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| YEAR IN REVIEW 2020 |
The Final year end review from Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix provided for the last update for 2020 with reports of 683 new cases of COVID reported for the day, along with 8 more passings, which is the lowest count of those who have passed from COVID since November.
With today's review there are now 51,983 total cases reported through 2020 in British Columbia. With 8 passing recorded in the last 24 hours, which brings the total of those who have passed away from COVID in BC to 901 in 2020.
Across the Health Health Authorities of the province the totals were as follows today:
105 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 447 in Fraser Health, 11 in Vancouver Island Health, 64 in Interior Region and in 36 in the Northern Health which takes the North over the 2,000 mark for a total of 2,011 cases reported since January.
Dr. Henry also noted that there is some overlap in data interpretation from the Northern Health region, with a data reconciliation to take place over the next few days, with the results of that review to be provided to the BC CDC Dashboard.
As part of the final report, Dr. Henry made note of the ongoing vaccination program in the province, including the roll out of vaccines for Indigenous communities in the Northwest part of the Province.
She also reinforced the full range of Public Health Orders that remain in place to help to bring down the curve and will serve the province as the vaccine program continues.
“A new year brings a fresh start for us all, and we must start 2021 on the right foot. This year, that means following provincial health officer orders to protect your friends, family and all your communities.
This New Year’s Eve, we can still celebrate, but as we are seeing around the globe, tonight this must be done in different ways than before. Many of us will be ordering our favourite meals in. Others are having a games night in with their household or celebrating with friends online.
Whatever your plans may be this evening, please remember how important it is to follow the public health orders and restrictions. By staying local, keeping our circles small and following provincial health orders, we can welcome in the new year on a safe and celebratory note."
You can review the Thursday statement here.
The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.
You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:
Federal Government site
British Columbia Government site
The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.
More from Northern Health can be reviewed here
You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.
Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, those past advisories can be reviewed here.
For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee
Ottawa Observations
Victoria Viewpoints
While hope is on the horizon in our ongoing efforts towards wrestling COVID-19 into our past, for one long running Prince Rupert tradition, the clock has run out on the options for February's All Native Basketball Tournament..
The Board of the All Native Basketball Tournament Committee waited as long as they possibly could before recenlty reached the very tough decision to cancel the 2021 edition, leaving time to stand still for 365 days and the defending champions to hold their titles for an additional year.
ANBT officials made their decision public earlier this week, citing the ongoing measures on social gatherings as their guiding principle towards public health and safety for both participants and fans.
This years event, which would have been the 62nd tournament, had been scheduled for the Russell Gamble Auditorium and the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre Arena for February 7-13.
Though with the prospect of our current social distancing measures to remain in place for the early months of 2021, and the still high-level of concern over the COVID-19 coronavirus, the path towards a tournament had no room to move forward.
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| Notice of cancellation for the 61st All Native Tournament posted to the Tournament website this week |
First and foremost for Prince Rupert is the lost sporting and cultural event that brought the many Nations of British Columbia, Alaska and beyond together for the one week. A period of solidarity, sportsmanship and at times even political and social comment that brings the city to life.
As well there will be a financial impact on the Prince Rupert Commercial and Hospitality sector from the cancellation, with lost revenue on hotel rooms, along with financial hits for restaurants and shopping options.
While the tournament operations will also feel a significant hit from the cancelled tournament, with the event generating much of the required financial funding for year round operations and planning for the tourney.
Towards that concern, ANBT Chairperson Peter Haugan will be seeking some help from the community in the weeks and months to come.
He plans to approach the loyal sponsors for the tournament, looking for ways to try and bring in enough financial assistance to keep the lights in the office on and the planning for 2022 in motion through this clearly challenging year ahead for the tournament.
You can keep up to date on any addtional news from ANBT organizers from their Facebook page here.
The cancellation notice has made for a range of news coverage both locally and provincially this week, some of the notes can be reviewed below:
All Native Basketball Tournament Cancelled (video)
2021 All Native Basketball Tournament cancelled due to pandemic
The All Native Basketball tournament has been cancelled
62nd All Native Basketball Tournament cancelled for Feb. 2021
BC's All Native Basketball Tournament cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
"I really think public engagement is something that we've got to really look at carefully. By using COVID-19 as you know, sort of something that is going to block a lot of communication and that. I think we need to definitely find a way around it. Whether its a survey we put out in the paper or online or something like that ... I really think the overall picture, we've got to take a careful look at it, because so many times I've heard people say well I didn't know anything about that. And I know we've advertised it and everything, but how we're going to get it out to the public this time to get it right, I think is very important" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham speaking to Council in June of this year
As they look ahead to what will come in 2021, Prince Rupert's elected officials should offer up a resolution for 2021 towards following some helpful guidance once again relayed from one of their own back in June.
That as Councillor Barry Cunningham continued on with his frequent contributions on themes of keeping engaged with the public.
A commentary which was no doubt heard through the year by his council partners; yet seem to have been sentiments that at times appeared to slide off of Council's radar as the year moved forward.
The reduced inter-action with the residents of the city came in the weeks and months following some frustration with the provincial government which had cancelled the City's own COVID related measures something that appeared to be a bit of a sore spot for Council for months following.
Whether it's the range of housing themes that seem to have left residents confused and raised the concerns of the public for Council, something that at times appears to have caught them by surprise.
Or the lost opportunities of bringing an overview of civic services and investments such as The Legacy Corporation, or CityWest to the Council Chamber for a public review (another often made suggestion of Councillor Cunningham's) Council at times seemed to forget the need to deliver a wide information overview to the public.
Even the process of the monthly Council sessions at times seemed to be a struggle for the elected officials this year, whether it be a cancelled Council session, lost broadcasts leaving for no archive or some ridiculously brief in time and lacking in content public Council sessions that took place on a number of occasions this year.
All of which raises the danger of an impression for many of those at home that much of the "real work' for Council takes place outside of the public sphere, conducted in the growing number of closed meetings and workshops, the scheduled sessions becoming more of a public relations exercise it seems.
For the city's residents, there is still no proper accounting of civic travel budgets available on the city website for public review, nor even a record of attendance, or how each Councillor votes on the topics that they discuss during the course of their public sessions, whether but fifteen minutes, or those that manage to make it past one hour mark.
As we've noted through the year, much of the information sharing this year was streamed through the Mayor's Facebook page, a social media project that while helpful to get the word out, seems somewhat partisan and easily hijacked by many of the Mayor's loyal followers.
For a period of time in 2020, much of the governance of the community seemed to be conducted by Facebook posts, with the Council members for the most part removed from the process of civic administration, not exactly what the public probably had in mind when the few that bothered to vote cast their ballots at the last civic election.
By comparison, the city's website is often the last place anyone may find anything of note for public consumption.
Rather than the information signal post that it should be, so as to provide for basic information without any partisan spin and one that could be used by those who perhaps are not engaged in the social media world that many of the Council members seem to thrive in these days; instead the city website at times tends to be an overlooked or neglected instrument of information sharing.
And as the reports of the coronavirus in BC appeared, so did the pace accelerate towards pulling up the draw bridge at City Hall, where booking appointments became the guiding theme, something that tends to reduce the prospect of an engaged community.
The Social Distancing measures in place through the year also meant a suspension for such important mechanisms as Public Hearings and public information sessions on major themes such as the Official Community plan or other initiatives, serving as another loss towards getting the word out on major plans and more importantly, gaining important feedback from the public on the plans in motion.
Though as we've seen through the year, other municipalities around the Northwest did manage to find some work arounds when it came to keeping the public part of the municipal process.
There is no doubt that COVID provided for many challenges for City Council and while they had some success at times in keeping the wheels of municipal government moving; there were also things that got away from them, and those for the most part provided for a sense of distance and broken communication between the officials and the residents of the community.
Hopefully, while we await a return to more normal times as we travel through 2021, the city's elected officials may be able to find some safe work arounds to at least return some of the lost options from 2020 to the public discussion for the year ahead.
For more notes related to City Council themes see our archive page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
The BC Centre for Disease control only recently began sharing the data on a weekly basis culled from Local Health Authority reports.
Across the Northwest, the cases reported from December 20 to 26 were as follows.
For the week the largest case reports were found in the Burns Lake and Terrace areas.
Terrace -- 31
Burns Lake -- 18
Smithers -- 12
Nechako -- 6
Upper Skeena -- 4
Kitimat -- 0
Nisga'a Valley -- 0
The Snow Country-Stikine-Telegraph Creek area lists one case of COVID from the week.
The Bella Coola Valley and Haida Gwaii had no new case counts to report for the reporting period.
The most recent monthly update from the BC CDC can be reviewed here.
Other charts and information from the BC CDC can be explored here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| The location along Highway 16 in the District of Port Edward designated for a new Small Scale LNG processing terminal |
The District of Port Edward will turn to Zoom video conferencing to work around restrictions on public gatherings, as they prepare to host their Public Hearing related to a proposed Small Scale LNG plant proposed for land near the BC Hydro site on highway 16.
The Public Notice sets Tuesday, January 5th for the Public Hearing with a start time of 5PM.
The land in question is being considered for rezoning from Rural A2 to Heavy Industrial M3
If you wish to participate you are asked to review information available on the District Website, Facebook page or to contact the District Office next week at 250--628-3367.
If you wish to make a written submission to the Public Hearing process, you should direct your correspondence to Polly Periera, 770 Pacific Avenue, PO Box 1100 Port Edward BC VOV 1G0, submissions to the District must be delivered by Noon on January 4th.
For more municipal notes of interest on Port Edward see our archive page here.
An overview of the proposed Small Scale LNG plant is available here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
