'The emptiness of it all': Why the COVID-19 pandemic is particularly challenging for northern B.C. communities

Prince George filmmaker Darrin Rigo has been observing the change in attitude among his friends and neighbours, so much so he made a video about how the pandemic is affecting his community. The short film is called #TheNorthTogether, and the hashtag has been gaining traction across central and northern B.C. since he posted it.

I think part of why this pandemic is so hard is because of who we are. The city, these small towns, this whole region in northern B.C.: Our foundation is how we come together.

I work downtown at the Northern Development Office, and I really did feel kind of integrated into the community that is Prince George.

It was really nice, on my lunch, to go walk over to Wasabi or Zoe's Java House, or any of the great restaurants that are downtown. Inevitably, you run into half your old university classmates or a couple of colleagues. I really do miss that community — even thinking about it right now I kind of get sad. 

Filmmaker Darren Rigo captures the emptiness of Prince George amid the COVID-19 pandemic in #TheNorthTogether:

I was at the grocery store doing the weekly grocery shopping. I ran into an old colleague from the university; we saw each other from across the produce aisle and there was that inclination of "I want to go talk to him" and catch up with someone I haven't seen in a while.

We both, at the exact same moment, paused — we realized we couldn't do that.

I saw it in his face and he saw it in mine. There was such a complicated feeling between the two of us in that moment. That moment really stuck with me. 

And then, the other night, at seven o'clock, I went for a walk. I wanted to capture how the downtown feels. It's kind of spooky, I suppose. 

We used to go downtown, grab dinner or something like that on weekday nights. Inevitably, it's hard to find parking. You see a few people you know, and there are cars out and about, people are walking around, especially at this time of year as the sun is starting to come out. 

None of that was happening there. 

There were maybe five cars. I saw a bus driving in the streets. I think I saw a grand total of two people walking, but they looked like they were just trying to get from A to B. It elicited this overall, kind of like, eerie and sombre feeling. It was really profound, the emptiness of it all.

Living here means going out in –40 C to get to work. It means running into three people you know at the grocery store and it means pulling over to push a complete stranger out of the snow.

I think that's why it feels so strange. And I wish I could tell you that this gets easier but I don't know that it will.

Maybe if we don't think about it as doing it alone. But instead, we think about it as something we're doing together. Our community coming together, in the North, together.