“The day I drove across the Stuart River Bridge, I felt like I had come home,” said Jo Anne Alexander who moved to Fort St. James in 1982.
A retired nurse (who has currently come out of her retirement to help the community), Alexander is well known for her work with the Community Arts Council and Pope Mountain Arts where she is the program manager.
Alexander moved to northern B.C from Ontario as a community health nurse and says she received a warm welcome from the people of Fort St. James and other outlying communities where she provided services.
“I met a lot of people very quickly and the community was quite different back then, there seemed to be a lot more going on and the fire department was very active, there were a lot of social events, so I ended up meeting a lot of really great people,” she said.
It was the people and the heart of the community that she fell in love with.
“That’s the reason I’m still here,” she said.
Alexander’s association with the Fort St. James’ arts council started back in the mid-nineties when she joined as a board member.
“When I became involved with the arts council, I really believed in what they were doing and not just believed in it, but I appreciated what they were contributing to our communities,” she said.
She later stepped down from the board and took up the job with Pope Mountain Arts and the Community Arts Council. Alexander who is herself a weaver and fiber artist says she has a huge passion for the arts.
The arts community in Fort St. James has so much to offer people with so many hidden artists here, she says. “I love being here.”
Apart from her involvement in the arts, Alexander is an avid outdoor person who likes hiking and snowshoeing in the winter.
For someone who has called Fort St. James her home for over four decades now, she says there are a lot of benefits to living in a small community.
“I think when you don’t have any extended family in the area, there’s that sense of family and a small community through friends and people [who] are always willing to help out when you need it.”
This kind of community support is most important for families with young children and those who risk facing isolation, she says.
For people new to town, Alexander encourages them to come visit Pope Mountain Arts.
“It’s a great place to meet people… It’s a really good centre for healthy living – mental and emotional health. When you get into art, it really can be a healing medium.”