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Population slide stopped

THE CITY’S population slide has reversed, indicate figures assembled by provincial statisticians.

THE CITY’S population slide has reversed, indicate figures assembled by provincial statisticians.

And the increase in people from 2009 to 2010 is the largest since the slide stopped.

Statisticians from BC Stats place the number of Terrace residents at 11,931 for 2010, up 241 from 2009’s tally of 11,690.

Increases in the previous years were more modest – up 137 from 11,553 in 2008 to 11,690 in 2009 and up 195 from 2007’s 11,358 to the 11,553 mark of 2008.

Terrace’s population was at the lowest point nearly 20 years in 2007 when it fell to 11,358 as the full impact of the recession in the forest industry began to be felt.

In 1986 the city’s population was 11,542, a figure that grew to 11,437 in 1991 and to 12,779 in 1996, reflecting the influence of a healthy forest industry.

Skeena Cellulose opened its new sawmill here in 1988 and that helped to contribute to the upswing in economic fortunes.

The city’s population hit 13,298 in 1996 and 13,366 in 1997, which is the highest it has ever been.

But 1997 was also the first year the forest industry began to falter when Skeena Cellulose went into bankruptcy protection at the start of the year.

The city’s population steadily declined, falling below 13,000 by 1999 and 12,000 by 2003 before 2007’s rock bottom figure of 11,475.

The population experience of the Kitimat-Stikine regional district, which takes in Thornhill and other unorganized areas, mirrors that of Terrace.

In 1996, the regional district’s population was 45,368 but that figure fell to 39,450 by 2005 and to a low of 38,322 in 2007.

The regional district’s numbers have also started to recover slightly, rising to 39,131 in 2008 and to 39,642 in 2010.

Population figures for non-census years are estimates made by statisticians.

But firm figures will be gathered this year because 2011 is a census year.

Prince Rupert, hit hard by a combination of industrial closures which included the loss of the large Skeena Cellulose pulp mill on Watson Island, has also begun to grow again.