Community Living Month is being celebrated throughout B.C.
During the 16th annual celebration acknowledging contributions people with special needs make in their communities Soenag Macrae, CEO of Community Living B.C. and Linda Larson, parliamentary secretary for accessibility, visited Prince George Friday to attend AiMHi's pancake breakfast and tour the Prince George Native Friendship Centre.
"I'm really happy to be here to celebrate Community Living Month," said Macrae, who is new to the position of CEO.
Community Living B.C. gives funding to those who provide services to people who have developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorder or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
"We work in collaboration with those providers, with the families and with the individuals that we serve to make sure we are addressing their needs."
Involvement with their community, to live independently and to gain employment are the priorities, said Macrae.
"All members of the community need to feel like they are part of the community and one of the things we look at very carefully from the ministry end of it is: is everything accessible in the community?" said Larson. "I did put out a challenge this morning to the current councillors and potential councillors for the City of Prince George and asked them to spend an hour in a wheelchair going around their community just to see if it is easy to get in and out of public buildings and even small businesses."
Inclusion into the community is of the utmost importance, Larson said.
"I think it's just part of the social fabric of the community to be included," said Larson. "I think it's important for those who live in the north to see that people of all abilities are welcome here."
The Native Friendship Centre has many programs to assist members of the community.
The Smokehouse kitchen, for example, is one of the most successful programs. It includes all the workings of a restaurant, from food preparation to customer service. Students get several food service-related certificates, including Food Safe, first aid, first host, and W.H.I.M.I.S.
Alan O'Reilly, Smokehouse program coordinator, said the participants get the full experience. All food is made from scratch, and students learn how to bake, make soup and salads professionally or can learn these skills to develop personally.
Macrae and Larson both said they were impressed with the programs available to the people in the community and admired the work done by the staff and management at the Prince George Native Friendship Centre.
