Camping trip turns into cat rescue mission
A camping trip to a remote Vancouver Island beach for a married couple from Victoria turned into a rescue mission to save a house cat.
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CTV News
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Morning Update: Premier Ford defends Minister
Ottawa Watch CTV Morning Live Hosts Will Aiello and Rosey Edeh have your Thursday morning headlines.
CBC
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In Mackenzie, B.C., a former gurdwara is finding new life as small town demographics change
When Surinder Takkar and his parents left their home in Punjab, India, for a new life in Mackenzie, B.C., in 1981, there were about 85 other Sikh families living in the small community between the Rocky and Omineca mountain ranges. Takkar's is now one of the only Sikh families left there. "We try to keep up the gurdwara but when COVID happened, we [had] to close it," said Takkar. He said over the years it became increasingly difficult to maintain the building, constructed in the early 1980s once serving nearly 400 Sikh residents. "There's only four or five [Sikh] people living in Mackenzie, right? So our community decided we have to do something about it because four people cannot handle that building," he said. Now as small town demographics change, the once bustling gurdwara is finding new life as the future home for many of Mackenzie's local community groups. Mackenzie was established in 1965 to support the development of two saw mills and a pulp mill but in 2008, the town of about 4,000 experienced significant mill closures that saw over a thousand forestry workers lose their jobs. "The Sikh community was a very, very important part of our community for many, many years," said Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson. She said that since the mill closures, many of the Sikh families relocated to the Lower Mainland, retired or followed their children who moved away for post-secondary schooling. "Most of them have left the community." Community centre Takkar said the Mackenzie Sikh Society asked the District of Mackenzie if any organizations could use the gurdwara. At the same time, the Mackenzie Community Arts Council happened to be looking for a new building. "The building was falling into a state of disrepair and wasn't being used," said Community Arts Council president Michelle Bobrel. "But as artists we kind of just saw the potential." Now, they're busy renovating the gurdwara to make a home not only for the arts council, but for other local community organizations including the local potters guild and the Mackenzie Men's Shed, a support group for men. "This is a place where you can learn and do things and meet people. That's what I'm excited about," said Men's Shed volunteer Knut Herzog. Although the Sikh population has drastically declined in Mackenzie, Sikh communities are growing in other parts of northern B.C. "I would say part of me is a little sad to see some of that community move away from the north," said Gurkirat Kaur Kandola, who grew up in Prince George but spent time travelling to Mackenzie and other communities in northern B.C. for religious events. She now travels across the north as a locum pediatrician and has noticed growing Sikh communities in places like Fort St. John and Terrace. "It's also equally as heartwarming and incredible to see that a lot of the young generation and newer immigrant population is choosing to call northern B.C. their home and create another sense of community among the Punjabi Sikh population." Kandola said she's not surprised the Sikh community in Mackenzie has donated the gurdwara so that it could remain in use for the community, as selfless giving is a core principle of her faith. "I'm very proud to see that happening," she said. Retaining the building's Sikh history Bobrel said that although the arts council is making major changes, they want to retain elements of the building's history and are naming it after Herb Singh, one of the first Punjabi Sikhs to come to Mackenzie in the late 1960s. "We can help the community and pay forward the gift that we've been given," said Bobrel. "We'll make sure that everyone knows what made this possible." Betty Chahal, Herb Singh's daughter, said her father was instrumental in establishing the Sikh community in Mackenzie, often spreading news of work opportunities in the local mills to friends and family in the Lower Mainland. "I think he would be quite honoured to know that he was being remembered as somebody that lived there for a long time," she said. Chahal said she has good memories of the gurdwara, but admits it needs a bit of TLC. "It's exciting that it will be able to be used for something else and not just kind of go to waste because it is such an important building in our religion." On Aug. 23, the arts council will celebrate the project with a groundbreaking and a mural unveiling. "It's building the community so that in 10 years or whatnot, we're thriving and people won't be able to say ghost town because of the closures, curtailments," Bobrel said. "I'm here to say that this town is an underrated treasure of the Rockies."
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Engineering professor Eric Burnett was demanding and supportive both at home and in class
Eric Frederick Peter Burnett: Dad. Engineer. Opera lover. Teacher. Born Jan. 7, 1937, in Roodepoort, South Africa; died March 13, 2025, in Richmond, B.C., of dementia, aged 88. Eric Burnett could never quite believe he'd reached the age of 88, but he liked that he had as many years as there are keys on a piano. He was born to Eileen and Peter Burnett, the eldest of three boys. The family lived on an acreage on the outskirts of Bulawayo (then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe), a rail hub from which Peter worked as a train conductor. Eric and his brothers, Basil and Hylton, had a series of pets, including fox terriers and duikers, small antelopes whose babies they'd find abandoned in the bush. At 11, Eric was sent away to Grey High School – a three-day journey by train. Boarding school meant sudden independence. Eric developed a hard-nosed self-sufficiency, taking up boxing (permanently deviating his septum) and for the first time getting high marks. His teachers broadened his horizons, he said, introducing him to literature and art, and sparking an interest in travel and higher education. He was the first in his family to attend university, taking the gold medal in civil engineering with his BSc at the University of Cape Town. A full-ride Shell scholarship enabled his MSc (engineering) and Diploma of Imperial College, and he eventually earned his PhD from the University of London. While there, friends introduced him to Angela Towert, a vivacious, whip-smart librarian who'd grown up in South Africa. In 1964 he moved to Canada for a teaching post at the University of Waterloo, and soon wrote to invite Angela to join him on his transatlantic adventure. In February, 1965, they were married in Toronto. On their wedding day, with his lifelong talent for understatement, he told his bride, 'You look quite nice.' Their marriage of 58 years survived – and by many measures thrived – because his praise was as sincere as it was precious. Eric's humour was mostly wry, and he shared his love of British comedy with his children, Alastair and Gillian. He laughed hardest and longest at his son's jokes, especially when they were at his own expense. And they often were. An avid photographer, Eric's pictures of buildings outnumbered those of family. His kids would jokingly point and yell, 'Salt damage!' to get his attention. As a parent, he was both supportive and demanding. He celebrated his children's successes and left no doubt of their failures. His talent for math skipped a generation, and Gillian would sometimes find a handwritten note on her report cards: 'Inadequate.' He brought the same high standards to his work. Over his distinguished 25-year career teaching civil engineering at Waterloo, students would occasionally call him at home to request extensions. If his children answered, they'd advise them not to ask. Eric was proud of his industry partnerships and advocated strongly for women in his male-dominated profession. He was the founder and director of the Building Engineering Group until 1996 and a senior consultant and technical director with Trow Consulting Engineers Ltd. In his career's second act, the couple moved to the U.S., where Eric held the Hankin Chair in Residential Construction at Penn State from 1996 to 2005 and was director for the Pennsylvania Housing Research/Resource Center. Upon retirement, his team threw a party featuring a life-size cardboard cut-out of him asleep at his desk. His humility and sense of humour pervaded everything he did. In retirement, they moved to Richmond, B.C., where Eric co-authored an engineering textbook and worked as a consultant at RDH Building Sciences. At 69, a stroke forced him to spend more time on his many hobbies. He was a serious collector of stamps (specializing in southern Africa), wooden boxes and hippo figurines. He surrounded himself with Folio Society hardcover classics, paperback murder mysteries and classical music. You could tell he was home by the strains of Puccini wafting through his office door. He adored his grandkids, Jasper and Alice, whose childhoods he helped shape. Eric's world got much smaller when Angela died in 2023. While he wasn't a naturally demonstrative man, his last chapter was distinguished by an easy and moving affection for those he loved. His continued laughter at Alastair's jokes – and an occasional zinger of his own – was a gift right up until a few days before his death. Gillian Burnett is Eric Burnett's daughter. To submit a Lives Lived: lives@ Lives Lived celebrates the everyday, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who have recently passed. To learn how to share the story of a family member or friend, go online to
