The old Carson fire hall in rural Grand Forks could be turned into the first Sikh temple in the West Kootenay-Boundary.

Arsh Dhaliwal, who is involved with the proposal and whose uncle owns the property on which the building sits, says it would serve the growing Sikh population in the region. On the 2016 census, 110 Sikhs were recorded. On the 2021 census, there were 410, of whom about 100 are in the Grand Forks area.

"A place of worship is really important to us," Dhaliwal says. "It's also a community centre. The closest gurdwara to Grand Forks would be Oliver, which is about an hour 30 [away] or Kelowna, which is even further.

"People do go that far, and obviously it's not that convenient, so they don't go as often as they would like. This would give them an option to pray more regularly."

Dhaliwal said establishing a local gurdwara would "set a foundation" where Sikhs can come together. He says they have been looking for a place for the last year and thought the former fire hall, which has been vacant for a few years, could fit the bill.

The Boundary has had a Sikh presence dating back more than 100 years, with many men working in sawmills, on farms, and on railways, but there has never been a temple in the region.

Dhaliwal said the building will require some renovation for their purposes, but is already sectioned off in ways that could be helpful. A gurdwara consists of a main hall to pray and recite hymns in. The former fire truck bays would be repurposed for this use. The other component is a langar hall, where food is served. Dhaliwal said the building's common areas would be converted into a kitchen and dining area.

Dhaliwal said they are working with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary and City of Grand Forks on a lease arrangement and to submit a rezoning application to the agricultural land commission, which will have to sign off on the building's new use.

While the building is owned by local government, Dhaliwal explained the property it sits on was acquired by the Stewart brothers of Kelowna in the 1970s, and leased to the city to build the fire hall. The property has since been acquired by another corporation which is working with the Sri Guru Ram Das Gurdwara and Cultural Society that wants to turn it into a gurdwara.

RDKB director Linda Kay Wiese, who represents the area, said she is "very pleased by the possibility of a temple here. It signifies growth for rural Grand Forks."

Dhaliwal said more Sikhs are likely to migrate to the Boundary from urban areas, attracted by more affordable agricultural land. Having a place of worship could be a decisive factor, he added.

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The woman who runs a regional education program for people who have family members with mental illness encourages anyone who needs help to get in touch with her.

"Often family members advocating for their loved ones don't feel heard or don't feel comfortable talking about what they're facing," says Reasha Wolfe of the BC Schizophrenia Society. "Having an understanding ear can sometimes feel like a game-changer."

Her program offers one-to-one support in advocacy and navigating the mental health and criminal justice systems. She hosts a family support group in person in Nelson and on Zoom that has participants from all over the West Kootenay. She also offers a six-week course called Strengthening Families Together and public education to address the stigma surrounding mental illness.

"We're getting better at talking about mental health and self-care, yet still there is a huge stigma, particularly around serious mental illness which often goes hand-in-hand with substance use disorder," she says. "Both of those things have their own stigmas that amplify one another."

Wolfe has been in the part-time position for about a year and a half while previously a colleague held it for six years. While she receives many referrals through social services and RCMP victim services, she says people can approach her directly. Some people only contact her once, while others need ongoing support.

Both those living with serious mental illnesses and their family and friends can feel isolated, she says, pointing to stories in the media about families facing tragic crises.

"The issues faced are not uncommon. Sometimes it can feel like the whole world is against you, whether you're the person living with serious mental illness or someone who just loves them."

All services provided through the society are free.

Wolfe can be reached at 250-505-2976 or 1-888-888-0029 or at westkootenay@bcss.org. You can also access resources at bcss.org.

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A local MP says a 30-hour vote in the House of Commons turned out to be a lot less onerous than he expected and even enjoyable at times.

"In a crazy way, it was kind of fun," said South Okanagan-West Kootenay New Democrat Richard Cannings of the marathon that began Thursday afternoon Ottawa time at the behest of the Conservatives and stretched until late Friday evening.

Cannings said normally the twice-yearly debate on budgetary items takes an hour or two, but "once in a while the opposition can get cranky and decide they're going to contest every line item."

That was the case last week. After putting in a full day, voting began around 5:45 p.m. and continued until 11 p.m. the next day.

However, Cannings feels the Conservatives misjudged the outcome, "because it certainly left the government feeling very on top of things. The Liberals I talked to were very happy at the end. If the Conservatives were trying to make them angry and sad, they did not do that."

Cannings said because the Conservatives were the only party voting against each motion, small groups of MPs from other parties were allowed to leave the chamber at times. He and a few colleagues were let out to have a nap between midnight and 3 a.m.

Cannings planned to return to his riding for the weekend and kept pushing his flight back as voting continued. Finally at 7:30 p.m. he and a few others left, although they were allowed to keep voting from their phones, and did so from the plane.

While it was the Conservatives' call to draw out the voting, Cannings said ironically their MPs were not there in strong numbers "because they didn't have to be. They know they weren't going to bring down the government and it was just all for show."

Nevertheless, he said the Conservatives voted to defund the RCMP and military, stop Canada's support of Ukraine, and "a lot of things that are dear to their heart."

While the votes may have been symbolic, the Conservatives' opposition to an armed forces training mission for Ukrainian soldiers earned the party a rebuke from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

"So they are playing political games and not getting the gains hoped for and making things worse in many ways," Cannings said.

Under house rules, MPs had to stay in their seats to vote and could not wander around unless they left the chamber and continued to vote by their phone app.

In between, members found a variety of strategies to kill times. Some signed Christmas cards to constituents. Some knitted. Cannings worked on speeches he has to give this week and, befitting his background as a biologist, entered data into an app called iNaturalist.

There was also constant back-and-forth between MPs of all parties.

"They're kind of fun off-the-record debates and rarely nasty, all kind of in jest," Cannings said. "After 30 hours of that, there are some amusing moments. You get to know people on some strange level. I went into it with a bit of dread, but by the end I thought that was a bit of fun.

"When you put 200 or 300 people in a room and force them to sit together for 30 hours, things get a bit amusing at times.

"The Conservatives did this to make a point and make the Liberals feel some pain. But they really failed because I think everybody who was there kind of enjoyed it in a way."

Cannings and other weary MPs are back in the house today.

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A man accused of attacking a Grand Forks community safety officer with a knife and destroying a city truck will stand trial in February.

Andre Robert Conn's case is due to open in Rossland Supreme Court on Feb. 27, although it's not clear yet how long it might take.

Conn is charged with five counts: assault with a weapon, mischief, uttering threats, and two weapons offences, alleged to have occurred Oct. 1.

At the time RCMP said the community safety officer approached a group at Gyro Park who were drinking alcohol openly and asked them to put it away. However, Conn is accused of pulling a knife and demanding the officer leave.

The officer backed up, but police said Conn continued to follow, and a few times even chased him.

Conn is further accused of smashing out the windows on a city work truck with a golf club and causing other damage, estimated at $5,000.

Originally Conn was charged with only mischief and uttering threats. After Grand Forks council wrote a letter to Crown counsel expressing their concern, additional charges were laid.

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Last week's postponement of a government apology to Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children sent to residential school in the 1950s came as a disappointment but no surprise to one of them.

Walter Perepelkin, who was 10 when he and his seven-year-old brother were taken from their parents and sent to New Denver, says the last-minute cancellation of the apology in the BC legislature is just the latest in a long series of letdowns.

Premier David Eby said he took responsibility, calling the single day's notice and then abrupt change of plans a "screw-up." An apology is now expected to come in February.

Perepelkin said while he expected New Denver survivors would finally hear the words they have been asking for, the delay continues a long line of government errors.

"The first screw-up was in 1953 when they took the kids away from their parents and put them behind a fence," he said. "Then in 2004, there's another screw-up, the statement of regret. I think it's just a strategy they're using, and it's terrible because what does it do to the survivors left? It's very wrong and they need a much better explanation."

In 1999, the BC Ombudsperson's office said the approximately 200 children deserved an apology and compensation for their mistreatment. Five years later, the best the government could offer was a non-apology for fear of exposing itself to litigation. Legislation subsequently made apologies inadmissible in civil proceedings, clearing the way for a more fulsome statement, but the matter stalled until the late 2010s.

This year, the Ombudsperson's office published a follow-up report containing a response from government suggesting an apology would finally be forthcoming this fall.

Perepelkin said MLA Katrine Conroy phoned him to personally apologize for the delay, which was attributed to a desire to allow survivors to be present in Victoria to hear it. However, he's not sure whether it's important for him to be there.

He added he is in the dark as to who has been consulted on how the apology should roll out and is frustrated that it continues to be elusive.

"I could see at the beginning, maybe they're not prepared, but when it's happening over and over again? Something is not right."

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A woman struggling to advocate for her daughter says the mental health care system "is really broken."

Barbara Doran's daughter was charged in January with stabbing another woman at Gyro Park in Grand Forks. She was released on bail after spending several months in jail and is now living in Kelowna awaiting a preliminary hearing early next year.

But Doran says she remains worried her daughter, who she asked us not to name, will hurt herself or someone else in the meantime.

Doran says her efforts to help her daughter, who is autistic and has developmental disabilities, have been stymied by privacy rules and institutional indifference.

"The system itself is designed to work," she says. "It's the people within the system who aren't taking things seriously or shrugging and saying 'This is too complex.'"

Doran says without the right interventions, her daughter won't get help for her mental illness. At various times in recent months Doran did not know where her daughter was and at one point police issued a missing persons report.

Doran said her daughter doesn't recognize she is ill and is often uncooperative due to oppositional defiant disorder.

"She needs help but the people supposed to help her say 'we can't without her consent.' Where does one draw the line? Human rights are very important. We should have the right to say no to things that are detrimental to us, but she's saying no to things that are beneficial."

Doran said she has been advocating for counselling, dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy for her daughter. She did have a counselling session recently, but when the counsellor was not able to continue, her daughter took it personally.

"She said 'Mom, I'm so broken, nobody even wants to help fix me. I should just go die.' She just feels like she's garbage and nobody wants to spend the time to help her."

Doran said her daughter is also reluctant to comply with medications and has not used them since her arrest.

This month her daughter went to a business and threatened to hurt herself. She was apprehended under the Mental Health Act and taken to Kelowna General Hospital but has since been voluntarily discharged.

"Suddenly her stay is voluntary and she can just discharge herself after behavior like that?" Doran asks. "That's one of the reasons I see the system as broken."

Doran said she is calling for "truly compassionate, trauma-informed care." She fears people like her daughter are treated like a "job to do" rather than human beings and suffer when professionals become frustrated with them.

While she agrees privacy is important, she said it can prevent people who "genuinely care from being able to help. When it hinders a person from getting better, then privacy is a detriment."

Doran said she has struggled with Community Living BC and other groups to get information about her daughter and has received different messages about whether consent can be provided or withdrawn verbally or must be in writing.

"I'm running into brick walls trying to advocate for her," she says. "On top of it, her mental health is such that she sees me as a threat when I'm not. She's just really ill. We're back at square one. I don't know what to do to help her."

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The provincial government's apology to surviving Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children sent to residential school in the 1950s has been postponed, probably to the new year.

It was originally expected to happen today. According to an invitation issued to those survivors, Premier David Eby was to deliver a statement in the BC Legislature "formally apologizing for historic wrongs to the Doukhobor community in BC. The premier will also announce significant investments in the community, and a subsequent apology in community will be scheduled in the new year."

However, shortly before the legislature was to convene, the assistant deputy minister for multiculturalism, Haiqa Cheema, wrote that the apology has been delayed to allow more time for community members to be present at the legislature to witness it.

"It is important for Premier Eby that we do this right," she said.

The apology was signalled in a response to the BC Ombudsperson's office, who issued a follow up report this year to a 1999 call for an apology and compensation.

About 200 children were sent to New Denver between 1953 and 1959.

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A man arrested last year following back-to-back attempted robberies has been convicted of two charges.

Jayden Cobb has been found guilty of robbery and theft and will return to court on Dec. 12. He is presently on bail.

At the time of the offences, police said a man demanded money from a gas station in the 2700 block of Central Avenue but left when he was refused.

The suspect was seen heading toward Extra Foods across the street. As an officer arrived, a second call to 911 reported a robbery at the supermarket. Police quickly arrested Cobb, who was 24 at the time.

Police said no weapons were displayed, no one was hurt, and no items were taken during either incident.

Cobb also faces a related breach of release charge dating to April of this year.

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Area B director Linda Worley will serve a third consecutive term as chair of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary.

She was the only candidate for the position at the board's inaugural meeting today.

"I thank the board in their confidence in my leadership for another year," she said.

In the race for vice-chair, Beaver Valley director Ali Grieve was selected over incumbent Grace McGregor, the director for Christina Lake, who had served seven consecutive terms and was board chair prior to that. The vote total was not disclosed.

The chair and vice-chair are elected annually.

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Three people have stepped forward to fill the vacancy on Greenwood city council.

Linda Moore, C.J. Rhodes, and Julia Torgerson are expected to run in a by-election to be held Nov. 18. The nomination deadline was Friday.

Rhodes is a former Osoyoos town councillor, who served there from 2008 to 2022.

The position on Greenwood council opened following the resignation of Jim Nathorst.

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