Prince George Citizen September 22, 2018 by Prince George Citizen

Saturday, September 22, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916

City won’t face penalty for not using tax option Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Students from Cedars Christian School went to downtown East Vancouver last week to volunteer helping the homeless.

‘We have so much and we don’t realize it’ Students take part in outreach program to Vancouver’s homeless Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca One Prince George teenager realized she didn’t really need what she thought she needed after spending three days recently doing outreach to those on the streets of East Vancouver. “We have so much and we don’t realize it,” Rachel Barg, Cedars Christian Grade 11 student, said. “Especially teenagers, who are so focused on ‘oh, I need this new phone and I need this shirt, I need these jeans’ and we think that’s what we need but those people (on the streets) are so content with what they have. A lot of them say they don’t need anything more, they have everything they need. And I just took away that I don’t need everything that I think I do.” From Sept. 9 to 13, a group of 17 Grade 11 students from Cedars Christian School took a bus to downtown Vancouver to take part in the Mission Adventure which is a program offered by Youth With A Mission, an evangelical interdenominational, non-profit Christian missionary organization that spans 181 countries. During the program, the students stayed at the Chinatown Peace Church on East Pender

(It’s) bad enough for them to be on the streets and not have somewhere warm to live, but then to get all those dirty looks for doing nothing but sitting on the street, it’s sad. — Victoria Van Delft Street where they slept on foamies in the Sunday school classrooms. Each day brought a different challenge for the group including the Urban Plunge where the teengers were to walk the streets just as if they had no place else to go for six hours. It happened to be pouring rain the day they went out and teacher Sarah Allan, who went with the students, said there was concern for their well-being expressed by those living on the streets. “Get those kids inside, they’re going to get sick,” Allan said she was told repeatedly by the homeless in Vancouver’s east side. Part of the Urban Plunge challenge asked the students to sit in front of a high-end store in Gastown for 15 minutes to see what kind of reaction they got from those walking on the street. “We’d get dirty looks and glares and people would make fun of us,” Victoria Van Delft said.

“And we weren’t even in that situation but for the people that are in that situation it’s bad enough for them to be on the streets and not have somewhere warm to live but then to get all those dirty looks for doing nothing but sitting on the street it’s sad.” Each student was given a lunch for themselves and a lunch for someone else and were asked to talk to the people they met on the street. “The children were to experience what the lifestyle was like, take in the information, build a relationship,” Allan explained. During the second day the students went on a temple tour where they were able to get some insight into others’ beliefs. The students attended a Sikh Temple, a Mosque and a Buddhist Temple. At each religious institution there was a representative who explained their religion. On the third day of their stay, students did one of three different outreaches. Union Gospel Mission hosts a soup kitchen and the teens helped serve the food to the guests and spoke to them. Melody Forbes said she would like to volunteer at a local soup kitchen after spending time in the one in Vancouver. “It was really fun to volunteer at the soup kitchen and the people we were working with were super friendly and I felt like I was being really helpful and some of the people who we were serving were so grateful for what we were doing.” — see ‘THIS IS, page 3

UHNBC busier than usual Citizen staff The University Hospital of Northern B.C. is currently experiencing higher-than-normal volumes of patients, and residents are being asked to consider other options before heading to the emergency department. “These periods occur at various times of the year, including peak season for circulation of viruses such as the return to school, and influenza season,” Northern

Today’s Weather Hi +7° Low 0° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

Health said in a statement issued Friday. “Increased demand for services, including patients who are elderly or requiring care for chronic conditions, can also contribute to high patient volumes.” The agency offered the following advice to avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital: • Patients who aren’t sure whether their condition would warrant an emergency room visit can call HealthLink BC at 811. For deaf

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and hearing-impaired assistance (TTY), call 711. If you are concerned about a possible poisoning or exposure to a toxic substance, call Poison Control at 1-800-5678911. • For non-emergency health information nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists go to www.HealthLinkBC.ca. • For non-urgent care, use community health services including your family practitioner or walk-in clinics, where available.

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• If you have a cold, call HealthLinkBC at 811 for advice, or ask your pharmacist about overthe-counter medications to ease symptoms. • Remember, flu season is approaching; check immunizebc.ca for clinic dates. “If at any time you believe you require urgent medical attention, do not hesitate to go to the emergency department, or call 911 for transportation,” Northern Health added.

B.C. company taking pot trade by storm EDITORIAL 6

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A government MLA gave a degree of assurance the city won’t be penalized for city council’s decision to not spend revenue from the tax on hotel rooms on affordable housing. Earlier this year, the provincial government had given municipalities the option, but on Monday, council voted to continue using the levy as originally intended – to promote tourism. The now-three-per-cent levy on the cost of a room in the city came into effect in 2010 after approval from a vast majority of hotels and motels in the city. Revenue from the levy raises about $1 million per year for Tourism Prince George. On Tuesday, Coun. Garth Frizzell raised the matter with the select committee on finance and government services when it was in Prince George. The committee is touring the province collecting submissions on how government revenue should be spent in advance of the 2019 budget. It led to an exchange between Frizzell and MLA Nicholas Simmons, who said municipalities were merely being given the option. “It’s not being imposed, you’re not being told to use it that way, so don’t,” he said. “So what’s the issue with that? Just curious.” Frizzell replied that not taking the step could compromise the city’s ability to get provincial government funds for affordable housing in the future. “The challenge is that whether we have the access or don’t have the access, the next step would be when we come back asking for housing without taking it away from tourism... it would be ‘well, you had the opportunity to use or money to do it and you didn’t take it,” he said. In response, Simmons said the provincial government is “completely dedicated to addressing the issue around housing and I don’t think they’re planning to do that through taking off the hotel tax.” The option was being provided in answer to the shortage of housing in some communities for workers in the tourism sector, Simmons added. On Monday, Coun. Jillian Merrick was the lone council member to oppose a motion against pursuing the option saying the city’s vacancy rates are incredibly low and suggested the number of homeless in the city’s downtown has impacted hoteliers.

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