wtf with these names?????

It is because aboriginals are disproportionately represented in the sex trade that they are trying to honor their heritage and encourage this recognition that they often name public service facilities from the local language.

I believe that it is the Sekkanni tribe of the Carrier nation that is predominate here.

For such a woods worthy moniker, I would think you would be more aware of such things.

& Friendship Lodge? Mental health facility & the first word looks like "nuts"?

btw - my name has nothing to do with the woods =] wink wink nudge nudge

most excellent innuendo and word play.

Oh my god the ignorance in here is insane. Perhaps even the editor of this site does not realize it (wouldn't surprise me if they didn't. Just a real reflection of most Canadians ignorance of Aboriginal people).

Sekani or Tsekanne people are very different from the Dakelh (Or Carrier for those stuck in the 70's) people whose traditional territory PG sits on. More specifically, the Lheidli Nation of the larger Dakelh nation is the place where we are.

The name is derived from the Dakelh language and there's nothing wrong with it all all, except that its hard to pronounce, much like Antigonish, Amherst, and what have you.

Funny how someone complains about the homeless and the PGNFC, city of PG, and the province come up with a solution, and yet people nitpick about something as little as a name.

Get some culture, learn something other than honky, I mean Caucasian, culture and try to be part of the solution rather than the whiny bitching part of the problem that pervades this site.

Cry me a river. I just don't think it's a well thought out name, that's all.

& sorry, but I don't have give a fiddler's flick about your "culture".

I object to the term 'honky' as being racist.

Howrd_B_Stern :

Why would a cultural guru such as yourself even bother to read this redneck, racist blog. Shouldn't you be out protesting for more bike lanes or something equally important to life in the north??

By the way thats another million bucks to house 17 people. Which of these is the one "following their dreams"?

With forestry in the toilet, we might as well become the social service capital of BC. At least it's work.

We can specialize in renovating people.

"fiddler" is a prejudicial term.....
$966,000 / 17 = $56,824 per unit. That is more like it when compared to the Queensway Hilton.

I realize the two facilities are not quite the same, however, one could build the 29 Queensway Hilton units for a total cost of $1.65 million if one were to find a similar quality of existing building.

Of course, we would have to call it the Queensway Holliday Inn in that case.

Hey Supertech. What's better?:

a) $1 million of public money to house 17 unfortunate people who would otherwise be on the streets, or,

b) $1 million of private money to house the blood-sucking, parasitic owner of the 'Gaming Centre' in town that exploits them?

The first group are social pariahs, and the second is a 'respected' community leader.

Go figure.

Ive seen some other "dreams" that have been fulfilled at joes place in the past.. Strippers earning college money to fuel their career dreams!

It seems to me that in this town where pissing taxpayers money into the wind is a favourite pastime, this project is well worth the money spent.

There cant be much wrong with giving people with real needs a place to stay, and a little bit of privacy, and freedom.
The alternative is to have them live on the streets, which hardly seems to be a solution.

The cost to run this facility on a yearly basis is $298,000.00 this is somewhat less than what we pay in yearly salaries to CEO"s of various Government entities, like Northern Health, BC Ferry Corp, BC Railway, ICBC, BC Transmission Corp, BC Hydro, Powerex, etc; etc; etc; These guys are the REAL welfare bums.

Howrd_B_Stern is quite right about the local language here being the Lheidli dialect of Carrier, not Sekani. The Sekani are our neighbours to the north, but their language, though related to Carrier, is not closely related. The article doesn't have the meaning of the name quite right: Nutesne means "dreamers" and yoh means "Building".

supertech@

Actually, having a clue about where they live is distributed across the political spectrum.

hey moses:
I agree with you on that note.

Giving the place a name using a native language is, in a way, labelling the place as a native oriented or native targetted center. If thats what you want, cool. Just dont try to pass it off as anything else (such as honouring this or that).
More to the point, I knew a guy once, now long gone who said that the east side of vancouver was the worst place in the world to try to get clean. Why? Because of the availability of drugs and the proximity of all his old (still using) friends. And they dont think the location is a problem eh? Go figure. My friend never got clean by the way.

I think this is a good example of responsible use of taxpayers' money.

The bursting of our decades long and historic credit bubble is forcing us to change from a "borrow and spend" (and living beyond our means) standard of living to a standard of living which we can afford to pay for. (What a novel concept.) Money is now a very precious commodity, and it must be spent wisely by individuals, businesses, and Governments.

Government revenues are down significantly because of this "great reset" of our economy, and as a result they have to spend less. Being in Government now is going to be a much more difficult job than it has been in the past. There is going to be a tremendous "fight" (so as to speak) over Government resources as no one wants to receive a smaller piece of pie.

Fortunately average taxpayers have a lot more votes than all of the "special interest groups" and because of this eventually most of the "excesses, imbalances and inefficiencies" which are now present in Government spending will be taken out of the system and (generally speaking) common sense spending of taxpayers' money will become the order of the day.

I was disappointed the City of Prince George did not come out and say that due to the very shaky state of the economy it is probably best to shelve any big spending plans for government buildings in Prince George for the time being, after (or at the same time) opinion250.com ran the following story:

http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/13506/3/city+says++rising+costs+of+policing+not+sustainable?id=140&st=30

I am sure glad B.C's largest newspaper (The Vancouver Sun) is running articles like this one:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Time+finance+minister+brakes+public+sector+gravy+train/1839817/story.html

In my post, when I said "government buildings" in the second from the last paragraph, I should have said "buildings paid for by the taxpayer", and I am including the Performing Arts Center in this.

I think this and the new Friendship Lodge are wonderful additions to our city. I witness the line-up at the St. Vincent's kitchen every day and am so very sad to see so many that have to rely on this resource. Unfortunately, the line grows bigger all the time. I'm happy to see a portion of my tax dollars being spent to keep those with mental health and addictions safe from the preditors on the street. I can't imagine how vulnerable they are when they are homeless. I imagine life without a safe place to come home to would be a survival game vs. a place where 'one who follows their dreams’ wakes every morning.

I suspect the dreams being followed are those of the ones who honestly want to help. "Word on the street" says the Friendship Lodge is rife with drug users already and when I go by on my way to Ft. George Park those I witness coming and going are known users and abusers. I pray the 'New Joe's Place' will be better monitored and part of making a change in their lifestyles and choices, not just a more comfortable place to be an addict while the social systems pay for the food and drugs.

AnnieMartin. While I can understand where you are coming from, there is a downside to supplying free food, clothing, rooming, etc; and that is it allows them to take the balance of their welfare and buy alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, and gamble.

The question is??? Is this really helping them, or is it ensuring that they will stay impoverished for the rest of their lives?????

I tend to agree with Annie martin. Here is a link to a welfare fact sheet for BC dated September 2008.

http://www.eia.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/2007/pdf/increase_ia.pdf

Some food for thought for Palopu who feels that provision of food and clothing only leaves money for drugs,alcohol, cigarettes and gambling. .

Take an example of a single, supposedly employable, person as defined by welfare.

After spending $375.00 on accomodation, the bare bones amount to get a place with 4 walls and perhaps a door that locks..... you are left with $235.00 per month, or about $7.70 per day to feed, clothe and cover all your personal needs including bus tickets to search for a job.


Could you, Palopu survive?

Palopu,

I like to believe that all it takes is one spark in a human life to grow a fire and make a change.

I did not know that they had released any information - statistics about the Friendship Lodge resident's that would allow me to conclude that they took the "balance of their welfare to buy alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and gamble.

Thus I cannot conclude what the residents of Nutesne Yoh would do with their "welfare".

I conclude that neither of these homes have been opened long enough to conclude anything but the positive hopes of all those who work hard to provide
"Welfare" (a synonym of wellbeing, benefit, happiness, good, & safety) on a daily basis.

I'd like to think that the probable intent behind these homes is to help the residents live the best life they can. Give them a place to start healing physically, mentally, and with a little more dignity.

Will this keep them impoverished? Again, all I know is that the intent behind the people who worked to get these homes, and those who work in the social services or "welfare", is to give people safety, health and wellbeing. The new tenants of these homes will be responsible for their lives - I wish them prosperity.

I guess I'm thankful for what I have and tend to think that if my cup is half full there is still enough in that cup to share.

Have a great long weekend.

I dont agree quazz. Your examples are institutuions with english names, intended for use by english speaking canadians (all of us). St vincent de paul , St johns hospital label these as religious organizations, but in the sense that it is a christian organization behind them.
If we name something in a language most folks dont understand we are suggesting that those folks are not the intended users.

Ah yes, of course. Manitoba is named after the Ojibwa word "manito-bah", and is thus just for those of aboriginal descent. As is Saskatchewan named after a Cree word and Ontario after an Iroquois word and Quebec after an Algonquin word.

And, of course, Canada has its origin from the Iroquois language.

Don't use the Nechako unless you are an aboriginal.

You would not do well in New Zealand where many place names are of Māori origin: Aramoana; Hauraki Gulf; Manukau; Moeraki; Otematata; Papatoetoe; Raumati, and so on.

"If we name something in a language most folks dont understand we are suggesting that those folks are not the intended users."

And why is it our schools don't teach at least the rudiments of the the native language of the area? While the schools do have a wee bit of First Nations content, it is so limited that I have encountered secondary school graduates who don't even know that this is Carrier territory.

"And why is it our schools don't teach at least the rudiments of the the native language of the area? "

Because the value of such knowledge is zero.

"Because the value of such knowledge is zero."

So all knowledge of the history and culture of the area in which we live is of no value?

It is of great value to us and the natives. It gives a clear vision that the old culture cannot prevail in todays technical world. You can keep your old culture if you want, but it is of no value except to you personally. I learned the language of my father as a child. It is now no value to me. The world is 'english' pretty well. Pilots and air traffic work in english world wide. We should get used to that and teach our children english first. They can learn any language they want when they get older and wiser.

At Tims they have a yellow cone that says wet floor in English AND in French. Same on the back door of our school buses. Lotta French people not well versed in English slipping on wet floors? Maybe the cone maker can put a few aboriginal language warnings on those cones in keeping with some of our local culture. As an aside, is the Braille on the washroom doors only in English too? bummer if it is.

Mandarin - 982 million native speakers, 179 million second language = 1.161 billion

Hindi-Urdu - 426 native speakers million

English - 335 million native speakers + second language = 850 million

Spanish - 328 million native speakers + second language = 417 million

When it comes to English as a first language, it is third in the world. It has a very large number of second language speakers. Even at that, Mandarin dominates.

But hey, when one lives in an English speaking environment, why would anyone think otherwise.

Palopu: "The cost to run this facility on a yearly basis is $298,000.00 this is somewhat less than what we pay in yearly salaries to CEO"s of various Government entities, like Northern Health, BC Ferry Corp, BC Railway, ICBC, BC Transmission Corp, BC Hydro, Powerex, etc; etc; etc; These guys are the REAL welfare bums."

In my book this is the best remark in respect to the Nutesne Yoh issue.

We need some *reform* at the fat cat top in order to have the money to do some real compassionate and meaningful work from the bottom up, in my opinion.

How much money does a person *need* to earn year after year after year when the salary is already at the quarter of a million or half a million level? What does one do with all the additional loot when the mansion and the holiday cottage, the Cadillacs and 33 foot yacht have been paid for?

It's insane and embarrassing greed for some to make so much of the stuff they can't take with them when others are living without a roof over their heads!

These huge extraordinary salaries which cost us hundreds of millions every year (not counting all the bonuses which they award to each other) are taken before any anything has been done, and even when the corporations show deficits.

Let's cut their salaries substantially and see if they quit their jobs! Not very likely, I bet.

"honky"?
Why are you using an afro american derogative? Man, you cannot even keep your own culture straight and you expect white eyes to.

You guys are blowing a lot of smoke. The place names of provinces and canada are clearly not the same as that of a treatment center. I dont see a lot of folks wandering around, looking for a province to live in based on its name. If you dont agree that the name of this place suggests, very strongly a native oriented (or dedicated ) service then i suppose you figure the native friendship center sounds race neutral too. Then again, you probably dont think so, you are just being argumentative maybe.
As for kids learning rudimentary native languages, which ones would you have us learn? MY heritage is not native, if it were, it would be cree i think, as i am from manitoba. We have two, count them, two official languages here in canada. I speak them both. Are you advocating maybe a hundred more official languages?
The rest of the world can speak what they want, of what relevance is it to canadians?
At some point throwing sand in peoples eyes defeats the point of rational discussion. The number of people speaking different languages around the globe is meaningless to the discussion at hand. If you want to discuss something, make your point, and make sense. A clear statement such as: 'I think people will not confuse this with a native only resource' would go further than a bunch of misdirection and sarcasm.