In-Town
Right to Clean Air
Can northwest BC’s industry town find balance? Writer Dan Mesec talks to Kitimat locals about their concerns over air quality.
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Eternal Spaces
These are the graves of sailors and captains. Of fishermen whose blood runs thick with salt. This place tells the story of how they lived. And that is the power of cemeteries.
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Creative Space
Whatever we create, the environment we are in leaves an imprint on our work. Many artists crave isolation during the creative process, but some encourage outsiders to interrupt and even influence the direction of the pieces. Six northern BC artists discuss their creative spaces and what makes them so significant to the work they produce.
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Revolving Doors
What happens when you come to a place temporarily and never leave? Or when you leave everything behind and venture out to northern BC for a job, but it doesn’t pan out? As our economy becomes increasingly reliant on transient workers, Dan Mesec investigates the temporary world in our half of the province.
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Beginnings
Check out Northword's latest publication, a collection of northern stories and amazing images.
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No Room on the Bus
"On several mornings, she says she saw five teens get off to make room for younger kids, indicating the bus was overbooked by at least as many spaces."
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Simbiyez Wilson
Her name means “child of the stars.” And Witsuwit’en singer-songwriter Simbiyez Wilson seems to be living up to the name.
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Perception Problem
Prince George’s reputation for crime is a harsh reality for some and a bizarre background for others.
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A Town for all Colours: Smithers gets a rainbow crosswalk
There’s something inherently cheerful about a rainbow, which is why it’s so often associated with happy things.
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Find your Groove: Make music festivals your summer vacation destination
This summer, we challenge you to plan a musical road trip to somewhere new
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Mobile Eateries Drive Home Local Food Movement
When you tuck in behind the wheel on your next journey along a northern BC highway, there’s a pretty good chance you will already have your favourite pit stops planned out.
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Orchestra North: summer music program is serious fun
The audience hushes as the conductor and co-director stride down the aisle. At the front of the room, the orchestra members fall quiet.
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The Unplanned Exodus: Smithers opens doors for refugee families
Every morning, Akram Khalil and Montaha Awil awake to social media.
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Winter Cities: Designing communities for whatever way the wind blows
Whoever built my former house did not know or understand the direction of the prevailing wind or how drifts are formed.
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Forging Into the Past: Camp worker re-ignites a family tradition in blacksmithing
“Hey, does that smithy work?” Curtis Hampton asked a summer student at Terrace’s Heritage Park Museum three years ago.
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Drinking in the North: A celebration of northern libations
Raise a glass to the little guys. Over the past few decades, the number of small-scale producers of beer and wine in BC has grown dramatically.
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The Collections Renewal Project: Bringing the past to light
I’ve poked around in museum backrooms throughout BC’s Northwest; wearing those white gloves while sifting through old papers in archives and artifact storage rooms.
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Grand Entrances: Northerners and the long drive home
“Map says it’s public right-of-way.”
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Backyard Bears
Our home, just outside of Telkwa, is nestled on the edge of 40 acres of rolling wilderness next to a provincial park. I see the first bears of the spring just as the aspens are leafing out.
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Golf the North: Coastal, mountain and flatland putting — all part of the northern experience
No one ever thought I would take up golf, least of all me.
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Playing Games: Touring northern BC with the Canada Games
I’ve never been one for competitive sport. It could be that I’m a bit too lazy, or maybe I’m just inherently not competitive.
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Tumbler Ridge wins Global Geopark status. What’s next for northern BC’s geological mecca?
Folks in Tumbler Ridge aren’t strangers to uncertainty. Perhaps that’s why a delegation at the sixth International UNESCO Conference on Global Geoparks in Saint John, NB wasn’t going to celebrate until they heard the name they were waiting for: Tumbler Ridge Global Geopark.
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Cohousing Communities A green alternative to the northern housing crunch
“We want to create a village, rather than just more housing.”
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The bitter side of sweetness: Struggling with obsessive eating disorder
Lisa sits across from me in a Smithers coffee shop, sipping a caramel macchiato.
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Small Town Love: Rekindling the romance with our local businesses
Ever been to Yarn and Sew On?
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Artists put creative talent toward social justice
A crowd files through the narrow entrance to the Old Church in Smithers, one by one unpeeling layers of sweaters and coats that protected them from the cold.
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A home of one’s own: Is aging in place an option for northern seniors?
“If my house sells, I am moving to the Maritimes.”
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Coming out of the cave—Finding my diabetic tribe in the North
The chairlift seat sways gently as it whisks me up the hill. I lower the safety bar and catch my breath. Those steep runs through powder burn tons of calories! It’s time to check my blood-sugar level.
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Lost in definition Art lives in Smithers
The creative process is a great and beautiful mystery.
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When parents age: A caregiver’s story
When Kim DiSensi of Telkwa, BC, took on the care of her 80-year-old parents she was thinking in terms of a two-year commitment. It turned out to be seven years and she is still coping with the fallout.
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One hundred years wiser Reflecting on our joint kungax during Smithers’ centennial
In the Witsuwit’en language, “yin tah” is the word for “land,” but it carries more weight and more context than its English equivalent.
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Midsummer Festival, 30 years on: the stuff of legends
It’s 8 p.m. on a Monday evening, and in the Stokes’ kitchen a Midsummer Music Festival meeting has just wrapped up. A teapot and half-empty wine bottle sit on the table. But what flows most generously are the stories.
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At the Wheel: Prince Rupert gets a brewery
Prince Rupert gets a bad rap for its weather. The North Coast town is like the geeky kid in a schoolyard—often overlooked. But, also like that geeky kid, the town is full of hidden talents. When you look beyond its weather, Rupert is a truly spectacular place. Its air is fresh, clean, and invigorating—even breathing here feels good. Its water is clean and tasty, too, though its tannic colouring might suggest otherwise. And its people—those residents who choose to call Rupert home—are among the friendliest, happiest, and most welcoming people around. Three of those people are now poised to do something that will go down in Rupert history: they’re going to open a brewery.
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Dirty Dirt: The legacy of contaminated sites
Have you ever driven by a vacant site in town and wondered why it was empty? Maybe the buildings have been torn down but nothing’s going on.
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Something to tweet about: Young politicians rise into the ranks in northern BC
According to a report published online by Initiatives Prince George, the most rapidly expanding age demographic in northern BC is the 60-and-overs—but you wouldn’t know it from our municipal politics.
READ MORE➦Winter 2018-19: Slow
Slow repairs, slow pace, slow recovery, and much more.
