Lax Kw'alaams to host gathering of the Nine Tribes in September

The Lax Kw'alaams Band has outlined plans for a community
meeting in mid September

The Reg Sampson Memorial Centre will be the venue for a significant call to assembly for September with a meeting of the Nine Tribes of Lax Kw'alaams announced for Saturday, September 18th.

In a statement from the Lax Kw'alaams Band from Wednesday. the call was issued to Sm’ooygets, House Leaders/Likagyigyets, head Matriarchs of the Nine Tribes and Lax Kw’alaams Band Members to meet from 1 to 5PM at the September 18th session. 

The focus for the meeting is one which will be for the Tribes to officially announce and present their representatives/spokespeople, and for all Tribes, Council and Lax Kw’alaams Membership to witness this public and transparent announcement.

With a large number of the Lax Kw'alaams population living in the Prince Rupert area and other areas of the Northwest and beyond, there will be a charter boat in service that day for the transit to and from the community.

The Charter boat will leave Prince Rupert on: September 18 at 10:00am from Gat Leedem Ferry Dock. 

The Lax Kw'alaams Band advises that people who are using vehicles need to let Cheryl or Valeen know and then reserve as usual with Hazel at 250-625-2445. 

Those wishing to register for the event or to learn more about what is planned for the day can contact Cheryl Smith at 250-627-5733 extension 2022 or by email at Cheryl.Smith@laxbdl.com you can also contact Valeen Knott@laxband.com

You can follow the Lax Kw'alaams Facebook page for updates on the event as the meeting date gets closer.

For mote notes on themes from Lax Kw'alaams see our archive page here.

In praise of plants with Councillor Nick Adey ... who provides a sneak preview of the Kaien Island Urban Farm

Work continues on the finishing touches before the September
Grand Opening for the Urban Farm in Downtown Prince Rupert

The final moments of Monday's Prince Rupert Council meeting took a turn towards something one might watch from the Home and Garden channel; with Councillor Nick Adey relaying some observations from a recent tour of the Urban Farm that is currently being created in the heart of the downtown core.

The Councillor recounted some of the key themes to the enterprise from his tour of the Kaien island Urban Farm which is being hosted by ecotrust Canada on the old Farwest Bus lines yard at Second Avenue West and Second Street.

"I just wanted to say that I had a chance to go through the urban garden last week, I was curious enough and there was people working and they were gracious enough to give me a tour and I have to say I was incredibly impressed; with not only the energy and commitment of the people behind it, but also the diversity of what they're able to grow there.

And I think that it's tremendously encouraging to know that so much of what you find in a grocery stores produce aisle can actually be grown here, if one is so inclined to give it a go.

It really is ... you know you take a relatively vacant city block now and you go by there and you see something growing there which I think is symbolically kind of cool. 

But in practice it's a really good project I was really glad to see it"

The project is a partnership for Ecotrust who have worked with the Metlakatla First Nation which owns the land, along with the City of Prince Rupert which offered some  help towards access to the grant funding from the Northern Development Initiative Trust for the initative in its development period.

Residents of the North Coast will be able to take their first tour of the new urban oasis early next month when the Kaien Island Urban Farm hosts its Grand Opening on September 3rd.

Follow the Ecotrust Canada twitter feed for updates as the progress of the Urban Farm moves towards its Grand opening event.

Some of our past notes on the Urban Farm can be reviewed below.

March 24 -- Food Security the focus for Demonstration Urban Farm planning in downtown Prince Rupert  
March 4 -- Ecotrust Canada introduces Prince Rupert's new Urban Farmer 
February 26 -- Ecotrust Canada plans in Prince Rupert for 2021 take members to the water and the farm ...
November 13 -- City Council issued invitation to Ecotrust Canada for update on Community Garden plans

Mr. Adey's overview of his tour can be found as part of the Video Archive of Monday's Council session starting at just before the  59 minute mark.

For more notes on the Monday Council Session see our Council Timeline here.

A wider look at past Council themes is available from our Council Discussion archive.

Shred Scramble set for Saturday tee off

A chance to hit the links of the Prince Rupert Golf Course and help out My Mountain Co-op and their work at Shames Mountain comes up this Saturday, as the Shred Scramble tees it up for a 2PM start.

The event is the third and final summer event for the Ski Hill that they have hosted this summer.

Tickets for the Scramble are 65 dollars each and available through the My Mountain e store.

Towards the day of golf My Mountain Co-op offers up the following notes:

Starting holes will be assigned on the day of the event at registration. You are able to purchase up to four spots per team. It is recommended that one team member purchase all 4 spots. 

If purchasing individually please communicate with your teammates to ensure you all purchase the same time slot.

You can learn more about the Saturday Shred Scramble here

Or drop them a line at shamesgolf@gmail.com

Learn More about My Mountain Co-op below:

My Mountain Co-op website

Shames Mountain Facebook 

More notes on Golf in the Northwest can be explored here.
 

 

Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue outline notes on work from Cow Bay Bridge incident

A view of the work on Tuesday as members of the
PRFD worked to assist a motorist who had driven
off the road near the Cow Bay Bridge
(from the PRFD FB page)

The Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue Department has provided a bit of background on a recent call for assistance related to a road incident in the Cow Bay Area. 

The situation for the Emergency responders one which saw a motorist drive off the road and into the slough alongside Breakers just before the Cow Bay Bridge.

In their Social Media post, the PRFD noted of the quick extrication of the driver from the area.

The  single vehicle incident of Tuesday occurred just after 10:15 AM and brought a large response of RCMP and BC Ambulance to the scene. 

Since the mishap, the sidewalk area on the north side of the CowBay bridge has been closed to pedestrian travel while repairs to the affected area take place.

At the time of the response it was noted that the driver had suffered minor injuries, no further updates have been released since the time of the incident.

More notes on the work of Emergency Responders around the Northwest can be explored here.

No recycling for City of Prince Rupert announcement on Recycling plan suspension

The Kaien Road Recycling Centre will continue to
see a good volume of visitors as the City of Prince
Rupert delays its curbside recycling program until 2022

One and done seems to be the approach that Prince Rupert City Council has taken when it comes to any explanations on the recent announcement of the suspension of the introduction of curbside recycling in the city.

As we noted last week, the City released a short advisory on the delay late in the afternoon on Friday, which in true bureaucratic tradition is the dumping ground for news that isn't particular positive.

That so far has made for the only relay of information on the decision to defer the plan until January of 2022. 

The topic not making for much note on the Council members public Social media streams, while neither the Mayor or any of the Council members took the initiative to expand on the decision as part of the Monday City Council session.

On Friday, Director of Operations Richard Pucci who is helming the roll out of the program made a brief mention of the reasons behind the deferral of the program to January

In developing this new service for the community, the Operations Department faced many setbacks, ranging from COVID delays and interruptions to route and scheduling conflicts to new equipment and technology challenges.

Yet, on Monday, just three days after the late in the day Friday announcement, none of the council members took advantage of the opportunity to seek out some clarification and expand on those challenges, the topic slipping their minds it appears, despite the announced launch of a few months ago making for much celebration.

Lost from the Monday evening Council session was the chance to seek any further background of the Director of Operations, who was on hand on Monday as part of a large contingent of City staffers in attendance at the Lester Centre Council session.

As the Friday statement noted the city will use the next four months to work out the issues that made for the "slight setback":

“Our Department wants to provide the community with the most efficient and effective weekly solid waste and recycling program with the least amount of service interruptions. At this point, I do not believe that our program is ready to launch, so our Department will use the coming months to streamline the rollout process. We want this program to be scalable and adaptable as we move to increase the amount of recyclables and decrease the amount of waste from each household. It is important that this program can evolve over time and, when possible, include a curbside organic stream. We understand this is a slight setback, and the community is eager and looking forward to this new service; however, in order for it to be successful, it needs to be ready.” -- Richard Pucci, Director of Operations and Intergovernmental Relations.

The lay low strategy may be paying off some dividends mind you, other than a TV7 story from Monday, the announcement of the suspension of the curbside program until 2022 hasn't seemed to capture much attention from the local media.

With that kind of an information gap, Prince Rupert residents can hope perhaps that their elected council members may offer up some occasional public updates outside of a late Friday notice towards the progress of that work.

You can review what they did discuss on Monday night from our archive page here.

For a look at some of the history of the city's garbage and recycling plans see our archive page here.

 

BC Bus North makes for travelling art gallery for Indigenous artwork

The BC Bus North fleet in Prince George, this week the debut of the
new Indigenous themed artwork on the buses was revealed.
(Photo from BC Transportation Minister Rob Felming's twitter feed)

When the BC North Bus pulls into Prince Rupert at 7:25 tonight, a sample of some of the talented artists of the Northwest and beyond will be on display, with the opportunity to view as easy as watching a bus drive by.

British Columbia Transportation Minister Rob Fleming outlined the arrival of the new artwork this week through his twitter feed.

The art initiative was introduced earlier this year by the Province, BC North Bus and the Northern Indigenous Arts Council. The unveiling of the finished work took place in Prince George on August 23rd.

Four artists were selected as part of the initiative to provide the art that now is on display on buses as they cross the Northern region of the province.

Included in the artists roster are two Rupertites Timothy Foster a Gitxsan member and Kari Morgan, a Nisga'a member from Prince Rupert who is well known across the Northwest for her work, having studied at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art at Coast Mountain College in Terrace.

We Are North w/Sunset Sunrise -- Timothy Foster

We Are Connected - Kari Morgan

Clayton Gauthier of Prince George and Michelle Stoney of Hazelton round out the four artists that participated in the project.

Some background on the artists can be found from this item from the Northern Indigenous Arts Council.

The BC North Bus arrives in Prince Rupert on Thursday and Saturday evenings and departs back to Prince George on Friday and Sunday mornings, the schedule can be reviewed here..

More Community Notes can be found from our archive page here.

City Council plans for Health Advisory Committee seemingly still on hold

Health care in the community made for a brief mention at
Monday's  Prince Rupert City Council session at the Lester Centre

Close to six months after the call for a Health Advisory Committee in Prince Rupert was revived by Councillor Barry Cunningham, the project remains one that is seemingly in a stalled state, the latest update on the project provided by way of a short comment in the waning moments of Monday's Prince Rupert Council Session.

Towards the initiative that appears to continue to have problems gaining any traction, Councillor Cunningham asked about the progress of plans to invite representatives from Northern Health to attend a Council session, something that is to be the first step it seems towards creating the Advisory Committee.

Mayor Lee Brain turned to the city's Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller for any updates on the status of that planned gathering; in reply Ms. Miller noted that she had received a correspondence that evening from Northern Health seeking a conversation on the topic before setting any dates up.

The Corporate Administrator observing that she would arrange for that conversation in September, though no timeline as to when the public information session may take place was offered up on the night.

Councillor Cunningham brought the topic of the need for the Health Advisory Committee back to the front burner in March, with a few enquiries as to its progress along the way through the Spring and Summer.

Council made their first invitation towards setting up the public information sharing session back in May.

The desire to create a Health Advisory Committee is not a recent concept, dating back more than a few years, occasionally raised in the Council chamber and then seemingly put on a to do list that never seems to get completed.

The stalled nature of the initiative comes as community residents continue to express some of their frustrations on elements of health care services in the community through Social media. 

The growing level of issues of note confirmed by Councillor Randhawa on Monday who observed on some of the concerns that he has heard from residents in recent months. 

He noted that among some of those issues raised were concerns over ambulance service in the community.

Prince Rupert. City Council is currently on its once a month schedule for public Council sessions, so the next opportunity for an update from the Mayor would be when they next meet on September 20th.

You can review the brief exchange on the topic from the City's Video Archive starting at the 59 minute mark.

More notes on the Monday evening Council session can be explored from our Council Timeline.

Further items of interest from Council are available from our Council Discussion archive.

On themes of Health care in the region, you can explore some of the past topics of note from our achieve page here.