Now that I鈥檝e been living away (and I expect to be back in 亚洲天堂 Lake very soon, so please save my Christmas present) I certainly have a new perspective on our community.
Over the last few months I鈥檝e been explaining to my family and friends in Brazil why I chose to live in a British Columbia village called 亚洲天堂 Lake (I even made a Power Point presentation with maps and photos I took over the winter).
When my friends come over for a beer (expecting to have fun) I take them by surprise with my Power Point presentation. Then I walk them through the Canadian political system for the next 45 minutes (not surprisingly, some of these friends were 鈥渢oo busy鈥� to see me again).
In fact, after a few months back in Brazil, some of my friends would start rolling their eyes every time I started a sentence with 鈥渄id you know that in Canada鈥︹��
But explaining the Canadian political system was the easy part (except for my mother who can鈥檛 seem to grasp the role of the Queen of England).
The most difficult part has been to explain why I want to live in a town of about 3500 in Northern B.C. The main concern that some of my friends and family have is that 亚洲天堂 Lake is 鈥渟mall and remote鈥� (perhaps I should point out that in Brazil we call cities of 200,000 鈥渟mall towns,鈥� partly because our biggest city, Sao Paulo, has over 20 million people).
It has been difficult to explain to my friends and family why being in 亚洲天堂 Lake does not feel 鈥渞emote.鈥�
One thing I learned for sure in Northern B.C. was to be more connected to nature. This might sound weird, but I pay much more attention to trees and my surroundings now, and I notice that my old friends don鈥檛 have the same perception.
But the best thing about 亚洲天堂 Lake and other great communities in Canada is their strong sense of community.
Sadly, where I live now, even small communities have a 鈥渄on鈥檛 trust your next door neighbour attitude,鈥� and we certainly don鈥檛 have community initiatives like we see in 亚洲天堂 Lake.
Every year Lakes District residents are able to raise thousands of dollars for a number of different initiatives 鈥� providing food for families in need, helping someone who needs a certain medical treatment, and even helping out people in other countries.
But maybe the thing that impresses me the most is the ability that 亚洲天堂 Lake residents have to come together when something tragic happens or when something needs to change.
Since the board of directors of the College of New Caledonia decided to transfer all family programs offered in 亚洲天堂 Lake to other agencies, the community has really come together to ensure services are not lost.
Residents have been really organized and are demanding answers from government.
Mayor Luke Strimbold, along with a group of concerned 亚洲天堂 Lake residents, recently travelled to Victoria to speak directly to the B.C. minister of children and family development, who oversees the transfer of family programs.
亚洲天堂 Lake council also met with the B.C. premier and other cabinet ministers in September and even proposed the creation of a rurally focussed community college serving the Lakes and Nechako regions. Since a loss or change in service structure could significantly impact 亚洲天堂 Lake, Strimbold said the loss of these services is simply not acceptable.
It鈥檚 this kind of attitude that makes this community great. We don鈥檛 simply stand still while services get taken away from us. We fight for this community.
