Talking sticks return planned
Renewed efforts are underway by the City of Terrace to return two talking sticks presented as gifts to the city when its city hall opened in 1964.
They were purchased by two local lumber companies and presented to the city in recognition of city hall being the local for authorities to speak at significant gatherings.
The two sticks had been hanging in city council chambers since they were presented by came to the attention of then-city councillor Michael Prevost in 2016 when he suggested they be returned as a sign of reconciliation.
But it was not until this year the sticks were determined to come from the Kingcome Inlet area, the home of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples.
Music festival stages comeback
Re-organized and revitalized following the pandemic, the Pacific Northwest Music Festival is returning with the start of competitions this month.
"Last year we were on the brink of folding. We lost a lot of our volunteer base and there were deaths on our committee," said festival president Kelly Lima.
"But we put out a call to the community to come and be a part of it or we will fold and they responded. We now have a really good working group."
Lima added that support from local businesses has been key to the festival's success.
More officers on their way
The commanding officer of the Terrace RCMP detachment says more officers are expected this summer, a move that will help fill its vacant ranks.
From an officer vacancy rate hovering at times in the 30 per cent range, the rate has lowered to 20 per cent and Inspector Terry Gillespie says the rate could drop even more to 10 per cent by the summer.
The improved rate has means the detachment has revived its crime reduction unit which primarily works in and around the downtown core. Also filled is the detachment's Indigenous policing position.
Gillespie credited the arrival of cadet officers from the RCMP's training depot in Regina in helping to fill vacancies.
Racism, poverty and drugs
Terrace is suffering from a staff shortage at its social services societies. leading to a lack of information to reclaim human rights, a report by B.C.'s Office of Human Rights claims.
Colonization, racism and discrimination, housing and poverty, health-care issues and the toxic drug crisis are also on the rise, the report noted.
"I often feel that community members feel like they've been forgotten by the province," on unnamed interview subject said.
The poverty rate for Indigenous people was found to be nearly double the rate of non-Indigenous people.
Tops in real estate prices
Terrace has claimed top spot for the average selling price of a residential detached home in northern and central B.C. for the first quarter of 2024, indicates data released by the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board.
The average selling price climbed to $512,059 compared to March 31, 2023’s average selling price of $465,944 and the $482,701 price as of March 31, 2022.
Data indicates 32 homes sold in the first quarter of this year compared to 28 in the first quarter of 2023 and 41 homes in the first quarter of 2022.
City tries paid day off schedule
The City of Terrace is trying a new work schedule giving qualifying non-union employees and managers a paid day off provided they work the equivalent of that day's hours during the previous nine-day period.
These days off will be taken on a Friday unless the employee and the city agree otherwise.
The move is considered one way of attracting and then keeping employees.
