Born and raised in Terrace, first time city council candidate hopeful Michael Prevost was involved in two significant high profile events, one provincial and the other international early in his professional career.
Equipped with an archaeology and anthropology degree from Simon Fraser University and a certificate in forensic science from BCIT, Prevost, 33, was one of those hired in 2003 to sift through the Robert Pickton pig farm in Port Coquitlam, part of the massive investigation which resulted in Pictkton's eventual conviction for the murders of six women.
That experience then took him to Bosnia where he worked for the International Commission on Missing Persons, an organization formed to help identify those killed during the 1990s fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Prevost was one of those sifting through the mass graves from the Srebrenica massacre of thousands of Bosniak men and boys in 1995.
And now, back in Terrace, Prevost, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree here through the University of Northern B.C., is a registered nurse working in home and community care for the Northern Health Authority.
He hopes to bring his professional training of planning and best practices, where past experiences are used to guide future projects, to city council.
"In finding the solutions to help sustain our community, we need to look what our assets are and to build off those," said Prevost, noting that the city should continue to involve a core of volunteer and other agencies.
He wants the city to continue working on affordable housing, housing for people with disabilities and low income housing.
"I really applaud the city for its affordable housing fund. There's opportunity for acquiring land [for housing development] and cash grants for projects," Prevost said.
In particular, the city can play a role in zoning by-laws which would have housing developers include units for low income earners and for those with disabilities in their projects, he added.
And Prevost sees opportunity for the city to establish early and direct lines of communication with potential large scale industrial developments.
"Those businesses want to be part of the community and we need to find ways for them to interact with us. We need to set out our expectations right from the start," he said.
Prevost was nominated by Sherry Mae Lopushinsky and Robert Price.