North Coast Minor Baseball making plans for mid April play

As we turn the corner from winter to spring, the sound of bats and balls will soon be echoing across the fields of Prince Rupert and Port Edward with the North Coast Minor Baseball Association ready to play ball for their third season of operation.

Open to boys and girls ages of 4 to 13 the incubator for potential big leaguers will take to the field on April 22nd offering four different categories for the youngsters on the North Coast to learn their craft.

The ten week season which runs from April to June provides for ample opportunity to develop baseball skills in a fun environment., with the schedule designed as best it can to avoid conflicts with many of the other Spring activities available for Prince Rupert youth.

For youngsters with birth years of 2013 and 2014 there is BLASTBALL.

Those in Grades 1 or 2, (Birth years of 2011 and 2012) can tee it up with TEEBALL

JUNIOR BASEBALL introduces players to pitching and isdesigned for those in Grade 3 or 4 and born in 2009 and 2010.

And for those in Grade Five and over (birth years of 2005-2008) INTERMEDIATE BASEBALL makes the jump to pitching and a faster pace of play.

The North Coast Baseball Association makes use of two fields the newly refurbished Doug Kerr Field at the Civic Centre and the North Coast's field of dreams that is the McKeown Field in Port Edward, with the District of Port Edward quick to support the league when it started three years ago.

The younger groups make use of the Doug Kerr Field, Junior Baseball is scheduled for a mix of both fields, while the Intermediate Division for the most part digs into the mound and batters box in Port Edward.

All photos above courtesy of North Coast Baseball Association

Like many of the city's amateur sports, volunteers are key to the success for baseball on the North Coast and the Association is always looking for help this year seeking out coaches, umpires and managers as well as for a number of other roles with the sport in the region.

Registration is ongoing through the North Coast Baseball Association Website.

The success of the Association so far comes through the work of its volunteers and the sponsorship of these Prince Rupert and Port Edward businesses and organizations.

As the season moves ahead, we'll keep an eye on how things are going and update our archive with notes of interest on the baseball scene.

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North Coast Minor Baseball Association 2019

Our archive of items on the launch of the North Coast Minor Baseball Association, which enters its third year of the call of Play Ball,  focusing on children from ages 4-13 in the 2019 season.

North Coast Minor Baseball Association website
North Coast Minor Baseball Association Facebook page

2019

April

April 9 -- Minor Softball and Baseball associations to merge with focus on the larger ball NCR

February


March

March 14 -- North Coast Minor Baseball making plans for mid April Play  NCR

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Report Card day for Northwest Schools with latest findings of Fraser Institute

The annual Report Card from the Fraser Institute on the province's Elementary Schools was released today, a project that the Vancouver based organization says provides parents with a foundation towards determining a school's academic performance on a year to year basis.

The reports which do bring with them some controversy, make use of the Foundation Skills Assessment program in the schools to make their determinations on the level of success that is found in the schools.

That is a snapshot that many educators, administrators and BCTF officials suggest is not the best barometer  for a full understanding of the level of achievement found in the schools.

The findings from the report reviewed results in three categories Reading, Writing and Numeracy.

This years findings explored the findings from the elementary classrooms of the city's four public schools, as well as those of the City's Independent school Annunciation.

As it has in the past, Annunciation had higher end results for the community compared to those schools in SD52, with the Fifth Avenue West School increasing its results from last years review.

When it comes to the overall listings from the entire provincial study, Annunciation placed 88th out of the 955 schools, that were included in this years report. with a rating of 8.4 out of 10

Of the four public schools of the Prince Rupert System, École Roosevelt Park School and Lax Keen found the top end of those listings, with both listed at 567th of the 955 rated at 5.6 out of 10 of the schools from this years report.

Some of the other data culled from the report offers a snapshot into the classroom make up at each of the schools of the city.

When it comes to percentage of students where English is a Second Langue the findings were

Annunciation  --  0%
Lax Keen -- 9.8%
Ecole Roosevelt Park --  14.9%
Pineridge -- 14.9%
Conrad  -- 27.2%

The level of special needs students found in each of the schools was as follows:

Annunciation -- 4.7%
Ecole Roosevelt Park  -- 6.0%
Lax Keen --  6.9%
Conrad -- 8%
Pineridge -- 9.4%


The full findings from the Fraser Institute report for all areas of the province can be reviewed here.

In the Northwest two schools Prince Rupert's Annunciation and Veritas in Terrace tied for the top listing for the region at 88 out of 955.

St. Joseph's in Smithers reached even loftier heights list at the 66th spot.

While province wide it was West Vancouver's Cedardale that topped the listings for the 2019 report.

The Fraser Institutes Secondary School report will come out later this spring.

Today's release of information has been countered by an information campaign from the British Columbia Teacher's Federation which calls the review one that is meaningless and misleading.

As we noted in the fall of last year, the BCTF renewed its call for the end of the FSA tests in the schools, seeking the assistance of parents and guardians of students to bring pressure to School District's to abandon the testing program.


For more notes related to education across the Northwest see our archive page here.

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City seeks bids on replacement of surveillance equipment for Recreation Centre

The City of Prince Rupert is looking to move into the digital age when it comes to is surveillance requirements for the city's recreation facility on McBride Street, with the IT department putting forward a request for bids through the BC Bid portal.

The notice which was posted to the province wide bid system on March 12th is calling for quotes for 25 digital cameras to replace the current stock of analogue cameras, as well as a new recorder to archive the footage provided.

The City is looking for two quotes from potential suppliers for the project, one for provision of all equipment as well as installation of the units, and a separate quote to provide only the equipment requested.

Mark Kessler, the city's Manager of IT Operations is overseeing the bids process, with the deadline for submissions to the city set for March 27th.

Those seeking more information can contact him at marko.kessler@princerupert.ca

The full details for the replacement program can be found on the BC Bid website.

For more items of note related to City Council discussion themes can be found from our archive page here.

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Haida Gwaii one of the featured communities for latest provincial roll out of funding for internet access

The Province and NDIT are
partnering to deliver improved
access to many BC communities

Coastal Communities in British Columbia are welcoming some new investment money from the Province of British Columbia that will see the expansion of high speed Internet access for close to 200 rural and Indigenous communities.

The funding of 50 million dollars will be in addition to money already spent to improve access to the Internet in over 417 communities, 74 of them Indigenous communities which now have access to many resources that the rest of the province most likely take for granted.

Jinny Sims, the Minister of Citizens' Services highlighted the impact that the new access will have on those communities.

“High-speed Internet provides the foundation for British Columbians to access online learning and telehealth care, conduct business and be alerted in an emergency. Connectivity helps small communities grow and prosper by creating jobs, attracting new residents and enabling more young people to stay in their hometowns, close to their loved ones.”

To gain some perspective on the kind of change that improved Internet access can bring, the Northern Development Initiative Trust has provided a number of video vignettes to provide a glimpse into the ways that improved Internet service provides for.

Included in the video snapshots of the participating communities is one from Haida Gwaii.





You can learn more about this weeks announcement here, while a wider overview of the Northern Development Initiative Trust program can be reviewed here.

For more notes related to communication themes on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii see our archive page here.

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Topping off a few weeks of good news on the housing front in Prince Rupert

Workers continue to bring together all the elements of the
Metlakatla Elders/Seniors Village on the east side of  Prince Rupert

2019 is shaping up as the year that Prince Rupert's much documented housing needs began to see some much awaited progress.

First with the completion of the Crow's Nest Supportive Housing facility which held its Grand Opening last week and is now almost ready for tenants.

And now,  rising over the east side of the city, the footprint is striking at the Metlakatla led Elders/Seniors complex.

That facility, which is still under construction,  recently reached a milestone moment. That with the placement of one of its two signature pieces of the Coast Tsimshian inspired hats on the western wing of the building.

The view coming from the west of the Metlakatla Elders/Seniors village
shows the profile of one of the two Coast Tsimshian inspired hats,
the signature pieces that will top the structure 

Approved back in the summer of 2017, the main facility, which will host 32 units for Elders and Seniors is to be based on the design of a Medicine Wheel is now for the most part fully framed up, with the first of the two accent pieces atop the structure put in place last week.

An additional ten units of row housing will also be part of the complex running along Seventh Avenue East.

The funding for the much needed increase in housing stock for Seniors and Elders on the North Coast was provided by the British Columbia government as part of an agreement with the Metlakatla Governing Council.

The project received some high praise from Prince Rupert City Council two years ago, as then Councillor Joy Thorkelson described it as exactly the kind of development the city needed, with Metlakatla officials receiving praise from Councillor Barry Cunningham for how they had put the entire project together.

While the work continues on at fairly good clip these days, Metlakatla has not as  of yet, outlined any timeline as to when the building will be finished and will be ready to accept its first tenants.

You can learn more about some of the history of the project below:

2018 

Metlakatla Elders/Seniors Housing taking shape on east side
City seeks quotations for work to Replace Storm and Water infrastructure at 7th and Green

2017

Council praises Metlakatla Development Corporations Elders/Seniors Housing initiative as a template for other developers
Metlakatla's Elders/Seniors project to be main focus for Council tonight
Metlakatla Elders/Seniors complex heads towards public overview
City to consider old King Edward School Site for Seniors Housing proposal at Monday's meeting

2016

King Edward School Site the focus of upcoming forum on Seniors Housing and Health


Further notes related to housing in the Northwest can be found here.


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Liberal members on Justice Committee to Canadians ... nothing to see here, move along, move along

Another explosive day from the SNC-Lavalin files, as the majority Liberal membership of the Justice Committee hearings chose to shut down the discussion today, rather than to abide by a request from the Conservative and NDP members to invite former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould back for another session of testimony.

The move this afternoon in Ottawa, defers until the next week, the opportunity to invite the British Columbia MP to return to the committee hearings, a bit of political wrangling which has the opposition calling out cover up as the controversial and very short (27 minutes in total) meeting of the committee wrapped up.

The motion to call for a return appearance of the former Justice Minister was issued by Conservative member Pierre Poilievre,  he requested that Ms. Wilson-Raybould be allowed to complete her testimony to the committee, directing his focus towards the period of her resignation from cabinet.

The Tory MP also called for a removal of what he called the 'gag order' that Poilievre suggested that the Prime Minister has issued towards the scope of her potential testimony.

As word came out of the committee room of the adjournment, Skeena-Bukley River MP Nathan Cullen was quick to call out the move by the Liberals. Referring to the move as a betrayal by the Prime Minister and his party that they would approach politics differently from the past.

The sentence that set Parliament Hill on fire today came from Liberal  Francis Drouin, an infrequent member of the committee  who stated "I propose that the committee now adjourn"

Despite a number of point of order calls and some fairly heated discussion from the committee members of the opposition; the motion to adjourn was taken to the panel, passing thanks to the Liberal majority on the committee.

From there everyone would be off to their respective television hits for the afternoon, with calls of cover up and shame, shame ringing through the committee room.

You can review the chaos of the end of the committee session from the ParlVu replay here, the decision to adjourn comes in the final three minutes of the broadcast.

We can check in on Tuesday, to see if the political stew has boiled over, or stuck to the pan.

The latest moves by the Liberals has once again returned the entire handling of the SNC-Laviln discussion to the top heat on the front boiler of the Parliament Hill stove.

Over the weekend the Canadian Government received notice from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that the global body that watches over trade was taking notes and keeping up to date on the evolving story out of the National capital.

The key element of OECD interest in the developments from Ottawa, is Canada's commitment towards the Anti-Bribery convention.

As a Party to the Anti-Bribery Convention, Canada is fully committed to complying with the Convention, which requires prosecutorial independence in foreign bribery cases pursuant to Article 5.

 In addition, political factors such as a country’s national economic interest and the identity of the alleged perpetrators must not influence foreign bribery investigations and prosecutions.

Like a growing number of Canadians, the OECD may not be too impressed with way that the Trudeau government is trying to change the channel of the discussion, basically taking on the theme that there's nothing to see ...

The story will no doubt be one of the large stories of the day coming out of the nations capital, you can catch up with all the notes from the media on the committee room drama later this evening through our Ottawa Observations feature  from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.

We update that archive of the day's talking points by 11 PM each night.

For more notes on the federal scene through a Northwest lens, see our House of Commons archive page here.

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