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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
ROAD RESTORATION
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LANDMARK HRT RULING A BOON
FOR SCFSS Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Scw’exmx Child and Family Services Society (SCFSS) is hoping to focus more on ways to prevent children from entering foster care in the wake of a recent court ruling.
Highway through town and water lines set for a spring facelift Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
The main vein of Merritt’s road system will be getting a fresh coat of asphalt this spring, as the province plans to repave all of Nicola Avenue. “Ministry of Transportation has assured us, and we met with them, that they’re paving Nicola [Avenue] all the way through town this year,” City of Merritt chief administrative officer Shawn Boven told council at a budget meeting last Saturday. While the transportation ministry paves the road, the municipality will have two waterlines running underneath amalgamated. The two waterlines are the only ones to
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be worked on and are located on the south and north side of Nicola Avenue from the intersection with Voght Street past city hall. The one on the south side leaks. “Once we install water services from the good line to the homes on the south side, the waterline on the south side can be abandoned,” Boven told reporters at the meeting. The waterline work will be the only cost the municipality incurs from this project, and will be paid for through the city’s water main replacement program. It may be incorporated into the province’s contract to avoid scheduling conflicts. The city also has plans to paint left turn and right turn lines on the Voght Street
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intersection and widen the road when the province does the paving job. In addition to paving the road, Boven said the province will also replace the concrete medians that separate the east and westbound lanes of Nicola Avenue. However, the province won’t be adding any additional lanes to the roadway. “It’s just a asphalt rehabilitation project,” Boven told the Herald. Repaving the road is expected to be complete by July. The city has plans to conduct landscaping work on the medians that might be included in the 2016 budget. The Ministry of Transportation did not return the Herald’s calls to confirm project details before press time.
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being aware of its adverse impacts, and has ordered the federal government to cease its discriminatory practices and undertake reforms to reflect the findings of its decision. Yvonne Hare has been executive director with Scw’exmx Child and Family Services Society since 2011, and said that in addition to struggling with staffing levels, the local agency has been unable to provide prevention services to keep children out of foster care due to this lack of funding. She told the Herald that agencies across B.C. have had a misdirected provincial government mandate to focus on the protection side of delegated service delivery.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal recently found that the federal government’s First Nations child welfare program discriminates against First Nations children living on reserves by underfunding child and family services, ultimately failing to provide services comparable to those off-reserve. In its ruling, the tribunal found that the government’s program denied services to children and families living on reserves, did not accurately meet the service needs of these communities and failed to adjust funding levels to account for inflation and the cost of living. It also found that Ottawa failed to modify the program despite
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