Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Move for Prince Rupert's Ice House Gallery in the near future

A change of venue is coming soon for Prince Rupert's
Ice House Gallery

If you have plans to visit the Ice House Gallery, you have just a few days to check them out in their Atlin Terminal location,  the popular artists Gallery on the waterfront has announced today that they will be relocating after October 10th.

The last day at their current location coming at the end of the 2023 Prince Rupert Cruise Season and the final visit for the year for the Seabourn Odyssey.

Gallery officials have not tipped their hand yet as to where they will be setting up shop once they vacate the Atlin Terminal, that announcement to come in the days or weeks ahead.


As we outlined earlier this year, the fate of the highly acclaimed gallery had even made it to City Hall, with Councillor Barry Cunningham making note of the rumblings of a move back in April.


Follow the Ice House Gallery social media feed for updates on what's next for them

More notes on the Arts and Culture scene in Prince Rupert can be reviewed here.

429 Ballots cast in 2023 Metlakatla Council election


Friday's Metlaktla Election saw 429 members of the First Nation take part in the voting process, their ballots shaping the Council for the next term of office.

The results from the OneFeather election organizers provide a glimpse as to how the membership cast those ballots for both the Chief Councillor Post and those on the Council.

For the Position of Chief Councillor, as we noted on Friday, Robert Nelson was declared the winner. 

The vote totals in his favour indicating that his campaign provided for what voters were looking for, that as the look to move forward following the retirement of long serving Chief Harold Leighton.


The Council race was split into two categories, that of On Reserve and the other In Territory, those results were as follows:



From those results the next Council membership looks as follows:


Update: The newly elected Council members will take up their duties Thursday October 5th with a swearing in ceremony at the Metlakatla Community Hall.


You can keep up with notes from Metlakatla from their Social media stream.

Our archive of items of interest can be explored here.

Northern Health facilities adopt Mask requirement as of today


Today is the first day of the return of requirements for those visiting Health Care facilities to ensure that they have a medical mask on.

The move towards a fall/winter masking program was announced last week by Health Minister Adrian Dix and Doctor Bonnie Henry, the provincial Health Officer.

The use of masks is also required in all long term care and assisted living facilities, in all common spaces, as well as when participating in common indoor events at health facilities.

The Northern Health notice was relayed through Social media over the weekend.


At last week's information Session, Minister Dix and Doctor Henry outlined that the fall flu and COVID vaccination program will be launching in the province later this month.

Some notes from their presentation can be reviewed here

click to enlarge

No timeline has been released by Northern Health as of yet, towards when the program launches in the Northwest,  you can follow their social media stream for those updates as they come along.

More notes on health care in the Northwest can be reviewed from our archive pages.

Prince Rupert items

Northwest items


Prince Rupert Lions Club set to serve up a Banquet fit for a Senior!

The Popular Lions Hosted Senior's Thanksgiving Luncheon comes up on
Monday at the Moose Hall in downtown Prince Rupert 

Prince Rupert's Lions Club is less than a week away from their annual Thanksgiving event for Seniors, with Thanksgiving Day Monday, the day for their Seniors Luncheon, the event takes place at Noon Hour at the Moose Hall .

Free to All Seniors in the Prince Rupert area, the members of the Lions Club make sure that the day is one that salutes those in the community who have been part of our fabric through the decades.



Last year's event brought out a large number of the City's Seniors and Elders for the Thanksgiving Luncheon with the anticipation high for another good turnout for 2023.


  
The Pre Dinner and Dinner photos from the 2022
Lions Club Thanksgiving Dinner
(from the PR Lions FB)

You can get updates on the way to the 9th from the Lions Social Media Feed.

More notes on community events can be explored here.






Could those Potash Terminal plans for Prince Rupert get dusted off?

With expansion of the potash industry in Saskatchewan
Prince Rupert's potential as an export terminal may soon
once again catch some attention from industry officials

(map from PRPA Annual Public Meeting)

A new development of potash resources in Northern Saskatchewan is attracting some significant investment and with that could be the first whispers for additional shipment infrastructure for the Northern Gateway to the world.

CN Rail provided the first glimpse into a new Saskatchewan facility which they plan to provide rail  service for, an additional transportation network that will increase the volume of potash product for global markets.

The project one to be completed by September 2025

As an industrial trade publication points out, there currently is no potash shipment facility in Prince Rupert, with North Vancouver the main shipment point in British Columbia.

But as we once saw, the potential for such a development in Prince Rupert came pretty close to development more than fifteen years ago.


The excitement over the days of Canpotex began with some rumblings in May of 2008 that the Saskatchewan based agricultural giant was considering a terminal facility in Prince Rupert.

The proposed project of the time one that dates back to the first term for current Mayor Herb Pond, who was among those leading the charge in those early days to attract the company to Prince Rupert. 

Then as it is today, the City was looking to add to the industrial base and increase employment and revenue options in the community.

The story ebbed and flowed for close to a decade with false starts and studies, a roller coaster of anticipation and much in the way of public commentary at the time.

In pursuit of Potash

We again picked up the trail of percolating Potash rumours in 2013, archiving those notes here.

Financial issues for the company and economic headwinds in the end seemed to doom the proposed development. With the Canpotex story reaching its final conclusion in June of 2016 with the Agricultural giant observing it had abandoned its plans for a terminal in Prince Rupert.


However, it could be that everything old may yet be new again.

There is clearly land available within the Port's footprint for a Potash facility and one might even be of some interest for the City of Prince Rupert and it's available space on Watson Island

The latter a place which hasn't had much in the way of announcements since Pembina scaled down on their expansion plans in late 2022.

As the industry continues to grow in Saskatchewan, along with a significant CN Rail investment towards infrastructure, the prospect of a new proposal for the Northwest Gateway may yet deliver a rerun of the anticipation for a new industrial partner on the waterfront in our future.

More notes on Port infrastructure in Prince Rupert can be reviewed here.


City Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven comes up short in quest for Chief Councillor Post in Metlakatla

Reid Skelton-Morven will return his political focus to themes
of municipal government, that after his unsuccessful campaign
for the Chief Councillor Position in Metlaktla 

As we outlined late Friday evening, residents of Metlakatla cast their ballots for a new Council membership and a new Chief Councillor, the latter coming with the retirement of Chief Harold Leighton from the post.

When the voting results were released a few hours after balloting ended,  Robert Nelson was announced as the choice of First Nation residents to take charge of their government for the next term, the former incumbent Councillor for Metlakatla coming out ahead of four other contenders for the top office.

Among them was Prince Rupert City Council member Reid Skelton-Morven who launched his quest for office back in June, running a strong social media driven campaign for office.

Meltakatla election officials have not as of yet released the tallies of the vote, so how much Mr. Morven's message resonated with the voters isn't known, though he was quick to pay tribute to the Metlakatla process and the verdict that the people of Metlakatla delivered.


As he did not step down from his duties in Prince Rupert during the campaign, the second term City Councillor can now pivot his attention back towards the issues of note at Prince Rupert City Hall. 

Something that Mayor Herb Pond made note of in a social media message of congratulations on Mr. Morven's campaign.


More notes on the recent Metlakatla campaign and other notes of interest from the community can be reviewed through our archive page.


Emergency Service Files: October 2023











Our Archive of items for the month of October, from the files of law enforcement and other emergency responders in Northwestern British Columbia.


From the North Coast Review
















Ketchikan and Southeast Alaska
 


Miscellaneous notes





Archive of month to month review for 2023







To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.