AHN APR 29 2021

ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021 | NEWS | A7

Salvation Army volunteers recognized for National Volunteer Week Dillon Giancola sports@ahnfsj.ca Santokh Singh Banwait and Mahinder Singh have been volunteering with the Salvation Army Food Bank for three years, ever since they moved to Fort St. John from India in 2019.

“We are both from India. Our kids are doing their jobs here, and we wanted to learn about culture, about people’s behaviour, to learn new things, to serve community,” Banwait said. “That’s why we joined. It’s a good experience for us to serve others, to make new friends.”

April 18 to 24 is National Volunteer Week, and the Fort St. John Salvation Army spent it recognizing its diverse group of volunteers through social media.

“Our volunteers are an ongoing and critical part of what we do, and this is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the background support at the Salvation Army,” said Salvation Army Executive Director Jared Braun.

“To see people who aren’t in it for a paycheck but do it to help out, it’s a huge inspiration to us in leadership, to our staff, to our community, and the guests and clients we serve. It’s a tangible expression of what it looks like when different people come together to serve and help.”

Singh and Banwait volunteer Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and are an essential part of the city’s food bank.

“It’s very neat to see people from different cultures and religions vol-

others without any profit.”

Added Singh, “We are happy to help.”

Heather Miller

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Heather Miller has volunteered with the Fort St. John Salvation Arm for eight years.

unteering because we all share the same values: our desire to see that people get hope and help, and are dignified,” said Braun. “(Banwait and Singh) help pack food bins, process food, and they always do it with a smile. It’s really exciting.”

Whether it’s stacking food on

shelves, putting food away in coolers, and sorting food at the front desk, Singh and Banwait are very happy to help serve the community.

“We feel very proud to serve with these amazing guys,” said Banwait. “(The Salvation Army) is an amazing mark of kindness and social service, and is a good example of serving

City youth changing tomorrow Dillon Giancola sports@ahnfsj.ca North Peace senior and junior high students hosted the second annual Youth Changing Tomorrow conference last week, April 14. Doing it virtually was a learning experience for the organizing committee, many of whom weren’t on the committee last year, but this year’s conference had a similar amount of participants and set the stage for the conference to continue and grow in the years to come.

“Given the circumstances it went pretty great. We had a lot of engagement and interaction, especially in the breakout rooms. It was definitely a learning experience but I think we got the engagement we were looking for,” said committee member Owen Lang.

The virtual conference had 100 people registered, although that was a mix of individual and class sign-ups, as some teachers had their full classrooms participate.

The inaugural even had 90 out of 120 registered students attend the conference.

“Doing it virtually made it possible for more people to come, which was a good thing, but it is also a much different experience not being in the same room as everyone else for the conference,” said lead organizer Brianna Rogerson.

The conference, which was done over Zoom, had a wider variety of breakout sessions to choose from, and the committee noticed much more engagement between students and speakers in the smaller sessions.

“It seemed people were a lot more comfortable turning on their cameras and commenting in the smaller, breakout sessions,” said Lang.

“I was room monitor for a couple of the breakout sessions and saw quite a bit of engagement, especially in the trades video,” said committee member Kayden Bolin. “It was a very good experience to be a part of and I enjoyed it quite a lot.”

Jessica Giesbrecht went to the conference as a participant last year, and was able to compare that to helping run the conference this year.

“I enjoyed it last year, and it was neat to be a part of it and see how everything worked. With interviewing (the speakers), it was a really cool thing to do, especially as I’m usually camera shy,” said Giesbrecht.

“Jessica did really well with all her sessions, especially in her interviews,” Rogerson added.

Rogerson is the lone member of the committee graduating this year.

The returning students are eager to plan next year’s conference and build off this one.

“I’m loving it, really happy that we were able to adapt, and depending on the situation next year hopefully we can have everyone back in the same space. But it’s also good to know we’re able to do an online conference if we have to,” Lang said.

The conference is put on together through the city’s Youth Advisory Council, the NPSS Student Body Council, and BC Student Voice. Nora Reford, Viggo Pedersen, and Molly Koponyas were on the student organizing committee as well.

DILLON GIANCOLA PHOTO

The Youth Changing Tomorrow Committee, from left: Nora Redford, Kayden Bolin, Viggo Pedersen, Owen Lang, Jessica Giesbrecht, Brianna Rogerson. (Not pictured: Molly Koponyas)

Boater safety on the Peace River A four-kilometre section of the Peace River is permanently closed to boaters during the construction of the Site C project. River users are advised to use extreme caution when on or near the river this summer due to strong undertows, especially in locations immediately upstream of the dam site.

Portage program: To move boaters around the construction area, a portage program for non-motorized boats will operate between the Halfway River boat launch and the Peace Island Park boat launch from May 15 to September 15. Reservations are required seven days in advance of pickup.

For more information visit sitecproject.com/boating or call 1 877 217 0777.

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Heather Miller has been volunteering with the Salvation Army for eight years, and worked as an employee in the thrift store for two years. She’s as passionate about helping out now as she was when she first started.

“I do it because I love it, and these guys need help, so why not. I like being able to help people, people who really need it. I’ve met a lot of the people and clients who depend on this and they are great people,” Miller said.

Miller has had many different tasks in her time as volunteer, from packing snack bags for kids, to stocking the thrift store, and sorting food in the food bank. Now that she’s retired and has moved to Taylor, Miller is only at the Salvation Army on Tuesday mornings, but is committed to being there every week.

“Just once a week now, but I’m older now. Come on, give me a break, my back can only take so much,” Miller joked.

It’s that sense of humour that Miller has brought to the Salvation Army for eight years, along with her smile.

She loves the people she volunteers with, and appreciates all of the support and donations from the community as well.

“It’s really amazing the way the community has given back,” she said.

ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021 | NEWS | A11

2021 COUNCIL BYELECTION Sarah MacDougall ready to serve, build community pride Dillon Giancola sports@ahnfsj.ca Sarah MacDougall’s unique perspective and the voice she brings to the table has her believing she’ll be a valuable addition to Fort St. John city council.

MacDougall can relate to a good portion of Fort St. John residents: she’s a mother of four, has worked as a committee leader in public health, her husband works in the oil and gas sector, and she serves as a treasurer of a nonprofit.

“Adding my voice would bring a well-rounded approach to council.

I think that having a different voice from what we currently have on council would lead to a more collaborative effort with whatever we are deciding on and working toward,” said MacDougall.

MacDougall worked as an environmental public health officer with Northern Health for almost 14 years, before taking time away last summer to spend more time with her kids.

Her job brought her experience in policy making, dealing with worker retention, and as treasurer of Totem Pre School, she’s well versed in being fiscally responsible and sticking to a strict budget.

She’s enjoyed being a full-time mom, but said she has missed serving in the public and using her strengths.

“When this council opportunity came up, it ticked all my boxes. This is something where I can make a difference and my strengths will be utilized,” MacDougall said.

MacDougall has a lot of pride in the community. She moved here in 2007 from Nova Scotia fresh out of university. Now, 14 years later, Fort St. John is the only home her four kids have ever known and she wants them to grow up being proud of it as well.

“Once people become engaged with the city, they’ll fall in love with it.

We have so much to offer, let’s find a way to hook people so that they are

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Sarah MacDougall: ‘I hired more than 20 people during my time in the health sector, and while some of them stayed, a lot of them left. There are things the health authorities can do, but there are things the city can do.’

going to want to stay,” she said.

MacDougall said she and her husband stayed because of the community’s hospitality and welcoming spirt.

“It’s the sense of community we got from the people we got to know,

so welcoming and kind. They made us feel like family, to be honest, as a couple that came over here by ourselves,” she said.

“After we had our first child, we grew to love the physical part of the

community as well, all the amenities available for young families and young children.”

MacDougall is not too critical of the city, and thinks council is doing a good job overall, but can always improve. She thinks there’s an opportunity for the city to have more of an impact when it comes to worker retention – in the health sector and others – and making Fort St. John a place newcomers want to stay.

“It’s a struggle. I hired more than 20 people during my time in the health sector, and while some of them stayed, a lot of them left. There are things the health authorities can do, but there are things the city can do as well,” said MacDougall.

“For example, making it a city people want to live in, marketing the city as very attractive – the city does market themselves well but we could improve that. Let’s work with current residents, if current residents are proud of their community, newcomers feel that, and it makes it more desirable to become engaged with the community.”

All four MacDougall children are part of the North Peace Gymnastics Association, and in the summer, the family can be seen out on the walking trails and parks seven days a week, MacDougall loves the work that has been done to improve Centennial Park, and thinks it’s a bright spot for Fort St. John.

“What was there before was fine, but it’s turning into a gem in our city.

Now, it draws young children there, older children, as well as families, and I can’t wait for all the events that will be held there. It’s something not a lot of communities have and it’s something we should be proud of. I think there will be similar positives coming to Kin Park and the downtown core as well,” she said.

Voting day is May 15 at the Pomeroy Sport Centre, with advance voting opportunities on May 5 and May 12.

Jim Lequiere looks to steer city through exciting times Matt Preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca Jim Lequiere has seen a lot of change in Fort St. John since moving to the city with his young family in 1986.

Back then, streets were gravel, the pool didn’t have a roof, the field house was the arena, there was no Pomeroy Sport Centre, and generally there were less things for young families like his to do. Today, Lequiere sees two new schools, a new Centennial Park plaza, a new RCMP station being built, paved streets, and Kin Park, around the corner from his home, is due for major upgrades this year. And that’s just a quick list of all the major projects on the go or recently built.

“It’s an exciting time to live in Fort St. John,” says Lequiere, one of five candidates in the city’s May 15 byelection. A run for city council was far from Lequiere’s mind in the 1980s. A father of two and now a grandfather of four, today he looks at the city through that lens.

“Now, I’m a grandpa. I look at it in a different perspective where I look at those young families [like I was] back in the 80s and I want to make it a good quality of life for them here,” he says. “I want a nice aquatic centre for them, I want them to be able to say, yeah, Fort St. John is my home and I’m proud of it.”

Lequiere worked for Spectra Energy for 24 years

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Jim Lequiere: ‘It’s an exciting time for young families in Fort St. John right now ... I want them to be able to say, yeah, Fort St. John is my home and I’m proud of it.”

before retiring in 2016, and he’s proud of that work. For 12 years, he says he managed the largest sour gas gathering network in Western Canada, and believes his experience can help the city manage the nearly $200-million worth of projects on the books over the next several years.

“It was my job to bring in multi-million dollar projects on time safely and on

budget,” he says.

Lequiere supports building a new pool, wants better transportation services for people with mobility issues, improved emergency response services, and wants to see more economic development downtown.

“I’d really like to see some of those lots filled up with structures that have businesses, or even a restaurant or a deli on the bottom,

and offices maybe in the middle, and I’d really like to see housing and condos on the top,” Lequiere said. “For years we’ve been trying to get residents to live downtown. Build it and they will come. Living downtown in a nice condo with a balcony, I think would be fantastic.”

And perhaps as much as Fort St. John has changed, much has stayed the same too, especially when it

comes to charity.

Lequiere has seen it firsthand through his involvement in minor hockey, baseball, and soccer. These days he works as a substitute teacher and runs the Josh Lequiere Society. He started the charity in 2011 to honour the life and memory of his son Josh, who was killed in 2010. It’s helped 138 families and kids financially to be able to play a sport or go to camp, he said.

“I can tell you Fort St. John just rocks when it comes to their charity, whether it be someone that their house burned down, someone has a health issue. They band together, I’ve seen it time and time again,” he said.

Between his work and community involvement, Lequiere says believes now is the right time to run.

“I like to think I have a track record of giving back to the community,” he said.

Lequiere also laments previous turnouts in recent city elections: 20% in the 2018 general, and 9% in the 2017 byelection.

“Your hometown election is the one that affects your quality of lifestyle daily and weekly,” he says. “Those decisions for your infrastructure, your park upgrades, are made downtown at your city council, not in Ottawa, or Victoria. I’ll be getting that message out.”

Voting day is May 15 at the Pomeroy Sport Centre, with advance voting opportunities on May 5 and May 12.

ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS

A12 | NEWS | THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

2021 COUNCIL BYELECTION Jon Gosselin lives to serve, find ways to help others Dillon Giancola sports@ahnfsj.ca Jon Gosselin lives to improve his community, whether it’s as a volunteer or bringing the city together through care and positivity, and now the time is right for him to run for city council.

“I had considered running in the past, but didn’t feel quite right at the time. This time, I have lots of support from friends and family behind everything I’ve been doing, and had a strong push from the community to run,” Gosselin said.

Gosselin has been busy. In addition to being a father of three and running his own delivery business, he helped start the Phoenix Volunteer Club with Jeanette and Blair Johnston and others, serving on the executive as secretary-treasurer before stepping down in 2018.

At the start of the pandemic, Gosselin co-founded Caremongering Fort St. John with Chamber of Commerce President Chuck Fowler, a group initially focused on helping people who were being laid off.

The group held food drives, parades to cheer on nurses, and helped out young, struggling families.

“The purpose was to make sure people made it through, and to give back, and provide hope. There were families we were helping that were close to not being able to feed their kids. My mother worked three jobs after my dad passed away and I don’t wish that on anybody,” Gosselin said.

Gosselin’s father passed when he was just 10 years old, and said he got his work ethic from watching his mother in those following years.

“My mom was that work-horse kind of person. If it wasn’t for her putting in all that time, I don’t think I would have the work ethic I do now, where I’m always working and striving to do better. If not for the sacrifice she made for me and my brother I wouldn’t be as strong as a

DILLON GIANCOLA PHOTO

Jon Gosselin: ‘How many people in today’s society want to sit through a council meeting for two hours? They can be dry and boring, and I want to see more communication from councillors and the mayor.’

man as I am today,” he said.

Gosselin said he takes his inspiration from his mother, the Johnstons, and others in the community who keep striving to “make Fort St. John a better place to live for people who are struggling.”

Gosselin thinks city council needs some freshness, new faces with new ideas. He thinks council could benefit from becoming more modern, and using social media better to engage residents with the decisions that are being made.

“How many people in today’s society want to sit through a council meeting for two hours? They can be dry and boring, and I want to see more communication from coun-

cillors and the mayor. The younger generations, they would love to see their councillors take five minutes to do a video and share what their plans are,” said Gosselin.

“Take the new police station as an example. It would have been nice if council had been more forward as to why they’re building it, months before it got to the building stage,” he said. “I believe if council was more forward about it [the community] would be more likely to understand.”

Gosselin is staunchly opposed to tax increases on nonprofits, and tax increases during a pandemic altogether.

“Nonprofits provide essential ser-

vices for our community, why make it tougher for them to do their job?

You see councillors give themselves raises, but why are you doing that in a pandemic, when residents are losing jobs and being sent home. Stuff like that makes no sense to me,” he said.

“The city should take a break, wait for the pandemic to end, and then calculate what needs to happen. At the same time, our region is doing fine compared to most others, a low unemployment rate, and we should be proud of that.”

Voting day is May 15 at the Pomeroy Sport Centre, with advance voting opportunities on May 5 and May 12.

Trystan Jones wants city to take deep dive into social issues Tom Summer tsummer@ahnfsj.ca Trystan Jones was born and raised in Fort St John, and returns this May in hopes of winning a city council seat in the 2021 byelection.

After finishing his political science degree this year at Simon Fraser University, Jones says it’s the perfect time to put his knowledge into practice. He says his motivation in running for city council is to put a spotlight on difficult social issues in Fort St. John, and to spark dialogue on racism, mental health, and domestic violence.

“I know it’s something a lot of people can identify with. Fort St John can be a melting pot for sexual and domestic violence,” said Jones.

Jones currently works in healthcare as an office administrator, scheduling appointments for doctors and other medical staff. He spent his youth attending Upper Pine and Duncan Cran, before moving into town at age 13 with a friend. He finished high school at age 16, and spent a short time working in the oil and gas industry before moving on to post-secondary education.

“This was mainly due to my experiences with domestic violence.

It became a situation that had become untenable for me to live in,” said Jones.

Jones, who comes from a mixed family with Scottish, Welsh, and Asian heritage, wants to bring his lived experience to the council table. He was the target of antiAsian racism in the city last spring, reported on by Alaska Highway News. Recently, he gave a TedxTalk at his university where he shared

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Trystan Jones: ‘My hope is to help be a voice, a young voice, and a progressive voice for the future. I think that we’ve spent too long worrying about the finances of Fort St. John and not enough time on the social issues, the ones that really matter.’

experiences growing up in the region as an Asian Canadian, and called for open dialogue around race issues.

Like many, Jones was shaken by the recent murder of Amanda Black. He knew her growing up in Fort St. John, and says her death is

just one of many social ills pushing his run for council.

“The tragedy of it, and the fact that I, like many other people, have been in similar situations as her,” Jones said, adding that he wants to be a young voice for residents.

“My hope is to help be a voice,

a young voice, and a progressive voice for the future. I think that we’ve spent too long worrying about the finances of Fort St John and not enough time on the social issues, the ones that really matter,” Jones said.

Jones says he’s been in talks with the Women’s Resource Society to look for solutions and initiatives, and wants to provide more support for the organization.

“I’d like to do an awareness campaign on the already available resources, because with my conversations I’ve had with women in town and other survivors, they don’t even know these supports are there,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of stigma in speaking up against domestic violence.”

He added he’d also like to see more funding for the society’s poverty law program. He said his campaign team is already researching the costs to expand programming.

“If we can create more outreach and support for women, that’s really important,” said Jones, noting he’d like to see more lawyers and counselors hired.

The election is May 15 and will take place at the Pomeroy Sport Centre, with advance voting opportunities May 5 and May 12.

ALL CANDIDATES FORUM An All Candidates Forum will be broadcast live online on Monday, May 3, starting at 7 p.m.

Please visit alaskahighwaynews.ca to watch the forum.

Have a question you want asked?

Email Managing Editor Matt Preprost at editor@ahnfsj.ca