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Thursday, May 30, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Ayla Davidson shows off some of the 500 bowls made by Prince George Potters for the 43rd annual ChiliFest and Spring Arts Bazaar this Saturday in front of Studio 2880.

Chili showdown, arts bazaar happening Saturday Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca If you’re feeling the heat, it isn’t just the summer sunshine. It’s also the city’s mouth-watering anticipation of chili. Hundreds of bowls of the stuff will flow like lava from a creative mountain on Saturday. Teams of chili warriors will joust for flavour dominance in the 43rd annual Spring Arts Bazaar. A year of culinary pride is on the line. “It hasn’t gotten nasty, but we’ve definitely heard some chili smacktalk,” said Lisa Redpath, program manager for the Community Arts Council, the operators and organizers of the annual arts event, with the chili cook-off the central attraction. “It originally started years ago as a fundraiser for the Prince George

Potters’ Guild,” said Kate Cooke, past-president of the PGPG, the club that makes all the bowls. The bowls are your ticket to eat the chili and vote for your favourite. “You’d buy chili and get a bowl with it,” said Cooke, explaining the origins more than 40 years ago, “but it morphed into a partnership with the Community Arts Council. It became a competition, and now it is really popular and an important fundraiser for both of our organizations working together. They run the event and its so much bigger now. So many other guilds and artists and artisans have a presence there, but we potters still do the bowls and we have our ‘seconds’ sale which is really popular each year.” The “seconds” are the pottery items that have visual imperfections or flaws in the construction,

but they are still useable. In fact, many are lovely works of art and/ or an asset to any home, it just didn’t turn out to the potter’s personal standard. These discounted items are also for sale at the Spring Arts Bazaar. The PGPG will also have information available for their menu of classes coming up. Learn to hand-build with clay, or throwing clay on the wheel, and meet others who also like to make their own clay creations. “I consider it a sport. I have incredible arm muscles thanks to pottery. It can be quite physical, meditative, and incredibly rewarding,” Cooke said. “We have the Coldsnap organizers partnering with us again this year, they provide musicians to the event, which is a big help for the atmosphere,” said Redpath. “We also

have the Downtown Rotary Club onsite with their boat raffle, so our big spring fundraiser is also helping the Rotary Club with their many worthy causes. We have a number of vendors, kids’ activities, face painting, a lot of exposure and interaction for our local arts community and the public.” Cooke said the Spring Arts Bazaar “helps us support our pottery habit,” and does so for other local artists and artisans as well, and whatever it is that catches your fancy at this festive show and sale “goes to show what all you can do with your hands, and what your local neighbours are capable of,” Cooke added. That includes the cookers of chili. These teams are volunteers that represent local businesses and agencies, all making their own amazing recipes in the hopes

of winning public flavour favour. They, too, are demonstrating the spirit of the arts. “This is a milestone year for us, in a way,” said Redpath. “This will be our last year on this site (2880 15th Avenue). We don’t know exactly what the future holds for us, the Spring Arts Bazaar and the chili cookoff will certainly continue, but we will be doing it somewhere else next year so we’re going to make the most out of this last one on this spot.” The Spring Arts Bazaar runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. The chili battle fits in from 11-2. It is free to attend, with plenty to see, do, and purchase on site as you wish, especially if your wish is chili. The entry bowls are $25 each, and come with a ballot to pick the winner as you sample the array of chili choices.

First Nation calls for seat on School District 57 board SD 57 board OKs budget Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff

One of the seats on the School District 57 board of trustees should be reserved for the Lheidli T’enneh, according to a demand made by the local First Nation on Wednesday. The Lheidli T’enneh is not the only First Nation within the SD57, but it is the geographic and demographic bulk of the district’s aboriginal content. Lheidli T’enneh Chief Clay Poutney said that as a host for so many Aboriginal students on its territory, that LTFN was duty-bound to be at the table to represent the interests of their own students and the others sharing the area. “We estimate we have students from 40 First Nations’ within our district,” he said, estimating that one-third of those registered across the region were of Aboriginal descent in some form. “We believe we should have a dedicated trustee among the seven (existing trustees) in order to have a higher influence.” It would also be fine with the LTFN if their seat were added, making it a table of eight. School District 57 (SD57) has not had formal talks with the LTFN on this matter, but enough respectful relationship-building has been going on in recent years, said Poutney, that this new demand would not come as a surprise. “This is just the next logical step,” he said. SD57’s board chair Tim Bennett could not be reached for comment by deadline but did relay that he would be examining the matter and making comment to-

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POUTNEY day. The legal framework for sectioning off a position on the board for the LTFN has many facets to consider, like the process of selecting a candidate for that spot, protecting the democratic right for anyone. Including other LTFN members, to run for the other available seats, and compliance or changes regarding existing provincial legislation that governs the election process. “If they kick it to the provincial level then we will take it to the provincial level as well,” Poutney said. “Something has to change, and we want to implement that change.” It is already the case that different areas of the district have their own representative, so a template already exists

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in the minds of LTFN governors. “We are not just stomping our feet saying we want a board member,” said Vincent Joseph, the LTFN’s education coordinator. “We’ve been thinking this through and building up to it for a long time.” He said part of that buildup was participating in the ongoing Aboriginal Education Board, but he and Poutney shook their heads over that being an effective voice. “That isn’t a body that looks at policy, it has no authority to supersede the trustees, it just makes recommendations and hopes for the best,” Poutney said. “A designated person at the trustees’ table would directly represent issues from our point of view. School District 57 does have an open ear, we’ve developed a very good relationship, but this would take it to a more meaningful level.” The underlying benefit, said Poutney and Joseph, is how representing the interests of LTFN children is also beneficial in representing the interests of nonAboriginal students as well. This is a shared district, and nothing is more locally relevant than the language and traditions rooted specifically where the community lives, does business and raises their families. The announcement of this demand was made, not by coincidence, at the LTFN’s economic development office in downtown Prince George to symbolize the prosperity of a mutual future in this historically, geographically and sociologically unique place where all roots intertwine with the Lheidli T’enneh.

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Baleen tells tale of whale stress SCIENCE 7

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Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff The school district budget was given the green light for the present year. No significant debate among trustees or the public held up its ratification process at Tuesday night’s board of education meeting. The budget sailed through all three required readings in the single sitting. The result was a balanced budget totalling $172.7 million that maintained last year’s ongoing programs and had enough left over to add some new learning supports. The budget design was conducted by a committee made up of trustees, district administration staff and relevant stakeholder representatives. It was chaired by longtime trustee Sharel Warrington. The committee compiled financial data and heard multiple submissions advising on anticipated expenditures and revenues, then cross-referenced those with the district’s rolling five-year strategic plan. “Committee members suggested 19 possibilities to provide additional resources in support of student learning. A number of those opportunities have been reflected in the 2019-2020 Annual Budget Bylaw,” said a written statement from the school district. “While the budget provides a sustainable level of service to students, there were funds available to provide additional sustainable resources in support of student learning, with an emphasis on mental health literacy,” said board chair Tim Bennett. — see PILOT PROJECT, page 3

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