Know it now
PRINCE GEORGE – A Prince George native’s quest to become the first paraplegic to scale the imposing 650-metre Grand Wall of the Stawamus Chief in Squamish is the subject of a film screened at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. Brad Zdavinsky, who has partial use of his arms, ascended the rock face in 2005 using a specially designed rig that allowed him to pull himself up with his arms. His climb is the subject of a new 22-minute film directed by Ivan Hughes.
VANDERHOOF – A coroner’s inquest into the fatal shooting of Vanderhoof resident Kevin St. Arnaud in December 2004 by a police officer concluded in January. Testimony by a blood expert and a forensic pathologist contradicted earlier testimony by the officer, who claimed the shooting had occurred in self-defence after he had slipped and was on was his back, with St. Arnaud “basically … over top of me.” The Coroner’s recommendations included improvements to RCMP staffing levels, training, and investigation procedures.
MACKENZIE, VANDERHOOF – Workers at Canfor’s Vanderhoof and Mackenzie mills experienced substantial shift cutbacks in February and March. The Vancouver-based forestry giant cites poor market conditions and the CN Rail strike for its decision to cut 80 million board-feet of production by closing its Mackenzie sawmill for a week and scaling back to two shifts from three at its Vanderhoof mill.
BURNS LAKE – Babine Forest Products was among the 11 employers most heavily fined by Worksafe BC for having conditions which led to workplace fatalities. The company will have to pay $32,450 for having a logging road that was unsafe for two-way hauling.
TELKWA – Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane are lukewarm about the BC government’s January announcement of tightened regulations on disposal of water produced during the coalbed methane development process. In a Feb. 15 news release, the group said the new regs are a positive step, but fail to address other key concerns, including the right for communities to embrace or reject CBM development, the need for solid baseline data, limits on well density to protect rural landscapes, and more effective compliance and enforcement regimes.
GALORE CREEK – The BC government has given the environmental green light to Vancouver-based company NovaGold’s application to build an open-pit mine that may become one of the biggest mine projects in North America. The copper-silver-gold project at Galore Creek, which together with four other major resource development proposals spawned a 254-day protest and sit-in by a group of Tahltan elders, has yet to receive approval from the federal government.
TERRACE – Starting March 12, Terrace will have a third option for flights to Vancouver: Pacific Coastal Airlines. The airline plans to offer two flights every business day on a 30-passenger twin turbo-prop Saab 340A aircraft.
KITIMAT – The position of the District of Kitimat in its ongoing conflict with Alcan Inc. recently received some high-profile support. On Feb. 12, the Vancouver Sun’s editorial board reversed its earlier position supporting a long-term, $2-billion power deal between BC Hydro and the aluminum smelter, which Kitimat had argued was not in the public interest. After reviewing the BC Utilities Commission’s reasons for rejecting the deal, the Sun’s editorial board said that BC Hydro had failed to do “even an adequate job of negotiating the best price for its customers…[or] make its business case on the most basic levels.”
NORTH COAST – Residents are taking note of a new peer-reviewed study published in February in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management which reinforces claims by salmon-farm opponents that farmed salmon are the major source of sea lice infecting juvenile wild salmon. Study author Dr. Craig Orr’s findings were based on data supplied by aquaculture giant Marine Harvest Canada, the only aquaculture company in BC that publishes its data on sea lice. Orr, who is executive director of Watershed Watch and science co-ordinator for the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, criticized government for not requiring aquaculture companies to share this data as do their European counterparts.
NORTHWEST – Students looking to pursue a university education at UNBC are now eligible to receive up to $8,000 as part of a new scholarship program that will provide a financial pay-out for each year of a bachelor’s degree program. Unlike many scholarships, which provide a financial award for students in their first year of study, the new UNBC program is spread out over four years, giving students greater certainty over the multi-years costs of attending university.
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