Yacht Club construction project edges closer to completion

Work on the Prince Rupert Yacht Club has seen some significant progress in the last few months with the structure starting to bear a strong resemblance to the original sketch design that was presented to the community a few years ago.

A few delays along the way slowed down the pace of construction but a weekend stop at the Cow Bay waterfront shows that footprint of the new building is taking its place among some of the exciting developments that have been seen in that area of the city in recent months.

The new Prince Rupert Yacht Club facility is taking shape
above the docks of Cow Bay

No date has been noted by the Yacht Club yet as to when they hope to have the construction process complete, or when they plan to make the move into the much larger and more spacious accommodations overlooking the harbour.

We last checked in on the pace of construction back in April, you can review the timeline for the project from our blog post of April 11th.

More items of interest related to tourism in Prince Rupert can be found as part of our Tourism archive.

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School District 52 reaches to the North Okanagan for new Superintendent

As the school year begins to head towards the final days of June, SD52 is turning some of its attention towards September announcing the hiring of a new Superintendent of Education, set to take over for the departing Ken Minette who is relocating to Grand Forks after close to three decades of service to the region.

The quest for his replacement began in early April, with the School District receiving insight on the recruitment process from a range of partners and administrators in the lead up period to the candidate interviews.

Last Thursday, Board Chair announced the appointment of Irene LaPierre to the post, the new Superintendent coming to Prince Rupert from School District 83 which serves the North Okanagan Shuswap area of the province out of Salmon Arm.

Ms. Lapierre who is currently completing her doctoral dissertation at the University of British Columbia is of Metis, Anishnaabe and Cree ancestry and brings with her a vast level of experience as a high school teacher, elementary school principal.

As well, the new SD52 Superintendent has had extensive District level experience with SD83, currently serving as the Indigenous Education District Principal.

Some background on the work of the Indigenous Education program at SD83 can be reviewed below:

SD83 Indigenous Education

Elder teaches Secwepemc

Ms. Irene LaPierre has been appointed to the
position of Superintendent for SD52

The appointment which was made as a unanimous decision by the members of the Board of
Education,  calls on her deep understanding of Aboriginal learners and how she looks forward to facilitating a student-centred strength based approach to educating all students in the District.

“The Board of Education was moved by Irene’s personal story of success,”  ... “Her focus on student success as the foundation for decision-making mirrors the Board’s Vision and Mission. We look forward to working with Irene to achieve successful outcomes for all of the district’s students.” -- SD52 Board Chair Tina Last on the appointment of a new Superintendent for the District

Ms. LaPierre will take up her duties with SD52 on August 1st.

You can  review the SD52 announcement here.

For more items of interest related to education in Prince Rupert see our archive page here.

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Real Estate Tracker: Week ending, June 3, 2018

Our weekly review of the listings of the local real estate agents, tracking those properties which appear to be driving the local price structure for the North Coast.

Every Monday, we look over the listing prices of the past seven days and outline the Top 10 asking prices in the area, providing a snap shot as to where the Real Estate market may be trending on a week to week basis.

The listings below are purely for information purposes, for further background on the properties recorded, see our links page for access to the individual real estate listings.

The Archive for our weekly review can be found here.

Our list of the top ten priced homes for the week ending June 3, 2018 is below:

Real Estate Listings on the East Side of Prince Rupert

Week ending June 3, 2018

Real Estate Listings on the West Side of Prince Rupert

Week ending June 3, 2018

One change of note for the last seven days of property list watching, with one west side property taken off the listing, while a home on Graham moves up into the list of ten.

For the most part however when it comes to the high end category, the list once again remains fairly static, with the west side continuing to dominate the real estate listings for Prince Rupert with nine of the ten listings found on the west side of McBride.

The ask prices for the ten properties delivering a combined value of  $6,973,000 to the top end listings in the city.

The lowest mark for the list of ten is now set at  $575,000, while our top end from the last week features a price point set at $829,000.

Below find our findings as of the Week ending June 3, 2018


2280 Graham Avenue                   $829,000 --  Remax
2090 Graham Avenue                   $787,000 --  Remax
160 Van Arsdol Street                   $749,000 --  Remax
2040 Graham Avenue                   $739,000 --  Remax
1830 Graham Avenue                   $699,000 --  Remax
1027 Borden Street                       $698,000 --  Realty Executives
2230 Graham Avenue                    $649,000 --  Remax
1942 Second Avenue West            $649,000  -- Remax
1625 Overlook Street                    $599,000 --  Remax
1911 Graham Avenue                    $575,000 -- Realty Executives

For more items related to Real Estate see our archive page here. 

For background on Housing issues in the region see our past items here.


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Light earthquake recorded off Haida Gwaii on Saturday

A slight seismic shift took place off the west coast of Haida Gwaii on Saturday afternoon, with a 4.0 temblor recorded approximately 100 kilometres to the west of Masset (220 km SSW of Prince Rupert) at 3:30 PM.

The quake was listed at a depth of 10 kilometres and was lightly felt in some communities in the northern area of the Islands. There have been no reports of any damage or injuries related to Saturday's event2

It occurred Southwest of the Dixon Entrance approach to Haida Gwaii,  an area which has seen some increased seismic activity over the last few years, occurring along the pacific fault line that runs past the west side of the islands.

There was no Tsunami warning or alert generated by Saturday's seismic event.

For more items of interest related to seismic activity in South east Alaska and the BC see our archive page here.

Blog watching: Week ending June 3, 2018

Our look at the five most viewed items of the week explores a range of themes, with  First Nations resource development as reviewed through the CBC radio program Cross Country making for the one topic that captured the most attention over the last seven days.

As well, the return of Petronas, the introduction of a new province led Bus service along Highway 16 and a couple of Civic issues rounded out the list of five for the final week of May.

From the week just passed, readers found of interest our look at the hosting duties of Prince Rupert for the CBC Program Cross Country Check Up and its two hour window into First Nations resource development issues and challenges, with the community of Lax Kw'alaams finding a fair bit of attention during the program.

Those looking for some forward momentum for British Columbia's LNG industry were no doubt quite interested in the announcement this week that Petronas is back in the LNG terminal business, taking on a twenty five percent stake in Kitimat's LNG Canada plans.

As Greyhound prepared to make its final run across Northern BC on Thursday, the province of British Columbia rolled out its own bus transportation plan, announcing the launch of the BC North Bus, with the first trip of a one year test project set for a June 4th departure.

And the city's water system provided for some new challenges for city work crews, with work required on a segment on McBride near 7th Avenue East.

The top story of the week though comes for our look at some of the talking points of last weeks Cross Canada Check up program, with Lax Kw'alaams receiving some significant attention over course of the two hour program.

Lax Kw'alaams plans held the spotlight from national radio exposure  -- Last Sunday's Cross Country program on the CBC found Prince Rupert playing the host for the national call in current affairs show and  a number of items of note from Lax Kw'alaams Mayor John Heliin contributed to the range of  topics to be explored.   (posted May 31 , 2018)

That article was followed by:

Petronas is all in for Kitimat's LNG Canada project  --  Almost one year after deciding that Prince Rupert was no longer a good fit for their investment plans, the Malaysian energy company Petronas has shifted its focus to a a Kitimat LNG project, taking a twenty five percent share in LNG Canada  (posted May  31, 2018)

Plans in motion to re-dedicate Doug Kerr Field   -- There are still a few finishing touches to be done, but Prince Rupert City council is making plans for an official celebration for the reopening of the recently renovated ball field at the Civic Centre     (posted May 28 , 2018)

Province introduces BC North Bus; Transportation service across Highway 16 corridor to start June 4th  --  With Greyhound discontinuing its bus service in Northern BC at the end of May, the Province introduced its answer to that move, with the BC North bus set to start its service along the Highway 16 corridor on June 4th.    (posted May 29 , 2018)

City crews tackle McBride Street water main repairs, reducing traffic lanes for motorists  -- Construction season in Prince Rupert is making for work in a number of areas of the city, with a waterline issue on McBride making for a major project for the week for city crews.   (posted May 31, 2018 )

You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

You can also review the full listings of the week just past from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page.

For those looking for updates to items as they are posted to the blog, don't forget about our email alert access.

A daily review of the latest items on the blog can be delivered to your email in box, simply by entering your email address into the information bar, items posted to the blog will be delivered to your e-mail account each day.

You can find the link to that feature on the upper, right hand side of the blog. It can be found underneath the Follow the North Coast Review by Email indicator.

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here.



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

Swimmers take to the pool in Regional meet this weekend

You can cheer on the Rupert Rapids this week as they and other swimmers
from the Northwest take to the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre today and tomorrow

With the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre getting closer to an extended shut down for some renovations, this weekend brings the final event for the regional swim scene in the Northwest.

With swimmers in town from across the region for two days of competition, hosted by the Rupert Rapids Swim Club.

The regional event has originally been scheduled for the Terrace pool, but renovation work on that facility is not complete yet.

Today's events in the pool get underway at 3:30 through until 7:30 

On Sunday, the swimmers hit the pool from 9 until 1

Warm ups for each day take place one hour prior to the start of competition

With the event taking place, the Pool and sauna is closed to the public as of 2 PM today, through until 2 PM on Sunday, those that use the Fitness Centre on the upper level of the Aquatic Centre can continue to have access to that area.

Some background on Prince Rupert's Amateur Swim Club can be found here.

MLA's week: May 28-31, 2018

This week brought an end to the Spring Session of the British Columbia Legislature, dispatching MLA's back to the home constituencies for the summer, their return to Victoria yet to be charted, with the next session of the Legislature yet to be determined by the NDP government.

The final week made for a light four days of work for the regional MLA's in the house, with North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice making use of one speaking time allotment for the week.

Skeena MLA Ellis Ross continued to use his time to explore the issues of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with questions for both Attorney General David Eby and Premier Horgan.

Our look at the work week that just concluded, can be found below:

On the week, Ms Rice was listed once in the accounts of the sessions of the Legislature from May 28 to 31 .

Her contribution to the Legislature conversation came on Wednesday, when she provided a snapshot of Prince Rupert's annual summer festival Seafest for the members of the House.

MLA Rice shares the word on Seafest at the Legislature

It was also announcement week for the NDP government, with Ms. Rice relaying a number of provincial initiatives, including the launch of a new transportation option for those living on the North Coast looking to travel the highway 16 corridor.

Highlighting the details of the NDP announcement of the start of BC Transit's new BC North bus service, which took effect as Greyhound ended its service to the region.

Province introduces BC North Bus ; Transportation service across Highway 16 corridor to start June 4th

Northern Health expands Connections bus service with new guidelines

The province also announced plans for a travelling consultation program for its Rental Housing Task Force, with Terrace scheduled as the only stop in the Northwest.

Terrace makes for only Northwest stop on Rental Housing Task Force Itinerary

The North Coast MLA is also a permanent member of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, serving as the convener of that forum.

Transcripts of the work of the committee are available on the Legislature page for the Committee.

Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs


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For our readers from the Terrace-Kitimat region, this week found Skeena MLA Ellis Ross mentioned twice for his work in the Legislature from May 28 to 31.

On Wednesday, Mr. Ross had questions for Attorney General David Eby, seeking some clarification on the BC government's position on the UNDRIP declaration and how it will impact the province.

Nathan Cullen and Ellis Ross offer differing views on UNDRIP and its application in Canada

Thursday, Mr. Ross followed up on those themes with the Premier during the Thursday Question Period, this time directing his inquiries to the Premier, you can review that conversation from the Legislature Hansard Archive page, starting at the minute mark 14:50 mark

Like many MLA's at the end of a session, Mr. Ross joined in with some thank you's to staff on Tuesday morning, that as the final week for the House began to move forward.

Mr. Ross is also a permanent member of the Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives,

Transcripts of the work of that committee are available on the Legislature website

There is more background on the North Coast and Skeena MLA's available from our MLA's Week Archive  as well as our General Archives on the Legislature below:

North Coast constituency

Skeena and Stikine Constituencies

The Legislature has now adjourned for the summer and perhaps longer, it's return date yet to be announced by the NDP government.

A larger overview of provincial issues can be found on our political portal D'Arcy McGee

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