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Wednesday, February 27, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

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Sun on the ice Skaters enjoy the sunshine while making laps at the Outdoor Ice Oval on Tuesday. On Sunday, the venue will host the Outdoor Ice Oval Birthday Club from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Skaters are challenged to do one lap for each year old they are, and there will be mini cupcakes, hot chocolate and certificates for those who complete the skate.

Province working with First Nations on alternatives to Site C lawsuit Citizen news service

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Trelle Morrow is a four-time winner Jeanne Clarke Local History Award.

Morrow honoured for local history work Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca A three-time winner of a Jeanne Clarke Local History Award is now a four-time winner, and the latest trophy was for his entire body of work. When the 34th annual Jeanne Clarke Local History Awards were handed out by the Prince George Public Library this week, the highlight of the night was their service award going to Trelle Morrow, a retired architect and tenacious documentarian of the region’s history. “Morrow’s architectural career spanned 40 years and he designed such notable buildings as the former Prince George Citizen building on Brunswick Street and Sacred Heart Cathedral. He is an active member of the City of Prince George’s Heritage Commission,” said Amy Dhanjal, the library’s communications coordinator. Dhanjal also listed the past accolades Morrow has earned from that organization. “He won (a Jeanne Clarke Award) in 2016 for Living Legacies: 100 Years of Prince George Architecture, in 2012 for The Grand Trunk Pacific and Other Fort George Stuff, and in 2010 for Aviation North: Flying Frontiers in Northern British Columbia. Among his other publications are Silent Passage: Life with Reaction Ferries; The Big Smoke: Social Reflections on Wood Burners; and Cataline: Packer Extraordinaire.” Valerie Giles, herself a two-time winner of the publication award, introduced Morrow and noted that “the citizens of Prince George know more about the city’s history because of his work.” The library board of directors chose three

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authors for the publication category this year. • Helen Raptis accepted a Publication Award (Regional) on behalf of herself and members of the Tsimshian Nation for What We Learned: Two Generations Reflect On Tsimshian Education And The Day Schools. “The book explores the influence of day schools on the lives of a group of Tsimshian people who originally lived near Prince Rupert. Raptis travelled from Victoria to attend the event,” Dhanjal said. • Aaron Williams won a Publication Award (Regional) for Chasing Smoke: A Wildfire Memoir. Dhanjal said, “The memoir details the author’s time and experience as a professional wildfire firefighter in Northern British Columbia with a specific focus on the 2014 forest fire season. Williams was unable to attend, but provided an acceptance speech via video.” • A Publication Award (Local) was granted to Gwen and John Reimer for Ness Lake Bible Camp: A Statement Of Faith. “The book documents the foundation and expansion of the camp and its contributions to the local history and community of Prince George,” Dhanjal said. The Jeanne Clarke Awards are presented annually “to individuals or groups for outstanding contributions in the preservation and promotion of local and regional history.” The award was established by the library board in 1985 in memory of former library board chair Jeanne Clarke. She was a founding member of the library’s local history committee, “and played a key role in establishing the library’s local history collection.”

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The province announced Tuesday that it has entered into confidential talks with BC Hydro and the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations to find alternatives to a lawsuit against the Site C dam. The two nations filed civil claims in early 2018, alleging the $10.7-billion project infringed their rights under Treaty 8. “The parties will continue trial preparations as discussions proceed on alternatives to litigation,” the province announced in an information bulletin issued on Feb. 26. “The parties appeared in court on Feb. 26, 2019, and proposed a case plan for a 120-day trial commencing in 2022.” The two First Nations went to B.C. Supreme Court last year seeking an injunction halting work on all, or some portions of the project until their claims were heard. The court rejected the request, saying it would throw the project into “disarray.” However, it ordered that a trial to determine whether the project infringed their treaty rights be held by mid-2023, before the dam’s reservoir is filled. Site C is the third dam being built on the Peace River and has been under construction since July 2015. The First Nations have argued they continue to live with the impacts of the Bennett and Peace Canyon dams upstream of Site C, and that the cumulative impacts of all three would continue to disrupt and displace hunters, trappers, and fishers, and interfere with their way of life by destroying habitat home to plants and animals relied on for spiritual, medicinal, and food purposes. Courts have previously dismissed lawsuits by First Nations and landowners seeking a judicial review of the dam.

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West Moberly First Nation Chief Roland Willson speaks to a joint review panel at the Pomeroy Hotel in Fort St. John on Monday. However, courts haven’t ruled on whether the dam infringes Treaty 8, with one provincial Supreme Court justice noting in a 2015 ruling that the question would need to be answered in a civil trial. Several project agreements have also been signed with a number of First Nations in the region over the project. There were 3,100 workers employed in some capacity on Site C at the end of 2018. Site C was first approved by the BC Liberal government in 2014. NDP Premier John Horgan announced in 2017 that construction would continue after his government inherited the project and launched a four-month economic review. West Moberly and Prophet River had warned Horgan his approval to continue would prompt a billion-dollar lawsuit.

Second suspicious incident reported Citizen staff For the second time in five days, a suspicious incident involving a Heritage Elementary School student has been reported. On Monday, a man in a white pickup truck asked a student to “get in,” school principal Linda Picton said in a letter to parents, adding the incident occurred in front of D.P. Todd Secondary School at about 2:45 p.m. The suspect is described as a lightskinned male, with short hair and a beard. The matter was reported to police, Picton said.

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“This report has prompted our staff to again reinforce safety protocol with all of our students,” she said. “Teachers have reminded students to walk in groups or with a friend and go to a safe place if feeling threatened and to let their parents know immediately.” A similar incident last Thursday, also involving a white pickup truck and a Heritage student, was reported to RCMP. The suspect in that case was described as Caucasian, 20 to 30 years old, with short hair and a long beard and wearing a flat-brimmed baseball hat. The truck was also described as a Ford with four doors and a black tailgate.

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