Winter 2015 - Public Presentations Lineup (PDF)
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January 9, 2015: Duncan Stewart - "Northwest Results of the 2013 Adolescent Health Survey"
In the spring of 2013, over 29,000 students in Grades 7-12 across the province completed the fifth BC Adolescent Health Survey. This presentation will share the findings for the Northwest area, including the most recent data on health indicators and risk behaviours for youth in this region. The presentation will also include a discussion of protective factors identified to promote positive health among local young people.
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Place-making is the art and science of creating good urbanism. The formula for place-making is rather simple yet often difficult to achieve and requires attention to four essential ingredients: intensity, connectivity, diversity and density. Whether in Toronto or Terrace the formula is unchanging. Getting the right balance of these ingredients will depend on local context, natural features and built forum. This talk will describe the art and science of place-making as well as provide some insight into place-making for good urbanism and sustainability in Terrace, BC.
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For too long the burden of the Indian Residential School System has rested with Indigenous Peoples, this lecture will address the need for tangible acts of reconciliation that aim to contribute to community-building, truth-telling and personal responsibility for change.
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February 11, 2015: Kelsey Wiebe - "A History of the Lakelse Hot Springs"
A History of Lakelse Hot Springs will look at the tiered development of the Lakelse Hot Springs, ranging from log-cabin bathhouses in the early 1900s to a seven-tower ski hill in the 1960s to the UFO H20 waterpark purchased from Expo ’86. Throughout its tumultuous history, the Lakelse Hot Springs have been frequented by residents of the northwest in pursuit of leisure, health, and entertainment. The various ambitions, economic downturns, and natural disasters reflect and inform patterns of history in northwestern British Columbia.
Kelsey Wiebe is the Curator of Heritage Park Museum, as well as an alumna of UNBC. Through her work at Heritage Park Museum, she developed a Community Memories exhibit on the history of the Lakelse Hot Springs. The material in this talk was collected for that project, which is available online at www.virtualmuseum.ca.
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February 25, 2015: David Bowering - “Citizens or Consumers? Health vs. ‘The Economy’”
Dr. David Bowering is a former General Practitioner and retired Chief Medical Health Officer with Northern Health. "The Economy" is frequently referred to in health-related terms: a "healthy economy," an "ailing economy," "an economy on life support," etc. Dr. Bowering has become increasingly interested in the relationship between our current obsession with the health of the economy and its effect on human health and well being. He will be discussing this from a professional perspective, as a long time resident of Northwest BC, and as a grandfather considering the prospects for both current and future generations. Rather than offer a diagnosis and a prescription Dr. Bowering hopes to help stimulate critical thinking about the economy informed by our current understanding of what makes people healthy.
- March 25, 2015: Norma Kerby - “Monitoring for Amphibians in Northwest British Columbia”
Since 2011, volunteers with the NWBC Reptile and Amphibian Monitoring Program have been monitoring amphibians from Dease Lake to Ft.St.James, and along Highway 16 to Prince Rupert and Kitimat. Over the last five years, interesting trends in amphibian distributions have been recorded in this successful citizen science program. Surprising aspects of the ecology of northern amphibians have important ramifications in the management of amphibian habitats.- YouTube & Livestream unavailable for this presentation
- April 22, 2015: Phil Burton - “Development of a Food Security Program at the University of Northern British Columbia”
There is widespread interest in local food production and sustainable agriculture in northern B.C. The extent to which young people are interested in these issues as a career is uncertain, however. Considerations in the development of a ‘Sustainable Food Systems’ undergraduate program, including options for regional delivery, will be discussed. Community input is invited.
Fall 2015 - Public Presentation Lineup (PDF)
- October 7, 2015: Mel Coulson and Daryl Hanson (Birchwood Cohousing) – “Intentional Communities and Telkwa’s Innovative, Intergenerational Birchwood Cohousing Project”
Learn about the principles of cohousing: environmental stewardship; sharing of common resources; participatory design and caring for our neighbours. - October 14, 2015: Alex Lautensach (UNBC Terrace campus) – “The Leap Manifesto: What’s It All About?”
This event is intended as a forum for public discussion. A brief introductory presentation will summarise the reasons why Canadians would benefit from programs like the Manifesto. In the light of those potential benefits, its fifteen demands will be interpreted and discussed. Participants are invited to comment and contribute from diverse perspectives and world views. - October 28, 2015: Rob Bryce (UNBC Continuing Studies), Kelsey Wiebe (Heritage Park Museum), Ken Newman (City of Terrace) – “Ghost Towns of Northwest BC Past to Present”
We will take you back in time during a historical presentation that will transport you from past to present exploring the fascinating stories of five of Northwest BC’s most historic Ghost Towns. Alice Arm, Anyox, Dorreen, Kitsault and Port Essington were all unique thriving Northwest BC communities at various times, but have now faded into obscurity like so many other resource based towns. Three presenters will discuss why these five ghost towns were so important to the history of Northwest BC and will show you a glimpse of what remains today. - November 18, 2015: Film Showing and Discussion: “The Power of One Voice” About the Life and Impact of Rachel Carson
The Power of One Voice: A 50 Year Perspective on the Life of Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson is widely regarded as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. She grew ups in Springdale, Pennsylvania, where she witnessed first-hand the beauty and genius of nature juxtaposed with the ecological devastation caused by industrialization. Carson’s widely recognized talent as a writer, combined with her deep knowledge of the natural world, made her a potent advocate for the use of the precaution when working with biological systems. In 1962 her best-selling book, Silent Spring, awoke the environmental consciousness of America with poignant words of caution in the face of rapidly advancing scientific progress. - November 25, 2015: Amy Klepetar (UNBC Terrace campus) and Matt Beedle (NWCC and UNBC): “Eight Thousand Kilometers in a Year: The Slow Way”
On a layover in an airport in 2012, we started half-joking, half-daydreaming about taking time off to have a big adventure together as a family. Before having kids, we had traveled quite a lot together, and had especially loved our bicycle tours. Since starting a family, our travels became mainly centred around seeing one set of grandparents or the other, and our adventures became shorter and much closer to home, although they were exciting nonetheless! Inviting passing cyclists to stay in our home through warmshowers.org and commuting to school and work by bicycle kept our minds in the bike touring world, and eventually the time seemed to be as good as any to set off on our own tour. We left Terrace in June of 2014 and spent the next year out in the world with everything we needed (including our two kids, aged 3 and 5 at the time) attached to our bicycles. We were loaded down, we stopped often, and we didn’t travel very far each day. However, we had the time of our lives and learned some important lessons about ourselves, our world, and the wonderful people in it.
In this presentation, we’ll talk a bit about planning and executing a trip like this, we’ll show photos from our trip including the sections in Europe, South America, and the Pacific Coast of the US, and we’ll tell stories from the road. - December 9, 2015: Rod Link (Terrace Standard): “Dealing with the Myths and Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Community Newspaper Business”