A day of travel through the Streets of Prince Rupert and Port Edward and an evening os Socializing at the Seal Cove Curling Club has gone a long way to helping out the Salvation Army Christmas Program this year.
The final tally for the Harley Riders delivered a cheque for 10,000 dollars for the local agency that serves those in need in the community, another successful year for the Riders who have been running their popular ride for decades.
The September 23rd ride also saw a good volume of toys collected for the Christmas campaign.
The Registration period for the Annual Christmas Hamper program began in mid October, it will continue through until the end of November.
You can register in Person at 25 Grenville Court or call the Prince Rupert Salvation Army at 250-624-6180 Extension 4
Hamper Distribution will take place in December
The Salvation Army will soon be ramping up on the next fundraising plan for their Christmas campaign with the annual Kettle campaign in the final planning for the 2023 season.
The work site has been a busy one downtown as the ILWU 505 Hall continues to take shape
Work continues forward on the new ILWU Hall spanning half a block between First and Second Avenues West at Eight Street, with Foundation work the focus after some slope stabilization work of earlier this year.
In addition to the hosting duties for the ILWU Hall, the near 10,000 square foot project will bring a new three storey commercial development to the downtown core, the first major project in years for that part of the downtown area.
In addition to ILWU Local 505, funding support toward the project has been provided by contributing partners BCMEA, PRPA, and DP World Prince Rupert
Members of the union are currently using the basement of a Prince Rupert Boulevard church as their temporary location as the construction work continues.
Some of the past history of the project and more notes on Labour themes and issues in the Northwest can be reviewed here.
The Prince Rupert School Board met in their October session on Monday the 16th, with the Board Members opening their meeting with a moment of reflection on the passing Barb Gruber, with Board Chair Kate Toye noting of her importance to the Board and the community,
The first bit of business for the session was a review of the elements of Implementation Day at the end of September, with some background into the range of presentations that are provided from mental health planning for the schools, to Indigenous studies as well as to review some of the engagement with stakeholders in the community.
The scope of the Board's Leadership Team's work and how the School Board is exploring the climate for each of the schools in the District was key to the discussion on Mental Health strategies.
The Board members paid tribute to the work of Implementation Day and the programs that they have put in place for the school year ahead, with the work on Mental Health key to their commentary.
"It fills my heart that this is such a priority for our District, and I hear all the time across our country where people are truly struggling and suffering and it's wonderful that we have such a dedicated team and list of presenters, a dedicated community to really supporting best outcomes for all of our kids"-- Board Chair Kate Toye
Towards some of the Agenda work on the evening, a review of the Field Trips approved by the District for the first two months of the school year was reviewed. With Acting Superintendent of Schools Sandra Pond noting of the extra curricular sports and trips taken on and how they prove valuable for the students.
On enrolment, the Acting Superintendent observed that as of September 29th which was count day at the District , there was a total of 1,818 students in the schools, four of them International students.
That count is much the same as last year when the District counted, 1,822.
Ms. Pond observed that of the student body in the School District 1,118 students are Indigenous, which makes up 62% of the Student body.
The Before and After School program was also of some note from the meeting, with Ms. Pond noting that spaces are still available at Conrad, Pineridge while there are waitlists in place at Lax Kxeen and Roosevelt with the programs at those locations both full at this time.
Discussion on approval towards it will come at a future Board session, following some workshops related to it.
Ms Pond then spoke to the situation on recruitment of Qualified Teachers in the Northwest, with the Acting Superintendent speaking towards an initiative in the North that will seek to keep people in the North, by way of a proposed northern cohort Bachelor of Education program out of UNBC.
That focus would be on teachers who are currently not certified, providing them with a program that would allow for a program while they are in the classroom, serving as their practicum work experience towards further certification.
She noted that the Northern Superintendents were writing letters of support towards the program.
Trustee Horne then added a motion, which was supported, to have the Board of Education also write a letter of support, noting of the benefits of the proposed program.
The Secretary-Treasurers Report and Committee Reports were next up for review
Among some of the notes, when it comes to the EV Charging stations in place, two are now in operation, one has been used just once as of Mid October.
Trustees also noted of some of the technology purchases in recent months for the District.
In other Committee reports, Trustee Beil observed of some funding opportunities towards some capital work in the schools, through the Feeding Futures program, which offers a grant of up to 100,000 dollars.
She noted of the aging infrastructure in the District and some potential uses that the Board could direct funding if provided towards.
The Board reviewed some of the Policy work that was up for consideration, among those that gained some commentary included the Multimedia Devices policy and Communicating Student Learning and Reporting Policy.
Both will be forwarded to Stakeholders for approval.
A review of some of the recent meetings both regional and provincial that some on the Board or Senior Administrators attended and other information items brought the session to a conclusion.
The SD52 Board members will be voting on their election for roles on the Board and committees will take place on November 7th.
The full Board meeting can be reviewed from the video below:
There were a few changes to the list of ten this week, with two departures from the accounts, the return of a previous listing and a new property..
The distribution of our property listings did not impact on the balance of seven properties listed on the west side of McBride, three to the east.
The real estate review below is purely a snapshot for information purposes and reflective of our weekly check on Sunday evening.
Properties can ebb and flow from the listings through the week, for further background on the properties recorded, see our links pages for access to the individual real estate listings, to consult them on a daily basis.
Interest in a career opportunity with the Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Department generated a lot of interest in our story this week, propelling our notes to the top of the list of the five most read items of the last seven days.
Progress on a housing build also proved popular with our look at the work of the Gixaala Nation towards a townhome development on Kootenay gaining a large number of views.
Three Civic items also claimed much interest, for the week, with our articles on the Mayor's recent Facebook video on plans for a roundabout, the delays in work on the 4th Avenue West walkway and some roofing work at the city leased Canfisco Warehouse all finding large readership on the week.
The top story of the week however, found much attention on the job posting for a new Firefighter opening at the Fire Hall.
Fall Hiring Call for the Prince Rupert Fire Hall -- Our look at the latest career opportunity with the Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue Department gained a strong readership and some commentary as well. (posted October 24, 2023)
That article was followed by:
Gitxaala Nation gets to work on Kootenay Avenue Housing project -- The first steps towards some new affordable housing on the city's west side got underway this month. With the Gixaala Nation breaking ground on their Townhome project on Kootenay (posted October 23, 2023)
Mayor Pond's TED Talk on Roundabouts, wasn't the TED Talk Prince Rupert really needed last week -- With some lively discussion on social media taking on the recent announcement of a Roundabout for McBride and Second, the Mayor hosted a whiteboard session on his own Facebook page to outline his case for the project. Though a more concerning situation of the same week, that of the city's water issues at the Reservoir still have yet to be shared with the public. (posted October 23, 2023)
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 updates on new items posted daily to the blog, we direct you to our CharlesMHays Twitter feed, where we post notification of new stories as we post them.
Efforts continue across the Northwest as the Vanderhoof RCMP and Indigenous leaders with the Saik’uz First Nation continue to raise awareness toward two members of the First Nation who have gone missing.
On Friday the Prince Rupert RCMP posted some background information in the search for the two, a female and male both in their late 20's who have gone missing in 2023.
Chelsea Anita Quaw. Cholmes-Heronj was reported missing in early October, while Jay Preston Raphael has been missing since late February.
The pace in the pool has been fast and furious through Friday night and Saturday morning as the Prince Rupert Amateur Swim Club plays host to a three day swim meet at the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre.
The first Regional meet is sponsored by the BC Maritime Employers Association, marking an early start for the competitive swimming season for 2023-24, with competition getting underway on Friday evening.
The Schedule for the competition looks as follows
click to enlarge
The activity at the Pool ends at Noon on Sunday
You can drop in through the day to cheer on the Northwest swimmers as they hit the water
