News

Spectacular Chair Factory's production of Dog Sees God is headed to Kamloops to compete at Mainstage.

Three plays and two showcase plays filled the 4 evenings of the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival at the North Peace Cultural Centre. Community theatre clubs from the six communities in the Northeast region can enter the Festival. This year Stage North entered Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad and Death and the Maiden. The Spectacular Chair Factory entered Dog Sees God and the North Peace Secondary School put on 2 showcase plays Hank Cinque and Hopeless Hamlet. The showcase plays are not eligible for awards. 

The Awards for the Best of the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival 2012 are:

Newbie Award Jordan Stewart (Dog Sees God)

Best Ensemble Dog Sees God

Best Technical Death and the Maiden

Best Set Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad

Best Costumes Death and the Maiden

Best Director Chalene Scott (Dog Sees God)

Best Supporting Actress Kali Chmelyk (Dog Sees God)

Best Actress Clarice Eckford (Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad)

Best Supporting Actor Mason Temple (Dog Sees God)

Best Actor Ted Sloan (Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad)

Runner-Up Best Production Dog Sees God

Best Production Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad

Josue Laboucane, professional actor and director from Vancouver adjudicated the festival.  Josue is originally from Fort St. John and started his theatre experience with NPSS and Stage North. Josue is one of the Theatre BC adjudicators who are selecting community plays to compete in Kamloops at Mainstage in July.  

The Best Production traditionally travels to Theatre BC’s Mainstage in Kamloops to compete among the best community theatre in the province. This year the Best Production is unable to go so the Runner-Up, Dog Sees God, will be competing at Mainstage 2012. They will be on stage July 2 competing against the best community theatre productions in the province. All Peace Region visitors to Kamloops at that time are invited to support them by attending the show.

Theatre BC Executive Director Vance Schneider came to Fort St. John for the first time to take in the Festival. He was surprised at our 413 seat with fully equipped lighting and sound and raked seating. He said, “I just did not put much thought into what type of venue you have and thought the productions were staged in some kind of a hall.” Theatre BC produces the New Play Festival and Actoberfest, as well as Mainstage. Vance said, “We have to work on getting a provincial theatre focus on Fort St. John by having one of the Theatre BC festival’s here.”

Plans are underway for the 2013 Peace River Zone theatre Festival. The Board of Directors of the Zone will be encouraging all communities in the region to enter next year in May.

 By Kyla Corpuz

With the Northeast Aboriginal Business Centre’s funding in jeopardy, last Thursday, May 3 may have been the only Northern Aboriginal Business Conference held by the NABC.

“Unfortunately the federal government does not see the importance of the work that we do and so therefore they have taken the funding away for the business centres in B.C.,” said Paulette Flamond, NABC executive director.

Without the $125,000-grant they receive from the federal government Western Economic Diversification funds, the NABC may have to pull the plug.

“If we don’t get another federal partner to fund, our doors will be closed at the end of this year,” said Flamond.

They are currently looking to see if Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development would be interested in partnering with the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation to do joint funding, she added.

“As for provincial funding, it’s there, but it is not enough to sustain ourselves.”

The Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation is the provincial body that funds $100,000 to the NABC.

Flamond said it would be a loss to the region and province as all three centres are on the brink. The other two NABCs are located in Prince George and Cranbrook. 

“These people are not going to have anywhere to go to get culturally sensitive, appropriate service in the region, so it’s really unfortunate,” she added.

The Fort St. John NABC has helped over 100 entrepreneurs kick-start their business in the last nine years. They assisted in the approval of the latest cab company, Bernard Thompson’s Taxi Service and a recently opened floral shop, Petals in Bloom. 

The first Northern Aboriginal Business Conference saw the likes of local entrepreneur Terry McLeod from Kamber Energy Service, economist from Canada West Foundation Roslyn Kunin and former NHL heavy hitter Theoren Fleury. 

“Today we are actually gathered here at the Pomeroy Hotel to talk about maximizing opportunities for Aboriginal businesses,” said Flamond on May 3. The conference drew in about 100 audience members. 

“We do a lot in the community, not just by hosting this conference, we help entrepreneurs everyday. We’re a very, very busy office.”

Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer was unavailabe fo comment before press. However, the Kootenay Aboriginal Development Agency in Cranbrook, B.C. did confirm their federal funding has been pulled as well. 

 By Jill Earl 

DAWSON CREEK- The Fraser Institute released its annual school rankings of B.C. and Yukon secondary schools Apr. 30. 

The rankings are meant to indicate how schools compare academically with each other by using data from province wide exams and considering seven indicators: average exam mark, percentage of exams failed, school vs. exam mark difference, English gender gap, Math gender gap, graduation rate, and delayed advancement rate. In the 2012 report card 2011 results are used as indicators. According to the results failing grades from secondary schools have increased, from 8.1 per cent in 2010 to 10.2 per cent in 2011. 

The 280 schools compared in this report card are ranked out of 10 and graphs are available on the Institute’s ranking website to visualize how schools have progressed over the last four years and to see how they compare with other schools and the provincial average. The website also provides information on each school such as grade 12 enrollment; the percentage of ESL, special needs and French Immersion students; and parents’ average income. 

According to the rankings Fort Nelson Secondary School made the top 14 fastest-improving public schools in B.C. being ranked 261/280 for the 2010-2011 school year compared to 256/261 in most recent years. 

“J.S. Clark Elementary and the G.W. Carlson elementary are listed as one of the fastest improving and we’ve done a lot of work there around literacy and numeracy in the past five years which we’re seeing some success with. We’re trying to put those same strategies in place for our more intermediate students and then on to the high school, so I think we’ve seen growth in all of our schools for academics,” said Diana Samchuck, superintendent of School District 81 in Fort Nelson. 

Samchuck says she attributes the improvement to a professional learning community and a much more consistent staff, as the job market for teachers in the province has decreased. Though pleased with their improvement in the rankings, Samchuck believes there are other important factors to learning. 

“There are so many other things that come into how students are doing, social responsibility, emotional resilience, that it’s difficult to compare with other areas of the province, we focus on what we can do here for our kids to make them successful,” she said. 

North Peace and South Peace schools results were: 257/280 for North Peace Secondary School in Fort St. John, 275/280 for Chetwynd Secondary School, 271/280 for Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and 242/280 for South Peace Secondary School in Dawson Creek. 

North Peace School District 60 superintendent, Larry Espe, and South Peace School District 59 superintendent, Kathy Sawchuk, use additional data such as district and school testing to determine the success of their students and where extra supports are needed. 

“Besides the local ones that are district wide, there are local ones within the school, as far as comparing, we don’t assess necessarily to compare, we assess to see how individual kids are doing or groups of kids are doing so that we can move forward…don’t use a lot of our data to rank our schools,” said Espe.

“We take the classroom information we know about students and our reading assessment information and we hold it up against the FSA (Foundation Skills Assessment) and we see it if matches and so that to me is why you would have a provincial assessment. In some cases we don’t get a good read on that (Fraser Institute ranking) because some kids don’t complete the assessment,” Sawchuk said. 

The superintendents say that some data may be skewed because the Fraser Institute does not have information on students that did not write the tests. Espe says the sample size of students, the transiency of the students and teachers may also have an effect on the outcome. Sawchuk says that people need to look beneath the numbers before they jump to conclusions. She gives the district’s high delayed advancement measure as an example, an indicator measuring the number of students predicted to complete grades 10,11 and 12 in three years. 

“I don’t see finishing grade 10, 11, 12, in a four year period as being a negative, in some cases we intentionally plan for kids to finish in four years especially when we’re offering other alternatives such as duel credit…In those cases we may say it will take four years and that’s for the students benefit, because they’re coming out with not just a high school graduation but they’re coming out with a trades credential,” Sawchuk said. 

The superintendents don’t find the rankings very constructive, as it provides little information on how to improve. 

“That ranking doesn’t really give us much to go on in terms of what to improve so we count a lot on our own data, our own local data and other provincial data to put our supports where it’s required,” Espe said. 

“The whole use of it is to rank schools, in my mind the only reason for the assessment is so you can plan for the next stage of learning for students and so if an assessment doesn’t provide you with the opportunity to plan for the next phase of the learning, then what’s the purpose of the assessment becomes the question,” Sawchuk said. 

 By Jill Earl 

DAWSON CREEK-A small number of local women belonging to the Associated Country Women of the World hosted a walk Apr. 29 to raise awareness about their community and international projects. 

Similar walks were held in over 70 countries that the ACWW has their approximately 9,000,000 membership on or around the same day for their Women Walk the World campaign. Local membership walked from the seniors’ hall to 17th Street and back hoping to garner interest in the community. 

“We’re hoping that we can attract younger people to find out what we’re doing and realize it’s useful and maybe they would like to join us,” said director of the ACWW Patsy Nagel, adding that their district has considered setting up a Facebook page to attract new members. 

Nagel has been a member of the ACWW and the Women’s Institute, the umbrella organization, for what she can only describe as ‘a while.’ Nagel has been around the ACWW and the WI ever since she was little and her mother used to host meetings at their house. In the past Nagel has even let her name stand to become the national representative of the ACWW. 

“I’ve supported everything that they do because they choose projects in third world countries where women and children are in poverty and in need and there are bad health problems and things like that…they choose projects that help women earn money or help them get more education for their children or help them to grow better food and so on,” Nagel said. 

The ACWW formed in 1897 by a lady in Ontario who had lost her son due to drinking impure milk, the farmer’s institute helped the women organize themselves to educate each other. A B.C. chapter was formed in 1909. 

“She decided then that the housewives in the country and on the farm just didn’t have a chance to learn anything, they didn’t know enough about food safety and health and things like that,” Nagel said. 

Now the organization has projects helping rural women all over the world. The local group has sponsored the drilling and building of water wells in Kenya and supported the planting of trees to help the desert from encroaching on the farmlands in Africa. Currently they are fundraising for a project called Heifers for Haiti hoping to donate cows to women there providing them with a food and income source. 

“It will make them healthier and really encourage them to make their own living,” Nagel said. 

There’s usually 10-12 ACWW projects going on simultaneously around the world and projects usually take three years to complete, and chapters decide from a list of pre-approved initiatives. Most member-countries also fundraise for ‘Pennies for Friendship,’ sending all donated pennies and change to their headquarters in London, England to help support the office there. 

Groups also support worthy projects in their local community. In Dawson Creek, they sponsor the 4H Club, the local hospitals, the Mizpah transitional house, they provide scholarships and bursaries to the college, and they sponsor a family from the Salvation Army at Christmas time buying the family presents and donating money to go towards their Christmas dinner. 

“We raise money to give it away,” Nagel said. 

Goals of the ACWW are to promote international friendship between country women of the world, raise the standard of living of rural women all over the world, and to be a voice for countrywomen in international affairs. 

“You find that people all over the world, all the women in all the world have the same problems. They worry about their children, they worry about their health, they worry about their education, they worry about where they’re going to get their food and all this is very important to women and a lot of the women, especially in third world countries are the bread winners and if they’re not able to work then they’re in trouble with trying to feed their families,” said Nagel. 

The organization wants to help women help themselves and believes that with all members helping a little bit they can achieve their goals. 

“When there’s groups all over Canada, and all over the US and all over the world…well it adds up,” Nagel said. 

Membership forms can be found at www.acww.org. 

 By Jill Earl 

DAWSON CREEK- Mamma Mia’s North American tour almost scheduled to end its ten-year run without making a stop to Dawson Creek. 

Originally the successful stage musical was planning to end a week before their Dawson Creek visit, however actor and crew contracts were extended two weeks to include a D.C. show on Aug. 15 as well as five shows in other cities, ending the run in Appleton, Wis. By the time they wrap up the tour at the end of August the tour will have played over 3,500 performances in over 150 cities.  

In 2010 the musical was almost entirely recast and the new cast worked for approximately five weeks rehearsing to open the tour in Winnipeg in mid-September. 

Happy Mahaney was one of the new cast members hired on to play the role of Sky, the groom. Mahaney has been on the road with the show for 18 months now and says the feedback has been overwhelming. 

“The show has been on the road for ten years, that says a lot about the show itself, from Mamma Mia to have succeeded in that, that speaks for itself...For some reason people love it, and Canada especially, Canada is really good to the show, usually it sells really well there,” Mahaney said from Cincinnati, Ohio, where the show is currently playing. 

“The audience responses have been really great you know, and that’s such a great feeling to tour a show that gets such a great response, because not every show is built like Mamma Mia in the fact that the ending, the finale it leaves people feeling really great and really upbeat, and for us onstage that feeling is reciprocated so it’s been really great,” he said. 

Mahaney says that the tour version of the musical doesn’t deviate from the stage version, they use the same choreography, direction, script, vocals and staging though the set had to be altered. 

“It’s been scaled down to fit smaller houses, smaller theatres that the show never got to play, because it has been on the road for ten years, it’s been to all the major cities and all the smaller cities are hungry for it, they scaled down the production just a bit, but none of the audience would notice anything different,” Mahaney said. 

While most aspects of the show are the same, Mahaney hopes to bring something a little different to his role while staying true to his character. 

“I never want to give someone something that they’ve seen before, I mean the essence of the character obviously has to be there, but I pride myself in creating my version of these characters, and my ego wants mine to be the best obviously, the most intriguing. Every actor wants to play the part better than the last person, I think it’s just by nature of what we do, it’s such a competitive field,” he said. 

Mahaney has never been on tour before, and being on the road has presented him with some challenges and some rewards. 

Though he’s constantly changing hotels, traveling to new cities and is accompanied by the same people day in and day out, he has discovered a sense of monotony as one of the challenges to touring; the only stability he finds is in the 2 ½ hour show he performs in nightly. Part of that monotony is living, working and traveling with the same people, which has it’s rewards to, Mahaney says he’s not only made new friends, but a family as well. 

“I’m not one to say that it’s always daisies and rainbows but we’ve all grown so much together and for the rest of my life I will remember every single person that worked with Mamma Mia…I will say I will cry my eyes out last day…it’s the nature of the business,” he said. 

Mahaney has just celebrated his 500th performance with the show, and provided his understudy is not needed, by the end of August he will have done approximately 630 shows. By this time, he says, the cast members could do a performance in their sleep, though they keep each performance as exciting as the last. 

“It’s like life, sometimes you’re not as into it as you are other weeks, and when I feel that coming on that sort of drudge, that sort of monotony, I try to realign my thinking to how lucky I am to be doing what I’m doing, as we’re coming to a close to enjoy every minute that I have left,” Mahaney said. 

After the show is done, Mahaney plans on moving back to Los Angeles to restart his TV and film career. He didn’t grow up listening to Abba, but admits now that he’s somewhat of a fan. 

Tickets to the Dawson Creek showing went on sale Mar. 3. 

“I really want people to come out and experience the second last week of this show, that in itself is a powerful thing. To be one of the last audiences to see this show with the cast, the energy is going to be high, and emotions are going to be high, and it’s going to be a really great show,” Mahaney said.

 By Kyla Corpuz

FORT ST. JOHN – A Fort St. John native is heading to the 2012 London Summer Paralympic Games.

Bo Hedges, 32, is an award-winning athlete who sits on both the B.C. and Canada wheelchair basketball teams. Hailing from Wonowon, Hedges spent a lot of time getting into the sport as a teenager in Fort St. John.

As a boy growing up in Fort St. John, he said there weren’t many opportunities to play wheelchair basketball, but with the support of his parents, siblings and a recently awarded Rick Hansen Difference Maker, Ray Archambault, they were able to get a program started.

“There wasn’t too much going on, with the help of my parents we started a program here in Fort St. John—it’s not there anymore—it was a wheelchair basketball team,” said Hedges. “We practiced a couple of times a week and we’d go to Grande Prairie and play a few games and they would come over and play some games as well.”

Hedges was initially introduced to the sport when he was in a rehabilitation centre in Vancouver. He eventually tried it out when he came back home.

“There was a demo team who came to Fort St. John a year or two after my accident, they had a training camp—an introductory camp—and I went and liked it.”

It was during a vacation that Hedges fell victim to his accident. “It was 1993, I was 13 and I fell out of a tree when we were on vacation in Ontario,” he recalled.

But as the story goes, Hedges conquered his disability, making it on Team B.C.’s wheelchair basketball team, where he will be competing at the 2012 National Wheelchair Basketball Championships from May 18 to 20; and ultimately to the Canadian National Team, who will be making their way to London for the 2012 Paralympics: Aug. 29 to Sept. 9.

It hasn’t been an easy journey to get to where he is now, said Hedges, but a “great experience” to say the least.
“I tried to make the team in 2000 and 2004 but came up short so I just continued to keep playing and pushing,” he said. “And in 2006 I moved to Vancouver and I made the team in 2007 for the first time, the Canadian National Team. It was a long process to make it to the Paralympics, to get there was pretty rewarding, it was a great experience for sure.”

He said it’s difficult to secure a spot on the National Team as many of the players “stick around” and mostly young guys come up to compete. At a training camp there’s usually 20 to 25 players with only 12 spots to gain.

“It’s pretty tough, it’s a lot of training and years of dedication.”

Hedges made his first Paralympic appearance at the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics.

He recently accepted Male Athlete of the Year for the second time by the BC Wheelchair Basketball Society and received the inaugural MJ’s True Sport Award, which honours the memory of MJ Boudreault, who played on the women’s national team, but died from cancer last year. The accolade is given to someone who demonstrates her dedication to sport—and it seemed quite fitting, in more way than one, that Hedges was the first to receive it. 

“I used to train with her in Vancouver … so that means a lot to me to win that award,” said Hedges over the phone from Alabama.

Hedges is currently studying in Alabama on a scholarship, as it’s one of seven universities in the United States that offer wheelchair basketball.  

He went on to say, “She always trained really hard and was committed to the sport and volunteered to help a lot of younger athletes and that’s what I try to do so, she was a very good friend of mine.”

 By Kyla Corpuz

FORT ST. JOHN – Three music-loving locals got together to bring musicians a new outlet to express and share their talent.

Gidd Hampton teamed up with Systems by Trail and JD Fitzgerald to create Jam at the Fitz, every Sunday. It’s debut jam session was last week, May 6.

“Each week, thanks to local business like Retro Relics and Whole Wheat and Honey, we’ll bring in a sponsored guest(s) to kick off the jam,” said Hampton in a press release. “They’ll lay down a 30-minute performance, then we’ll open the stage to musicians on the sign-up sheet—kind of a show and jam all in one.”

Performers are then able to take the stage with their fellow musicians joining them and adding to their sound. “Maybe your songs could benefit from a mandolin, or some slide guitar, accordion, or banjo. There’s sure to be musicians in the room who can fill out your sound,” reads the release.

Hampton figures this concept may be new to Fort St. John but not elsewhere, as he has seen it work in other areas he’s been involved with musically. “The opportunity to sit in or to have others jump up and join you on stage, without necessarily having played together before makes for a pretty cool, sometimes amazing experience,” he said.

“Definitely there are some train wrecks … that’s music man—it’s all fun.”  

He added that this is a good way to meet new people and experiment with new sounds that may eventually grow into something big.

“Some of the bands I know came out of this format, where they met and played at a jam a few times, clicked musically and decided to take it to the next level.” 

Hampton said he approached JD’s to do a jam session from his own love of getting together on Sunday afternoons with fellow musicians. Jam at the Fritz is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., which he said is ideal for participants to enjoy a night of music but also get home at a reasonable time.

JD Fitzgerald general manager Kevin McKellar is in tune with the new Sunday event.

“We had been starting to build a music scene here over the past couple of years,” said McKellar in a statement. 

“When Gidd Hampton pitched the idea to me it sounded like a great way to step up our support for the music community and be part of the fun.  I liked the concept of starting early, which is a little different than most jams.”

With sponsorship from Systems By Trail, Hampton said there is also some free swag up for grabs. “Systems by Trail will be giving out merchandise prizes each week, and one lucky winner will even be going home with a drum kit thanks to Molsons!”

 By Jill Earl 

DAWSON CREEK - Two women are concerned about agriculture, and what they believe to be lack thereof in local classrooms. They brought their concerns to School District 59 at the last board meeting on Monday, Apr. 16. 

Patsy Nagel and Chris Broad used to be involved in a program called, Agriculture in the Classroom, which faded out in the district approximately four years ago. The program operated in the spring and brought local producers into the classroom to talk about their particular commodities. Often, field trips were arranged as well so that students can have a first hand look at what producers do. 

“It was really neat because you could bring them to your place and have a look but usually we would go to the schools and talk to them about what we were doing. One day a week they would have a field trip and take the school bus out to our ranch and it was fun because that’s what they looked forward to,” Broad said, a beef producer that used to visit classrooms. 

Aside from grain, beef, honeybees and other agricultural commodities, participating classrooms also learned about water conservation and farm safety to teaching students how to behave around animals and farm machinery. Volunteer producers would also teach students the value of healthy topsoil, using an apple to represent the percentage of usable soil around the world, cutting away areas representing the ocean, deserts, mountains and urban areas, where food isn’t grown. 

“In the end it was 1/32 of the apple that was left that would raise food, and then you cut the peel off of that, and this represents the top soil, that is the part that is good for raising food, and if we don’t look after that we’re not going to have much left to produce our food. We also tell everybody, that if you eat, you’re involved in agriculture, so these are some of the things that we decided to do,” said Nagel, a retired schoolteacher. 

Nagel was instrumental in getting the program started, by bringing her concerns to the Provincial Women’s Institute and creating a pilot project for the Peace region to get it going. Nagel used some information from Agriculture in the Classroom that was already set up in Alberta. 

“The pilot project was held here in School District 59 with full support of the board, the program was very well received by teachers, students, and producers, and quickly spread to other parts of the province. AITC has been operating each spring, it’s not any longer,” Nagel said. 

The program is all over B.C. with the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation established to provide teachers with resources and tools to teach their students about agriculture. Nagel says the foundation even hosts conferences for teachers to learn about how to teach agriculture. 

Broad says that teachers in the district have plenty of materials and teaching resource they can use that are stored at the Kiwanis Enterprise Centre, but they mostly go untouched. Nagel and Broad are concerned that teaching agriculture has taken a back seat to many things, and requested that the board encourage teachers to teach agriculture and use materials available to them. Nagel also inquired as to whether they think it’s worthwhile to start the program up again. 

Chair of the board, Richard Powell, said that learning about agriculture would be beneficial to students in the community, as the area has become somewhat urbanized. 

“I think that in our area it’s good for kids to know about agriculture and this community that we live in…it sounds like the opportunity to educate kids in agriculture would be really important,” he said. 

Powell encouraged Broad and Nagel to talk to school administrators and the district’s superintendent to see how and if the program could fit into the curriculum. 

 By Kyla Corpuz

FORT ST. JOHN – The opening of the Immaculata Centre at the Church of Resurrection will open up opportunities that the gym of the late Immaculata School once offered. 

“When the school was shut down, there was a big hole in the community with respect to a hall of that size to be used by the community for various events,” said Andy Ackerman, project coordinator of the new Immaculata Centre.

The church has a long-standing history in Fort St. John, the current medical centre used to be the school, which was built in the late 50s. The school was around until the 90s. 

“The gym was a very integral part of the community,” said Ackerman. 

It hosted an array of community events like provincial and federal voting, weddings and events like Robbie Burns, which is now held at The Legion. 

The blueprints for the new centre began four years ago, and construction started last April. In addition, part of the project was to upgrade the church, too. 

“So what you’re gong to see at the end of the day is a church being upgraded, new meeting rooms and again all of that is part of the project,” said Ackerman. 

The new hall will now have the opportunity to facilitate events for the community.

“The public can use it for just about it anything, obviously because it’s a catholic church, we don’t want to use it for things way outside of our principle,” he added.

 By Kyla Corpuz

FORT ST. JOHN – Singer, songwriter and guitar player Peter Katz really emerges as a storyteller in his latest album Still Mind Still, by reshaping the way he writes lyrics and breaking through with different cadences, from soft, mellow tunes to bold acoustic charms. 

While the sound of this album reflects one of his musical inspirations: Bon Iver, fans can still expect to hear his folk-y acoustic flare. 

He took a different approach when putting together this record, and it’s worth listening to.

His producer Rob Szabo challenged him to write one song a week and now Katz says, though it’s not an easy task, he’ll be using this tactic for his next album.

“I learned from him that it’s more important to be doing the work than to be waiting for divine inspiration,” said Katz in regards to music writing. “It was tremendously challenging, but I am convinced that it’s what I have to do for the rest of my life.”

There’s a raw and delicate ambiance you get while listening to the record that may have come from the way it was manifested. 

Katz said rather than sitting down and writing music in a studio, him and Szabo made much of the music in a remote cottage, which allowed them to get away from the constraints of being on the clock in a studio and instead release a product that came from a clear mind space.

“We could kind of live and breath the project,” said Katz. “And not get so distracted … that’s a real luxury and gift to have that space to focus.” 

Drawing from inspirations like Bon Iver, it’s no surprise that Still Mind Still has quite a slow composition. 

But, there are bursts of powerful tracks such as Walking Asleep, which has a victorious melody, and the likes of Mumford and Sons. After listening to this track, you can hear hints of Katz’s strong vocal range, which seems like it was caged and waiting to be released—but it satisfies as a bold, compelling song, nonetheless. All in all, hearing more of this style throughout the record would have made it more profound. 

He puts a twist on the cliché, endearing love song in Dear and Win Your Heart, with lyrics like, “You may not know it yet, I look easy to forget, but if we are placing bets, one day I will win your heart, one day I will win your heart.” And I’m thinking this tune will probably win a lot of hearts. 

While writing this CD, Katz’s studied many of Joni Mitchell’s lyrics. 

“She’s really one of the masters of imagery, I tried to work a lot more with imagery this time,” said Katz.

 The fifth track, This Town, is evident that Katz played with his lyrics and focused on bringing the words to life: “Up on the hill there’s a park and a mall. Green in the summer, red in the fall. Down by the mill there’s cracks in the road, brown in the water, gray in the smoke.” 

He added that he wanted to write for his audience by creating interchangeable lyrics that could be interpreted in more than one way, so listeners could personalize it. 

“I wanted to … create a little more space for breathing room and have the listener come in and take from the song what they want to take from it.”

And I think he hit the target on that one. Listening to Your Worry and Your Dress made me stop writing this article and intently listen to the lyrics. If you’ve ever reminisced about an old friend, this song will probably take you there with lyrics like, “What’s the latest news? Are you making do? Is there time or are we just dragging on, or are you holding on?” 

While I’m sure he didn’t mean to write it for me—it’s a relatable song, to say the least. 

The album does justice for those who have been long-time fans of Katz, or are just picking up his tracks for the first time. 

Katz will be performing in Fort St. John at the Pomeroy Hotel Breakfast Room on May 18 and May 19. Still Mind Still is now in stores. 

By Kyla Corpuz

FORT ST. JOHN – A peaceful protest marched through a Site C open house hosted by BC Hydro on Apr. 17. 

The group opposed to the proposed Site C project made rounds through the Pomeroy Hotel ballroom multiple times with signs held above their heads; and spent the rest of the evening rallied outside the hotel. 

In an interview before the protest occurred, Dave Conway, Site C’s public affair consultant said it was key for BC Hydro to hear the public’s take on Site C, specifically in regards to those against it. 

“It’s important for us to have a very good understanding of their views, their perspective and their values,” said Conway. “They hold those views for whatever reason … For us it’s very important … to hear it.” 

Peace resident Renee Ardill didn’t stand outside the hotel, or march with the protesting group, but lingered in the background wearing a brown jacket, a scarf around the neck and a white T-shirt stamped with an X around the words Site C.

It was clear what side Ardill was on. 

If the massive project gets approved, part of Ardill’s farming land, which has been in the family for 92 years, will be destroyed.

“They’ll pay for what they use, but you can’t replace what they’re going to wreck,” said Ardill. “They [BC Hydro] talk compensation, my dad gets furious cause he says, ‘you can’t compensate for this, you don’t throw money at it and think it’s okay’.”

Her feelings are shared by other Peace River residents who could be impacted by either the flooding of the Peace or the realignment of Highway 29, which would cut through existing properties and a family owned campsite business.

Earlier that day BC Hydro hosted a consultation meeting between local residents and stakeholders that dealt with numerous project details. 

During the meeting one resident asked for clarification on what kind of compensation would be given to those affected by the possible construction of the dam.

Judy, a BC Hydro representative said BC Hydro will be purchasing the land, and landowners would receive a compensation package with reimbursements to any costs. 

In short, she said, “The compensation is a check.”

At the consultation meeting many voiced their concern over the worker influx, if the project were approved.

BC Hydro expects approximately 7,000 workers over the span of seven years.

Andy Ackerman, president of the Child Development Centre was curious if BC Hydro engaged with BC Ambulance and Northern Health; considering the amount of current staff would not suffice the projected amount of employees—especially since the labour is physically intensive and according to Ackerman, BC Ambulance isn’t planning to expand.

Siobhan Jackson, BC Hydro representative, said with Site C only being a possible reality, Northern Health has thought of a plan to accommodate the increase, but nothing is concrete. 

As for BC Ambulance, Jackson said BC Hydro has not had conversations with them.

Questions arose whether or not locals would be employed. Jackson said the possible workers would come from companies BC Hydro contracts out to. She added majority of the workers would be “inherently temporary in nature.” 

If the project goes forward BC Hydro is planning for a construction-based workforce, meaning camps and RV sites will be looked at for housing options, however they are planning for both temporary and permanent workers. 

Conway said BC Hydro has been working “very closely with local, regional government” to determine energy-efficient housing solutions that could continue vacancy even after the project is completed.

According to Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman, city and council have not started any conversations with Site C and have only received information. She added that city staff is currently working to build a framework on how to address it.

Conversations continued on how BC Hydro would deal with recreation that would be disturbed by the dam’s construction. 

“What’s the plan for allowing access of these river boaters to reach … the river above the dam site? otherwise they’re just going to go,” commented Ackerman. “So, I think you’re going to have to talk to those folks and get some more ideas on how that river is going to stay open for seven years.”

Jackson said BC Hydro has come up with solutions. 

“Each of the sites we have selected, we have looked to make sure there is adjacent land for other things [recreation] just like that.”

Added aspects to the conversation focused on the 85th Industrial Lands, which would include a conveyor be