Tag Archives: City of Powell River

Indigenous Nations, Politics

City Councillor reflects on lessons learned so far on potential Powell River name change

Content warning: This story discusses colonial history and its negative impacts on Indigenous people of Canada.

CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

In upcoming Powell River City Council strategic planning meetings, Coun. Cindy Elliott looks forward to making decisions on recommendations from the Joint Working Group she participated in last year.

The group was set up following an official name change request to the municipality in May 2021 by the Tla’amin Nation Executive Council. Powell River currently carries the name of Dr. Israel Wood Powell, who was the first BC Superintendent of Indian Affairs and instrumental in the implementation of colonial practices and structures such as residential schools.

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Justice

More Chaos, Less Patience – qathet has a serious crime problem

Originally published on qathet Living

By Isabelle Southcott

More than most, Debbie Dee’s words hold weight on issues affecting marginalized locals. So when she stood at the lectern at the Evergreen Theatre on September 14, the 200-plus people who had come to discuss solutions to the escalating crime issue listened intently. Debbie has been executive director of the Powell River Brain Injury Society since 2003. She was a Powell River city councillor from 2008 to 2014. In her speech at the meeting, she revealed that last year, she lost her step-son, Bodie, to a fentanyl overdose. 

Debbie was very clear: Powell River’s support system for struggling people isn’t working. It’s not working for people with addictions, mental health challenges and sometimes brain injuries. It’s not working for the wider community, who have to live with theft, vandalism, and fear. 

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Business, Jobs

Hope for the future of the tiskʷat mill site

The tiskʷat Mill has been a cornerstone of Powell River’s prosperity for more than a century. While it no longer has a future producing newsprint, up until two weeks ago it seemed like the site was on the verge of being reborn as a hydrogen company. Then Paper Excellence refused Renewable Hydrogen Canada’s offer and listed their property with an International Real Estate firm. 

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Community, Indigenous Nations

Chippy west coast town starts its process to change a name

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Who’s leading the process to consider a name change for the City of Powell River? 

Tla’amin Executive Council members Erik Blaney and Brandon Peters, City of Powell River councillors Cindy Elliot and Maggie Hathaway, Mayor Dave Formosa, Hegus John Hackett, plus Stewart Alsgard (former City Mayor), Harmony Johnson (vice-president, Indigenous Wellness and Reconciliation for Providence Health Care), Davis Mckenzie (principal of Toxw oxw Communications), and Lyn Adamson (previous executive director for LIFT Powell River) – these are the locals who in 2021, came together to form the City of Powell River’s name change committee, known as the Joint Working Group.

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Business

 tiskʷat Mill closure in Powell River

After a century of operation, British Columbia’s oldest newsprint mill is closing down. Catalyst’s tiskʷat Mill, in Powell River, has been in operation since 1912. There was a time when one in every 25 newspapers worldwide used their paper. The mill closed down, for what was initially thought to be a temporary curtailment, on November 22nd. On December 1st their parent company, Paper Excellence, announced the closure was indefinite. 

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