campfires.
‘campfire should ensure that the

drought conditions.
_ this is not the case in the Kalum

_ More meetings gs planned

Two “Two task forces of the North-
coast Economic Development
Committee, under Minister of

- State. Dave Parker, met in Ter-

race recently to discuss native

~-Jand claims and health and med-

ical services, Following two or-
ganizational meetings in Kitimat

and Prince Rupert to establish.

priorities and organize these two
task forces, the group says these
meetings signify the first step in
searching for solutions to ‘the
Northwest’s most pressing pro-
blems.

. by Tod Strachan

According to

Northcoast.
_ Regional Development Officer
Bob Thompson, the task force

on "on native land claims was
basically an information meet-
ing to begin discussion and es-
tablish exactly what:
claims”? mean,

He said there were. several

presentations given by the native.

community regarding the land
claim question, as well as a
Nisga’a information package
which addressed the issue and
outlined native concerns related
to the Nass River fishery.

Thompson said the main

thrust of these presentations was
to try to get everyone present to
understand the native point of
view and to define the relation-
ship between natives and the
province. He said their basic

Forest Service braced
for fire season

by Erle Holt

Although it may not seem like

it with last week’s cold, wet,
unstable weather, the 1988 Fire

' Season officially started April

15.

With the commencement of
Fire Season, the Forest Service
would like to remind the public
that burning permits are re-
quired as of April 15. Burning
permits in the Kalum Forest

District can be obtained from

the District Office in Terrace or
the Field Office in Stewart.

People living within the munici-

palities of Terrace, Kitimat or
Stewart should obtain their per-
mits through - their respective

. municipal offices or fire depart-
ments.

Burning permits are an impor-

tant administrative tool that is.
_ ‘used by both Forest Service and
Fire. Departments. Burning per-
“Mits enable the. Forest Service
‘arid Fire Departments to. keep»
“track of where fires are burning,
thus avoiding unnecessary ‘re- .
“sponses to unknown fires, Burn-
‘ing permits also give Forest Ser-

vice and Fire Departments an
opportunity to put in written

‘conditions and give verbal ad-
vice to permittees on how they

can safely carry out their burn-
ing. In addition, it should -be
noted that if burning is carried

‘out in accordance with the con-
‘ditions of the permit, then the
' ‘permittee is only liable for the |
. conditions of the permit. If a
fire starts as a result from burn-
ing without a permit, the person

lighting the fire can be held

. responsible for all costs resulting
from the fire.

Permits are not required for
Anyone lighting a

fire is located a reasonable
distance from trees or other in-
flammable material. Also it is
important to have a container of
water or a shovel handy so that a

.campfire can be quickly con-

trolled or extinguished if it
threatens to escape. Please en-

gure your campfire is OUT when

you are finished with it. Aban-
doned campfires are one of the
leading causes of man-caused

. fires.

Many regions in British Col-

‘umbia have had very little
. precipitation over the winter

months and are experiencing
However,

District. Precipitation since last

_ September is approximately 200
_'. tnillimeters more than normal
~ aecording to measurements
from the Terrace/Kitimat Air- |
port. oe t

The Forest Service cautions
that although our spring has
been cool and wet, a few sunny,
windy days can create a fire
danger, particularly in - grass.
Grass fires commonly occur at
this time of year when old dead
grass and leaves have not been
overgrown with new green vege-
tation,

As in.the past, the Forest Ser-
vice would like to solicit the sup-
port of the public in reporting
fires. Early reporting and ag-
gressive initial attack is the key
to ‘successfully fighting forest
fires. Anyone seeing a forest fire
can report it by calling the
Operator and asking for Zenith
5555.

“and

message is that they wish to
‘maintain their relationship
with,, and continue to be,
citizens of B.C. and Canada’.

-. Thompson said the task force

consisted of Nisga’a Tribal
Council representatives James
Gosnell, Rod Robinson, .and
Harry Nyce, as well as chief
band councillors Nelson Leason

‘of Greenville, Percy Tait of New

Aiyansh and Glen’ Williams of
Kitwanga..

Representing the non-native
community were Nancy Wilson
of the Prince Rupert Chamber

‘of Commerce, Mike Scott of the
Kitimat Chamber of Commerce,

Vicki Bragan, Vice Chairman of
the. Queen Charlotte School
Board, and Val Napoleon, Chair
of School District 88.

From the government side

. were Parker and his parliamen-

tary secretary Graham Bruce,
Regional Development Officer

- Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 20, 1988 5

Bob Thompson, Besional De-
velopment Liaison Officer El-
mer Derrick, and Assistant Dep-
uty Minister of Native Affairs
Eric Denhoff,

Thompson said their next |

meeting is scheduled to take
place in Kitwanga,. probably in
mid-May, and is intended to go
into the land claims issue in
more depth,

Discussions by the task force
on health and medical services,
said Thompson, centered on two

main concerns: youth services in -

general, and the recruitment.and
training of a qualified medical
staff in the Northwest.

He said the determination of
that meeting was that more
detailed information on the ex-

act Magnitude of the youth ser-

vices problem should be provid-
ed by the Ministry of Health so
the group will have more con-
crete information at their next

- Northcoast group mulls health care, land claims

meeting. .

Thompson said the health and
medical services task force con-
sists of Roy Beduz from the
Queen Charlotte Islands, Reg
Percival from the Nishga Valley.
Health Administration, Robert .
Myers, Administrator for the
Prince Rupert District Hospital,
Barry Taylor, a member of the
Kitimat General Hospital
Board, and Fred Hislop, Chair-
man of: the Mills Memorial
Hospital Board.

He said the group was assisted
by Skeeaa Health Unit Chief
Medical Officer Dr. David
Bowering, Bill Anderson from |
the Ministry of Social Services —

‘and. Housing in Terrace, and

Parker’s executive assistant in
Terrace, Chris Shaffer. This
group apparently hopes to meet
again in Terrace Sometime in
May.

Local committees still have
role in economic development

' Graham Bruce, Parliamentary
Secretary to North Coast Min-
ister of State Dave Parker, was
in Terrace last weekend, and
during an interview he described
the committee structure and ad-
dressed some of the main issues
and concerns that have been ex-
pressed in regard to the North
Coast Economic Development
Region,

- by Tod Strachan

“I think there’s a real role for
this form of decentralization of
the government,”’ said Bruce,

Tax relief for some

: Terrace city treasurer Keith

‘Norman thinks there may be

some relief for small industry
this year after the huge tax in-
creases Of 1987. He says the pro-
vincial government has provided
a new classification for taxation
— major industrial — and this
could be the financial salvation
for many small businesses.

He explained that he was con-
cerned in 1987 when the provin-
cial government took away the
right for municipalities to assess
city taxes on industrial
machinery,

The end result, he said, was
that city council compromised

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and raised industrial taxes five

percent, But he said this had the.

devastating effect of raising
taxes for small industrial opera-
tions without machinery by 30 to
35 percent.

Now the government has
separated the industrial category
into two levels of taxation, and
council can take this into con-
sideration when they finalize
their 1988 budget.

Norman explained that this
could mean a tax increase to ma-
jor industrial concerns like
Skeena Cellulose and West
Fraser Timber — but much
needed relief to small industry.

7, 1988

S/d

noting that Parker has already
taken concerns over the GATT
ruling and the redistribution of
CBC Radio as outlined by
Northwest residents to govern-
ments in both Victoria and Ot-
tawa. ‘‘And I think that’s a role
the decentralization process can
play,”’ he said.

He admitted that the provin-
cial government hadn’t done

*‘the greatest job”’ in explaining —

the process to the general public,
but he added that when the re-
sults are in they will speak for
themselves. ‘‘It’s going to have
to be done by example,”’ he said.
According to Bruce, the de-
centralization process provides
the first opportunity ever for the
Northwest to identify their col-
‘lective areas of concern and have
them ‘‘placed on the cabinet
agenda and into the budget’’.
“This happened with the
Stewart hydro grid,’’ Bruce said.
He acknowledged that commun-
ities in the Northwest had work-
ed hard and lobbied for the ex-
tension through the Regional
District Economic Development
Committee. ‘‘But it didn’t do
any harm to have, at the tail end

of that, the Minister of State
process in place so that he could
really carry the can and push it
home on behalf of everybody
here.”’

Bruce also pointed out that
there is still room for this type of
process, and all economic devel-
Opment bodies which existed
before decentralization still play
an important role.

“*Those types of committees
shouldn’t discontinue, pack —
their bags, and say, ‘There’s no
role for us’,’’ said Bruce.
“‘There’s a greater role today
than there ever has been in the

-past and a greater opportunity

to effect the change that they see
as being necessary within their
own particular area.”’

He said this is particularly
true in an area as diverse as the
Northwest. ‘Even though it’s a
large geographic area and there
may be some diverse interests
from one end to the other, put-
ting people around the table,
and talking about all the issues
and what’s before us — I think
helps to make a system that has
a broadening view,’ he conclud-
ed.

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