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Hospital site no longer an issue, Skidegate has other ideas

The fight between Queen Charlotte and Skidegate over the hospital site is definitely over, Skidegate Chief Counclllor Willard Wilson confirmed Monday afternoon."We don't want to fight about it any more," the recently-re-elected chief councillor said, "we got to move, there are other things we want to do together."Northern Health selected Queen Charlotte over Skidegate as the site for the new $20-million hospital on January 21, after both communities had lobbied long and hard for their own sites. Mr. Wilson's comments confirm what outgoing Councillor Richard Russ said last week, before the band council election. He said Skidegate won't try to block the decision because getting the hospital built is just too important."I had a talk with the Mayor of Charlotte," Mr. Wilson said Monday, and ''the decision has been made." He said now that this issue is no longer between them, the two communities can sit down and work on items of mutual interest. Mr. Wilson said Skidegate is still interested in looking after village residents who need care, and he also has other ideas for Queen Charlotte mayor Carol Kulesha."I reminded Carol this morning we have a swimming pool to build, we have a skating rink to build in this area, in this central area of Haida Gwaii," Mr. Wilson said. "It would be sure good if we had a swimming pool and a skating rink in our area for our people to enjoy." "Where there's a will, there's a way," he added.