~ UNION MEMBERS walk behind a labour float i ina 1 Kitmat Labour Day parade i in either 1956 or "1957. There’s no immediate explanation as to ~ what the rocket symbolizes. The Kitmat-Terrace and District Labour Council was formed in 1956 to represent area unions and their workers ina number of areas. It celebrated its 50th birthday last week. abour council in PHOTO COURTESY KITIMAT - TERRACE AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL luence -feltina number of areas _ A BIRTHDAY of note was celebrated Sept. 30 in. Kiti- Mat when union members _from around the area and ‘beyond gathered to recog- nize the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council’s 50 years of existence. — Stories were’ shared and speeches were made at a~ banquet .noting the wide- spread involvement of the labour council in union, po- litical, educational and other issues in the area.’ The story of the labour. council .is rcoted in the de-. velopment of the region tied first to the establishment of. Kitimat by Alcan in the ear- ly 1950s for its smelter and then as Terrace grew to be a regional logging, milling and government centre. - -Without Alcan, there might not have been a labour council or the kind of one that did emerge, says John Jensen, a carpenter by trade and holder of various labour ‘ council executive positions over the years. That’s because the con- — struction of Alcan’s Kemano hydro- electric generating ‘a cilities, the transmission lin - to.carry the power to Kitimat and the construction of ‘the - giant smelter itself required ’ thousands of workers. “Back | then Terrace wasn’t what it is today. There. was nothing substan- tial,” said Jensen. Early on a group called | the Kitimat Organizing Com- mittee made up of building trades.unions was formed . distinction, in the early 1970s, of electing the first woman in B.C, to head a labour council. She’s Marguerite Clarkson. ‘to ensure construction was ‘done by union labour. It was transformed into the Kitimat, Kemano and Vicinity Building Trades Council which then banded with smelter workers ‘to and District. Trades and La-. bour Council in 1955. - ‘The name changed. again a year later, this time to the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council and it. be- came officially connected to . _ the Canadian Labour Coun- cil in 1959. ‘The newly-renamed la-_ bour council took on Ter- race in its title when the International Woodworkers of America, and the B.C. Government Employees As- sociation — the predecessor -to the B.C..Government and: - _Service Employees’ Union — joined. To begin with Kitimat issues predominated with the new council pushing for better phone service, bet- ‘ter postal service and better roads, It also advocated for.the construction of a highway | between Kitimat and Ter- race and for improvements | to Highway 16. ’ . In terms of politics, the labour council backed Frank: Howard, who went on to a lengthy career as, both a provincial and federal rep- “ resentative of first the Co- Commonwealth. operative . Federal and then its modern _day predecessor, the New Democratic Party. Howard came by his la- bour roots the hard way, as a logger. + Atits -height,.the labout-: council would contain more . than 30 unions representing “ more than 4,000 workers. ° That kind of growth came from assisting unions in representing a growing number of workers rang- ing from Terrace municipal employees to meat cutters at the now-defunct Terrace Co- -operative Association’ 's grocery store. The labour council | ven- tured into education when it: _ became part of an effort to have the vocational: school - ‘in Terrace add academic courses and become North- west Community College. ‘And the election of the provincial NDP government in 1972. allowed the labour council to promote — and have put in place — specific courses at the college about the labour movement and : other issués. College instructors also visited high : schools . and other places as part of the Worker Education Program (WEP). ‘But the election in 1975 of the Social Credit govern- ment spelled a gradual re- striction of the program and by 1983 the WEP had disap- aa ws ree ” peared. Terrace became the place for a high profile campaign. in the mid-1980s by build- ing trades unions and the la- ~ bour council when the City of Terrace awarded the con- « tract for the construction of ~ ‘the current RCMP building to anon-union company. . ’ A three and a half month effort featuring’a picket line at the location and other ac- tion resulted in a unionized firm being taken on instead. The labour council also ‘found itself foctissing ‘On'sO- ode cial justice issues, : Native land: claims and aspirations became . impor- tant. . Efforts by the Nisga’a to settle their land claim were heavily. supported as were ongoing requests by the Haisla for a better road from Kitamaat to Kitimat. “Short beer | UNIONS MAY be known for being hard-nosed in negotiat- ing labour contracts, but they also take part in other actions.. Such was the case for the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council early on in 1956 in Kitimat. The only hotel in Kitimat, the Gordon, didn’t fill its beer glasses, as required by provincial liquor laws, up to the white plimsoll line. When protests to the provincial liquor authority failed, the council mounted pickets in front of the hotel. It then filled the glasses to the plimsoll line. | First woman | LABOUR COUNCILS around the province have their own. executive, drawn from the ranks of member unions. - The Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council has the Read all about it WHEN THE labour council felt it couldn’t get its message out through traditional news outlets, it took matters into its own hands. ~ Between 1977 and 1978 five editions of The Northwest president of the. B.C. Gov- ’' ployees Union (BCGEU). ' public sector union in deal- ‘ ‘the union was the key Ia-:— Here area few quick highlights Worker were produced. Tt was 12 pages ina tabloid format, At first it was distributed on the job and later, door to | -door. It stopped publishing when it failed to gain long term and stable Anancing. . \ alloving o on up GEORGE HEYMAN _ has become a familiar face prov- ince-wide because he’s the emment and. Service Em- . It has been the primary ing with budget cuts and employment changes on the. [} part of the provincial Liberal government. Just this year, bour player in the provincial government’s effort to sign George Heyman . Jong-term contracts. ; Heyman got his start in Terrace as a forests ministry. form the Kitimat, Kemano _ Terraceview called its ‘finest hour’ IT’S HARD to imagine a Terrace without Ter- raceview Lodge, a key northwest health care fa- cility for elderly and other people, on the Bench. ‘Or adjacent McConnell Estates for those who can live on their own but who need meals and other assistance. Or next-door Heritage Park containing histori- cal wooden buildings moved there from around ‘ the region, or the horseshoe pitch, or the Kin Hut . or the tennis courts and playground. But that could very well have been the case be- cause of a plan by the then-Socred provincial gov- . ernment in the late 1970s because of its owner- — ship of the land parcel containing all of the above facilities. Back then seniors were housed in Second ‘ World War-era barracks-type buildings, placed there at a cost of $300,000 to act as a hospital for casualties had the Japanese ever attempted an at- - tack and landing on the north coast. The facility was then known as Skeenaview and because of their condition and age, the pro- vincial government decided it would demolish the old buildings and. move residents to other places in the province. It sparked a community uprising with the | strong support of the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council. - Long-time labour activist John Jensen calls it -the labour council’s “finest hour” for what hap- pened next. Union members of the labour council and oth-. ers mounted pickets at the location prevented resi- dents from being moved out of Skeenaview. Norm “Yukon” Smith, a long-serving secre- tary to the labour council was instrumental in or- ganizing pickets. His nickname came from years of panning for gold in the Yukon. - The health minister flew to Terrace to face a. crowd made up of mostly union members. Shortly thereafter a minister’s committee was formed which recommended a new facility be built after all — but back from the edge of the Bench to where the horseshoe pitch is now located. _ It was to have 24 beds — not enough decided the labour council and its supporters and in the wrong location. A society formed to oversee construction, with strong representation from the labour council, spent four years of lobbying to have that construc- tion plan changed. The effort resulted in a new facility, Terracev- worker and then became involved with the labour council. iew, constructed on the edge of the Bench and with 55 intermediate care beds. ‘It was finished i in 1983. Jensen’s convinced the provincial govern. . ment’s overall plan was to sell prime residential view lots overlooking the city. - “Even when the plan was to build where the: horseshoe pitch is, by moving it back, the govern- _ment could still sell lots,” he said. A new wing was added to Terraceview in the © . late 1980s for extended care patients. A plan by — the province to added an extended care wing at Mills Memorial Hospital was defeated. Terraceview is now being converted into a fa- -cility for those people needing the highest level of care. Now under the jurisdiction of the Northern Health Authority, Terraceview Lodge is to be- come even larger in order to meet the needs of the northwest population. . . Heritage Park was established by the Terrace Regional Museum Society which first moved his- torical log buildings from the area and then rebuilt and reconditioned them on the location. The Kin Hut is a renovated Second World War barracks building and the playground was put up by community volunteers in the 1990s. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - A5 hn ee CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Poor message Dear Sir; I am writing to express my dismay at the article on the front cover of your Aug. 30, 2006 i issue featuring four local “binners”’. While I can’t speak for the families and relatives of the “gentlemen in the story, I know that if it featured one of my family members I would be extremely hurt and upset. This is the second time in recent memory you have pic- tured local aboriginal people with alcohol and it perpetu- ates a stereotype that does not tell the entire story. I have seen non-aboriginal'folks diving in and out of garbage cans and “recycling” to feed their addictions, too, .. some with children in tow. As for helping to clean up our fair: city, iet me point out , the broken bottles and empty paper. and plastic bags left behind on the streets and in the park. This article gives the impression that life on ‘the streets is an acceptable, even dignified way to earn a living. Is this supposed to be an advertisement: for alternative '‘liv- ing? What @ poor message to'send to our young people. Marianne Brorup Weston, Terrace, B B. Cc, pear i _ Setting : standards I don’t know if. you remember the big commotion we _had over Wal-Mart some years back. Many people’didn’t want the store here, others couldn’t see why. Well; pres- ent state of our little town is why. I hate to tell.you “I told 1 ‘you so”, but the big eye-sore of a store is hurting our local businesses. a 4 For eight months of the year I'live in. . Kelowna and ev. 7 ery time I come home for the summer, I see our: little town dying. I know there are other causes and it’s not fair to place all the blame on Wal-Mart, but it seems that the state ~ of our community started to deteriorate much faster since -the giant moved in. The sad truth is that I actually used to. 9 work for Wal- Mart for one whole month. During that time, I was fortu- nate enough to witness “Fact Day.” On this day, all ofthe Wal-Mart employees were “advised” on how to answer: certain questions, One of the. questions . was, “Doesn’t Wal-Mart hurt small businesses?” A valid question that _. you can ask any sales associate. The answer they,have to . “give you is something like this: “No, Wal-Mart actually helps small businesses, by setting a ‘Standard i in excellent customer service and business-ship.” . ‘As.a matter of fact, I have not seen any customer ser- vice; let alone a great one. I have never had a bad shopping: ’ experience at. Wal-Mart, I never hada good one: either. ° I’ve never made. eye-contact with people at the service | “desk. The only. kinds of contact you get from these people. are low grunts of greeting. They are underpaid for what | _ they have to put up with and for the most part. want to. go . home the minute their shift starts. Yet, unfortunately the noble struggle that’ some ‘of us . put up in protest to Wal-Mart coming here, went in ‘vain, We all shop at Wal-Mart, not because we want to, but because we have too. ~’ Wal-Mart has ‘set such high standards for our local » businesses: that we have no other place to shop. And: so we take out kids and go to Wal-Mart and all buy the same clothing, so at the beginning of semester our children look the same. A proof of global domination one small town. at a time. ; Helen Wheeler, Terrace, B. C. Hold it elsewhere Dear Sir: The Sept. 16 World Religions Conference was a suc- cessful event with the speakers representing various faiths addressing “Human suffering in the context of the exis-, tence of God”. , ' Human suffering has two origins, one is § nature and the other is man made. History lets us know that man-made .— suffering is basically ideological. Wherever the state/in- dividual were the perpetrators of suffering, it was always —_ ' premised on ideology. The ideology is that’ religion i is in- . tegrally tied with political system (rulership). . To these perpetrators, religion is not a means to change | the heart; but rather it is the means to take hold of political power. Once they get hold of power, they then perpetuate this power unto themselves by repression. A simple reading of the newspapers and watching the ‘news development on our TV screens and Internet lets us ~ know that the present human suffering i is also due to ide-— ‘ology. The present war of religious terrorism has made . peopie suffer immensely. everywhere. The very many Islamic web bloggers correctly say that 19 homicide bombers with an expenditure of US $50,000 __ who attacked world trade centers in new York brought the world down by US $1 trillion. So many industries world over had to suffer financial . losses and shut shop. Millions of workers have lost.their - _jobs, and with it their source of income and livelihood: This religious-based terrorism is going to be along drawn . affair and make mankind suffer immensely. The platform made available in Canada to discuss these issues and find common solution to religious con- flicts should not however end in Canada. Free societies do not need to prove themselves in the. eyes. of slave societies. This religious war we are witness- ‘|. ing has its origin in Middle East. Those religions that do not give their adherents religious freedom are Bross viola- ._— _-tors of human rights. Now as this conference is’ over, ‘this event has to be © reciprocated in the colleges of Iran and. Saudi Arabia, the heartlands of Shia - Islam and Sunni - Islam. The citizens of these nations who have been indoctri- nated to hate and seek the destruction of Jews and Chris- -_tians. have to be told that we.are not their enemies but rather we share with them the brotherhood of mankind. __ We want to know from the Ahmadiyya Muslim spon-. ; sors of this event the schedule and details of this recipro- cating event in colleges of Iran and Saudi Arabia. The print media should publicize this event in the newspapers. - “The nation of India where the other three religions, i.c., Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism gave birth need to have an ongoing discussion on such Teligious issues in their _colleges and thus not found wanting in religious freedom nor human an rights among its citizens. John D’Souza, Terrace, B. c. ‘About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. 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