Franklin Bissett Investment Management.
“I think, in Canada, that’s probably carried through, we’re seeing all of the big-five banks in positive territory, not just today but year to date after sliding like a good chunk of the market did in December.”
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 64.98 points at 15,111.26 on 249 million shares traded.
file on a net basis when you expect the tax on net rental income to consistently be less than 30 per cent of the gross rental income.
Since 2013, U.S. citizens and U.S. Income Tax Residents that earn in excess of $250,000 US (for married individuals filing jointly) of income in a year are also subject to an additional tax of 3.8 per cent on their net investment income i.e., income such as interest, dividends, capital gains and rents, less deductible investment expenses.
There are preferential tax rates that apply to capital gains realized after a year or longer holding period, and on qualified dividends, both of which are taxed at the highest tax rate of 20 per cent. However, for high income taxpayers the 3.8 per cent additional tax on investment income applies to these income sources, thereby increasing their otherwise reduced rates of taxation.
U.S. citizens and U.S. Income Tax Residents that live in Canada may well be subject to tax in
Residents pay tax in the U.S. not only on their income earned in the U.S., but on income earned from around the world. Income is widely defined to include virtually all sources or types of income, and is taxed at the highest federal income tax rate.
both countries. In most cases, double taxation is not an intended result and is generally avoided by a system of foreign tax credits (except that foreign tax credits are not available in the case of the 3.8 per cent net investment tax). Double taxation cannot always be avoided. Furthermore, if one country taxes the same income at a higher rate than the other, the combined taxes will be at the higher rate.
Many Canadians (who are not U.S. citizens or green card holders) invest in U.S. property in the form of a home, condominium or commercial property. In Florida alone, Canadians spent $2.2 billion in real estate in 2013 and the majority of them (53 per cent) plan to use the real estate as a vacation property while 14 per cent plan to use it as a rental property.
In cases where rental income is generated and/or a gain upon a sale, both U.S. and Canadian income tax will apply. However, Canada generally allows a foreign tax credit for U.S. tax paid on both annual rental income and on taxable capital gains therefore double taxation is avoided.
Tax on U.S. based rental income can be paid in one of two ways.
Tax can be withheld on gross rent at a flat rate of 30 per cent or one can elect to file a non-resident U.S. tax return on a net rental basis. It generally makes sense to
The capital gain on the sale of U.S. real property will require the filing of a U.S. income tax return, even for a Canadian. Where the property is owned for more than one year, the highest U.S. tax rate of 20 per cent applies with possible additional taxes owing in the state in which the property is located. It should be noted that the U.S. withholds tax at an initial rate of 10 per cent of the selling price. This is not the final tax. Rather it is a deposit on the ultimate tax liability shown on a required tax return. Where applicable, the withholding amount can be reduced to the actual U.S. tax owing by filing IRS Form 8288B no later than the closing date of the sale of the property.
Next week, we will discuss some snares the wily IRS has set for U.S. citizens living in Canada. 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
The financial index was up 1.05 per cent, boosted in part by a 1.36 per cent climb for Bank of Montreal and 1.05 per cent at CIBC. Cannabis stocks helped send the health-care index up 1.97 per cent as Aurora Cannabis Inc. climbed 4.97 per cent.
The energy sector index, which rose strongly on Tuesday, slipped 0.65 per cent, despite the February crude contract closing up 20 cents at $52.31 per barrel.
Crude prices and energy stocks have seen gains in recent days as the outlook for oil improves, said Stelmach.
“There seems to be some confidence that the OPEC-plus cuts and Russia cuts are happening, and there’s an expectation that inventories will continue to draw down.”
Canadian crude producers have also been boosted by a sharp drop in the discount on the product as Alberta curtails production and investors worry that the U.S. could impose an embargo on Venezuelan heavy crude production. Energy stocks have also rallied in general after a heavy selloff in December that looks to be receding, said Stelmach.
“The Canadian market, particularly the energy sector, took such a beating in December that we’re probably due for a relief.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 141.57 points at 24,207.16. The S&P 500 index closed up 5.8 points at 2,616.10, while the Nasdaq composite was up 10.86 points at 7,034.69.
The Canadian dollar averaged 75.48 cents US, up 0.1 of
MARK RYAN
Jill LAWLESS, Danica KIRKA
AP PHOTO
British Prime Minister Theresa May reacts after winning a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday.
Cougars can’t hold off CHL powerhouse
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
They’ve got speed in abundance, talent up the ying-yang and the pomp-and-circumstance swagger that comes with losing just five of their first 44 games.
These Prince Albert Raiders are the real deal, the team everybody in the Western Hockey League is struggling to beat. They lived up to all the hype in a 6-2 win over the Prince George Cougars in their one and only appearance at CN Centre Wednesday night.
They were one step ahead of the Cats most of the game and gave a sparse gathering of just 2,405 a taste of what they have to offer as they make the stretch run into the playoffs.
The Raiders continue to dominate the WHL as the top-ranked major junior team in Canada and improved their record to 38-5-0-1.
The Cougars (16-23-1-2) remained fourth in the B.C. division and eighth in the Western Conference. They still hold the second wild-card conference playoff spot.
The Raiders, as expected, had the Cougars under siege early. They’d already built an 8-2 shot advantage when top-line centre Sean Montgomery tapped in Brett Leason’s shot-pass through the crease while parked just off the far-side post. That goal, Montgomery’s 19th, came 7:06 in.
A turnover just outside the Cougars’ blueline set up the Raiders second goal. Spencer Moe chipped the puck ahead to Parker Kelly and he split the defence and launched a high shot in over Taylor Gauthier’s glove.
The Cougars’ offence kicked in late in the first period. Raiders goalie Ian Scott had trouble smothering a high bouncing dump-in from Brendan Boyle and the rebound was left for Jackson Leppard, who went to his backhand to put the puck behind Scott.
The Cougars knotted the score a few shifts into the second period. Ilijah Colina won the draw in the Raiders’ end and got the puck to Rhett Rhinehart, who dished it to his defence partner Ryan Schoettler. The shot from Schoettler hit Mike MacLean standing in front – the fourth goal of the season for the former Seattle Thunderbird.
The Cougars at that point
realized they weren’t out of the Raiders’ league and played with a lot more confidence than they showed in the first period. They continued to generate scoring chances and had stretches where they rarely allowed a volatile Prince Albert offence that scored 198 goals in their first 43 games to get set up in the danger zone.
All it took was one bad penalty to throw a wrench into that plan.
Just nine seconds after Tyson Upper got caught for tripping in the offensive zone, Alaiksei Protas was set up with a hard pass through the crease from Montgomery and the import from Virebsk, Belarus, got his stick blade on it before Gauthier could react.
Josh Maser, who played briefly for the Raiders two years ago as a 17-year-old, twice tested Scott severely in the second period with
defections that forced the Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick out of his comfort zone. Maser came into the game with a team-leading 16 goals.
“Through two periods I thought we were pretty good,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. “It’s a good learning lesson for us, that’s where we want to be in a couple years with our team. Their transition game is so much faster and we’re a young team and you have to execute so much faster or they take your time and space away from you.
“There’s a reason they’ve only had five losses, they’re the best team in the county for a reason.”
The Raiders cashed in their insurance policy for their fourth goal just before the five-minute mark of the third period. Cole Fonstad tried to find a teammate just
outside the Cougar crease and the puck hit Rhinehart’s skate blade and slid through Gauthier’s legs.
Justin Nachbaur made it 5-2 a few minutes later, scoring from a sharp angle with Gauthier down on his knees.
The Raiders and their deep balanced attack had 12 players figure in on the scoring, none of whom generated more than two points. Penalties weren’t a big factor.
The Raiders went 1-for-6 on the power play while the Cats finished 0-for-3.
Shots were 49-25 in favour of Prince Albert. Noah Gregor, a 20-year-old San Jose Sharks’ prospect picked up at the deadline in a trade from the Calgary Hitmen, had 11 of those 49 centring a line with Fonstad and Ozzy Weisblatt.
“By far they’re the fastest team we’ve played yet and they move
Bochen inks NCAA deal with Michigan
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
Prince George Spruce Kings defenceman Nick Bochen is going to Michigan.
The B.C. Hockey League team announced Wednesday the 17-year-old North Vancouver native has agreed to terms on an NCAA scholarship commitment to attend the University of Michigan to play for the Wolverines beginning in the 2020-2021 season.
The five-foot-nine, 154-pound Bochen has blossomed this season as a rookie on the Kings’ blueline and in 41 games he has five goals and 20 assists, with 12 minutes in penalties.
Bochen scored one goal in five games for the Kings last year as an affiliated player and joined the team full-time in February from the Burnaby Winter Club midget prep academy team. He played 13 games in a
playoff run that took the team to its first ever BCHL final.
“We are proud of Nick for his commitment to Michigan Hockey NCAA Div. 1 for 2020-2021,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio in a team release.
the puck well,” said Colina, who returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing five games with an upper-body injury.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Raiders are just beginning a six-game trip, all against B.C.-based teams. They’ll be back in action Friday in Kamloops against a Blazers team that will play the Cougars Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at CN Centre… The Cougars had won four of their last five games… Raiders D Max Martin made his return to Prince George for the first time in a Raiders uniform since the November 2016 trade for D Brendan Guhle. That deal sent Martin, F Kolby Johnson, the Cougars’ firstround pick in 2018 (Raiders used that third-overall pick to select D Nolan Allan) and a third-rounder in 2019. Martin drew the second assist on Gregor’s goal.
Last week, the Kings announced 20-yearold winger Ben Brar has committed to a scholarship arrangement to attend Merrimack University in Massachusetts next season.
That brings the total of NCAA Division 1 scholarships to 12 on the current Spruce Kings roster.
“Nick has shown and proved that he is an elite defenceman in our league and he is very deserving of his commitment. We look forward to continuing working with Nick for this season and next before he leaves to Michigan.”
Gibson, Kobasiuk ski to Teck Open podium
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
Charlotte Gibson harnessed lightning in her skis Sunday on the slalom course in the season-opening B.C. Alpine Teck Open event at Sun Peaks. The 15-year-old Prince George Alpine Ski Team racer blasted out to the lead with the quickest time of the day in her first run (51.46 seconds), then clocked 52.52 to win the event with the fastest cumulative time (1:43.98) in a field of 66 racers.
Gibson’s Prince George teammate, 15-year-old Melinda Kobasiuk, shared the medal podium after she placed third overall in 1:46.41. Noa Rogers of Penticton captured silver in 1:44.85. In other Prince George results Sunday, Jacob Hoskins, 14, finished sixth in the men’s slalom. Hoskins clocked a two-run total of 1:45.34. Chase Burns of Whistler set the pace, winning gold in 1:40.37. The men’s race drew 62 skiers. Jack Logan of Prince George finished 20th. In other local results from the women’s race, Amelie Brulotte was 19th, Ella Francis placed 36th and Erica McCallum finished 46th.
The impressive results for Prince George athletes and two medals to celebrate on the final day of the four-day event were enough to make Kali Holahan lose her voice from cheering on her skiers. Holahan and Phil Soicher are the Prince George club coaches.
“It was incredible to watch our athletes ski on Sunday, everyone was at their best and we saw some incredible skiing from our athletes,” said Holahan, in an email to The Citizen. Neither Gibson nor Kobasiuk finished Saturday’s slalom race. In other Prince George women’s results Saturday, Francis was 34th and McCallum was 42nd. In the men’s race, Hoskins placed 13th and Logan ended up 45th. The event was a qualifier for BC Alpine’s Canada Winter Games team. It started with giant slalom races Thursday and Friday. On Friday, in the women’s GS, Kobasiuk placed 12th; Brulotte, 24th; Francis, 44th; McCallum, 56th; while Gibson did not finish. In the men’s race, Hoskins was 22nd and Logan was 44th. Thursday’s GS results were as follows: Women – Gibson, 11th; Kobasiuk, 12th; Brulotte, 24th; Francis, 45th; and McCallum, 54th. Men – Hoskins, 22nd; Logan, 44th. Round 2 of the Teck Open series is scheduled for Kimberley, Feb. 7-10.
In other local ski news, Purden Ski Village (60 kilometres east of Prince George) will host a zone slalom race for under-six, under-8, under-10, under-12 and recreational skiers on Saturday. Racing starts at 10:30 a.m.
Charlotte Gibson of the Prince George Alpine Ski Team poses with her gold medal at Sun Peaks.
B.C. Hockey League teams loaded up on members of the Cariboo Cougars on Tuesday. Six guys in Cariboo colours – forwards Grady Thomas, Brett Fudger, Lane Goodwin and Brendan Pigeon, defenceman Matthew Marotta and goaltender Devin Chapman – became linked with BCHL clubs when they were added as affiliated players. Thomas, Fudger and Goodwin are all now affiliated with the West Kelowna Warriors. Pigeon, meanwhile, is now an AP with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, while Marotta and Chapman are part of the Chilliwack Chiefs and Cowichan Valley Capitals organizations respectively.
The Cougars compete in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League and sit in third place with a 16-5-3-0 record. The Cats will put that mark on the line this weekend in Fort St. James, where they will take on the secondplace Vancouver Northeast Chiefs (165-2-2) in a pair of games. Saturday’s opener will be held inside the Fort Forum, with puck-drop slated for 5 p.m. Then, on Sunday, the teams will move outdoors to the Ernie Sam Memorial Arena, located on Nak’azdli Whut’en
in Fort St. James.
Prince George Cougars defenceman Cole Moberg attempts to get the puck out of his zone while fighting off a check from Parker Kelly of the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday night at CN Centre.
Citizen staff
Cariboo Cats in demand
Sports
Caledonians back in World Cup, IBU action
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
Sarah Beaudry and Emily Dickson are back on the international biathlon trail.
The two Caledonia Nordic Ski Club members are racing today in Germany.
Beaudry, 24, is scheduled to start 35th out of the gate in today’s BMW World Cup women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint in Ruhpolding, among four Canadian women entered. Beaudry helped Canada to a 13th-place finish Sunday in the women’s relay in Oberhof, Germany. The Prince George native posted her bestever Word Cup result Dec. 21 in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, placing 12th in the sprint.
Dickson, a native of Burns Lake, has been selected to Canada’s junior/youth national team for the seventh time...
Dickson, 21, is in Arber for the IBU Cup women’s short 12.5 km individual race and will start 65th. Dickson is coming off a 44th-place result Sunday in an IBU Cup sprint in Dusniki Zdroj, Poland.
Dickson, a native of Burns Lake, has been selected to Canada’s junior/youth national team for the seventh time and will race at the junior world championships which start Monday in Slovakia.
Also racing today in the World Cup, Emma Lunder of Vernon is fourth in the sprint order, Rosanna Crawford of Canmore will start 68th and Megan Bankes of Calgary is 88th on the list. The 10 km men’s sprint includes Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke, Que., (starting fifth), Christian Gow of Canmore (42nd), Scott Gow of Canmore (75th) and Aidan Millar of Canmore (95th).
A men’s relay is scheduled for Friday, the women’s relay is on Saturday and mass start races are on tap for Sunday.
The World Cup tour will make one more European stop next week in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, before it returns to North America for races in Canmore, Feb. 4-10 and Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 11-17.
Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Yukon, who finished ninth in Sunday’s 7.5 km sprint in Poland, will start today’s IBU Cup race 45th. Four Canadian men are entered in the 10 km sprint, including Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T. (starting 27th).
Comin’ at ya
Michigan State president stepping down
Citizen news service
DETROIT — Michigan State interim president John Engler submitted his resignation Wednesday amid public backlash over his comments about women and girls sexually assaulted by now-imprisoned campus sports doctor Larry Nassar.
Engler, who had resisted earlier pressure to resign, announced his plans in an 11-page letter to Dianne Byrum, chairwoman of Michigan State’s Board of Trustees. It makes no mention of recent criticism of his remarks and instead lists what he considers to be his accomplishments in his one year of service, saying the university is a “dramatically better, stronger institution.”
Engler said he was in Texas attending a service for his late father-in-law. He says his resignation is effective on Jan. 23.
His sudden reversal tops off a stormy period
Engler told The Detroit News that Nassar’s victims had been in the “spotlight” and are “still enjoying that moment at times, you know, the awards and recognition.”
for the university under Engler and is the second time a Michigan State president left during the Nassar scandal.
The final straw for the university’s board came last week when Engler told The Detroit News that Nassar’s victims had been in the “spotlight” and are “still enjoying that moment at times, you know, the awards and recognition.”
Nassar is now serving decades-long prison sentences for sexually assaulting patients and
possessing child pornography.
The AP left messages Wednesday seeking comment from Engler, who was hired last February following the resignation of president Lou Anna Simon over the Nassar scandal.
After Engler was hired by the board, Michigan State agreed to a $500 million settlement with 332 women and girls who said they were sexually assaulted by Nassar. Of that, $75 million will cover future claims.
In April, Engler told another university official in emails that Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to go public with her accusations about Nassar, was probably getting a “kickback” from her attorney.
Denhollander told the AP Wednesday that her hope is that the board “is signalling at least the beginning of a true change in direction and tone. And in order to do that, they have to deal with the person they put in place.”
NHL, NHLPA pull plug on World Cup
Citizen news service
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have given up on the possibility of staging the next World Cup of Hockey in September 2020.
The league and PA announced that conclusion in separate statements Wednesday. The sides met earlier in the day in Toronto to discuss the World Cup as part of collective bargaining talks after meeting last week in Las Vegas.
Not holding the World Cup in September 2020 is consequential because it was tied to the potential of labour peace in hockey. Owners or players could choose this September to opt out
of the current collective bargaining agreement and end it Sept. 15, 2020.
The current CBA runs until 2022 unless one side chooses to terminate it early.
In the statements, the NHL and NHLPA each said dialogue would continue and the hope is to hold another World Cup at some point as part of a broader agreement on international events.
Couturier powers Flyers
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sean Couturier had a hat trick, Carter Hart stopped 39 shots and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins
4-3 on Wednesday night. Couturier scored twice within 90 seconds in the second period and sealed the win with his 19th goal late in the third for his first career regular-season hat trick. He gave the Flyers hat tricks in consecutive games after James van Riemsdyk kicked it off in Monday’s win.
The Flyers entered in 30th place in the NHL and got a rare comeback victory in front of another sparse crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. Fans who showed up caught a slice of franchise history: Claude Giroux got his 500th career assist and joined Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke (852) as the only Flyers to hit that milestone.
New Jackson doc a marvel
Lindsey BAHR Citizen news service
Director Peter Jackson is upfront about what audiences should not expect from his unconventional First World War documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old. This is a film made by a non-historian for an audience of non-historians, he says. There are no dates, names or locations. Neither are there any talking heads or historians or politics. It’s just images and the voices of those who were there, telling their own stories.
And the result is riveting – an immersive, haunting and often transcendent experience that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. That’s because Jackson has done something revolutionary by restoring, colourizing and adding 3D depth to hundred-year-old footage from the archives of the Imperial War Museum, depicting everything from basic training to the trenches.
Although there are many smiles as the men as young as 15 and 16 look upon the camera that’s filming them, it does not spare you the harrowing stuff. You watch as soldiers strip off their shoes and socks to reveal gangrene. You see dead bodies piled on top of one another, a hand sticking out of the mud, bare-bottomed soldiers trying to relieve themselves in a makeshift, and quite public, toilet. The mechanics of a cannon are downright hypnotic. The 3D effects make you feel as though you’ve been transported to another world, and this isn’t even taking into account the voices.
The narration comes from hundreds of hours of BBC and IWM interviews from the middle of the century (Jackson wanted the veterans telling their stories in their 60s, where possible). You never learn who is talking, and the voices change quite frequently, but somehow, with all this somewhat random collection of anecdotes and footage, Jackson and his team give what is perhaps the most honest collective account of the Great War that’s ever been committed to film.
They talk about joining up, and lying about their ages in order to do so, the rigours of basic training, the logistical difficulties of having one uniform for the entire war, the pain of the army-issued boots, many of which didn’t actually even fit the soldiers. They also talk about the unique camaraderie in the trenches as somewhat fleeting, which struck me as something I hadn’t heard before in all the band of broth-
A&E IN BRIEF
Hart to be inducted into Canadian Music Hall of Fame
TORONTO (CP) — Corey Hart will join Canadian music royalty in the country’s music hall of fame.
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences says Hart, who has sold more than 16 million albums, will be inducted during the Juno Awards in London, Ont., on March 17, when he will also perform for the first time in 20 years. Hart became a sensation in the early 1980s with his first big hit, Sunglasses at Night, and then a follow-up album, Boy in the Box, which sold more than one million copies in Canada alone.
In a release from the academy, Hart said he is honoured to be named an inductee as he begins preparing for his first national tour in over two decades.
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was created in 1978 to celebrate artists who have helped increase the “international recognition of Canadian music.”
Previous inductees include Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Oscar Peterson and Shania Twain.
Richards reissuing Talk Is Cheap
NEW YORK (AP) — Keith Richards is celebrating the 30th anniversary of his solo debut album by reissuing it. Richards originally released Talk Is Cheap in 1988 and will reissue the album on March 29. It will include six bonus tracks and will be released digitally, on CD, on vinyl and as a box set.
Talk Is Cheap features Maceo Parker, Patti Scialfa, Bootsy Collins and former Rolling Stones bandmate Mick Taylor.
Hansen in hot water
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — A TV journalist known for confronting would-be child predators has been snared himself in a police investigation alleging he wrote bad checks for $13,000 worth of marketing materials.
Former To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen was arrested Monday in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. He was charged with issuing a bad check and released on a promise to appear in court.
ers narratives out there, and what it was like when the person next to you was suddenly killed, and the weariness and apathy both they and the Germans seemed to feel as the war stretched on and everyone just wanted to go home.
And the big gut-punch is yet to come when they begin to describe what it was like to re-enter civilian life after the war: no one cared. And no one wanted to talk about the war. These veterans were now a nuisance and a burden.
They Shall Not Grow Old won’t prepare you for that history test or ready you to talk about the Gallipoli or Verdun. And yet, while it might not be a conventional history lesson, it is a necessary and utterly urgent one, and it’s very much worth taking the trek to the theatre for its special engagement on Jan. 21 to take advantage of the astonishing technology on display.
— Four stars out of four
Carell heading Space Force
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Steve Carell is starring in a new workplace comedy that could be out of this world.
Netflix said Wednesday that Carell is re-teaming with The Office producers Greg Daniels and Howard Klein on the series Space Force.
It’s about the people assigned to create a sixth branch of the armed services focused on space, the streaming service said.
The premise is grounded in reality: last year, the Trump administration directed the Pentagon to form a Space Command aimed at the creation of a Space Force branch.
Carell and Daniels are the sitcom’s co-creators and will serve as executive producers along with Klein.
Daniels co-created NBC’s The Office, based on the original Ricky Gervais-Stephen Merchant U.K. mockumentary series.
Bieber book on way
STRATFORD, Ont. (CP) — Justin Bieber’s meteoric rise to pop stardom will be outlined in a new book from the organizer of his Stratford, Ont., exhibit.
John Kastner of the Stratford Perth Museum will publish Justin Bieber: Steps to Stardom next month, a glimpse inside the hometown museum showcase that’s attracted visitors from across the globe. The behind-the-scenes look features 100 colour photos of items showcased in the exhibit, including a hockey jacket from his childhood and various music awards.
HART
CARELL
WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT VIA AP
These images, above and below, released by Warner Bros. Entertainment, show scenes from the First World War documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, directed by Peter Jackson.
Syl Meise
MUNTAU, Friedrich (Fred) passed away December 22, 2018 at his home in Prince George, BC. Fred was born in Dresden, Germany on May 10, 1940 and came to Canada in 1962. Fred is predeceased by his parents Friedrich and Elisabeth as well as his sister Brigitte and his wife Monika. Fred is survived by his son Friedrich (Shelley) and their children Hannah & Julien; his daughter Michelle (Stuart) Lee and their children James, Jonah & Emersyn. Fred is also survived by his nieces in Germany, Elke (Thorwald) and Birgit (Janny) and his cousin Sigrid.
As a resident of Prince George for nearly 50 years, he was an avid outdoorsman; enjoying hunting, fishing as well as gardening and leaves behind a close community of relatives, friends, coworkers and his precious (and spoiled) cats Charlie & Georgie.
A celebration of a life lived will be held at 7 p.m., January 24, 2019 at the PG Elks Community Hall, 663 Douglas Street. The family would like to extend a special thanks to Dad’s friends Randy & Dennis and his neighbour Dave for their care and assistance in the recent months.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation in Fred’s name to the Kidney Foundation.
Brian Michael Stoppler
Brian Michael Stoppler died unexpectedly and peacefully, of natural causes, at his home on January 13, 2019 at the age of 66.
Brian is survived by his mother Mrs. Alma Stoppler; his wife of 46 years, Lynda; their children, Ashley (Travis Stewart) Prince George, Adam (Karri) Grande Prairie, and two grandsons Landon Stoppler and Spencer Stewart. He is also survived by his brothers Richard (Lois), Allan (Vickie) and their respective families. Brian leaves behind his “brother in fishing” Doug McCumsey, and his canine companion, Bella. He will be missed by his nieces and nephews. Brian was preceded in death by his father, Frank Stoppler, and his canine companions Springer and Bentley.
Brian was born March 1, 1952 in Gravelbourgh, Sk. As the son of a railroader he lived in many different small Saskatchewan towns and played hockey and baseball in most of them. He and Lynda married in 1972 and lived in Burnaby until January 1, 1974 when they moved to Prince George where Brian continued to work for CN Rail. Later he was in charge of Landtran Logistics and, hired not only his own children at various times but also some of their friends as they worked their way through university. Brian retired thirteen years ago and during that time he watched a lot of baseball, the Seattle Seahawks (until they would lose and then he’d throw his Seahawks hat out the door), curling, and most recently, he was an avid viewer of MSNBC keeping up on the Trump debacle.
Brian was very proud of his children and all that they have accomplished - at one point when they were both working for him he said “you can say what you want about having your kids work for you; those two ding dongs have just done a great job”. He recognized the happiness that Karri brought to Adam, and that Travis brought to Ashley and was totally taken with his two grandsons. He was able to have his mother, his children, their spouses, and grandchildren with him at Christmas. Brian was an insulin dependent Type 1 diabetic from the age of 17. That he lived as long as he did is a tribute to his physiological make-up and the skills of the medical practitioners in Prince George. Surprisingly he had very few complications from his diabetes - and it wasn’t due to good management on his part. He had the utmost respect for Dr. Donald MacRitchie (not that he always did what Dr. MacRitchie recommended but…) and appreciated the people at the Diabetic Clinic, the Burn and Wound Clinic (which he called the Hoof and Wound Clinic), Davinder, the Pharmacist at Save-On Foods, Joanne, the footcare provider, Dr. Kjorven and her dental team, and Dr. Dergousoff, Optometrist, and Dr. Lukaris, Opthamologist. Brian marched to the beat of his own drumhe was incredibly stubborn and opinionatedbut also very willing to help those with less than he had. He loved telling stories, embellishing details - he never let the truth get in the way of a good story - what he didn’t know he made up - and he could make you believe him.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, January 18th at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. In lieu of flowers there will be an opportunity to make a donation to the Quinson Elementary School Breakfast Fund. Lynda and family extend their thanks to the paramedics, the firefighters, the Victim Services team, the Coroner, and the RCMP for their assistance.
October 16, 1935January 10, 2019
With great sadness we announce the sudden passing at home of Syl Meise, a loving family man and generous friend to all, who struggled with congestive heart failure and COPD for several years. He is survived by his heartbroken family, wife of 51 years Linda Christine, son Scott, daughter Leah, granddaughter Donna, step-grandson Trevor, great grandchildren Ariya, Kayleen and Logan, brother Dave (Marie), sister Beverlie Flegel (John), sisters-in-law Barbara and Pat and many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents Franz & Helena, brothers John, Henry, Lud, Ernie, Bill, Pete, Fred & George and sisters Frieda, Josephine and Isabel. Syl was an unforgettable man with a big heart, a positive attitude, an endless supply of stories and jokes and a desire to make everyone smile. To his family he was loving and full of fun, to his friends and community he was selfless and generous, as a professional driver during his work years he was skilled and conscientious. He loved life and never hesitated to try something new whether it was skiing, golfing, acting, curling, loggers sports, racing & training horses, coaching and playing baseball & bowling just to name a few. He will be missed by so many.
A celebration of life will be held at First Baptist Church 483 Gillette Street at 11:00 am Saturday, January 19 with a tea to follow at Pineview Hall. In lieu of flowers donations could be made to the Prince George Hospice House.
Christopher Edward Erickson 1957-2019
With great sadness we announce the passing of Chris Erickson on Saturday, January 12, 2019. Chris died peacefully at home with his wife Pat, children Bradley and Sarah, and son-in-law Sheldon at his side. He is predeceased by his parents, Fred and Edith Erickson. He leaves behind his wife Pat, children Bradley and Sarah (Sheldon), brothers Arnold (Joan) and Harold (Charyle), sister Linda (Steve) and many nieces, nephews, and great nieces and great nephews.
Chris was born in Penticton and enjoyed an ideal childhood living beside Skaha Lake. He was a much loved husband, father, and friend.
He enjoyed a long and happy career as a Heavy Duty Mechanic and Mobile Equipment Shop Supervisor for Carrier Forest Products. The years that he spent as a Cub and Scout leader, and Army Cadet volunteer brought him much happiness. He had a fun-loving personality and loved hiking, skiing, canoeing, camping, and other outdoor adventures with his family.
We would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Hillhouse and his office, Home and Community Care, Nurse Next Door, The ALS Society of BC, the ALS clinic at GF Strong, Medichair, PG Hospice, and all the friends and family that supported Chris during his illness with ALS. There will be a Celebration of Life Reception for Chris on Tuesday, January 22, 12:30 p.m. at The Hart Community Centre located at 4900 Austin Road West. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Chris can be made to the ALS Society of BC.
Van Blarcom
Donald Richard 1949 ~ 2019
Donald Richard Van Blarcom was born in Hanna, Alberta October 21, 1949 and passed away in Kelowna, British Columbia January 13, 2019.
He will be forever remembered by his loving wife of almost 47 years, Arlene; his daughter Dana (Kirk); grandchildren Cole, Kennedy, Carmelisa, and Keira; sisters Maryl (Ron) and Moira (Paul); brother David (Susan); brothers-in-law Murray, Donald (Angela) and all their families.
His grandchildren were the love of his life. Special thanks to his niece Andrea (LPN) who was with him to the end.
Don was a member of St. George’s Masonic Lodge and The Royal Arch. He most recently worked in the cells of the Penticton RCMP detachment. A memorial service will be announced at a later date.
Donations to JoeAnna’s House would be appreciated - c/o KGH Foundation, 2268 Pandosy Street, Kelowna, BC V1Y 1T2 (https://www.kghfoundation.com/joeannas-house/)
Arrangements are in care of Everden Rust Funeral Services & Crematorium, West Kelowna Arrangement Centre (250-768-8925). Condolences may be left for the family at www.everdenrust.com
Thursday, January 17, 2019
10
Snow fun
Otway hosted the nordic Winter Festival on sunday.
Natural resources forum comiNg
The B.C. Natural Resources Forum drills deep into industries derived from the land like forestry, mining, petroleum, natural gas, agriculture, fisheries and tourism.
Those who gather at the annual event are some of the primary figures in government, major corporations, First Nations, goods and services delivery, environmental protection, academia, trades and other stakeholder groups.
This year’s forum runs Jan. 22-24 and as always it is held in Prince George at the Civic and Convention Centre.
Chief organizer Dan Jepson of C3 Alliance Corp. has attended all 15 of the past forums and for the past five has been the lead coordinator. He doesn’t live in Prince George but insists this is the only place he would consider holding the event created by then-MLA Pat Bell.
“This has to stay in Prince George. That’s one of the secrets of its success,” Jepson said. “I was just telling (Prince George mayor) Lyn Hall about this not long ago. I was showing him the speakers’ list and said if you got this same program with the same 48 speakers (at the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre), what happens is, people arrive, their ties are very tight and their skirts are perfect, they are on their panel for their one hour, they stay and get scrummed for 10 minutes, and they leave.
“The delightful thing and the sweet spot with Prince George is people are more relaxed, the majority of our keynote speakers stay for their one if not both days and there are incredible opportunities for the delegates to interact in a positive way with First Nations, business and government leaders. That’s really the most important part of it.”
Another consideration in Prince George’s favour is the isolation, used as
a positive trait. In major urban centres, even the delegates leave the main event when their key topics aren’t in the spotlight. They go home or back to the office after their items of interest.
But in Prince George, interest and active attention are sequestered and it is in a city where their topics are the everyday reality of the population.
“Another very unique sweet spot, it’s a fascinating fact that shocks me, is we will see mining people tell us that the best talks were the forestry panel, and the forestry people will come to us and say the best talks were energy, because what traditionally happens is, if you’re in forestry you only really go to forestry conferences. You never hear anything about mining or
natural gas or those types of other things. So that ability to cross-pollinate between sectors, academia, government, First Nations, is just... you can’t underestimate the value of that.”
There is a monetary value as well to the Prince George region.
Continued on page 4
Frank PEEBLES 97/16 staff
97/16 file photo
Premier John horgan was one of the keynote speakers at the 2018 B.C. natural resources Forum. The event runs again this year from Jan. 22 to Jan. 24, at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre.
Duo help Ducks through winter
ChristiNe hiNZMANN 97/16 staff
The ducks are back at Cottonwood Island Park.
Once the cold set in and the snow inundated Prince George recently Paul Cailleaux and Brock Bailey knew it was time to start feeding the ducks again.
As Cailleaux said, word spreads fast in the duck world and after the first feeding of about 20 ducks took place Jan. 1, it only took a few days and now there are upwards of 300 gathering near the bridge by the main parking lot at Cottonwood.
Right now all of the ducks at the park are mallards.
Cailleaux pointed out that as always, there are followers and there are leaders. All it takes is for one duck to come to the feeding area and then as we all can imagine Cailleaux and Bailey have all their ducks in a row as the pair of kindhearted men watch the fowl waddle over to the food.
“It’s quite entertaining for the park goers,” Cailleaux said. “We just ask that people don’t let their dogs chase the ducks.”
The energy the ducks expend escaping harm can be better spent in other ways, like survival, he added.
Bailey, who retired from a career as a federal wildlife officer, makes it clear that no, they’re not saving a species or making a huge environmental impact, but to help sustain 300 local ducks through the winter will help make it easier on them come spring when they are supposed to be nesting and thriving.
One of the most asked questions is why the ducks stay here instead of heading south.
“Ducks are fairly hearty,” Bailey said.
(The) longer they stay here and fly around the less energy they have because it gets really cold and everything is frozen from here to the coast so food sources are pretty limited and they tend to stick around.
“So they quite often hang around a lot later than even the geese do. The geese tend to head south quicker. Now these particular birds that hang here we think that they end up being able to scavenge,
especially this year because they had a lot of food availability because of there was not much snow on the fields. Generally I think what happens is they end up sticking around on the Fraser and on the Nechako and then they end up picking up a fair amount of food from the grain cars that come through on the railroad up in Miworth and in town.”
Brock Bailey
As the weather gets colder and the snow covers up their food source that’s when the ducks need help to sustain themselves, he added.
“They’ve built up fat and muscle mass over the spring and summer, but the longer they stay here and fly around the less energy they have because it gets really cold and everything is frozen from here to the coast so food sources are pretty limited and they tend to stick around,”
Bailey explained.
Bailey said years ago people were bringing him birds that had literally dropped dead out of the sky. The ducks looked plump but upon closer examination they had wasted away.
Cailleaux and Bailey took on the project together, including going out every day for the last four years from January to March and incurring the expense of buying the feed. Last year was a good year for getting help and many individuals would buy a bag of feed at Spruce Capital Feeds and Bailey or Cailleaux would go pick them up as needed. The longtime friends, who both belong to Ducks Unlimited and are life-long hunters and conservationists, spread 60 pounds of feed, that’s a bag and a half of food, every day. The physical effort of packing the feed and then taking their shovels and spreading it as far and wide as they can is quite a chore.
Cailleaux and Bailey know there is a pecking order in the duck world so if the feed isn’t spread out, only the dominant males would get the food.
Continued on page 5
97/16 photo by James doyle
Paul Cailleaux and Brock Bailey are volunteers with ducks unlimited Canada and spend the winter feeding the ducks at Cottonwood Island Park.
Horgan, SoHi, otHerS on SpeakerS liSt
Continued from page 1
Economic studies show that the forum pumps about $2 million into local pockets through delegate impacts like hotel rooms, meals, and socializing but also through organizational impacts like event planning staff, communication materials and civic centre services.
It would be easier from an organizational standpoint to host this event in Vancouver or Victoria, or even Edmonton or Winnipeg. The major players of government and industry are more centralized in those places. But the ability for Prince George to be focused hosts, and the delegates and VIPs swimming in the flow of the event, makes for especially meaningful interactions. The results of all the side meetings, casual encounters, surprise visits, etc. has a value that goes beyond emotion or intellect and may have an impact on the nation’s gross domestic product. Even the coffee breaks are designed to encourage deal making.
“Registration so far is tracking 15 per cent above last year’s record of 925 delegates, so it’s phenomenal,” Jepson said. “As federal minister Carr (Minister of Natural Resources James Carr was a speaker in 2018) said last year, this is the largest and most important natural resources forum in Western Canada and I’m just delighted that it continues to be hosted in Prince George.”
The forum this year has in excess of 70 booths in the trade show area, optional field trips and workshops for delegates, the True North Business Forum the day before hosted by the Prince George
Chamber of Commerce, associated discussions by Clean Energy BC, Share BC, the Celebrate The North evening reception, the Ministers’ Breakfast, a banquet, six keynote speakers from the gamut of resource-based business including Premier John Horgan and federal Minister
Amarjeet Sohi, and more than 40 other well-positioned speakers making up the panels that will speak to the latest information affecting Canadian industry.
One of those panels will have six provincial ministers at one time, from all the portfolios governing natural resources
and the First Nations portfolio that plays a central role with all of them.
To register as a delegate to this year’s BC Natural Resources, click the registration tab on the forum’s homepage. A range of prices reflect the range of ways you can participate.
CNC holdiNg budget CoNsultatioNs
The College of New Caledonia will be hosting a consultation session in advance of setting its 2019-20 budget.
It will be held on Feb. 1, starting at 4 p.m., and will be conducted simultaneously at all six CNC campuses, using its digital delivery instruction (DDI) system.
“Last year, DDI was very successful in connecting voices from different communities into one budget session,” said CNC president Henry Reiser. “The communities CNC serves are important stakeholders. Understanding their vision for education in their community is an important step to CNC’s decision making process.”
Registration for the consultation closes on Jan. 30 at 4 p.m. Presentations are limited to 10 minutes each. If people aren’t able to be there in person, written presentations will also be accepted.
In Prince George, the consultation will be held in room 3-342, in Quesnel it will be in room S202, in Burn Lake it will be in room 002, in Fort St. James it will be in room J2/201, in Mackenzie it will be in room 107 and in Vanderhoof it will be in room 3-140.
To register email bog@cnc.bc.ca and include the presenter, organization, name(s), contact information, and the specific campus you wish to present at. More information is available at www. cnc.bc.ca under the ‘Budget 2019/2020’ button.
97/16 staff
r eiser
97/16 file photo national Chief Perry Bellegarde of the assembly of First nations spoke at the 2018 BC natural resources Forum.
Faith will break down walls
As tensions mount in the United States over whether or not a wall should be built along the Mexican border, little has been written about a force which could well become the determining factor on the issue.
Despite its own internal struggles and cover-ups, the Catholic Church has shown itself to be an insurmountable force when it fully embraces the fundamental directive of Jesus and preaches a message of empowerment, human dignity, love and peace. Despite the fact that this promulgation is often forgotten, history has nonetheless shown that it is perhaps the greatest force on Earth.
Though there are many examples, two from recent instances will sufficiently illustrate the point.
Those of us who grew up during the Cold War remember the bombs, the walls and the fear that gripped the world. “Streichholz und Benzinkanister” (match and gasoline can), as the German band Nena sang.
Yet Pope John Paul II spoke to the people of his native Poland, firmly entrenched behind the Iron Curtain, and told them that each one of them is sacred and loved, that they have a mission in life, and that no system of government could hold back their destiny. The communist party of Poland responded
LessoNs iN
LearNiNg Gerry ChidiaC
by giving military strongman Wojciech Jaruzelski dictatorial powers, but he had little impact.
The message of hope spoken by John Paul II spread like wildfire, touching the hearts of people throughout Eastern Europe and the rest of the world. Within a few years the Berlin Wall crumbled, communist dictatorships collapsed and the Cold War ended.
At around the same time, people of the Philippines, the only country in Asia with a majority Catholic population, were living under the dictatorial rule and martial law of Ferdinand Marcos.
It is joked that at an apocryphal dinner party Marcos said, “I admire those Americans. They know the result of the election on the same day of the election.”
To which Cardinal Jaime Sin, the leader of the Catholic Church, quipped, “How about us Filipinos? We know the result before the election!”
Yet Sin’s power was no joke. When Marcos declared that he had won the
1986 presidential election against Corazon Aquino, Sin called on the people to take to the streets in peaceful, prayerful protest. This became known as the People Power Revolution, and it marked the end of Marcos’ presidency.
What does this have to do with the United States, a country built on what sociologist Max Weber calls the Protestant work ethic?
It is significant to note that the populations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border are largely Catholic. In fact, 38 per cent of American Catholics self-identify as Hispanic, and this number is increasing. In addition, there are many Hispanic bishops and, for the first time, there is a Latin American Pope.
Catholic leaders are already mobilizing. Pope Francis said, “A person who only thinks only about building walls, wherever he may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the Gospel.”
On a similar note, American Bishop Joseph Vasquez stated, “Our faith calls us to respond with compassion to those who suffer and seek safe haven; we ask our government to do the same as it seeks to safely and humanely secure the border.”
The likely outcome of President Donald Trump’s hardline threats will be the same as those of Jaruzelski in Poland and Marcos in the Philippines. A leader
like Jaime Sin or John Paul II will stand forward and remind the people on both sides of the border that they are loved, that they are precious in the eyes of God, and that they have a sacred mission to love their neighbours and make the world better. They will walk forward together in peace with such a force that the most powerful armies in the world will drop their weapons.
These are not idealistic dreams. This is the making of history.
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 online to www.gerrychidiac.com
Continued from page 3
By spreading it out, the females will get to the feed, too.
Bailey and Cailleaux got further sponsorship from some farmers in Vanderhoof, specifically Dale and Sheila Martens of Landmark Farms, who have donated tons of peas to the cause.
“So we try to help the ducks eek out an existence until the spring and I think last year, especially, we did a really good job,” Bailey said.
“We had those birds fed pretty well thanks to the people who stepped up and
donated. Don’t get me wrong the birds weren’t in great shape, but they survived a lot better than they would’ve without us and we like to do it.”
Years ago birds were dying because of lack of food.
“So Paul and I thought we’d step up and do what we could,” Bailey said.
“We know that even if we didn’t feed them the ducks would still be here, they couldn’t go anywhere. So the little we can provide them, especially when the weather is really cold, it just helps them survive the winter and get them ready for their spring nesting.”
Cailleaux and Bailey have known each other for at least 25 years sharing their love of the great outdoors and hunting water fowl.
“It’s been a pretty good relationship for the last 25 years,” Cailleaux said.
Bailey raises pheasants and trains retriever hunting dogs, while Cailleaux spends his time enjoying life, hunting and feeding the ducks all winter long.
If people are interested in supporting Cailleaux and Bailey’s efforts to feed the ducks, they can make a donation at Spruce Capital Feeds, located at 1694 Quinn St. South.
97/16 photo by James doyle
Brock Bailey, avolunteer with ducks unlimited Canada, spreads feed for the ducks at Cottonwood island Park. Bailey and fellow volunteer Paul Cailleaux spend the winter feeding the ducks at the park.
97/16 file photo
Zena Campbell practices her throwing technique at Masich Place stadium in 2011. Campbell, 85, plans to keep competing at the B.C. seniors Games.
From Telegraph creek To The Bc games
Track athlete Zena Campbell is now 85 years old and still wants to continue competing in the BC Seniors Games.
Zena was born in Telegraph Creek in 1933. Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in northern B.C. You can reach the town by driving Highway 51 through what is known as the Grand Canyon of the Stikine because of the steep river banks and rocky gorges that form the terraced nature of the geography. The small town is located at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek and is home to the traditional territory of the Tahltan people. Today there are approximately 250 members of the Tahltan First Nation and non-native residents living in Telegraph Creek.
Telegraph Creek got its name from an overland telegraph line destined for the Yukon that started in 1866 and is historically significant as a staging point for two telegraph lines with the intention of connecting North America to Europe through Siberia. The line was never built.
Zena said, “I was born at home. I was a premature baby and my mother kept me warm from the heat of the oven and that is what kept me alive. I am the middle child of 17 children; I have 10 brothers and six sisters. I grew up and went to school in Telegraph Creek.
“My father was a hunter and a trapper and he looked after all of us. He worked for the government on the highways and cooked in the bush for the hunting guide outfitters.
“We lived peacefully and enjoyed all the uncomplicated simple things of life. We walked everywhere and where we lived everything was up and down steep hills. I loved to play ball and there were enough of us to get a good game going. We rolled up socks for a ball and our bats were simple tree limbs. There were no such things as sports equipment. We
seNiors’ sceNe
KaThy nadalin
made our own and we all loved to play games.
“Our favorite game was Ante-I-Over. You have to shout out Ante-I-Over, throw the ball over the top of the house to the kids on the other side and then run to the other side of the house. If they catch the ball they can sneak around the building and throw the ball at you or catch you and tag you. You have to keep an eye open for them coming and beat them to the other side of the building without getting tagged. You have to fool them if you can and if you throw the ball and it doesn’t go over the house, then they can call you names. We were all strong so throwing the ball over the house was easy and lots of fun.
“My older brothers grew up and left for town (the closest town was Prince Rupert) so I was the boy worker for my mom. That suited me just fine because I was always an outdoor girl. I could manage the dog team to do the work of hauling wood to the house or to bring supplies home from the Hudson Bay store in Telegraph Creek.
“I was the live-in babysitter for my uncle’s family. When I was 15, he decided to move his family to Lower Post which was just south of Watson Lake in the Yukon. I packed my belongings and snuck away with them and I didn’t even tell my family. It was the first time that I was ever out of Telegraph Creek. It was many years later before I made it back home to see my mother.”
Zena said that her first real job – with a pay check – was stocking shelves in
Watson Lake. She worked at the hotel in Whitehorse as a chambermaid and then moved to Stewart, B.C. and drove a taxi. There literally was no work in Stuart at that point in time for women.
She had three children; William Henry, Michael George and Freda.
Zena moved to Prince George in 1975 and drove a taxi and limousines for many years. In retrospect, she thinks back and says that she would have liked to have joined the army. She often wonders how her life would have unfolded if she had joined the army in her younger years.
She was always involved with sports in one way or another and at the age of 78 she got involved with the B.C. Senior games. She fell in love with competitive sports with all the events in track and field as her specialty.
She said, “It is with much thanks to Dick Voneugen that I heard about the BC Senior games in the beginning. He looked after the schedules and our training. He made the arrangements to get the athletes registered, housed and a means to get to the competitions year after year; it is because of Dick that I was able to participate. I could not have done it without his help.
“I was proud to participate in slow pitch, badminton and all the track and field events. I am so proud of all my trophies and medals and the fact that I am 85 years old, in fairly good health and I am still able to compete. I am always ready to go and I still have the desire to compete. If it is a sport then I am there – I am always there giving it my best.
“I just want to say that I might be 85 but I am not an old lady because I don’t feel old and I have a good mind. I enjoy singing and I can still play the guitar. I try to be positive and keep a good sense of humor and I figure that I still have lots of good left in me yet.
“We all grew up at Telegraph Creek,
all 17 of us. We didn’t have the opportunities like city people but we survived. We never had electricity and the only running water we had was if I ran as I regularly carried two buckets of water at a time to the house.
“I grew up OK and yes, we had some hard times. I have always been a good worker and I never gave up on myself; things were not easy but we didn’t know the difference. I can’t say that we were poor because we never heard of such a thing – we would not have known at the time what that actually meant. We were all the same and no one worried about stuff like that.”
•••
January birthdays that I know about: Bill Bond, Hilda Fichtner, Charlotte Hellyer, Rolland Chartrand, Ann Neville, Laura Sandberg, Franca Pascuzzi, Terri Meyer, Joy Wikjord, Jean Bayne, Tom Hynd, James McConaghy, Lyn Thibault, Sharon Vincent, Ken Goss, Wayne Hamlin, Mary Hamlin, Marilyn Hinton, Tanna Dofka, Gail Horvath, Dianne Humphreys, Keith Young, Richard Winnig, Lorraine Anderson, Darlene King, Cecile LeFebvre, Ann Wiebe, Charlie Forden, Anna Babicz, Ron Neukomm, Flo Connaghan, Lois Keim, Kathy Rosenau, Phil Sciara, Bonnie Meikle, Clarence Harmon, Diane Hubbell, Fran Dods, Walter Shelest, John Darchuk, Lena Enns, Pearl Hiebert, Doreen Hewlett, Rusty Hoff, Bonnie Meikle, Joan Pitcher, Betty Pidhirny, Doreen Erickson, Mark Miller, Leslie Doucette, Kim Rand, Ed Ventress, Helina Karjaluoto, Deanna Carter, Shirley Hejjema, Larry Thomas, Jolanda Van Dyk, Alice Henderson, Ken Warn, Ida Bosham, Mary Snaden, Beverley Paquette and Roland Rouleau.
•••
January anniversaries that I know about: 67 years for Lindy and Roberta Barnes and a December anniversary: 62 years for Anna and Laurence Herbert.
Burgers, wine and story time
Burger, beverage social
Today from 5 to 10 p.m. at Westwood Public House, 233 Cherry Ave., there is a Burger & Beverage Social, which is a Ride to Conquer Cancer fundraising event, with live 50/50 draw. For more information call Jodie at 250-649-7244 or Ron Gallo at 250-617-9268 for tickets, which are $25 each.
CAC 50th anniversary
Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. at 2880 15th Ave., the Community Arts Council of Prince George & District celebrates their 50th anniversary with cake and refreshments. Everyone is welcome to attend. for more information visit www. studio2880.com.
Smartphone photography
Today from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bob Harkins branch of the library, get more out of your smartphone camera. Practice new skills in photo composition to increase the impact of subjects like downtown cities, wildlife, people, and landscapes. Enhance your photos and get artistic with free editing apps like Instagram and Snapseed. This is geared for adults and is offered as a free drop in.
Fibre arts drop in
Today from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fibre Arts Studio, 2880 15th Ave., people are welcome to explore fibre arts.
Two Rivers Gallery Unbound Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the Two Rivers Gallery, 725 Canada Games Plaza, presents the artist talk for the Unbound exhibit featuring Jennifer Bowes. For more information visit tworivers.ca.
Art workshops
Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Two Rivers Gallery, 725 Canada Games Plaza, Uncork & Unwind: Bird & Tree Silhouettes. Workshop costs $40. Jan. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. try Acrylic Pain Pour from 7 to 9 p.m. for $45. For more information visit tworivers.ca
Science fair info session
Friday from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Bob Harkins branch of the library the library will provide answers to questions about the SD 57 science fair for those Grades 3 to 12. Parents are welcome to bring their children to the information session. Free drop in.
Winter Gales
Friday, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Ramada Prince George, 444 George St., The Prince George Symphony Orchestra presents their chamber music series. Listen to classical, pops and jazz music played by the symphony’s professional core musicians while sipping on a beverage and nibbling on an appetizer or sweet. For more information call 250562-0800 or email gm@pgso.com.
Ben Brown at the winery
Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Northern Lights Estate Winery, 745 Prince George Pulpmill Rd. A regular staple of Prince George’s music scene, Ben Brown is a singer/songwriter whose acoustic performances are filled with driving rhythms. For more information call 250-564-1112 or email sales@northernlightswinery.ca.
Family gaming
Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Bob Harkins Branch, Prince George Public Library, 888 Canada Games Way, bring the whole family to these monthly gaming afternoons. Choose from tabletop board games or video games. For more information call 250-563-9251 or email ask@pgpl.ca.
Story time at Coles
Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Coles Bookstore in Pine Centre Mall, 3079 Massey Dr., join them for a funfilled story time, complete with arts and crafts. All ages are welcome to join in as new stories are read each week.
Nordic wine tour
Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, 8141 Otway Rd. Must register for the event by Friday at 9 a.m. for those 19+. The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club in partnership with Northern Lights Winery are proud to present the event to enjoy the trails and wine tasting and then warm up at the lodge afterwards with a cup of mulled wine and appetizers. $25 for club members, $30 for non club members. Tickets are available for purchase at the online store at https://squareup.com/ store/caledonia-nordic-ski-club and in the rental shop. For more information call 250-564-3809.
Prince George Cougars
Saturday and Sunday, the Prince George Cougars play the Kamloops Blazers at CN Centre at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. The Cougars host the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at www.ticketsnorth.ca.
Birchleg Ski Tour
Sunday from 10 a.m. at Tabor Mountain Ski Resort, 17875 Hwy. 16 East, the Hickory Wing Ski Touring Club is hosting the 46th Prince George Birchleg Ski Tour, which is a 10 km loop that takes roughly two and half hours to complete. This track is suitable for classic skis or snowshoeing only. There will be a fire at the start and they will provide chili and hot drinks for all participants. There will be a donation box for those interested in contributing to trail maintenance. For more information contact Norm 250-963-7417 or Val 250-564-8293.
Alban Classical concert
Sunday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Trinity United Church, 3555 Fifth Ave., Alban Classical presents a Sunday afternoon concert called Classical from Folk, featuring pianist Terry Yeh, violinist Allison Bell, oboist and soprano Erica Skowron and clarinetist Simon Cole. Admission is $20 at the door. For more information visit www.albanclassical.org
STEM Challenge Night
Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Exploration Place, 333 Becott Place, offers a symbiosis workshop for youth. The free event is designed to offer hands-on experience with science, technology, art, design and math. Attendance is free, but space is limited so pre-register as adults/child pair or trios by email at bookings@theexplorationplace.com.
Sidebars to history HoW songWriters get paid
willow Arune Special to 97/16
We all know that there is big money in music.
The huge fees for concerts, the sale of records and CDs, the lavish lifestyles of famous musicians. What many of us do not realize is where a large amount of that money comes from and you may be surprised.
One of the rights that comes with copyright in a piece of music is called the “performing right.”
That means only the writers of the song and lyrics have the right to perform the song in public for commercial reasons. Anyone else has to negotiate a license from the writers and for that license they pay a fee.
Before modern communications, this right was impossible to enforce. Who knew what songs and music was being played in Deadwood? How could the writers collect those fees they were entitled to? That was simply impossible and as America filled up the problem only grew larger.
John Philip Souza, a very popular composer and performer of the day, was not happy that people were using his music without a license from him.
Other composers were also angry. They got together in New York City to come up with a solution.
They formed an association known by its initials. ASCAP was formed to enforce payment of those license fees from any business that used the popular music. They established rates for businesses, concerts and any form of entertainment where music by their composer members was used. Inspectors were hired and sent out across the nation to find those using the music without paying. If they refused to pay, they were sued.
After a few years of “education,” the money flowed in. Rates were established for various businesses and collected in one big pot. Those with a license could play any music by any of the ASCAP members with one fee. Concerts in which small numbers of songs were performed submitted forms to ASCAP and the fees went to the individual songwriters.
For restaurants and such, the money went in to one big pot and various formulas were used to divide the money as fairly as possible amongst all the composers.
Continued on page 8
Bjorn ulvaeus, former band member of the group aBBa, poses for photographers in a recreation of the Polar recording studio in sweden in 2017. The group recorded many of their notable albums, including super Trouper, in the original Polar studio. But before any music can be recorded, songwriters and composers need to do their jobs to give musicians something to play.
Music opened doors for Minorities
Continued from page 7
The performers got paid from admission fees at concerts and, in time, from record companies.
Unless they also wrote the song, they did not share in the monies derived from the performing right. It did not take long for famous performers to demand they be included as co-writers on the label even if they had no participation in the writing.
The performing right lasted for the life of the composer plus 50 years and could be sold in whole or part. Famous composers in dire straights often sold their rights for peanuts. Investors and money men circled ASCAP members and their estates. And oh how the money rolled in.
Now, ASCAP was restricted. Only “good” composers were invited to be members, Jews faced an uphill battle until George Gershwin became popular but ethnic minorities, “hillbillies” and other such riffraff had no chance at all.
In the 1940s, with the Depression cutting into the flow of money, problems developed. Radio had become the major user of music. They paid ASCAP a blanket license, a percentage of their revenue. ASCAP raised the rates and the radio stations rebelled.
The broadcasters talked with their lawyers and found that there was no limit on the number of performing rights societies that could be formed. But all the “good” composers were already members of ASCAP so where could the new society, called BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated), find songwriters? In a remarkable move, they put their headquarters in Nashville and started to solicit blacks and hillbillies as members.
Once they had gathered almost all of those composers, they cut the fees payable by broadcasters to use their music. If a radio station ceased using any ASCAP
music, it would pay less to use the new jazz, country, gospel, “race music” (early rock ’n roll), and more. Needless to say, BMI stations started to pop up everywhere in the South and spread northwards.
The war years held this static for a time.
After, ASCAP held steady with pop songs by good performers and songwriters. BMI stations plugged along playing country music which became popular in the South. Race music, the original rock ‘n roll, started to become popular in the 1950s. With more powerful stations, the sound also went north and west to the big cities. The migration of blacks to northern cities for good paying jobs was also an influence. Increasing in popularity, the BMI stations were increasingly marketed to white audiences.
Then came Elvis and the world of music exploded. Elvis took race music and gave it a white twist.
Many of the early rock stars played white adaptations of earlier race music and the blues before turning to composing their own songs. Radio stations, then television, had to choose a side.
Elvis and other early rockers were banned by ASCAP stations and parents. Ministers held outings to break up rock records for their alleged immorality.
Attending a live performance of Buddy Holly might get you grounded for a month. But black performers finally gained a white audience.
It is said in music circles that the public does not like what it never hears. The best guitarist might still be playing only in his room; the best song may lie forgotten in a desk drawer. The exposure of new forms of music to a larger audience through BMI led to growing popularity, especially amongst the younger generation. The teen angst came later.
ap file photo
Eight tips to ski injury-frEE
Dina MisHev 97/16 wire service
It was the easiest first day of any of my 21 ski seasons in Jackson, Wy.: two hours on intermediate-level groomed runs at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
Still wearing a cast after surgery seven weeks earlier to repaired a shattered wrist, I enjoyed taking it easy. Except the next morning revealed that I hadn’t taken it easy enough: I awoke unable to stand up straight and feeling like an ice pick was embedded in a long-ago herniated disc. I tried massage, acupuncture and physical therapy before resorting to an MRI and a course of steroids. It was almost five weeks before I was able to ski again, and I did so gingerly for the rest of the season.
It wasn’t until after my wrist was healed and I was able to return to my usual physical activities that I realized my mistake: because of my broken wrist, I had started ski season without doing any of my usual strength training.
“You can’t just expect to come off the couch, or even from yoga, spin classes or running, and ski,” says Crystal Wright, a former U.S. Ski Team member, the winner of the 2012 Freeskiing World Tour and a Jackson, Wyo.-based personal trainer. “Or at least you can’t and really enjoy yourself. At best you’ll be sore and at worst you’ll hurt yourself. Strength training will make your ski vacation more enjoyable.”
If you’ve got a ski vacation planned, here are eight suggestions regarding
on Jan. 15, 2017.
training and equipment to make your time on the slopes safer and more enjoyable:
Pay special attention to your core and glutes
“Core strength is involved in every part
of skiing,” says Sue Kramer, the author of Be Fit to Ski: The Complete Guide to Alpine Skiing Fitness and a Professional Ski Instructors of America examiner. Kramer recommends exercises such as planks and bridges before advancing into movements with a rotational component.
“Skiing subjects your core to a lot of
rotational forces, so that’s what you want to strengthen,” she says. Rotational core exercises include moves as simple as holding a ski pole with both hands above your head, then twisting at the hip while keeping your feet in place.
Continued on page 11
CP file photo skiers enjoy the snow and sun at Lake Louise ski resort in Lake Louise, alta., on nov. 24. skiing can be a great activity, but it takes the right preparation and equipment to enjoy without risking injury.
Bloomberg photo by Michele Limina a skier pauses to take in the view on a ski run down the Parsenn mountain in davos, switzerland,
Nordic Winter Festival
aBOVE: Chloe Witso leads a group of skiers out of the stadium at Otway nordic Centre on sunday morning while participating in a Chocolate race as part of the nordic Winter Festival.
LEFT: Caledonia nordic ski Club head coach nicole Perrin demonstrates the proper technique for removing excess wax from the edge of a ski at Otway nordic Centre on sunday.
BELOW: a group of kids aged five and under take off from the start line during a Chocolate race on sunday.
97/16 photos by James doyle
Cp file photo a skier is races through the powder on Whistler Mountain in March 2015. Training for skiing should focus on building core strength, cardiovascular fitness for intense intervals and balance exercises, experts say.
‘Skiing iS an interval Sport’
Continued from page 9
And then there’s what Kramer calls the “snow angel.”
“Instead of making an angel in the snow, do it on the floor, with your legs and arms just a couple of inches off the ground,” she says.
“It sounds easy until you try it. When it comes to legs, don’t focus only on your quads.
Kramer says a quick change of direction on skis will get them to fire, and “without any hamstring strength to counter them, the knee can be pulled out of alignment.”
Thirty-two percent of all ski injuries are to the knee, according to the most recent report from the American National Ski Areas Association’s 10-Year Interval Injury Study conducted during the 201011 season.
Other leg muscles to work on are the gluteus maximus and the gluteus medius. You know the former as your butt.
The latter, on the outside of the hip, is often overlooked, although it’s one of the most important for skiers, says Wright.
“It both turns the knee outward and holds it in place,” she says.
Clamshells – lying on one’s side with legs bent, and raising and lowering the top leg – are the simplest and easiest way to strengthen the gluteus medius.
To work your hamstrings, butt and quads, try side and lateral lunges and split and sumo squats.
Get your heart rate up
“Skiing is an interval sport,” says Bill Fabrocini, who has trained U.S. Ski Team athletes and developed two online skifitness video programs. “You make turns for one to three minutes, and then you recover.” Fabrocini’s clients often walk uphill on a treadmill raise to between three and 10 degrees for about two minutes; the goal is to work up to about eight two-minute intervals with about two minutes of rest in between. He says how you elevate your heart rate isn’t important as long as you get it up.
Work up to high-impact
Jumping helps develop your agility, which helps you prepare for the dynamic nature of skiing. But “if you’re not used to impact and you start jumping, you can hurt yourself,” says Fabrocini.
When you feel you have a base level of strength and are ready for impact, Fabrocini suggests starting with two-legged jumps (side to side and front to back) and working up to one-legged jumps.
Improve your balance
“Good balance helps protect your knees,” Kramer says.
“A simple yoga tree pose” – with one sole placed high inside the opposite leg –“is a great place to start.”
Better gear, fewer injuries
Continued from page 11
Once you’re comfortable with that, progress to standing on one foot for a minute (maybe even on a Bosu ball), then to one-legged squats and hops.
“If you can convince yourself through these exercises that it’s OK when the ground moves, you’ll have a better-quality ski day and possibly prevent injuries,” Kramer says.
Take a lesson
“If you’re a beginner, a lesson allows you to benefit from a professional showing and telling you,” says Dave Byrd, director of risk and regulatory affairs at the National Ski Areas Association, a trade association that represents more than 300 alpine resorts. “Good skiers can think of it as a refresher and also get tips about the mountain from a professional.”
Take care of your gear
Thirty years ago, the most common ski injury was a mid-shaft fracture of the tibia, but now, because of advances in boots and bindings, it’s very uncommon, ac-
cording to Jasper Shealy, professor emeritus of industrial and systems engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has researched ski injuries for more than 40 years. If this injury happens now, he says, “it’s because of poorly adjusted or maintained equipment.”
Have your bindings professionally set, and be honest about your skiing level.
While Shealy, and all skiers, are still waiting for a binding shown to reduce the number of knee injuries, he says, “We have seen a fairly significant decline in knee injuries due to shorter skis.” (The jury is still out on KneeBindings, which are designed to pivot, thus protecting skiers’ ACLs. Skiers seem to love or hate them.)
Wear a helmet
Helmets have not reduced the incidence of ski-related fatalities.
“You’re going to need more than a helmet if you run into a solid object like a tree,” Shealy says.
But they are extremely effective at preventing head injuries. One of Shealy’s studies concluded that, as helmet usage
increased between 1995 and 2015, potentially serious head injuries decreased from 4.2 per cent of all ski injuries (1995) to three per cent (2015) of all injuries.
Consider spandex support
Opedix Dual-Tec 2.0 tights have a scary price tag (US$225) but a small-samplesize study at the University of Denver’s Human Dynamics Laboratory (HDL) showed they reduce peak torque on a skier’s knees by 16 per cent. Mike Decker, the director of the university’s Q Lab and a senior research scientist at HDL during the Opedix study, says the tights were designed to give wearers “knee confidence.”
Developed by scientists at the Steadman Philippon Research Institute in Vail, Colorado, Opedix encourages joint alignment with bands of stiff fabric that wrap around the hips and knees.
They’re compression tights on steroids; before trying on a pair I was warned that popping seams is normal. Darrell Latham, 61, who takes three or four ski trips to Utah annually from his home in Oklahoma, ditched his knee brace after discovering Opedix five years ago.
“Wearing Opedix feels like cheating,” he says. “I can ski longer when I wear them than when I don’t.”
My experience is similar: now I’d no sooner ski in rental boots than I would ski without Opedix.
If you injure your knee despite your efforts, “don’t be afraid to ask your doctor questions,” says Park City, Utah, orthopedic surgeon Vern Cooley, who estimates he operates on about 1,000 knees a year, including those of Tiger Woods and Olympic gold medal skier Ted Ligety. Cooley suggests five questions to pose to your prospective surgeon: What does she specialize in? Is it medically advisable to have your injury fixed there and then, or could it be fixed at home? How much will you have to follow up? (Cooley recommends following up with the doctor who does your surgery.)
How many (insert your injury here) does the surgeon care for a year? And, finally, how long has the surgeon been in practice?
“Don’t worry about offending a surgeon by asking these,” Cooley says. “This is your body and you only get one.”
A drug is A drug is A drug
ask an addict
Q: Dear Ann: Is there such a thing as responsible drug use?
a: It depends. Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine are all drugs although many don’t consider them that way.
I am both an alcoholic and drug addict. I once argued with an alcoholic who told me alcohol was not a drug. I asked what it was. It’s just alcohol, he proclaimed.
“That’s ridiculous.” I said. “It’s like saying a rose is a rose, but not a flower.” People tend to sanitize personal drug use. They don’t like to think they are consuming a drug. Every night when you drink a glass of wine, you are engaged in actual drug taking. Cigarettes kill and alcohol is a poisonous substance. Drink too fast and too much alcohol at one time and you most certainly will die. Yet because alcohol is socially acceptable, we tend to think it is OK.
“Two glasses of poison with my meal if is fine,” we tend to say.
Try saying that about two lines of cocaine. Both substances are drugs. One is socially acceptable, the other is not. Yet we look at the person consuming cocaine as deviant. Cigarettes were once considered healthy, so everyone smoked. Our
personal beliefs is what makes the decisions about what is good for our taking.
Remember the days of ‘reefer madness?’
Today when looking back upon that we tend to laugh. Our social views have undergone tremendous change. Alcohol prohibition is another example. What is deemed unacceptable or not socially OK is not about the drug, but our biased and personal beliefs.
Back to the question about responsible use. With illicit drugs such as meth, heroin or MDMA, my question is why a person is even taking those drugs. Addiction is cunning, baffling and powerful.
You start using without suffering any consequences, but if you have the genetics of this disease by the time you try to stop and find you cannot it is already too late. If you have the genetics for addiction and engage in responsible use, over time you will find you have crossed the line into full-blown addiction.
Behaviour is what defines an addict, not how often or what substance you use. If you are only able to relax, have fun or not be anxious while taking a drug (including a drink), you are exhibiting warning signs that addiction may come.
True addiction is defined by contin-
ued use despite negative legal, social or health consequences.
I recall a story about a woman who regularly consumed five milligrams of Valium each night. Now as a hard core prescription addict myself, I couldn’t understand why she’d consider herself an addict. It took some time to understand it wasn’t the amount or the type of drug, but what it did to her life. She suffered tremendously from this single nightly dose. Retrograde amnesia was her biggest concern (like blackouts – look at what happened to Rosanne Barr). This lady did things which hurt her life, but the next day she couldn’t remember. When she tried to stop, she was unable. So remember this: the next time you imbibe in a drink you are consuming poison. If you wouldn’t drink Lysol or mouthwash, then why are you consuming alcohol? It is the same thing, a different chemical composition, but essentially the same poison. If you think it is healthy because it comes from grapes, a natural ingredient, then think poppies for heroin, hemp plants for marijuana and coca leaves for cocaine.
Thus you are taking poison when taking a drink.
One day we will look back on alcohol as we have cigarettes and pot. We will laugh at our stupidity and how we could have even considered taking this drug.
Questions for Ann? Send your submissions (anonymously, if you choose) to columns@pgcitizen.ca and we’ll pass them along.
Homegrown star returning for fancon
Frank Peebles 97/16 staff
One of Prince George’s own stars will be back in the city as a special guest at Northern FanCon.
Madison Smith grew up in P.G. before leaving for acting opportunities on such screen arts projects as the CBS show Salvation, the Aftermath series on the SYFY and Space networks, When Calls the Heart, and the smash hit web series Narcoleap.
“His steady and climbing acting career has also seen him appear on series like Supernatural, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Psych and several others,” said Northern FanCon event chief Norm Coyne.
“Most recently, you can Madison in an upcoming episode of Supergirl scheduled to air later this month.”
This is Smith’s second appearance at Northern FanCon, but he hasn’t been at the pop-culture festival in several years. This coming event is the fifth edition of the big show at CN Centre.
“We dubbed him a Rising Star in year one of FanCon and we are extremely excited to have followed his trajectory and success,” said Coyne. “Stay tuned for an extremely exciting announcement that we have planned for FanCon 5 that will include Madison and some of our unannounced guests.”
Northern FanCon 2019 happens May 3-5. Tickets are on sale now. Buy them online via the event’s Facebook page or website.
aP file photo a customer looks over the beer selection at Crest Foods in Oklahoma City. While alcohol is socially acceptable, it’s as much a drug as cocaine or meth.
Taking aim aT OTway Top Canadian Mark Arendz all set for World Para Nordic championships
Ted claRke 97/16 staff
You could call it a reconnaissance mission.
For biathlete Mark Arendz, the chance to test out the trails at Otway Nordic Centre and learn the lay of the land two weekends ago in a B.C. Cup race proved irresistible, knowing what’s in store for him when in Prince George next month.
As one of the world’s best combined biathlon/cross-country skiing athletes, Canada’s flagbearer at the 2018 Paralympics in South Korea is a legitimate threat to dominate the medal podium when he returns to Otway to race in the 2019 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Para Nordic championships, Feb. 15-24.
Already a multi-medalist in IPC world championships and two Paralympic Games competitions, the Prince Edward Island native will soon have a rare opportunity to compete for more international hardware on Canadian soil.
At the B.C. Cup at Otway, Arendz was the only one in his category in the men’s 12.5-kilometre individual race.
He covered the course in 47:09, missing five of 20 targets in four shooting bouts.
He didn’t enter the sprint race the following day, electing instead to ski the race courses at his leisure.
Continued on page 16
97/16 photo by Ted Clarke
Mark arendz, Canada’s flagbearer at the 2018 Paralympics in south Korea, takes aim at the biathlon targets during the B.C. Cup competition at the Otway nordic Centre. arendz will be back in Prince George next month for the 2019 World Para nordic Championships.
ParalymPian PumPed for P.G.
Continued from page 15
“That’s always key going into a world championships is getting a look at how everything’s going to fit before the actual event just for mental ease so you know where everything is,” said Arendz, who made the trek from his home in Canmore, Alta.
“You want to know the physical part, how long it will take me to warm up and where’s the best place to warm up and the competition side, knowing where the course is, where can I make time, what parts of the course will feel slow and how to take corners.”
The snow came just in time to make for ideal conditions for his test run and he predicts the 140 athletes from 20 countries coming for the World Para Nordic championships will like the Race Maze course developed by the host Caledonia Nordic Ski Club. Arendz plans to enter biathlon and cross-country events.
“I think it’s going to be a really good course to test the athletes, there’s a nice mix of sections where you have to work, uphill climbs that are sustained, not just short or really long, kind of a mix of everything and a little bit of the technical on some of the descents that will keep everybody on their toes,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a fair course for everyone and you will get the best athletes taking the day.”
In December, Arendz kicked off the season in Vuokatti, Finland, where he won his first ever IPC World Cup cross-country gold medal in the 10 km classic event and also claimed silver in biathlon.
For people not sure what to expect when the eyes of the para nordic world are on Prince George, he says it will bring unforgettable memories of athletes overcoming adversity while performing at the highest level of their chosen sport. For 10 days, male and female athletes will compete in three classes (sitting, standing and visually impaired) in four cross-country skiing and four biathlon medal events.
“It’s an amazing week,” he said. “Just watching some of the athletes and you see what their disabilities are and you just wonder how they can even ski and they become some of the fastest skiers you’ll ever see.
“In the visually-impaired category the trust you have between the guides and the athletes is just phenomenal. When you can’t see a thing, everything is black, and you’re going down these descents and making these corners that’s an amazing feat of trust and teamwork working with that guide. Some of the sit-skiers do the entire course just with their upper body, it will be an amazing and inspiring week for sure.”
Arendz was seven years old when he lost his left arm below the elbow after losing his balance while putting corn into a grain auger on the family farm. He started ski racing as a biathlete when he was 13 and branched into crosscountry a few years later. He’s never let his disability slow him down, becoming a competitive athlete in soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross-country running, athletics and cycling. His love for biathlon started when he was 11 after he saw it on TV at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
“I always enjoyed sport beforehand,” he said. “Afterward, sport became kind of a way to show my abilities and not my disability.
“It was biathlon first. It was frustrating enough that I wasn’t enjoying cross-country but I started to focus on it and now it’s as strong as my biathlon. I’m actually better in classic than I am in freestyle in cross-country races. I just have to use my legs as efficiently as I can.”
At the 2017 World Para Nordic championships in Finsterau, Germany, Arendz won five medals – two gold and a silver in biathlon, bronze in the cross-country freestyle race and bronze in the relay.
The Hartsville, P.E.I., native is an eighttime world para nordic medalist and was a record-setter at the Paralympics last February in Pyeongchang, winning six medals in the six events he entered.
Arendz competed at the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver-Whistler but didn’t win his first medal until four years later in Sochi, where he captured silver and bronze in biathlon, becoming the first Canadian to win two Paralympic biathlon medals.
In Pyeongchang, he earned five individual biathlon medals (gold in 15 km, silver in 7.5 km, bronze in 12.5 km. In crosscountry skiing he reeled in two individual bronze medals 1.5 km sprint and 10 km classic - and helped Canada claim silver in the 4X2.5 km mixed team relay.
In 2012-13, he won the IPC Biathlon Crystal Globe as overall champion, a season that brought three world para nordic medals and his first world championship victory. He was the IPC World Cup biathlon runner-up in 2011 and 2012.
Arendz’s cross-country coach is Robin McKeever, the brother of cross-country skier Brian McKeever, Canada’s most decorated Winter Paralympian with 14 medals. Brian will be competing in the World Para Nordic events.
Arendz uses a prosthetic when competing against able-bodied athletes. The blade-like apparatus, which takes the place of his missing forearm, fits on the end of his arm and he uses it to support his rifle when he’s aiming at the targets. He’s not allowed to use the prosthetic during a para nordic event. In para biathlon, athletes use air rifles and targets are placed at 10 metre distances rather than the conventional 50 m range.
Arendz is in Osrtersund, Sweden, this week competing in the second of three IPC World Cup events and he’ll have one other competition the week before the Prince George competition. The season wraps up March 12-17 in Sapporo, Japan.
Since the first Winter Paralympics in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway, the exposure of para sports at the Paralympic and world championship levels the past two decades has raised the worldwide profile of sports like biathlon and cross-country skiing to unprecedented levels and Arendz, a role model for young Canadians, predicts that growth will continue.
“Kids are curious about it and you just tell them they have that opportunity to compete at world championships and games – the word is starting to spread and we’ve seen that a lot in the last couple Paralympics and world championships,” he said. “There’s bigger acknowledgment and awareness of what we do and the possibilities.”
97/16 photo by Ted Clarke Mark arendz surveys the Otway course, top, before heading out, bottom, during the B.C. Cup. arendz will be back in Prince George next month for the Para nordic Championships.
Voices raised in song to build a community
chriStine hinZMAnn 97/16 staff
If you can’t even carry a tune in a bucket but still want to add your tone to a community of voices Just Let Us Sing might be the ideal event.
Taking place Saturday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church at 3590 Dufferin Ave., at 7 p.m.,Grandmothers to Grandmothers Prince George (G2G PG) is hosting the by-donation fundraising event.
G2G PG is part of an initiative from the Steven Lewis Foundation that supports African grandmothers who are raising a whole generation of grandchildren whose parents have virtually been wiped out by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Singing is a universal way to cultivate community and the chorister event sees song leader Tina Filippino from Vancouver Island take on the call and response kind of event where she’ll sing a line and the audience-turned-choir repeats it.
Filippino is a member of the Ubuntu Choirs Network that believes the joy of singing is a universal birthright and that together, regardless of musical background, the world can be helped by joining voices in song. Filipino leads choirs
for all who wish to sing called Letz Sing in the Comox area.
During this year’s Just Let Us Sing, the School District 57 Tapestry Singers and the Forever Young Chorus will perform to get things warmed up and then Filippino, who is also a member of her local G2G group on the Island, will take over.
“It’s a really nice event,” Maggie Spicer, G2G PG member, said. “It’s for people who don’t think they can sing, who haven’t been part of a choir before – those people who have been told to mouth the words, you know, that kind of thing?
Because so many of us have that background where we don’t think we have a voice and this is such a supportive event.”
Everyone is welcome to attend, Spicer said.
“And your voice is supported by every other voice at the event and this is completely inclusive,” she added.
Last year was the first year this event was held in Prince George and Spicer said Filippino was very impressed with the audience’s enthusiasm.
“Tina said Prince George was really fabulous,” Spicer said. “Sometimes it takes a while for an audience to warm up a bit but not this group, Tina said. Every-
one was singing right away. So she sings, we sing, she sings we sing and within minutes we know the song.”
It ends up being quite a treat for the ears as the choirs who perform earlier then join the audience and lift up all voices as everyone participates, Spicer said.
Being grandmothers, the organizing committee knew that bringing the little ones out in the evening might not be ideal, so G2G PG has decided to offer a daytime event featuring Tina Filippino’s song leadership. The Singing in a Circle event is also by donation and is deemed a family sing to be held Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Prince George Conservatory of Music, 3555 Fifth Ave.
“This event will promote singing with your kids, because singing is known to be good for language development and promotes a love of language and kids love music,” Spicer said.
“We’re just going to gather everybody on the floor and sing together.”
All proceeds for both events will go to the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign through the Steven Lewis Foundation to help those grandmothers in Africa.
dAvid friend 97/16 wire service
Devoted fans of YouTube pop act Walk Off the Earth gathered Sunday afternoon in the band’s hometown for an all-star concert dedicated to Mike Taylor, the steely-eyed and stoic keyboardist simply known as “Beard Guy.”
The Burlington, Ont.-raised musician, who died in his sleep on Dec. 30, was celebrated by friends and fellow musicians with a free acoustic show featuring members of the Barenaked Ladies, Arkells, Scott Helman and others.
It’s an event that Taylor would’ve loved, because it united the many different circles of his life, said his bandmate Gianni (Luminati) Nicassio ahead of the tribute. He was a prominent member of the community not only as a musician, but a local hockey coach and owner of a shipping business.
Taylor’s role in Walk Off the Earth rocketed him to unexpected fame in early 2012 after the group’s YouTube cover of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know captured international attention.
The clip featured all five members sharing a single guitar, strumming its strings and knocking on its frame as they sang in harmony. WAlk
handout photo
Tina Filippino is a choir leader that will bring Just Let us sing to Prince George on saturday.
Tay Lor
LocaL artist expLores the meaning of home
Frank PeebleS 97/16 staff
You could rightly call Mo Hamilton a Prince George artist, but like few others she is also attached to various other towns. Her sense of place is what anchors her solo art show The 100 Houses Project: Reflections On Our Times.
“I chose the symbol of the house because home represents our sense of self and is an expression of our personal identity,” said Hamilton. “To come home is to have a refuge from all outward expectations and to be home is where we can be our truest selves.”
The show will open on Jan. 25 at Island Mountain Arts in Wells. A statement issued by the curatorial staff at IMA explained that the exhibition was “influenced by notions of displacement, resulting from frequent moves (by Hamilton) to and from numerous Canadian communities over the last decade.”
Hamilton is adept at many different genres of visual art (she is also a musician, just to add another creative layer). For this exhibition, she has created 100 linocut prints.
“The exhibition presents the completion of her long-term art process of 100 works,” said the IMA staff.
“This large collection of works explores the theme of what home means, and tells a story of how humans adapt to changes, whether they are by displacement from political upheaval, forest fires, climate change, or economics.”
“We all have this need for deep belonging but sometimes events beyond our control disrupt our security and sense of place,” Hamilton said. “The 100 Houses project was inspired by a dream that I had that I was living in a house on a bridge. My family and I were moving to the town of Terrace in Northern B.C. from Castlegar in the Kootenay Mountain Region the next day so I thought the house was very symbolic of how I was neither here nor there yet. I was very much in that in-between place.”
IMA has been developing a relation-
ship with Hamilton for years despite the gallery being off the beaten path. Wells is only about two hours away, to the east of Quesnel, but Hamilton has taken it upon herself to cover that little distance frequently, perhaps because the idea of travel is more comfortable for her than most others, after all the moving of homes she’s done.
“Island Mountain Arts was excited to invite Mo to exhibit this show in the gallery as she has had a strong connection with both the town and Island Mountain Arts for over a decade,” said the IMA staff. “Mo explains that she finds the place a great space for creative renewal and exploration. (She) employs fabric, collage, and printmaking to weave personal narratives to communicate an inward vision into her mixed-media paintings and found object assemblages.”
“I think it is important as an artist to listen to your intuition and follow the ideas in your head and heart, to trust, to engage, create, and explore them,” said Hamilton, explaining her process.
Despite Hamilton’s well established abilities to bring almost any object or mental image into play, she has taken a minimalist turn with this exhibition. The linocut medium is sparse and simplistic in its power to convey a message. It leans heavily on black and white.
“As an artist, I obtain my inspiration from the external world around me, but reveal in my paintings the internal world of my imagination,” she said. “By reducing my images to their essential elements, I can bring simplicity, myth, and the primal, to my explorations of limits and boundaries with the intent of moving beyond them.”
She will speak more in depth about these new works and how she made them at the opening reception at IMA at 7 p.m. on Jan. 25.
The 100 Houses Project: Reflections on Our Times will hang at IMA until March 10.
For more information contact the IMA office at 1-800-442-2787, or head to their website: support-imarts.com.
Greene keeps the surprises cominG in the perfect Liar
bruce DeSilva 97/16 wire
service
The great thing about being an artist, Max tells his students, is that you can imagine things into being. But only he knows the extremes to which he has taken that.
After fleeing a miserable childhood, Max spent his teenage years living on the streets of New York City. Yet now, in his 30s, he is teaching art in a picturesque Vermont college town. He and his new wife, Susannah, are plainly in love. He gets along smashingly with Freddy, her teenage son from a previous marriage. And he is a rising star in his field, commanding lucrative speaking fees. He seems to have fashioned a perfect life.
Max lacks the academic credentials his job requires, but he has more than
enough intelligence, boldness and charisma to sustain the fraud. Everything will be just fine as long as no one finds the body of the real Max buried on a New Hampshire mountainside.
But in the very first chapter of The Perfect Liar, the sixth novel by Vermont College of Fine Arts president Thomas Christopher Greene, Susannah finds a note, written in capital letters, on their front door: “I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.”
The result is a taut, well-written thriller, but this novel is more than that. It is also both a textured examination of the lies people tell to those they love and a reminder that it is never easy to escape the traumas of a troubled childhood.
The pace is crisp, the surprises keep coming and there are two big ones that readers are unlikely to see coming.
Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including The Dread Line.
Image by Mo hamilton stars – a lino-cut print, hand-painted in watercolour by local artist Mo hamilton – is a part of the The 100 houses Project: reflections on Our Times show, which will debut on Jan. 25 at Island Mountain arts in Wells.
The Perfect Liar (St. Martin’s Press), by Thomas Christopher Greene
EngagEd votErs mattEr
morE than votIng systEm
In B.C., we have just engaged in another effort to improve our democratic system.
We want good leadership, and when leaders fail us, we look for better ways to hold them accountable. This is right and good.
However, no system can provide a foolproof (pardon the pun) method for this. Perhaps we are looking for a solution to a problem that must not have a complete solution, i.e; “if only we had the right system our politicians would be better.”
I don’t think that its possible. I think what is required is a higher proportion of an active and engaged people who take an interest in politics between elections, and holding them to account when things go wrong. Not everyone has to do this. We probably just need a few more percentage points of engaged people for things to change for the better. We shouldn’t think we can attain a perfect system.
Every democratic solution will have imperfections because if everything is perfectly managed and there is no opportunity for things to go wrong, that probably means a whole lot is wrong, it is just that no one talks or thinks about it for fear of reprisals.
I grew up in a highly-regulated community where nearly every decision was made by community leaders, who
ThiNkiNg aloud
were supposedly acting in the best interests of the community. Everything was prescribed in an attempt to produce model citizens who would be less prone to do evil. This included what we wore, hairstyles, what we celebrated, how we celebrated, with whom we socialized, how long we went to school (Grade 9 was the maximum) who we married, what we listened to, what we read, our employment, what was on the walls (calendars only,) the list is very long; suffice to say that it was a highly-controlled and organized system.
I am not certain if someone ever actually sat down and hammered out these particular rules for living, but I do know that the intent was good.
The result? Not quite utopia.
Much like in Orwell’s Animal Farm, people turned on each other in order to be well thought of by those holding the reigns of power, neighbour against neighbour, parent against child. What looked perfect on the outside wasn’t. What seemed orderly and peaceful came at the
cost of personal freedoms, free expression, individuality and creativity. It left a citizenry discouraged and eventually unable to think for themselves. Knowledge was frowned on and a people once known for their amazing feats became a people focused primarily on maintaining order and tradition.
My heritage was once a proud one; anabaptists who were part of the revolt against corruption in the long-established Roman Catholic Church, martyrs for the cause of freedom of conscience, priesthood of all believers, baptism only for those able to chose, non-pacifists. This was all in an effort to build a community of people who valued these things, who valued a better way to live, an authentic way to live. Sadly, dreams and ideals do not perfection create.
Whether we look at deciding on electoral systems, school fees, education, local government, environmental stewardship, development, or pipelines, it is going to be messy in a free country.
I would rather live with imperfect solutions and I want to enjoy my neighbours and community and not sit in judgment of those who disagree with me on the various issues of the day. Where our beliefs or values differ, I want to find the shared values we have and build on those rather than focus on what we disagree on, because we are all in this together.
97/16 wire service
WINNIPEG — A wildlife group isn’t giving up on a real-life wild goose chase.
Staff and volunteers with the Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre in Winnipeg have been trying for weeks to catch a Canada goose that has made a car wash its home for the winter.
Animal care co-ordinator Tiffany Lui suspects the bird has an injured wing and was unable to fly south with its feathered friends.
The centre started receiving calls in October, when the season’s first snow blanketed the city, about an out-ofplace goose in an area on the south side of the city, Lui said.
The bird seemed to take up more of a permanent residence in December in a snowbank outside the Shell gas station at Pembina Highway and Dalhousie Drive.
There have been repeated attempts to catch it with nets and bed sheets, Lui said.
“The problem is it does have the capability of flight... just enough to get over top of the cars and over top of our heads,” Lui said. “We know we can’t just walk up to it. We have to be sneaky and try other options.”
If the bird is captured, she said, it will be cared for at the centre with four other geese, four ducks and two pelicans that didn’t make it south.
Trudy klassen
Looking beyond the conventionaL car
MichAel lAris 97/16 wire service
WASHINGTON — When Sheryl Connelly was growing up in Metro Detroit, she worried that the ease of newfangled power steering was going to lull Americans into oblivion.
“I had this vision as a little girl that there’d be a bunch of drivers that were sleeping behind the wheel,” said Connelly, the in-house futurist for Ford Motor Co.
Prediction is perilous work, and that scenario failed to come to pass (though the November arrest of a sleeping California driver in a partially-automated Tesla evoked similar anxieties.)
But as self-driving vehicles and electric scooters mix with pedestrians, cyclists and traditional motorists in congested communities across North America, government and corporate leaders have been pushed in new ways to try to predict the future and plan for what’s coming.
The stakes are high for both.
Just as companies such as Ford have to give customers what they want, cities must try to provide the quality of life residents demand, Connelly said, and those basic tasks are made more complicated by the dramatic pace of change in transportation.
“Somewhere along the way, we had the obvious, but latent, idea that we need to build cars that people want. I think cities have the same thing,” Connelly said, adding that urban planning has become one of the world’s most influential jobs.
“In the days of Henry Ford, it was the industrialists. Then in the ’40s and ’50s, it was the civil engineers that created the roadways and the highways. I think this is the moment of urban planners,” she said.
Ford will begin testing self-driving vehicles in Washington, D.C. early this year, with plans to launch them commercially in Washington, Miami and other cities in 2021. Waymo began rolling out a commercial robo-taxi service in suburban Phoenix in early December, and autonomous shuttles are coming to cities from Youngstown, Ohio, to Jacksonville, Fla.
Officials have sought to steer, or at least keep up with, the developments.
Working with the Aspen Institute and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Washington joined Los Angeles, Austin, London and Sao Paulo, Brazil, among other cities, in crafting common goals for the driverlesscar developers poised to affect their communities.
High on the list of priorities is cutting greenhouse gases and other pollution, eliminating congestion and ensuring that officials have the opportunity to adapt as changes barrel ahead.
As Washington officials put it, they don’t want to be stuck “making 100-year decisions for technology that is changing in 10 years.”
One upside to planning for the future at this moment is that cities can perform test runs before going big. Unlike with a major investment such as a streetcar line, shared self-driving taxi, shuttle and bus services can be piloted first, said Andrew Trueblood, the District’s interim planning director.
“Streetcars, as even D.C. shows, they have their pluses and minuses,” Trueblood said. “The nice things about these is, if you do a pilot, you can see how it works – you can see if it works.”
Connelly trained as a lawyer and has an MBA. She said she didn’t even know “futurist” was a job until she stumbled into the position 15 years ago, after sales, marketing and other roles at Ford.
Soon after she started, with a charge to think further out and be provocative internally, she faced pushback.
She was pointing to the “rise of the rental economy.” People were renting handbags, black-tie attire and baby clothes. They were even renting pets.
“I said the drivers underneath it are evergreen. It gives people access to things they can’t otherwise afford,” Connelly said.
Given the speed of technological change, people also wanted to avoid buying into “scheduled obsolescence,” she said. And even if money wasn’t a factor, “sometimes alleviating the burden of ownership has great appeal,” she told her colleagues.
“I remember somebody said to me, ‘What part of the fact don’t you understand that we only make money on the cars we sell?’” Connelly said. “I respectfully say most of the people who work for Ford do so because they love cars. And trying to say they wouldn’t be universally loved in the future was saying their baby was ugly. It wasn’t well received.”
More recently, the company shifted toward a strategy of not only selling cars, but moving people. Ford is making a five-year, $1 billion investment in the self-driving start-up Argo AI to help build the foundation for autonomous ridesharing and delivery businesses, and it is growing its shared-van service, Chariot. In November, the company announced it had bought e-scooter company Spin. They’ve ditched the phrase “sharing economy,” and internally, some call the trend the “no-strings-attached movement.”
If driverless cars can address technological shortcomings and safety concerns, they could reduce the number of people who drive alone – or spur new congestion, depending on how they’re implemented. Connelly is an optimist on this question, predicting they will lead urban parking zones to be converted into green space.
Self-driving vehicles are just one piece of the bigger picture facing cities, as they try to balance immediate concerns with futuristic ones.
That means fixing roads and bridges and finding ways to slow drivers at dangerous intersections, while also focusing on what infrastructure might be needed for the future and what information should be collected and shared as roads, and the people on them, are tied together through digital networks.
“When we think about the future of our city, we see less single-occupancy vehicle trips, more vehicle electrification and an emphasis on building the infrastructure and policy framework to support those goals,” said Jeff Marootian, director of the District Department of Transportation.
For Connelly, too, much of her work requires staying nimble and sensitive to the evidence of trends, particularly when it runs counter to conventional wisdom.
“In the early days of autonomous vehicles, there was a narrative that was: ‘Young people aren’t interested in cars. The only way we’re going to get them into a vehicle is if it’s autonomous, so they continue to stay attached to their digital devices,’ “ Connelly said.
But Connelly sees a much more compelling business case for targeting seniors in self-driving cars. It’s already harrowing for relatives to take the keys from an unsafe driver hitting 80.
“How vigorous will that fight be if you think you’re going to live to 85?” Connelly said. “What does the conversation look like if you think you’re going to be 105? Or 125?”
Washington Post photo by Calla Kessler a self-driving car outfitted with cameras sits at the Ford terminal in Washington, d.C.
a car that walks on four lEgs?
Hyundai unveils legged concept vehicle at auto show
Peter Holley 97/16 wire service
When experts ponder the future of automobiles, they tend to focus on two novel modes of transportation: driverless cars and flying cars.
At this year’s CES technology show in Las Vegas, Hyundai has introduced a third vision for how vehicles might traverse the world around them – one that doesn’t rely solely on wheels.
More than 2,000 years after the wheelbarrow’s debut in classical Greece, ushering in a new era of locomotion, Hyundai’s latest concept car is designed to walk as easily as it rolls. Called “Elevate,” the daddy-long-legs-like machine has wheels at the end of long robotic legs that would allow “users to drive, walk or even climb over the most treacherous terrain,” according to the company.
The company – which labels the machine a UMV, or “ultimate mobility vehicle” – said the concept was inspired by the need for “resilient transportation” in disaster zones, where conventional vehicles are often rendered useless.
“When a tsunami or earthquake hits, current rescue vehicles can only deliver first responders to the edge of the debris field,” John Suh, Hyundai vice president and head of Hyundai CRADLE, said in a statement on the company’s website.
“They have to go the rest of the way by foot. Elevate can drive to the scene and climb right over flood debris or crumbled concrete.”
Suh added that the vehicle’s usefulness wouldn’t be limited to emergency situations. For people living with disabilities without access to an ADA ramp, the statement said, an autonomous version of the Elevate could walk to a front door and
It may be the early days of 2019 but there is every reason to believe the transition to greater electric vehicle (EV) adoption by British Columbians will only escalate this year.
For the last decade, the adoption of electric vehicles has been a process that has been gradual, but in the recent years the adoption of EVs has picked up considerable steam.
Consumers no longer need to be led into a discussion about the virtues of clean energy vehicles. They want and are demanding that auto manufacturers address their increasing appetite for greener modes of transportation – and auto manufacturers are responding.
A broader selection of EV models is making the decision more attractive for consumers.
The top EV vehicle sales models in 2018 included the Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi Outlander, Chevrolet Bolt, Toyota Prius Prime and Chevrolet Volt.
In the year ahead, in addition to established models, consumers can expect to see even greater options, including the Hyundai Kona Electric, which is already
position itself so that a wheelchair could “roll right in.”
How realistic is the Elevate concept?
David Bailey, a professor at Aston Business School in England, told the BBC that although concept cars may not make it to the factory floor, they can help generate valuable new ideas.
“For most of us, it’s going to be wheels and roads, but in extreme situations there may be scope for this sort of thing,” Bailey said. “There may well be applications in terms of emergency services - but there are very big technological challenges to make this sort of thing.”
Hyundai’s vision is undeniably ambitious. The company said it envisions
being able to switch out different Elevate body types for different situations. The vehicle is designed to utilize “both mammalian and reptilian walking gaits,” giving it the ability to travel in any direction, the company said, noting that the legs fold up into a “stowed drive-mode” to save power.
Those legs, the company said, would be able to climb over a five-foot wall and step across a five-foot gap.
A concept video produced by Hyundai shows the vehicle performing a mixture of driving and walking. When the surface is relatively flat, the vehicle turns to conventional wheels, but when the terrain grows craggy, the vehicle’s wheels appear
to lock into place and its legs extend, taking synchronized steps forward.
When surrounded by massive chunks of concrete from what appears to be a collapsed structure, Elevate is shown leveling itself on an incline so that rescuers can load a stretcher inside.
“Imagine a car stranded in a snow ditch just 10 feet off the highway being able to walk or climb over the treacherous terrain, back to the road, potentially saving its injured passengers – this is the future of vehicular mobility,” said David Byron, industrial design manager at SundbergFerar, a Detroit-based design firm that partnered with Hyundai to create the Elevate.
gaining momEntum
tally conscious. And for many, incentive programs have also helped steer them in this direction.
being billed as one of the most promising electric cars of 2019; the Audi E-Tron Quattro SUV; the Kia Niro EV; and Mini will also be reintroducing its fully-fledged mini-electric. Also of great interest is Volkswagen’s plan to launch the longawaited first electric vehicle from its eponymous brand, the Golf-size ID Hatchback – but the 2019 model will only be sold in Europe. And Ford is working on a 480-km range electric SUV for 2020, which will be of great interest because it will be the automaker’s first dedicated electric model.
For many consumers, the decision to make the transition to an EV is a practical one. The current level of fuel prices is a motivating factor for some, while for others, the move to cleaner technology is the result of becoming more environmen-
The SCRAP-IT Program provides an incentive to remove an internal combustion engine vehicle from our roads and replace it with a clean energy vehicle. Since its inception in 1996, that program has successfully removed more than 43,000 super-polluting vehicles from BC roads.
And of course, there is the CEVforBC Program, which new car dealers administer on behalf of government, and offers B.C. residents up to $5,000 dollars for the purchase or lease of an eligible vehicle. While total 2018 year-end totals for BC have not yet been tabulated, well more than 6,000 CEVforBC incentives were paid out during the last calendar year – more than three times the amount in 2017 (during which there were approximately 1,800 incentives processed). It’s also important to note that during the third quarter of 2018, the sale of electric vehicles represented 15.4 per cent of all new car sales in the province.
The province announced $20 million in
funding for the CEVforBC Program last fall and that will help fuel the public’s appetite for EVs. However, as electric vehicle sales grow and more and more products appear on the road, drivers need charging spots that will keep pace with demand. To its credit, the province has made a commitment to expand the size of the current fast-charging network – but there remains a lot of work to do, particularly in the Interior and the North, where the lack of this infrastructure is a clear impediment to EV adoption.
B.C’.s new car dealers continue to work hard to ensure consumers or potential consumers are armed with the best and most up-to-date information in deciding to make a new vehicle purchase. When it comes to the purchase of electric or any other vehicles, the support and encouragement dealers provide can go a long way in fuelling the growth of clean energy vehicle sales, and in doing so, reducing emissions.
Blair Qualey is president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. You can email him at bqualey@newcardealers.ca.
Bloomberg photo by Patrick T. Fallon david Byron, industrial design manager of sundberg-Ferar, speaks about hyundai’s latest concept car during the 2019 Consumer electronics show in las Vegas last Monday.
