Council votes to fund memorial

City council pledged up to $5,000 in support of Prince George and District Labour Council initiative to build a public memorial to killed and injured workers in the city, Tuesday.
The objective is to have the memorial in place by April 28, 2006 for the Day of Mourning ceremony can take place there, according to a written petition by the labour council. The labour council requested $5,000 in support from council’s approximately $90,000 Public Arts Fund to match money raised by the group.
“I think it makes sense. But we can only spend our Public Arts Fund once,” councillor Don Zurowski said. “I’d like to see us leverage that Public Arts fund many times if possible.”
Zurowski said there may be groups willing to offer matching funds to support the project.
Councillor Brian Skakun said the memorial would be very timely, given the recent number of deaths in the forestry sector.
“It is leveraging and [the Public Arts Fund] was created for this purpose,” councillor Murry Krause said.
Mayor Colin Kinsley said the City’s public arts policy dictates that most or all public art objects should be placed downtown to beautify the city.
Council voted to approve the idea in principal and refer the planning details to city administration to work out.