News from Fort St. John City Council
National AccessAbility week celebrates creating accessible communities
For a long time, Fort St. John wasn’t a wheelchair friendly city. The sidewalks that were installed in the 1970s were deteriorating and causing hazards for both the able-bodied and disabled pedestrians alike.
In recent years, that has changed, thanks to the efforts of people like Lori Slater, Access and Inclusion Liaison with the Northern BC Tourism Association and Spinal Cord Injury BC. Slater has long been a proponent of improving accessibility in Fort St. John, and through her work as an advocate together with the city great strides in improving access for all have been made.
The revamp of the 100 Street corridor, for example, has improved accessibility for Fort St. John residents and visitors, Slater noted.
“It’s working,” she said. “It’s really nice to wheel down there and have the space to wheel and not have barriers in the way. I really feel that all that work that we did at that time has come to fruition, and it’s great to see.”
Following on from the 2021 Accessible BC Act, the Northeast BC Collaborative Accessibility Committee (Northeast Accessibility) was formed to provide a consistent approach to accessibility for people living with disabilities, living, working and exploring in Northeastern BC. It takes a regional approach to implementing the requirements of the Act, fostering collaboration and cooperation with partnering organizations to develop accessibility strategies.
Along with Slater, Jake Papineau, Northeast Accessibility Committee Facilitator gave a presentation to city council about the committee on May 27, and asked the city to proclaim May 26 to June 1 as National AccessAbility Week, and May 29 Red Shirt Day.
Papineau said that the purpose of the committee is to provide a forum for discussing issues affecting people with all kinds of disabilities in the region; to inform local governments of accessibility issues and solutions in the region and make recommendations for improvements; and to identify accessibility barriers and solutions to address them.
Since the committee started up in late winter, Papineau said that in terms of the accessibility issues they’ve heard about so far, “we heard lots about the importance of snow removal, just to make sure that spaces even if they’re designed to be accessible can remain accessible. We’ve heard things about just ensuring sidewalks are level, free of cracks, making sure they don’t have barriers on them like newspaper boxes that might impede the mode of travel,” he said. “We’ve heard a lot about accessible playgrounds as well.”
“If a concern comes to the committee as a whole, we will make sure if there’s a concern somewhere that we’re working to make sure that problem is solved, or we work together to get the information,” Slated explained. “I know myself I’ve been asked to do some assessments, going into the different locations and making suggestions on how they can be more accessible.”
Councillor Trevor Bolin thanked Slater for being committed to improving accessibility in Fort St. John for so many years and teaching previous councils about the importance of accessibility in housing and the community.
“We appreciate it and I’m sure everyone in the community appreciates it when they realize how much you’ve done,” Bolin said.
The Centennial Park stage will be lit up in red on Wednesday, May 29 in recognition of the Easter Seal Red Shirt Day.
Local taxi company asks for council’s support
Energetic Taxicab is seeking Fort St. John City Council’s support to expand services to customers in the North Peace by adding wheelchair accessible cabs to his fleet.
Despite there being four taxi companies serving the Fort St. John area, there are currently no wheelchair accessible cabs in use. Anyone with accessibility issues has to use the HandyDart, which has limited hours.
Sunpreet Singh, Energetic Taxicab’s owner operates the smallest taxi company in the city with just one cab in his fleet. In response to requests from his customers, Singh wants to add two wheelchair accessible cabs, which would bring his fleet up to three cabs.
“With the wheelchair accessible cabs, I can pick up other customers as well, but priority will be given to customers who need wheelchair accessible cabs,” Singh wrote in his letter to council requesting support for his application to the Passenger Transportation Board.
There is only one other taxi company in the city with a license for a wheelchair accessible cab, Teco Taxi, but it’s not being used. Singh says that if he receives approval for the two additional cabs, he “will try to use 100 percent of my fleet.”
At Monday’s regular council meeting, council voted unanimously to provide Energetic Taxicab with a letter of support.
New Community Safety Manager position provides frontline interaction for Bylaw Department
City council welcomed Erin Ferris to the newly-created position of Community Safety Manager at Monday’s regular council meeting.
In essence, the Community Safety Manager manages the Bylaw Department, Deputy Chief Administration Officer Darrell Blades explained. “She’ll be the front-line manager for our bylaw department and (will also be) working with a lot of our community groups and organizations on downtown safety and overall community safety.”
Ferris was born and raised in Fort St. John, and previously worked at Northern Health during the amalgamation of Mental Health and Addiction Services in BC while completing her Social Work degree in 2013. After that, she joined the Salvation Army in Fort St. John as Program Director, demonstrating a keen ability to conceptualize, develop and manage programs at the Northern Centre of Hope and Supportive Housing. Mayor Lilia Hansen said it’s nice to welcome “a new person to our team that can help us with the challenges that we definitely have.”
City proclaims May 26 to June 2 Pride Week
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