Fort St. John received two community leadership awards from NCLGA

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St. John has received two awards from the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) for community leadership. 

At the 2026 NCLGA annual general meeting and convention, which was held from May 20th to 22nd, the City of Fort St. John received the Community Leadership Award for Social Responsibility and the Community Leadership Award for Economic Development. 

NCLGA also gave city councillor Trevor Bolin a lifetime achievement award. 

During the June 8th Fort St. John city council meeting, the council presented the economic development award to the city’s manager of economic development, Stephanie Peters, and Victoria Butler, the city’s art and culture programmer. 

The council also presented the social responsibility award to the Council’s Response Committee on Housing and Emergency Shelter (CRCHES) committee. 

Butler said: “We applied for this award for the public art initiatives we did in collaboration with the mayor’s standing committee, through the business facade grant, as well as our artist and resident operating budget line.” 

“Overall, it’s been a whirlwind of two years, really trying to get this off the ground, and we’re really grateful to NCLGA for the award.” 

Through the public art initiative, the city has installed murals on walls, mini-murals on utility boxes and artistic bike racks throughout the city. 

When asked if there were any plans, she said: “Some of it’s still in the works because the FIFA celebrations are kind of monopolizing time right now, but we have more utility boxes that are coming.” 

“I think there are eight more [utility boxes] to be installed…there’s potential to do some more of the concrete barriers, the mini murals.” 

The CRCHES committee was founded in 2024 and comprises councillors Trevor Bolin, Gord Klassen, and Sarah MacDougall. 

“The Crutches Committee started with an idea of how [to] implement not only bylaws and policies, but how [to] do it with people in mind,” Bolin explained. “When I look at where the community was two years ago, what business concerns we were originally hearing when we did our walks to where we are right now, it’s a world of difference.” 

Bolin said the committee will hold another business walk in a couple of weeks. 

He added that the first business walk was a “nightmare of epic proportions,” during which the committee learned about the community’s issues. 

“The second one…was a complete reversal of what we’d heard from the first one, it was safety, security [and] happiness from not only staff but visiting guests and patrons,” he explained. 

“So I think the third one’s gonna be even better. I’m excited about it, and we will report back to you as we get closer to the fall and start to wrap up this year’s work.”