North Coast Review

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

You can't throw a rock, if you don't get your jabs ... Curling Canada outlines its COVID Vaccination Mandate policy

The roar of the rocks is not too far off for 2021-22
though with some new COVID guidelines to note
from the national body
(photo from Curling Canada)

With the fall and winter Curling season fast approaching the Governing Body for the sport has outlined its latest COVID related measures for those that participate, with Curling Canada noting that unless you can provide proof of vaccination for COVID-19, you can't take to the pebbled ice this year.

"All athletes, coaches, fans, volunteers, media and event staff and contractors above the age of 12 will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to participate in, and attend, Curling Canada-affiliated events" -- From Curling Canada notice on Tuesday

Yesterday Curling Canada outlined their policy on Mandatory Vaccines which is to be put in place as soon as possible.

Curling is set for a return this fall, though the national governing
body has some new measures to be noted for local organizations.

In January, COVID resulted in the cancellation of the last season.

The Prince Rupert Curling Club has yet to announce its plans for the 2021-22 Curling season, though it would seem likely that they will be following the guidance of the national body when it comes to the launch for the year ahead.

You can follow their updates as they arrive through their Facebook page here.

Updates on the 2021-22 season from the Northwest can be found from our archive page for the season ahead.

Curling on the North Coast 2021-22

Our Archive of items and developments on the Curling scene in the Northwest

Prince Rupert Curling Club Facebook page

Archive of notes for 2021-22

March

March 15 -- Community Funding from PRPA adds to improvements to Prince Rupert Curling facility NCR

March 11 -- 69th edition of Prince Rupert's Mens Marine Bonspiel set to roar tonight NCR

March 9 -- Curling in Burns Lake

March 9 -- Houston curler going to national championships

March 2 -- Houston curler wins championship with her team

March 1 -- Prince Rupert Curling Club hosts first competitive tournament of 2022

February

February 16 -- Terrace Curling Club in search of funds for new roof

February 11 -- Curling Season heats up with a month of bonspiels set to get underway NCR

December

December 16 -- Only a few more stones to throw before Curling breaks for Holidays. NCR

December 6 -- Curling Club hosts first tournament in two years
December 3 -- Prince Rupert Curling Club to host first tournament in two years

November

November 18 -- Prince Rupert's 2021-22 Curling season underway NCR

September

September 1 -- You can't throw a rock, if you don't get your jabs ... Curling Canada outlines its COVID vaccination mandate policy NCR

Archive of past years

2020-21
2019-20
2018-2019
2017-2018
2016-2017
2015-2016
2014-2015
2012-2014

City of Terrace among BC local governments to gain funding for housing approvals process

When it comes to moving forward towards development of housing stock in their community, the City of Terrace now has a bit of a leg up on the rest of the Northwest.

That as the Province of British Columbia awards Terrace officials with over 300,000 dollars from a local government program to help streamline housing approvals.

The program funding which was delivered to 43 communities province wide, was introduced today by Josie Osborne, Minister of Municipal Affairs.

“Local governments play a critical role in making sure the housing people need in their communities is built quickly and meets local needs. These grants will help them do critical work to modernize development permitting and approvals by removing barriers and streamlining processes. Together, the Province, local governments, housing providers and builders can find solutions that support more affordable housing for everyone in B.C.”

The focus for the Funding program was outlines as follows:

The Local Government Development Approvals Program is supporting local governments in their efforts to improve their development approvals processes – helping people and communities get the homes they need built faster and help support economic recovery.

The projects represent a wide range of actions local governments have identified will help them improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their development approval process, allowing them to better meet the needs of their communities.

Projects include everything from conducting internal reviews of current development approvals processes, to identifying opportunities for improvement, upgrading to online development application platforms, and developing workshops or seminars to help developers better understand the application requirements.

The Terrace application gained the community $385,000 to be put to use towards Terrace Development Permit Application Improvements.

The program was open to all municipalities, regional districts and the Islands Trust, and is administered by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities on behalf of the Province.

Terrace was the only one of those in the Northwest to be listed in today's funding announcement.

More on the program can be reviewed here.

The full list of the successful applicants is available here.

Past notes on Municipal themes from Terrace can be found from our archive page here.

A similar archive for Prince Rupert is available here.

Community Registration Night set for Civic Centre on September 9th

If it's an activity that is taking place this Fall, chances are you can find out more about it and register for a program next week at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.

The annual Community Registration night has been scheduled in for September 9th, with the Auditorium at the Civic Centre your destination to learn more about what is available this fall and beyond.

The options ranging from those of the Recreation Department led programs to community organizations who will be on hand to answer your questions and sign you or your children up for the programs they have available.

A variety of recreational, cultural and community groups have booked some space in the Auditorium for the evening and will be on hand to share more information with you.

For more on the Community Evening Registration plans or to register your group or organization for the session contact Heidi DeWildt at Prince Rupert Recreation at 250-624-6707 or by email at heidi.dewildt@princerupert.ca

In August, the City of Prince Rupert Recreation Department delivered the Fall Active Living Guide to home across the city, the 22 page guidebook providing details on all of the programs offered through the facilities at the Civic Centre and Earl May Aquatic Centre.

Also included in the Active Living Guide were a few reminders of programs available in Prince Rupert to provide assistance to those who want to take part in recreation activities but may not have the financial resources to do so.

You can access the Recreation Departments Fall program booklet online here.

Any updates on the way to the September 9th Registration night can be found from the City of Prince Rupert Recreation Department Facebook page.

For more notes on community events see our archive page here.

BC Liberals reschedule September Leadership Debate Plans

The marathon run that has become the BC Liberal Leadership contest has found that the Dog days of August just past have offered up some challenges to keep the profile of the leadership campaign on the minds of the public.

From a sudden burst of COVID back into the headlines, ongoing wildfires in the province and a Federal election campaign that is sucking all the oxygen out of the political dialogue at the moment, finding news of their travels across British Columbia has become somewhat hard to discover.

Such is the situation at the moment it seems, that the party has rescheduled their planned September 8th Leadership Debate, which would have been the first opportunity to hear the views and direction that the six candidates in the race have in mind for the party.

The new date for that first glimpse of the BC Liberal Leadership congregation all together will now come on September 28th, the event to be streamed live with a 7PM start time from the BC Liberal website portal.

Some of the travels from the campaign in the Prince Rupert area can be reviewed through the BC Liberal's North Coast Riding Facebook page

Currently there are six candidates in the race to become the next leader of the party they include Skeena's Ellis Ross, he was the first into the race and has since been joined by the following.

Val Litwin, Gavin Dew, Michael Lee, Kevin Falcon and Renee Merrifeld.

Links to all of their campaign FB pages can be found in red above.

The BC Liberals will select their next leader at their 2022 leadership convention on February 5th, 2022.

You can review some of the campaign themes from our Leadership tracker archive page.

As well, on occasion the leadership campaign finds some current in the daily provincial news flow, those entries can be found each day from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.

Tour de North journey begins in mid September as riders travel from Prince George to Prince Rupert in support of Canadian Cancer Society

Participants in the Tour de North can find all the weather
elements on the ride from Sun to rain and even hail or snow!
This years Tour starts Sept 17th wrapping up in Prince Rupert on the 23rd
(Photo from Tour de North FB page)

The 2021 edition of the Tour de North will have Prince Rupert as the destination for the third week of the month, as the annual fundraising for Cops for Cancer makes its journey along the Highway 16 corridor starting on September 17th.

The fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society features the participation of members of the RCMP across the region, as well as those at the BC Sheriff's Office, BC Ambulance Service and Firefighters from communities along the way.

Among the latter, representing the Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue department will be Jordan Venditelli, he outlined his enthusiasm for the tour through the Cops for Cancer website and Facebook feed.

Also on the Tour de North from Prince Rupert is Jessica Friesen who serves with the BC Ambulance Service in the community, this year marks her third time with the Tour.

The full list of those participating and links to their fundraising efforts can be explored here, with many of those set to ride on the 17th finding strong support from the community as they make their preparations for the tour.

Profiles of the participants can also be explored through the Tour de North Facebook Feed.

So far the teams participating have reached the 70% mark for their goal of 100,000 dollars with sixteen days to go before they make the 700 kilometre plus trek from Prince George to Prince Rupert.

The Riders on the Cops for Cancer Tour de North will make their first push off on Friday September 17th from the Canadian Tire in Prince George, arriving on September 23rd in Prince Rupert.

As they travel westbound along Highway 16, wth a few side trips to communities just off the highway, they will also be stopping in communities to take part in fundraising and awareness campaigns about the Tour de North.

The money raised goes to towards Childhood Cancer research and support services through the Canadian Cancer Society.

The 2021 tour returns to the more familiar group ride, that after 2020 and COVID required some changes to the traditional ride, while they still have COVID measures in place, this years tour will more resemble the Rides of the past.

Learn more about what's ahead for the 2021 tour here, we'll follow along and provide updates on their travels, as well as as more notes on Prince Rupert area participants as they become available.

For notes on the work of Emergency Responders across the Northwest see our archive page here.

A look at other Community event themes is available here.