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Campbell River won’t hold citizen ceremonies KRISTEN DOUGLAS CAMPBELL RIVER MIRROR
ALISTAIR TAYLOR/THE MIRROR
Don Sass (left), president of the Campbell River Amateur Radio Society, and Jack Askew, secretary, check out the radio equipment at the Emergency Social Services office in Campbell River.
Amateur radio a lifeline in emergencies What do you do when the lights go out...and the telephone does not work and your neighbour says that roads are blocked because of the earthquake, or flood, or wildfire? Luckily you have a cell phone, you think, so better check on your family...hmm! Can’t get through, better keep trying. This is a scenario that is easy to imagine and most of the time, yes, you eventually
get through, the power and telephone are restored after a few hours – or days – and it is something to make a story of later. But what if it is a widespread catastrophe like Katrina, or Sandy or the wildfires in the Okanagan a few years ago, when many thousands of people had to be evacuated? “I guess we’ll just hunker down and manage as best we can until government help
arrives,” you think. You may be surprised to learn that government help could be as close as one of your neighbours; if they are emergency volunteers. Municipal and district emergency plans form the backbone of disaster relief so that the local emergency coordinator can rapidly Continued on A3
There are no immediate plans for future citizenship ceremonies in Campbell River, according to the Immigrant Welcome Centre. Rachel Blaney, executive director of the Immigrant Welcome Centre, said the organization has learned that Citizenship and Immigration Canada may eliminate local citizenship ceremonies to deal with budget cuts. Blaney said she became aware of the issue through one of her clients a few weeks ago. “One of our clients was informed by mail in early December that she would write the citizenship exam at Beban Park Recreation Centre in Nanaimo,” Blaney said in a news release. “The client drove to Nanaimo and wrote the exam. Following the test, she was told that she would receive the results by mail from CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada). There was no judge or ceremony, only a promise that a citizenship ceremony will be held at a future date, probably in Vancouver.” The news comes on the heels of the federal government closing down Citizenship and Immigration offices in both Victoria and Nanaimo last May – the closest office is now in Vancouver. A spokesperson for CitizenContinued on A5
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