This healing fire brought hundreds of people to the court house, where you could enjoy a lunch, listen to drummers, access many community supports, and more.

By Tommy Osborne

Healing Fires

Healing Fires celebrate third anniversary milestone

Mar 11, 2026 | 5:25 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Prince George Courthouse was packed with people outside, as hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the third anniversary of healing fires.

“It’s amazing, it’s beautiful to witness all of our community coming together,” said Akhil Kumar, Carrier Sekani Family Services’ Family Preservation Housing Outreach Coordinator.

Kumar says these began back in 2023, and on the second Wednesday of every month a different community organization, group, or business, will host it. On top of the hosting party, many support services are always present, letting people know what supports are available and how to access them. Kumar says over the three years, there has been a total of 39 organizations who have partnered together for this healing fire, such as government agencies, Indigenous Nations, businesses, and more.

“It started as an outreach effort to support people who were facing chronic homelessness, and other challenges such as poverty, addiction, mental health,” Kumar said.

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“It’s not just housing, it could be judicial help, it could be elders, it could be anything to do with culture and history, we talk a lot about truth and reconciliation. So it’s everything in life, everything that makes all of us exist in the city of Prince George and work together,” added Jim Lambert, the Prince George Urban Indigenous Coalition’s Coordinator.

The Prince George Urban Indigenous Coalition was the host for this month, and Lambert says there are 160 unhoused Indigenous people in the city, so he welcomes the opportunity to bring all these social services together to reach out to these people and let them know support is available.

“Today we’re here to recognize them, to help support them. Through the Coalition, we have so many supports and services that are available to them. But also, I like to educate the community itself to know that we have so many services and supports that are out there,” Lambert said.

On education, Lambert continued by explaining education and awareness is another huge goal of these healing fires.

“The more that we know about the problem, the better off that we are to help solve the problem for the individuals. And it’s the whole community, whether it be your RCMP, your health, your hospital doctors, the bylaws, to the outreach, to the youth at risk, workers. It’s just a whole community that we need in order to help the people that need the help,” Lambert said.

The fires take place outside the courthouse, making them easily accessible to anyone who would like to attend, and Kumar says that was an intentional decision, as the outdoor, open space is a big benefit.

“Some of the feedback that we get from the folks was that they feel they don’t feel comfortable showing up in offices, could be various reasons, right? So we decided to come outside and meet them, providing a culturally safe space where we can also share resources, share information, share stories, and interact with each other in order to support each other,” Kumar said.

Also taking place this week as a regional justice forum hosted by the BC First Nations Justice Council, and Lambert says those in attendance were challenged to further support the healing fires through donations and by attending. He was happy to say that as of noon on March 11, that call to action raised 700 dollars.