Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) thanks and extends its best wishes to Garry Merkel, the outgoing Chair of its Board of Directors. From Kimberley, Merkel was instrumental in the formation of CBT, first as part of the committee that negotiated with the Province of BC for the establishment of CBT, and then as a founding member […]

What's in a light? The readings on the first Sunday of the new year focus on Epiphany. An epiphany being one of those moments in life when the light comes on. A comic book illustration light bulb radiating lines over the head of the character concerned. The time a concept in physics or math finally came clear. Or understanding...

“Being determines consciousness, not consciousness, being.” “Philosophers have until now merely interpreted the world; the point is to change it.”                                                        - Charles Henry Marx “The crisis is not material, physical, or scientific, the crisis is spiritual.” “No one is transformed...

How will we use less energy in the year 2050? That answer just became a little clearer courtesy the hopes, dreams, imagination and creativity of 143 Kootenay Boundary students. The annual Kootenay Contraption Contest put on by the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST), GLOWS (Growing Learning Opportunities ...

 “History is just one damn thing after another.” John Masefield. “Life is understood backward, but lived forward.”Soren Kirkegaard This is it, the final column of Arc for the year 2012. This is the week I have often called “dead week” in my mind but not publicly (people would misunderstand!) because of my strange sense of...

I recently had the opportunity to attend a conference in Nanaimo sponsored by the Council of Canadians.  Maude Barlow and others in this social justice organization have been in the forefront when it comes to dealing with issues that threaten the very fabric of our nation. It was very encouraging to see the strong involvement...

The Scriptures of the Christian Church tell us that the birth of the baby in the manger at Bethlehem came at the end of one era, and the beginning of another. In Luke's Gospel, the Angel Gabriel visits first not Mary, nor Joseph, but one Zechariah, a priest of the temple of Yahweh, and his wife, Elizabeth, a descendant of...

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy recently released a policy study examining the system for testing organic products – or the lack thereof – in Canada. Authors Mischa Popoff and Patrick Moore drop the bomb on organic certification in Canada by revealing that organic crops are not systematically tested by the Canadian Food...

This photo by Jonathan Provencal on Dec. 16 confirms that the animal whose den is under the Motherlode ski lift on Granite Mountain's Links' Line is, in fact, a female wolverine. “I was suspicious about the tracks,” Provencal said, referring to the widely held opinion that it was a lynx’s den. “They didn’t look like lynx...

John the Baptist--by all accounts a wild eyed, camel-haired, fire-breathing, proclaimer of the word--is most well known for the words he reserves to those who came to hear him preach. Coming to cleanse themselves in the waters once crossed by their ancestors, on the completion of the journey from Egypt through wilderness....