Wood word awaited More opportunities for woodlot licences are expected from te forest service/ NEWS AG Fresh in their minds Dutch immigrants have keen 7 memories. of being freed by Cana- fe dian. troops/COMMUNITY B1 Twenty-four. hours left | Coaches of the Year nominations have hit nine as the deadline ~ looms/SPORTS. C5 WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 9, 1994 ‘ANDARD ~ ~ Report uncovers cynicism, fear, hostility 75¢ PLUS Be GST. VOL.'7 NO. alee and claims get a rough ride THE PROVINCIAL government is negotiating land claims on be- half of citizens who don't know what is going on, are worried about the outcome and who are cynical about those involved, suggests a study prepared for the aboriginal affairs ministry. Yet the study indicates cilizens do want land claims settled and gives guidelines of bow the goverament can betler pul ils message before the public, It also warns of what’s called a ‘particularly hostile segment of the population’’ opposed to any setlement involving control of land and resources. And it says there’s a ‘‘real fcar that not selling land claims will result in conflict, and’ even violence,’’ particularly in north- erm communities. The study by the Angus Reid Group grew out of in-depth prob- ing of small groups of people this past summer in Terrace, Prince George, Campbell River and Vancouver. This ‘technique of using focus groups goes beyond normal pub- lic opinion polling and tries to find out more about attitudes toward specific subjects. The study found that attitudes toward land claims and what setlements mean are different in Prince George and in Terrace than in Campbell River and in- a They remember LOCAL LEGION officials Peter Crampton, left, and Charlie Meek stand with a new headstone in the city cemetery. The headstone stands in dedication to an area of the cemetery set aside for veterans and their spouses, It's the latest project of Branch 13 ,of the Royal Canadian Legion. Those who fell in. defence of their country will be honoured Nov. 11, Remembrance Day. Activities begin with a parade to the Tillicum Theatre for a service which begins at 10:45 am, Laying of wreaths at the cenotaph in front of city hall follows immediately afterward. Activity broadens out Another healthy building year THE CITY’S closing in on anoth- er substantial year for building, pemnit values judging from the first 10 months of 1994, Officials issued $19,7 million in permits to the end of October, $1.7 million more than for the same period in £993, The annual sll time yearly record is. $23.8. million set in 1992 while last year, $23.4 mil- Hon in permits were issued, The city -{ssued 80 single residential permits with a value of $10.7 million and seven multi- residential permits worth $1,475 million to the end of October. That's a slight increase over the 76 «single family residential perils worth $10,243 million aid. the cight multi-residential - permils. worth $1,652. million issucd fo the end of. Oclober 1993,” One major project £ for which a permil was granted In October is. a $550,000 electrical substation for the Skeena Cellulose mill. A completion = permit — of $640,000 was granted for the new Seventh Day Adventist Church going in opposite the college on the bench, One pending project that: will further. boost. building _ permit values is a planned renovation of the Pacific Northern Gas complex ou Hwy16 that'll cost more ethan BS million. - . Vancouver, ‘Tn the two northern com- munities, there is a sense that the seltling of land claims is a much closer issue, such that any special status has the potential to cause more disruption there than in other centres,’’ says ihe study. ‘Both men and women ex- pressed some concern about the impact of land claims settlements on the non-aboriginal population of the province.’ **This is related most particular- ly to the fear of losing access to public lands and to resources in specific communities,” the study continued. While participants said they realize claims settlements will cost money, they don’t want to assume an ‘‘unreasonable finan- cial and sociat burden.” Beneiits to settling land claims were listed as frecing up iime, money and energy for other is- sues, reducing friction ‘and. con-: flict and helping aboriginal. com- munities become more self suff i- cient. Lack of knowledge’ about how land claims are negotiated ap- peared to be as important an issue as settling claims themselves. “Participants do nol in any way fee] knowledgeable about the series of issues around -land claims,"’ says the study. Cont'd Page A2 SOMEONE IN Terrace is ci- ther hoarding $40,000 or chuckling silently to them- selves, This is the ‘stuff of urban myths — a dump scavenger digging through the remnants of a discarded cabin comes across a secret stash of cash, While the regional district office. says it has received no Is it true or not? report of a discovery at its Thornhill dump — the alleged location of ihe find — a Hovston: man is left wonder- ing what to believe. After. recently purchasing Terrace properly on Medeck, Gerry Raudzus tore down the existing old cabin on the land to build a new six- plex. He. took, the, savin i in n pieces, forward lo > share the windfall, to the regional district landfill on Old Lakelse Drive. © © Raudzus was later told that © somcone going through the garbage had tom apart the cabin’s insulation to — find $40,000. He does not know who al- legedly discovered the money but hopes someone will come Terrace in running for Forest Renewal office By MALCOLM BAXTER THE PROVINCE will open a Forest Renewal Plan (FRP) office in the northwest in the early part of next year. But just where it will be located hasn’t been decided, operations vice-president Claire Dansercau said Friday. Dansereau said the agency’s board had received a couple of suggestions and would be consid- ering them. She did confirm, however, that Terrace was one of the communities on the list. Also to be worked out yet is just how the FRP will work up here, Announced earlier this year, the. Forest Renewal program is being financed through sharply increas- ing stumpage fees paid by the forest industry. _ Two-thirds of that extra govern- “ment revenue is earmarked for the program which targels watershed restoration, silvicul- ture, inventory updates and woodlot expansion (see stories on page A6). This year, applications for moncy under the plan have been handled by the Forest Service and . Environment ministries. Dansereau said FRP was now discussing the most efficient way to handle future applications. Although the intent is to ensure companies don’t have to go to two places to get applications ap- City permiis director Bob Lafleur said that while 1994 permit valucs may not approach the record 1992 level, there's a broadening out of building ac- tivity. **You have to remember that in 1992 we had the major Safeway ptoject and the Esso bulk plant and that amounted to half of the amount,’’ he said. ‘Terrace activity continues to _be strong’ and there’s no indica-" "Hon it’s about to fall on iis face," proved, she noted only those two ministries have the authority to sign off the technical aspects of any rehabilitation plan. — The long term plan also in- cludes establishing a regionally based planning group which would work with the northwest’s FRP office in determining where the program's money should be Spent. As for who would sil on that group, Dansereau said the FRP would work with those who were interested in the program, “anyone wilh a stake’’, This year the Kalurm district received just more than $2 million of Forest Renewal money. Asked if that meant a body such as the South Kalum advisory board — a broad based group which is currently trying to put topcether a consensus management plan for the area — she replied “there could be ~ some similarities." That would include sports fish- ing groups, for example, because of the stream rehabilitation com- ponent of the FRP but not neces- sarily organizations whose main concern was land use, an issue not tackled by I FRP, she polnted out. Lafleur added, kk kh ke And while building permit values climb, so does the number of active business licences. in the city. There were 1,198 licences issued to the end of October. That's compared to the 1,139 for the same period in 1993, ~ 1,114 for 1992 and 1,045 in 1991. "There. were 14 new licences issued . in October and two ‘ renewals, wkakkek This year the Kalum district's allocation of Forest Renewal moncy was just more than $2 mil- lion, A total of 17 projects have been financed by the program covering gully clean up, cleaning up . Streams, juvenile spacing of sec- ond growth trees and work on ald logging roads. The most expensive project is the $391,000 road rehabilitation being carried out in the Kitimat Valley by Skeena Sawmills. That work is expected to be completed by the end of next March. — At the other ead of the scale, Bell Pole will receive $10,000 for road work in the Lille Oliver Creck drainage. All these projects cover work beyond the requirements laid down for timber companies when cutting permits were issued for the locations. . While that appears to be a small slice of the provincial pie given the area involved, Danscreau ex- plained money was allocated for projects which could be com- pleted this financial year. She also conceded another problem was a lack of manpower in the Forest Service had pre- vented plans being completed for a number of necessary road rcha- bilitation projects. - “’m sure more resources will ~. be made available,” she added, Bob Lafleur