B8 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 9, 2005 ¥O ae ° _ROB BROWN _ Unfortunate fortune. . ur lands face continuing assault. We will » | need each other as.never before,” said — Guuyjaaw, ° ‘president of the Council ‘of - Haida First Nations. : ~The Gixaan, Wet’ suwet’en, Tsimshian, Haisla ; _ and Tahltan, assembled on Tsimshian territory at . Kitsumkalum on the last Saturday of this October, » understood Guujaaw’s words and felt his pain, for ‘every one of them faces or has faced: the snarling . - dogs of industrial development. - The Gixaan ‘and “Wet’suwet’en must contend with the prospect of an oil pipeline snaking through their lands and, with a molybdenum mine at the . “base of. the. Hudson Bay Glacier-as well as the on- . going problems attending the forest mining taking . ' place under a new regime of forest mismanagement brought in -by an. open-for-business government | that essentially trusts forest corporations to watch - over themselves.’ Hanging | over the heads of the Tsimshian Elders from: Kitkatla (and by extension every First Na- » . tions fisher on the Skeena), there is the blight of 7 fish farms. But, for the Tahltan, the people who live j in the . ~ great, wild landscape | that feeds three of B.C.’s great salmon rivers, the onslaught of rapid, hastily considered development is acute. ¢ The Tahltan have the great good fortune to live on territory full of fish to net, game to hunt and’ - trap, and the great misfortune to sit on land that sits ‘atop great:seas‘of | “Bas, giant,seams,of coal and the — mother of ‘mother lodes:of minerals at a time when — acquisitive, buck-hungry corporations salivate at the opportunity to plunder what they see as the last | - frontier. In Tahitan territory the plans for no fewer than 15 mines and megaprojects are on the rails. The dis- covery that Shell Oil had plans for coal bed meth-' ane extraction on their lands convinced the Tahltan elders that they could no longer be silent as their land was savaged by the people whose ancestors had marginalized them and shredded their culture. _ The wisdom and responsibility for the care of their traditional territory, belonged with them, the velders decided. They occupied the offices of the man empowered by the Indian Act, then: ordered. Shell from. their lands.. © - When a mining company from Ontario with the unfortunate but apt name of Fortune sent heavy “equipment. toward Klappan with the express pur- . pose of tearing open the earth so as to extract coal _bound for the blast furnaces of China, the elders . dressed up and stood in the way. It was that defiant _ act that precipitated the gathering at Kitsumkalum. The crowd sat silent and watched a video record of the Tahltan Elders — mothers, grey-haired grand- - mothers, fathers and grandfathers were handcuffed _ and taken away by members of the Dease Lake de- tachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who were clearly uncomfortable and looked as if they dearly wanted to be somewhere else. Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Con- -vention of Biodiversity. One of the mainstays of* that agreement says that no development shall take . place on the lands of indigenous peoples in the ab- sence of their freely given and informed consent.’ It seems that none of the promoters of the Klap- pan project told the Tahitan elders of its dimensions or their intentions or had the decency and respect to ‘ask for their consent. ‘Wade Davis, author and world renowned eth--. “nobotanist and anthropologist who, when he isn’t travelling the globe working for the National Geo- graphic Society, makes his home next to Elue Lake in Tahltan Territory, said it best when he observed that the elders hold the conviction that “the ones who have the greatest claim to ownership of the’ lands of the Stikine are the generations as yet un- - . born,” and that “the Klappan is their nursery. ” “In a week,” said Davis, “ I will be in Asia’ and, if Iam lucky, I may travel to the most holy of © destinations, Mount Kailas, a mountain so sacred to Buddhist and Hindus that no one is allowed to climb its slopes. “From the flats at the base of the peak are born . three of the greatest rivers in Asia, the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, ‘vital arteries that bring life to more than a billion people down- stream...For the people of Asia the thought of vio- lating the sacred headwaters of these rivers with industrial development would represent an act of desecration beyond anything they could i imagine in their worst nightmares. ‘Anyone who would dare even to propose such a deed would face the most ‘severe of all possible sanctions, in this world and the next.” The Tahitan elders see the Klappan, birthplace of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine, as a place deserv- ing this kind of reverence and no place for an open’ pit coal mine. They’ re so right. : HANNAH TABERT, 9, right, and Alison Knoedler proudly ¢ pose meet i in Kitimat Oct. 22.A Methanex representative, left, presented. the plaque to the pair. Bluebacks win team awar THE TERRACE. BLUEBACKS scored a team _-Win, many -medals.and_.several personal bests at the Methanex 11th annual s swim meet in Kitimat Oct. 22. The Bluebacks racked up 522 points a as a team, ahead of the Kitimat Marlins with 510 points, Bulkley Valley Otters who had 239 points and the _ Prince Rupert Swim Club’s 123 points. Swimmers did a 50-metre kick using a kick board to steady their arms as they pumped through “ the water. The fun event let them practise their leg work and everyone who participated received a certifi- cate of recognition. - Coach Mike Carlyle said the event was a a posi- . . tive start to the season and swimmers had fun getting together with their friends from Smithers, Kitimat and Prince Rupert: |. ' “In general, there was quite a good number of - swimmers who received medals,” -he said. “It was a good start for all and a great way to Bantam rep hockey topples midget reps TERRACE STANDARD i yi start the year.” oe Andrea Comerford won a gold medal for scor- ing the most points in the 11- to 12-year-old girls group. . Brandon Williams brought home gold in the “11- to 12-year-old boys category. Among 13- to 14-year-old girls, Dakota Al- gor won silver and Hayley Schmiedel bagged a bronze. In the 15- and- -over girls, Allison Knoedler won gold and Janine Callieou brought back a bronze. Alastair Beddie scored silver in the 15-and- over boys group. — In the final heats, nine-year-old Hannah Tabert, the youngest Blueback at the meet, notched per- sonal best times for her second place .100-metre breaststroke, her third-place 50-metre backstroke and her fourth-place 50-metre free kick. _ She also scored two third place finishes in the 200- metre freestyle and 100- metre individual _ medley. - TERRACE BANTAMS beat the midget rep-b team in a practice game Oct. 28. Chapen Leblond scored a hat trick. - “He’s on a roll,” said . coach John Amos. ’ He- said the midgets played pretty well, leaving , the bantams to play catch- -up for most of the game, but thanks to extra time on .the clock, the bantams had a chance to score for the win. With 40 seconds left, . Amos pulled his goalie, only 638-7283 ith the team award V won n by the Bluebacks at the Methanex 1 1th annual swim TERRACE BLUEBACKS SWIM CLUB PHOTO . Allison. Knoedler, 16, the. oldest. Blueback:ats the meet, won all five of her events:¢). 22.04 Brady Bailey, 12, scored four personal best times, which included one first place finish in the 50-metre free kick, and three second place finish- es for 200-metre freestyle, 200-metre individual medley and 100-metre backstroke. Marlee Benzer, 10, won the 100-metre breast- stroke and 50-metre free kick and took second place in the 50-metre backstroke, 200-metre freestyle and 100-metre individual medley, all of which were personal best times. Luke Derow, 10, Gabrielle Metzmeier and Della Orrey, 14, took. personal best times in all their events. The Bluebacks missed their first meet of the year scheduled for last month in Ketichan, Alas- ka, due to problems with the ferry schedule, but hope to see their American friends at another “Meet, possibly in the spring or even at.a competi- tion in Prince Rupert in December. ii i to discover an extra 10 min- utes on the clock. The bantams tied the - game and scored Tate to claim victory. Amos said the new mem- bers of the team are starting to adjust and méld with the others. ; Colby Ames, listed as an affiliate player, was called back up after the departure _ of Taran Lillian, who moved to the bantam house team. The team is sporting a patch in honour of their late, greatest fan and Amos’s fa- ther, John Burton Amos Sr. The patch, sewn onto the front of each team’s jersey, shows his initials. “They came out really ALEXA GRANT, bantam rep hockey defensive player, shows off the patch bearing the initials of the late John Burton Amos, the team’s fan for 20 years and father of coach John Amos. MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO nice,” said Amos. __ Next weekend, the ban- tam reps face Kitimat down south. A HOUSTON novice player gets ready to take a shot on goal while two Terrace players and the goalie pre- pare to defend their net during the ringette tourney at the Terrace Arena Oct. 23. MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO Ringette rules on home ice TERRACE RINGETTE came out on the winning end of their sticks in a tourney at home Oct. 21-23. The Juniors destroyed Houston 9-3 and blasted Prince George 9-4 before falling 9-5 to Quesnel. ‘The Novice squad slaughtered Quesnel 5-0, outskated. Houston 8-5 and blasted Prince George 7-2. The Petite C team, who played in the B-division due to a lack of other C teams, lost to Quesnel 5- 0, to Houston 6-1 and to Prince George 5-0. The Petite B team devastated Houston 11-3, downed Prince George 7-2 and narrowly came out on top of Quesnel 6-5. The Bunnies came up a bit short, losing to Houston 5-0, 8-3 and 7-2. _ The teams travel to Prince George to compete in the J oy Hoffman Tournament this weekend.