New Lax Kw'alaams Academy to open today

School is in for Lax Kw'alaams with the much anticipated dedication day arriving for the new community school, the Lax Kw'alaams Academy.

Premier Clark and North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice are expected to be among those in attendance with Mayor Gary Reece, as the community celebrates the opening of the 19 million dollar facility.

A two storey facility that will provide classrooms from Kindergarten through to Grade 12 students, with room for expansion in the future. The official opening will bring to realization the goal of a new building that has been part of the Lax Kw'alaams discussion for close to thirty years.

Today's official opening will take place at 11 AM, followed by a lunch at noon and a celebration dinner later in the afternoon.

The anticipation of the opening was such that MLA Rice rose in the Legislature on Thursday to share the news with the chamber, providing an outline of the importance of the new school to the community:

A lot of eyes are on a First Nations community in my constituency. Lax Kw'alaams, also known as Port Simpson, is an area with worldwide attention on it right now. When you have high demand for this nation's land or resources, marine territory, it's very interesting for that community to have such attention paid to it, with an otherwise remote and ignored community. 

LNG development, Flora Bank, fishing rights and Lelu Island is a dominant topic, and it's created a lot of division in our communities around north coast. 

But there is one topic, one issue that has really united our community and the Lax Kw'alaams community, and that is the opening of their new school. 

 So I'm pleased to share with the House a special occasion for the Lax Kw'alaams community. Tomorrow I, along with, I understand, the Premier, will be travelling to the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation on north coast for the grand opening of their $19 million Coast Tsimshian Academy

This school provides classrooms for 26 kindergarten and 156 grade 1 to 12 students. The school is designed with a state-of-the-art kitchen and a layout that allows for large group gatherings. The school has seen increase of over 20 students, so having over 150 students this month alone. It has attracted a lot of adults wanting to go on to further their education. 

It's really not bad for a small remote community that only has a couple hundred inhabitants on it. Mayor Gary Reece explains that the school will play an important role in supporting the community's forces on education and skills development in youth. 

It will allow our children to learn and grow within our community while preparing them for a future where they can make a contribution to our economic goals. So I'm standing here today. I'm sincerely pleased for the people of Lax Kw'alaams for having built their new school. 

The old school was built in 1955 when construction standards were non-existent, and it had a creek running through it. It's a big day tomorrow, and I'm happy to share that with the House.

The full address to the Legislature can be found below:


Some background on the New School Building for the Coast Tsimshian Academy can be found from the Lax Kw'alaams website, the overview features a particular note as to the importance that the new building will have for the entire community.

You can also discover more about the school and the preparations for today from the Coast Tsimshian Academy Facebook page.

For more items related to developments with Lax Kw'alaams see our archive page here.

For further background on the work of MLA Rice in Victoria see our Legislature Archive here.

The Harley's roar this weekend in aid of the Salvation Army's Toy Drive

Sometime on Saturday around your neighbourhood you'll be hearing them, the constant roar of motorcycles as one by one, the participants in this years Harley Ride travel the streets of Prince Rupert and on to Port Edward.

The annual Prince Rupert Toy Run takes place this weekend with  1 PM start from the Salvation Army on Grenville Crescent, from there the participants will run the route of the Poker Run for the day, with five stops along the way.

Riders will be travelling  from downtown to such locations as the Rotary Waterfront park, to Seal Cove and Port Edward as part of their Poker Run through the afternoon.

The event features a dance on Saturday night at the Fisherman's Hall at 8 PM with Live Bands, tickets for that go for ten dollars and one new toy, either athletic or education, or a non-perishable food item.  Tickets for the dance are available at the door or from any of the riders taking part in Saturday's run. A number of door prizes will be part of Saturday night's celebration.

Fishermen's Hall will be rocking on Saturday night
as participants put a wrap on this years Toy Run

Saturday will also bring draw date for the draw for a 2015 Harley Davidson Dyna Low Rider from Harley Davidson of Smithers, tickets at twenty dollars a shot have been on sale through the summer and into the fall for the ride, with the benefits of the fundraiser to benefit the Kaien Anti-Poverty Society and North Coast Health Improvement Society.

The draw for the bike takes place at midnight.

This years run is expected to bring in riders from across the Northwest, with over fifty motorcyclists set to roar out of the Salvation Army on Saturday afternoon, with the weather forecast offering up the prospect of a sun filled ride around the region.

Last year the ride provided 10,000 dollars to Captain Gary Shields of the Prince Rupert Salvation Army, along with 272 toys for the Christmas Hamper campaign.

You can get more information about this years ride by contacting Prince Rupert's Harley Riders President Chris Rose at 250-600-6033. 

Skeena-Bulkley Valley Election Notes -- October 2015

Our archive of items of note for October in the 2015 Election campaign in the Northwest.

Post Election Notes

Northwest Youth vote in Federal election (video)
Election 42: The Morning after (audio)
Once a fringe party in northern B. C., Liberal surge recalls Trudeau-maina of 1970's (audio)
Nathan Cullen says Northern Gateway is dead, missing and murdered women inquiry coming (audio)
Nathan Cullen re-elected (video)
Election Turnout in the Northwest (video)
Clark Says No Interest in Conservative leadership (video)
Northwestern B. C. voter turnout surges

October 19 Election Day

In a wave of Red across the country, Skeena-Bulkley Valley remained Very Orange NCR
Cullen winds: but disappointed overall
Nathan Cullen Reflects on Victory and Losses
Conservative Candidate will Give Liberals "benefit of the doubt"
Losing Liberal Happy with National Result
Northwestern B. C. Conservative caught up in anti-Harper wave
Cullen discusses his win, NDP losses
Nathan Cullen disappointed by NDP Losses
Cullen re-elected in Skeena-Bulkley Valley
His Party Plummets, But Cullen's Star Shines On
Conservative Candidate Tyler Nesbitt says he remains committed to serving the region (audio)
Bittersweet Victory for NDP's Nathan Cullen (audio)
Cullen reclaims Skeena-Bulkley Valley seat
Nathan Cullen retains NDP seat

October

October 19 -- And now it's time for you to hold up your end of the bargain!  NCR
October 18 -- Election Day beckons for Northwest voters  NCR
October 16 -- Nathan Cullen stresses experience and his plan for the Northwest in mailer  NCR
October 15 -- CHP candidate sticks to message in mailer campaign  NCR
October 15 -- Over 8,000 Northwest voters cast advance polls over Long Weekend NCR
October 14 -- Candidates back missing, murdered women inquiry
October 9 -- Federal election candidates clash over security bill
October 9 -- LNG issues bring out the rebuttal cards at Prince Rupert debate  NCR
October 9 -- Four Days of Advance Polling get underway today  NCR
October 9 -- Comments from Terrace debate have Cullen, Nesbitt hearing different intent  NCR
October 8 -- Prince Rupert Candidates debate (video)
October 8 -- Snapshots from the 2015 Prince Rupert electoral forum NCR
October 8 -- LNG a heated topic in Prince Rupert debate
October 8 -- Native vote benefits northwestern B. C. NDP incumbent
October 7 -- Student elections and campaign visit at NWCC in Prince Rupert (video)
October 7 -- Skeena-BulkleyValley Candidates Talk to NWCC students
October 7 -- Candidates Forum in Terrace (video)
October 7 -- Election debates roadshow rolls into Prince Rupert tonight  NCR
October 7 -- A Get out the vote primer from Councillor Thorkelson NCR
October 7 -- LNG brings 'sharpest remarks' at Terrace all candidates forum
October 6 -- Northwestern B. C. voters get new voter information cards
October 6 -- Meet federal election candidates tonight in Terrace
October 6 -- Elections Canada mailer outlines key information for October 19th vote  NCR
October 2 -- How homeschoolers teach their kids about the election (audio)
October 1 -- Cyclist crashes into truck belonging to Conservative candidate Tyler Nesbitt
October 1 -- Reaction from Smither's All Candidates Debate (audio)
October 1 -- A singer and a commentator become a factor in northwestern B. C.
October 1 -- Candidate brings strong pro-life message
October 1 -- Green candidate out to increase aboriginal vote
October 1 -- Here come the candidates; and their household mailers as well!  NCR

Notes from previous months can be found below:

September
August

For the full overview of the 2015 campaign see our archive page here.

MLA Rice raises issue of missing data in Legislature session

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice
at the Legislature September 30th

After spending two days in Prince Rupert observing the proceedings of the Coroner's Inquest into the deaths of Angie and Robert Robinson, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice made her first appearance of the fall session of the Legislature on Wednesday.

Settling in on day three of the new schedule, Ms. Rice rose at the end of Question Period to raise her concerns related to the revelation of last week, that the Ministry of Education had lost an un-encrypted hard drive containing personal information of over 9,000 British Columbians.

"Information about the province's most vulnerable children is missing because this minister failed to keep it safe. Highly personal information about 9,273 people was collected by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and stored on this missing hard drive — highly sensitive information on children in the system who moved schools and lived in difficult circumstances, entrusted to this government. But this government broke this trust. 

To the minister responsible for data security, when is he going to contact these 9,200 people and warn them about the risks to their personal information?"

For her efforts Amrik Virk, the Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services advised that the Information and Privacy Commissioner would be working alongside the Chief Information Officer of the government to analyze the duplicate hard drive, in order to assess which individuals need to be notified and plan how they will approach that notification process.

You can review her contribution to the discussion from the Legislature record her comments appear just before the 14:35 mark. You can also view the Question Period proceedings from the September 30th edition of their Video feed, Ms. Rice's question is delivered at the very end of that session.


Further background on the lost hard drive can be found below.

September 25 -- Hard drive with personal information on 3.4 million B. C. students lost
September 23 -- The latest B. C. government data breach is the biggest by far
September 23 -- Missing hard drive will likely cost dearly
September 22 -- B. C. education data breach: government can't find unencrypted hard drive
September 22 -- B. C. student data breach could affect more than 3 million people (video)


For more information related to education matters see our archive page here.

Further background on the work of the North Coast MLA can be found on our Legislative archive page.

Here come the candidates; and their household mailers as well!

Smithers was the host of the start of the home stretch for the 2015 Federal election campaign, with four of the five candidates for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley seat in the House of Commons offering their policies and opinions to residents of the Northwest interior city.

The trip to Smithers the latest stop in the candidates tour of the riding which as we noted earlier this week will take them to Terrace, Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert over the course of the next seven days.

Unlike a municipal election where the issues are centred on one jurisdiction and the candidates are readily accessible, the federal campaign in the case of Skeena-Bulkley Valley takes on one of the most challenging geographic areas in the nation, meaning that North Coast residents may not see their candidates more than a few times before they head off to the polling booth.

While some of the candidates have made some use of social media options, for the most part the current of the election campaign seems to be one of a more national than local nature, with most of the information to this point noting the main points of the federal parties and their leaders.

With but eighteen more days left until election day, the candidates are preparing their talking points for the final push of the campaign and some are now starting to back up their words with some reading material, with Tyler Nesbitt providing the first of the ever popular election time household mailer.

Mr. Nesbitt's offering is a familiar theme, one that stresses many of the positioning statements of the national party including a focus on the economy, families, taxes , Seniors and Safety and Crime.

When it comes to the local aspect of his home delivery message, the candidate notes his background in the Northwest and the prospect of industrial growth that the region could soon realize, asking residents if they are going to seize the opportunity or squander it.

Among some of the items he hopes to address should he be successful on October 19th are lowering taxes, build strong, collaborative relationships with First Nations communities, develop resources in a responsible manner, protecting the rights of victims of crime.

An overview of his mailer arriving in area mailboxes this week can be found below (click on the images to expand the information).

As the other candidates deliver their household information sheets to the North Coast we'll take some notes and offer up their work as well for the consideration of the voters.

Candidate debates to come across the Northwest take place as follows:

October 1 -- South Island Haida Heritage Centre 6-8 PM
October 2 -- North Island Howard Phillips Community Hall 6-8 PM
October 6 -- Terrace, REM Lee Theatre 7 PM
October 7 -- Prince Rupert, Lester Centre 6 PM
October 8 -- Kitimat, Mount Elizabeth Theatre 7 PM

For more background on the most recent developments in the 2015 election campaign see our Election Archive page here.

Prince George information project would fit in nicely with Prince Rupert Council's engagement process

An interactive program being used by
the City of Prince George allows
residents to review how civic
budget making is created

The City of Prince George has introduced an interesting educational feature to its website, allowing residents and taxpayers in that community to take on the role of the Chief Financial Officer and Council members, allocating tax dollars to a range of community services.

The program called Citizen Budget  was introduced over the last few weeks, and provides the user with control over how their tax dollars should be allocated, with options in increasing or reducing funding to such services as police and fire protection, civic services, community grants and other facets of municipal government.

The program also offers the opportunity for the City to further explain just what those elements are and how residents access or make use of them.

The City of Prince George provided a short overview of their program for the CivicInfoBC portal, with Mayor Lyn Hall noting the approach that they are taking in consulting their residents on budget and financial issues.

“We encourage residents to provide feedback on how they want us to spend their tax dollars ... As Council continues to focus on community engagement and transparency as one of its strategic priorities, this public consultation process is about residents helping us to shape the 2016 budget, the 2016 Corporate Plan, and the priorities of Council.”

While the information will be based on Prince George budget considerations, the exercise should give users a helpful example of the kind impact that even a slight increase or decrease can have on budget planning by City Council members.

You can take the program out for a test drive here.

In the past, Mayor Brain and some of the council members have expressed an interest in finding ways to get city residents more involved in the municipal process, this program which seems fairly simple to use, would surely fit the community engagement ideals that Prince Rupert council have noted.

It would however require a bit more dedication towards the City's website, which of late hasn't seen

much in the way of attention, or found the kind of use that many in the community might wish to see.

For the most part, much of the information flow in recent months has been directed through the Mayor's Facebook page, which sometimes tends to lose focus on the concept that not everyone wishes to get bogged down in the Social media aspects of photos and commentary from the Mayors followers (usually of those approving of the Mayor's work).

Sometimes, people just want to know the basic facts, which is something that the City's official website is supposed to and should provide. A program such as what the City of Prince George's Citizen Budget offers to its residents, would fit nicely into a reboot of the official website for the City of Prince Rupert, making it a go to destination for core items of note about civic matters.

For more items related to Prince Rupert City Council see our archive page here.

Work to start in October on Rushbrook Boat Launch improvement project

Work is set to start on improvements
to the Rushbrook Floats area

Parking spaces will be limited at the Rushbrook Boat Launch starting today as the City commences with the start of a six week capital improvement project at the east end facility.

The upper parking lot overlooking the boat launch will be partially closed as of today and for the next six weeks, part of the set up process for the major work to take place on the Boat Launch itself, which will see pre cast concert panels installed on the site of the aging and deteriorated boat launch.

To facilitate that process, the Boat Launch itself will be out of service and closed from Wednesday, October 28th until Thursday, November 5th.

During that period of time the public is advised to make use of the Port Edward Boat Launch.

It's estimated that the cost of the replacement project will be at the 200,000 dollar mark, funded in full by the City's Rushbrook Improvement Area Fund and not making use of funding from local taxpayers.

You can review the background to the project from our items of April this year which highlighted the financial plan in place for the work at Rushbrook.

April 16 -- City staff highlights the merits of the Rushbrook Improvement Area fund for council
April 13 -- Council to hear of $200,000 improvements to Rushbrook Floats, as well as other Rushbrook issues tonight

For more details on the upcoming closure see this notice from the City of Prince Rupert.