By Ethan Ready
The flag at the College of New Caledonia has been set to half-mast in honour of Berenice Haggarty who recently passed away.
In 1963, Haggarty was an original member if the Regional College Committee as the area pushed for post-secondary education. At the time, the only options for furthering your education was in Vancouver, limiting the accessibility to post-secondary education for residents in the Northern BC region.
CNC President, Henry Reiser says, “Berenice was truly a visionary in her day and worked very hard on this initiative, and many times by herself. She worked very hard to ensure that post-secondary opportunities were made available to students here in North-Central British Columbia.”
After successfully bringing college courses to Prince George, Haggarty then shifted her focus to establishing a CNC campus in Burns Lake in 1976.
In 2001, she received the International Year of the Volunteer Award. Two years later, she was then awarded the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award, recognizing her efforts and contributions to the community and Canada.
Haggarty’s passing came on January 15, 2019.