Karm Manhas, candidate for city council, literally pointed his finger at the incumbent city councillors during an all-candidates forum Saturday at UNBC's Canfor Theatre.
When Manhas was asked “What are your priorities when it comes to funding local arts, sports, and social services such as the public library? And please be as specific as possible," he said he would forego the question and directed people to his answer on his website and then made his way from where he was seated in the second row of candidates to take centre stage of the theatre where he turned to the incumbents seated in the front row.
“The homeless have not had a toilet for four years,” Manhas said in a loud voice. ”I’m here to make change. Garth Frizzell, you have been here for 20 years. How come there’s no critical voices that speak up? There always needs to be another voice.”
Manhas backtracked a bit and mentioned some of the incumbents who have a good reputation within the homeless community, including Brian Skakun.
“There is so many solutions,” Manhas said. “I have so many solutions. I propose we gut the entire city council. You failed!”
There were some rousing shouts of agreement and some applause from the audience.
“Every single downtown business that I have gone to think that you have failed,” Manhas continued. “Why can’t you provide a toilet? Why could you not have provided a toilet? Everything you are saying is such hypocrisy.”
In attendance at the forum were city council incumbents Cori Ramsay, Kyle Sampson, Garth Frizzell, and Susan Scott, and candidates Tim Bennett, Richard Cook, Doug Jeffery, Trudy Klassen, Colleen Mahoney, Wesley Mitchell, Karen Muir, Ron Polillo, Nour Salim, Paul Serup, James Steidle, Chris Stern, Cameron Stolz and John Zukowski. Brian Skakun was not in attendance because Saturday was his son’s wedding day.
“How would you approach the city’s relationship the Lheidli T’enneh and other Indigenous organizations? Be as specific as possible.”
Ron Polillo answered this question first.
“I think this is where I can bring a lot of experience from my role as a school trustee at SD 57,” Polillo said.
There is an action plan in place within the school district for Truth & Reconciliation.
“I will be honest with you there’s not much of a plan for Truth & Reconciliation but they do have a fairly good relationship with Lheidli T’enneh,” Polillo said. “I would enhance that relationship but with that as well I would really work with my council colleagues and the residence of Prince George to put a strategic plan, an action plan for Truth & Reconciliation.”
Paul Serup said his approach might differ from other people’s on this issue.
“I actually think we should emphasize our ethnic differences as little as possible,” Serups explained. “I think we should – as Martin Luther King said – judge people by their character, not by their ethnicity. I also disagree when people say we are on the unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh because two square miles were sold to the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1912 where the City of Prince George is now. I think we should have excellent relations with everybody regardless of their skin colour. I think I might be a little ahead of my time but I think that’s the way we should do it.”
James Steidle referred people to his website for more comprehensive answers than what he could provide in the 90 seconds allotted to him.
“Yesterday I was a Lejac Residential school (for the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation) and I hung out with some friends and listened to powerful stories and we realized we have to have meaningful reconciliation and meaningful relationships with our Indigenous brothers and sisters,” Steidle said. “I don’t think making a new policy for the city is going to cut it. I think we’ve really got to re-establish a relationship and one of the specific ideas I have is something that celebrates Indigenous culture, technology and identity. I don’t think we really have that in this town.”
He thought making the space that used to be Northern Hardware into an complex for wood working shops, art studios, a space for language classes and to provide a space to purchase items created by Indigenous people like rawhide snowshoes or dugout canoes, would be beneficial for all residents, he added.
Doug Jeffery also answered the question and said it felt a little unusual as a ‘white guy’ to be talking about relationships with Indigenous people.
“I think they should be the ones participating in the forum more directly,” Jeffery said. “Going to a potlatch as a city councillor would be a good step.” He went on to say the situation downtown is tragic for everyone, the business people and the Indigenous population.
Incumbent Garth Frizzell also answered the question by talking about Chief Dolleen Logan speaking before council during their last meeting at City Hall. Logan credited Mayor Lyn Hall with doing more to build a relationship with the Lheidli T’enneh than anyone else before him.
“It’s not just about renaming a park, and it’s not just about creating a partnership on a hydrogen facility... it’s going to be an ongoing piece and it’s going to be a long road,” Frizzell said.
He said he’d like to make it a priority.
“We have a lot of work to do in a lot of different areas and we need to keep that ball rolling.”
The all-candidates forum was in partnership between the Faculty of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities at UNBC, CKPG, the Prince George Public Library and the Prince George Citizen.
For more on the forum, the Prince George Public Library will be posting a video this coming week on its election page.
