Inside
◆ Timber supply committee P. 3 ◆ Thank you dinner P. 10
PHONE: 996-8482 www.caledoniacourier.com
WEDNESDAY, June 20, 2012
NEWS BRIEFS
◆ Transit of Venus P. 20 ◆ Nak’azdli EDA P. 5
VOL. 35 NO. 16 $1.34 inc. GST
Graduation 2012
ER to open for two days A recently announced physician coverage will allow the emergency room in Fort St. James to open for June 19 and 21. A nurse practitioner will be helping to provide further medical services coverage for the community on Fridays. The nurse practitioner will work Fridays through June and will alternate each week between the Fort St. James Medical Clinic and the Nak’azdli Health Centre.
Aboriginal Day Once again, Aboriginal Day will be celebrated in style in Fort St. James. On June 21, there will be a broad range of free and fun activities for the family. The activities are being offered in conjunction with the Fort St. James National Historic Site due to the continued construction taking place at Nak’albun. The site will be waiving entrance fees for the day as well to allow for full community participation. There will be some games from 10 a.m. until noon, and boat building for the boat races will begin at 10 a.m. as well. Bannock making will once again help to fill the gap for hungry participants and Lillian Sam will be telling stories and sharing history and information related to Chief Kw’eh. Drumming, singing, lunch, cake cutting, and more games are all on the itinerary for the day. Fireworks will once again light up the sky over Cottonwood Park at 11 p.m..
Logan Erickson had two adorable candlebearers to receive his candle at the 2012 graduation ceremonies. For more photos, see Pages 12-17 and Page 9 or look online at www.caledoniacourier.com or The Caledonia Courier page on Facebook. Ruth Lloyd Photo
Residents oppose rezoning of Sikh Temple Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier Four residents spoke out in opposition to the proposed rezoning of the Sikh Temple which would see a daycare and “family hub” on Ash Street. Nechako Valley Community Services Society (NVCSS) is interested in purchasing the property in order to create what they call a “family services hub.” However, the two families occupying residences on the same street attended the public meeting before last week’s council meeting to voice their opposition to the project, which would see the Sikh Temple renovated to house a daycare facility for up to 50 children and child and family counselling services, which are currently being offered out of the building in the Sitka
Building on Stuart Drive West NVCSS shares with Fireweed Collective Society. The women’s shelter and support services Fireweed offers would stay at their current location. Ash Street resident John Butler spoke in opposition to bringing the NVCSS child and family counselling services onto Ash Street. “We do have young families in the area,” said Butler. “I don’t want council to be at all confused by the word ‘children’ -don’t sugar-coat it,” he said. “As a teacher at the high school level … some of them do come with a litany of problems and do not for a moment think that it’s all sugar and spice and everything nice.” There is currently one young family on adjacent property to the proposed facility. Butler occupies the only
other home on the street. Two other lots are currently vacant. His fear is also for the currently quiet neighbourhood to be impacted by the increased traffic and for the rezoning to open up the site for future uses not currently allowed in the current institutional zoning. Ann McCormick, board member for NVCSS, explained some of the reasoning behind the “family hub” approach, and said with expanding services by both Fireweed and NVCSS and NVCSS wanting to help develop a daycare facility in the community, it only makes sense administratively to bring the two under one roof. “The logistics of having two spaces and asking families to go across town to the Sitka Building just seemed kind of odd to us,” said McCormick. “I understand your concern,
but we have indicated that we are not prepared to have any overnight services.” “The vision is to create a family-centred space for all the families in the community,” said Suzanne Lorimer, who has been working on developing a daycare facility in the community since 2008. She said having the daycare in a residential neighbourhood helps to give the facility a “family-centred feel” and is more welcoming. Ash Street residents with children, Erica and Blake Olesiuk, also voiced their concerns about the clientele who may be attending counselling and the possible impact this could have. “As a parent I don’t want that to compromise my family,” said Erica Olesiuk, and her husband questioned the need to put the facility in that exact location.
“We have explored a variety of options in Fort St. James,” said Arnold. “Real estate is not easy to come by or finding the building of that magnitude and that size.” The requirements for a daycare facility in particular are constricting enough to limit their options significantly, and the cost to build new is too prohibitive, according to Lorimer and Arnold. During the regular council meeting, mayor and council moved to pass the third reading of the amendment with a proposed covenant which they hoped would help to alleviate some of the residents concerns. The covenant would explicitly limit the use of the facility for a transition house. The rezoning will still have to be adopted to become finalized. Continued on Page 2