Art attack — | | This summer is poised’ to. be a big one for children's art instruction in Doling out dollars MLA says money earmarked for children shouldn't be spent on consultants\NEWS Ai1 am Hard earned - = Find out why Mike Turner's newly acquired black belt is a really big deal\SPORTS B4 Terrace\COMMUNITY B1 § $1.00 pLus 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) www.ferracestandard.com. * fednesday, June 4, 2003 - Area natives given wood supply By JEFF NAGEL A DEAL struck to turn unused Skeena Cellulose timber over to the Gitxsan is just one of a series of deals poised to put wood into aboriginal hands across the northwest. Forests minister Mike de Jong and Attorney General Geoff Plant flew to Kispiox Sunday, June 1 to sign the agreement to provide the Gitxsan with 1.2 million cubic metres of limber over seven years. The Gitxsan will also get up to $2.6 million per year for five years in a separate revenue-sharing agreement, provincial officials say, “Tt will finally get cur people in the game,” said Gitxsan treaty negotiator Elmer Derrick. The deal — and several more like it in the works — fulfils a court order that the province re-consult and accom- modate natives over the transfer of the Skeena Cellulose forest licences to new owners, New Skeena. The Gitxsan, Gitanyow and some Tsimshian bands went to court last year over the.sale of SCI to buyer NWEC Timber and Pulp, which is us- ing the title New Skeena, arguing they weren't adequately consulted in. the sale. Skeena MLA Roger Harris said similar agreements are now coming together to provide, timber and cash to the Gitanyow, the Kitselas and Kit- sumkalum bands in the Terrace area, plus two other villages near Prince Rupert. He said the Kitselas and Kitsumka- lum — although they weren’t part of the court challenge —- are close to a deal with the province for a direct award of @ The B.C. Unity leader says turning timber over to “natives goes against last year’s referendum on how land claims should be ne- _gotiated. See Page A3. over the past several years. The two Terrace-area bands are forming a joint venture with Alm- Wood Contracting, which will provide management and marketing expertise. “They’re partnering with very good expertise that knows what the industry needs to operate in order to survive,” Harris said. The bands may develop a log yard to maximize revenue from timber they log in concert with Alm-Wood, The joint. venture is expected to mean jobs for band, members and turn both bands into players in the local forest industry, Harris said. _ “It starts to move them into the mainstream economy,” he said. “They are community-based busi- nesses,” he added. They are going to buy, hire, shop — do everything — lo- cally.” Harris said the timber transfers will also help diversify the region’s timber supply. He said that means existing or new value-added manufacturers will have more suppliers — the aboriginal forest ventures —‘to get. wood from, rather than having to rely almost exclusively on major forest companies. Treaty settlements delivering per- manent timber to aboriginal groups are hoped to be in place by the time the interim timber transfers run out, Harris said. _ The agreements mean the transfer of forest licences to New Skeena For- est Products will no longer be contest- ed in court. “I believe that cloud is probably lifted now,” Harris said. New Skeena president Dan Veniez, who had previously proposed to turn the undercut timber aver to area log- - ging contractors, says he supports the government-led transfers to First Na-~° lions. “This is nation-building and this is good business,” he said. “I’m all in fa- vour of it. I want it ta work, ” Harris said one “monster chal- lenge” remains — determining exactly what wood each aboriginal group will get and where it’s located. : @ Firin’ it up FIREFIGHTER JACKIE Diablo from Lillooet in lower B.C, gets ready for a self-contained breathing apparatus relay. Firefight- timber left uncut by Skeena Cellulose ers from around B.C. competed at the B.C. Regional First Na- tions’ Firefighters’ Competition held at Kitsumkalum May 31. Four-day week imposed even as trustees waver By JENNIFER LANG FOR: THE first time last week, school trustees ad- mitted they may have not have adequately consulted parents about the four-day week. The admissions came at a sometimes. confusing and contradictory May 28 session in which trustees ultimately adopted a plan to close schools on Fri- days in hopes of solving a budget deficit. “T would like to apolo- gize for not doing a better job of getting information out to you,” trustee Hal Stedham told those in the public gallery. Trustees meet. again this evening at the school. board office. . Stedham added he was disappointed that only. an average of 30 people. on. average turned out to a series of held in January to discuss ways to clit ex- penses. Parents were invit- ed to joint those meetings to give their cost-cutting opinions. “The consultative pro- cess wasn’t as good as it might have been,". Sted- ham added. A second Terrace trus- tee, Nicole Bingham, agreed, She implored fellow trustees to improve com- munications “sa we're not in a position like. this again, and not two years in a row falling short,” Bingham said, referring to the wrong way the board initially handled the deci- ‘sion making to close six schools, including a move to not open the brand-new $3.2 million Mountainview Elementary in.Terrace. At one point she asked the board to hold off on. -adoption of the four-day week plan to ensure every alternative. had -been con- Mm One parent sub- mits a cost-saving plan that at least one trustee likes. For that story, see Page A2. sidered first. “We're elected by peo- ple to do this job for them,” she said. “They're screaming that they don't want this.” ; For a while at the May 28 meeting, it appeared as though some trustees were prepared to reconsider the four—day week plan call- ing for a Friday closure. ‘They adjourned briefly to discuss alternate cost cut- ting measures presented by parent Tanya Purssell: and a bid to. change the day., off from’ Friday to Monday. ° ‘ The board reconvened 20 minutes later, approv- Hal Stedham ing the proposed calendar without explanation, The board originally ap- proved the four-day week back in March as part of cost-cutting measures de- ‘signed to solve an antici- pated $5 million deficit, ‘Under the School Act, ‘the district had to circulate its proposed school calen- dar based on a four-day. week for at least 30 days. before its adoption. Hazelton trustee Jessica Mikolayczyk also revealed doubts, pointing to com-. munity concerns over pro- vincial assessment scores and the low graduation rate for aboriginal students. “| have a tough time swallowing the idea. that the four-day week is going to help that,” she said. Rita Hall, of the Cana- dian Union of Public Em- ployees, which represents inside and outside support workers wanted to present a protest petitioin but was told she’ll have to wait, un- - til tonight's board meeting, fwho will have their hours cut to reflect the Fri- - day closures, had planned ‘to present her 800-signa- ture petition against the four-day week but was told she would have to wait un- til tonight's board meeting. Kitimat strike idles Terrace mill workers | By JEFF NAGEL “NEARLY 60° sietvars ‘at West Praser’s sawmill hati“ were laid off May 28 as the fallout from a strike at the com- pany's Kitimat pulp mill spread to Terrace. “We have no place for our chips,” explained ‘Skeena Sawmills general manager Lou Poulin. The picket line that went up May 28 at the Eurocan pulp mill in Kitimat means the chips from Terrace can’t be brought inside. Poulin said stockpiling chips in the. Terrace yard | would have quickly plugged it up and halted other mill « _ Operations, About 20 workers remain on the job running Skeena Sawmills’ planer mill, he said. A fire at the mill late in the afternoon of May 30 wasn’t serious enough to impair the operation of the planer mill this week. But these 20 workers do face layoffs as well in about three to four weeks when they've finished processing and: shipping the lumber still in the yard. “It’s not very good news around here this morning,” Poulin added last week. “There are a lot of long faces.” West Fraser continues to run its Smithers sawmill be- cause it has a large area there to store chips, company officials say. _ Workers here had been warned a strike at Eurocan would likely trigger a shutdown in Terrace. ' The strike began early in the morning of May 28 after ” Euirocan workers. voted 72 per cent against the compa- ny’s last offer, All 420 workers there are now either on strike or laid off because of it. Company officials say 36 Eurocan workers actually live in Terrace and commute to work. Combined with . the Skeena Sawmills shutdown, that means nearly 100 West Fraser workers who live in Terrace are off the job as a result of the dispute. , Poulin isn’t optimistic there will be a quick settle- nt. “] think they’re a long way apart,” he said. The Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union wants pulp mill wage increases totalling 15 per cent over two years. Eurocan offered total increases of 11 per cent over five years. | West Fraser has sometimes arranged to stockpile chips elsewhere in Terrace - such as Skeena Cellulose’ 8 ‘yard — but Poulin says doing that adds costs. “If the mill was really, really doing well we would do that,” he said. But he said the Terrace sawmill is being battered by both the ongoing U.S. softwood lumber tariffs and the re- cent rapid rise in the Canadian dollar. Each time the loonie rises against the U.S. dollar, West Fraser gets less money for the timber it sells in the US. “Ninety per cent of our production goes State-side,” Poulin said. “Every penny the dollar goes up, it’s a seri- ous impact on us.” When the Canadian dollar began to close-in on 75 cents U.S., Poulin said the company began to urgently | look for ways to cut costs at the Terrace mill, “We weren't talking shutdown, but we were looking at all. our options,” he said. “We're right on the verge _ with the economics of this mill of not being viable to - continue running.” West Fraser's sawmill had been the only one running in Terrace over the past year and a half during the re- structuring and sale of Skeena Cellulose, New Skeena Forest Products had just concluded a deal with unionized workers at its Terrace sawmill that’s hoped to lead to a restart by mid-September. Meanwhile the IWA is entering negotiations on a new coast master agreement that will also govern the West Fraser mill here.