~ Report outlines.

‘By BRIAN GREGG re
M.. Vander, Zalm’s, ‘B.C.
iet’s-Advisory Council for

prtliminary:” report with the

“upstreamed’”’
‘mainstreamed. ;
_ Canada ranks the lowest: of
id couhtfiess examined . by the
Council for: “providing - benefits

‘for total’ ‘disability:.and ‘'B.C. .
7 bottom of the list“

“ranks heart
‘in Canada. :
“ “All provintes provide inade-
“quate benefits,’ s Says the report.
“To he disabled in Canada i isto
: be poor and ta receive a level of
“assistance below:- -any.oF ihe’
-¢stablished poverty: lines,?? -
. The Council, which is looking:

for i input from disabled people

/on the report, has judged the
“Province and found. a wide
> disparity of needs in all

” categories ‘including ‘income:

-Bupport, housing, transporta-
tion, medical services, technical
aids, equipment and supplies,
Support services, and tong. term
sare.

© Dental care was considered
- adequate in. 1988- when it
dropped from $700 to $500; and

_ proximately 25 per cent, wa
of cases people on GAIN are
“provided by Social Services and

balance the rest of the rent-is
paid out of food allowances. .

units for!
disabilities,
One: of the main handicaps.
for ‘people with disabilities is the
:special. classification they are
“put into by peensauctard ode
- ithe needs,o ane gi €. seen
BS pedal ihen they Beteine pit
téd 2 against’ ‘the ‘needs arid rights
‘of the rest ‘of: the. population,”
says ‘the report.
Instead it suggests that socie-
ty. ‘inust begin to see alt nan-

“people =

ah handicap

‘ons :.with Disabilities,

costs have since increased by ap--

. Inthe overwhelming majority
‘paying more for housing thanis .
Housing. To make up’ ‘the:
“One recommendation is that
B.C. Housing .. Management -

Commission - ‘build-more rental °-
with

oblems |

‘people as “tem.
porarily able bodied’? who will

“eventually become diabled
1 . through old age, accident or
‘created..in 1989, has issued its -

disedse, Society must. begin to

, handle people with care by ad-
“basic” ‘Tecommendation.- ‘that’, “di
B.C.’ 5 disabled need - to. be:

ing: safety features to homes

and automobiles — to establish f&
instead of ©
* the sale of guns and other
"Weapons, « °

low-speed limits and to prohibit

But this won't be done if peo-
ple with disabilities are seen as
being different from the rest of
society, the report says.

. Terrace Standard, Wednesday, : December 48, 1901 ~

The one area'which concerns fa

the majority of disabled people

is the lack of. income, The -

Council wants GAIN rates in-
creased at minimum to the low
income cut-off, lines (about

$14,078) -established by
’ Statistics Canada and used by

the National © Council on
Welfare, .

“The Social ‘ Planning: and

Research Council (SPARC)
‘determined. that the “‘monthly
subsistence costs’? of a single

male in December: 1989 (were 9
$817.55 while the actual income .
this month in 1991 is about §

$600.

The’ NDP government,
haunted by the ‘ghost of the
1972.NDP government, is ap-

parently. fudging On its election.

_promise.; of .an immediate | in-
crease for GAIN recipients after
its victory in October. '

The Council condemns the
federal ‘government's: five per

Cent ‘ceiling on’ increases in its -

share -of Canada Assistance:
Plan financing in B.C, ‘which
has reduced funding available

to services for the disabled.

~ B.C, ‘hasan. “uncoordinated
‘‘patchwork”” of . services
available ‘to "people. “with

- disabilities. GAIN recipients are.

subjected to policies that are in-
terpreted differently by the
Ministry of Social Services!
Tegivhaloffices 46 thitaccéssto
information and benefits is: in-
consistent, says-the report::.

People are: frequentiy: not in-
- formed of the“appeal process.
People -are not: encouraged. to-

have an advocate present during

REALITIES OF disabled life came home to Donald Thomson of Uplands Elementary School this nast

June. He and other students joined Northwest Community College employees in experiencing what it

would. be like to have a disability,

the application processo:. . “abt rm
_& lack’ of appropriate train-

ing ‘among government staff,
-poor pay and high staff tunover
serves to. aggrdvate the frustra-

tion, related. to ‘administration.

Whee there are adminsirative

vdelayéi in:.-receiving. (homofits 5: sons “wanting a laopy. of. the 1
~benefits are not granted retroact:

tively. Persons with a non- .

_ Visible disability are often not
‘informed about GAIN for han-

dicapped.
Handicapped/disabled.. -per-

réport which is also-available on

audio cassette, can call the

Council at 1-800-663- 1107.

Brian Gregg is a writer living
in Terrace. :

“TERRACE — With the change
‘of: government in the province,
‘@jproponent of -geo-thermal
_j power. development in the nor-
west... is. thinking of trying -

Brian: Fairbank. of Fairbank -
neering. in“ Vancouver - this.
turned down in a bid:

thermal, power at the south end
“Of rLakelse ‘Lake.

ook upon ease I power

ry. wing. imper heated

‘The process. as. “outlined by -
jirbank: also inyolved return- ;

- used water
ni erground. .

' ante todrill three test wells to

Be ; ae ge
, ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 2 ne ee ee ee

7e0 t

possibility of geo- .

¢-Party has tended to - ;
Vy. sr niater next spring... ;

oem power is pro- .

‘This. spring Fairbank said he .
tHe?south Gf Mount Layton ©

‘ The ‘fesulli he “explained,

"would determine -whether there ony

was ‘sufficient ° ‘super:heated:
“water: : trapped:

struction “of:
viable, +
~ They woul
whether there’ Was. any. daiiger
the amount: of. ‘water drawn: ‘by.
such a Plant: ‘Would. t effect. the

“New a government to be approached - ; eee

hermal project revived

The first request for explora tory driting at Lakelse
lake was rejected. this spring when the Kitimat--
Stikine regional district called for a ban on all such,

activity within: Skm of Mount Layton Hotsprings. :

“supply of water. at. ‘the hots.

ings.

Fairbanks exploration. Te
quest was: rejected. after. the
Kitimat-Stikine regional district

called-for a ban on all, drilling

within 6kms of the resort.

The district adopted” that

~ position. after vociferous: op:

~ position from hotsprings: owner

any ‘such development posed a
threat’to his business.

Fairbanks last week em-
phasized he had sought an ex-
ploration: permit only. “I still
believe. the problem last time
was: people assumed it was a

_ permit to develope,” he said.

Bert Orleans who maintained

coed’ with his’ isjery small scale
study” and determined, power
generation was viable, Fairbank
pointed out he would. have had

to go through exactly the same

process as the proposed Orenda

., mill before getting the go-ahead
. Skeena MLA. Dave Parker 7

also rejected Fairbanks request
-.. for support.

to'build a power plant. !

That could: include: taking
local: government represen-
tatives - to see. operating ge0-
thermal plants in the “United

- States,

‘Lronically, he said constitic-
tion of the Orenda mill ‘could
provide very useful information
for his project. He explained the
milf development included drill-
ing “a. fairly big industrial
well’?

Although the proposed mill

‘Site was well away from the area

da will go through the same sort
of strata rock, Fairbank added.

Information obtained from ,
the Orenda well would likely

reveal the content of the rock at
the south end of Lakelse Lake,
what the “draw down” effect

“was around the well and how

far out from the well water was
drawn.

The last two should show
whether there was enough
super-heated water beneath the
Lakelse Valley to support both
& power plant and the hotspr-
ings, said Fairbank, .

Fairbanks said he will delay a
approach until the new govern-
ment and energy minister Anne
Edwards had time to settle into
their jobs.

“In three or four months r Nl
probably visit them, let them
know about geo-thermal and
see how they feel,” Fairbank
added.

As for explaining his pianis to
the. Tegional district, he'said, “If |
there is a next time, 1 will doi ita
lot: differently, I understand: a
little’more where the fears | are

Army. -!
‘They are. ‘fom Toron-

; “to: They go to the Salva-
: ton: ‘Army school there. .

"They are here for two

‘; weeks, -They help with —

the. ‘Christmas ham pers.
“The. stuffed bear in
the, oipigture ds og
rc s present fora

| Beth and David Pearo
owe are with: the: Salvation -

au he had been allowed topro- of his proposed test drill, Oren- coming from.”
+
It fell into an
- Outhouse pit at Kleanza
- Park.
Parks workers wanted

: . . : Mee
ego p che erg} wea glo ERR re aman 2 2.

t
ee ee

7 bear to sleep.
“the bear out of the pit:

, thought the bear

to shoot a dart into the
bear. It would put the.

— Page, AS,

LETTERS

TO THE’ TERRACE STANDARD |

Fishy
coastal

«

story

Dear Sir: ‘

There was a time that the
B.C. fishermen started giving
up fishing time to conserve
the fish, to let more up the
rivers to spawn.

This was the time that
‘J there were lots of steelhead
everywhere, the Skeena
system included. The trollers
used to start fishing in April-
May. Now they don't get to
fish until June-July,

The gill-netters were get.
ting to fish the early spring
salmon and then on through
toe October for the fall dog
salmon runs, The same with
the seine fleet.

Now the gillnet and seine
fleet are lucky to. get three
weeks fishing time at one or
two days each week over a
shorter period.

Now let’s go back to those
same early years. .The
population along the Skeena
has increased. The same
family that bought. sockeye
from the natives in 1965 has
grown. They now have
families of their.own.

They are still buying fish
from the natives, but. now
they are canning for four
families, not one.
relatives would like a few jars
of that wonderful product so
they can a little extra to give
away.

At the same time the
highway is improved and you
can buy a fishing licence to
fish salmon with a rod on the
Skeena. So they start cat-
ching coho. Then comes the
visiting relatives and the
tourists.

The new logging roads
have opened up and you can
now reach the headwaters of
the Copper, Morice, Kispiox
and Nass rivers by just driv-
ing ‘there. This is.-the -bad.
Part. pean tyne Lei
-The fish that have. réached,
the spawning grounds are
now in danger. The steelhead
was pretty safe until the
roads went in.

Now they are going the
way of the do-do bird
because the sport fishermen
have more access and the:
great fishing of the 1970's
has attracted more tourists,

cont'd A6

About
letters

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welcomes letters to the editor
on all topics. All letters rust
be signed and carry-an. ad-
dress and local telephone
number, Addressés or phone
numbers won't be printed
with the lettér, but they are
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The writer's name will, be
published. Requests for
names to be withheld may be
granted in extraordinary cir-
cumstances,

Thank you letters should
be submitted to the “Card of
Thanks' section of the
classifieds.

Letters containing libelous
or objectionable matter will
be edited’ or returned to the
writer. All letters are run on
a space available basis, with
shorter . letters likely to’ be
published soonest.

r shot

might choke if they tried
to lift it out:

- So they had t to. shoot
the bear. -

“Parks worke

‘They would then’ lift ae

“But ‘parks. works
t:
drown-in the pit. 0

The].

gE
eqeitien Dae ae ake