Asia viewed as one way to ease U.S. lumber agony By LARISSA _ ARDIS AS THE trade dispute with B.C.’s biggest — and undeniably most difficult — client for exported soft- wood lumber rages on, more and more people are asking how B.C. lumber exporters might put more of its trading epgs into other baskets. Tt’s a question that ani- mates Jim Shaw, who has been touring the area on behalf of the Northern For- est’ Products’ Association (NFPA). Shaw. is the president and owner of CrossRoads - Strategies Group Inc, a Vancouver-based small . business that provides or- ..-Banizations with strategic information on customers, competitors and product markets. - Since 1999, CrossRoads has managed the Pacific _ Rim marketing program for three interior B.C. forest industry: associations in- cluding the NFPA, as well as ‘the Alberta Forest Pro- - ducts Association. Its acti- vities are financed by the associations and by the provincial and federal gov- ernments. Shaw says the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S. “underlines the importance to both provincial and fed- eral governments of deve- loping lumber markets in countries as Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and India. Thanks to a substantial investment of risk and ef- fort, Canadian lumber ex- porters already enjoy about seven per cent of the Japa- nese housing market —. about $425 million worth of trade annually. This healthy trade rela- tionship was not estab- lished overnight. “Our lumber markets in Japan took about 30 years to develop,” related Shaw. Japanese market deve- lopment included educa- ting developers on the va- ues of wood as a building material, imparting Cana- dian construction techni- ques, and selling the idea of wood-framed homes to a culture which traditionally employs more permanent -building materials. “Even with the econo- } IT LOOKS LIKE a residential building in any mod- em B.C, subdivision. But it's not. This house is in China, a growing market for B.C. lumber producers and one that experts say will help buffer the effects of the continuing problem of American lumber tar-— iffs. Some companies are opening offices there, mic downturn in Japan, that market is growing slowly but steadily,” said Shaw. “It’s a positive suc- cess story.” According to Shaw, the next big thing for Lumber exports will be the People’s Republic of China. “To say that there is a lot of change going on in China is an understate- ment.” Shaw showed his audi- ence slides of large, low- rise North American-style homes thal look as if they “were exported direct from- ‘Vancouver. They are a hot’ icommodity among upper class Chinese and the wealthy expatriate com- munity in several major cities. These palatial dwellings utilize Canadian lumber, and are typically constructed by Chinese builders with co-operation from Canadian, American To Europe with love A Nisga’a carver is working on a pole for the Vienna Zoo By JENNIFER LANG A TOTEM pole symboliz- ing the unity of the Nisga’a people will be _ raised at a ceremony in Vienna, Austria this sum- ~ mer. ‘Officials in Alver Tait to carve a pole that will help commemar- ate the Vienna Zoo’s 250- _ year. anniversary. The Schoenbrunn Zoo, the oldest in Europe, will feature the 10-melre (40- foot) pole in a prominent location in its new, $20- - million Rainforest House. The pole, a 500-year- ‘old red cedar spar, is tak- cing ‘shape. in a carving ‘shed in New Aiyansh, where master carver Alver Tait and up to six appren- tices-are working to meet a shipping deadline of early June. '. They’re compressing a job that normally takes months into just five weeks order to ship it to ~ Austela in time for the July 29 pole raising, two days before the actual anniver- sary on July 31, A flying eagle with its wings spread wide will sit on top of the pole. The eagle and the other figures on the pole ~ wolf, killerwhale and raven — re- present (he four major crests the Nisga’a people. the Eur- . opean capilal have com- “missioned master carver The sub-crests ~ beaver, owl, frog and bear — are incorporated into the de- sign as well. Its Nisga’a name will literally mean, “People of the Nass River”. “It's going to represent us, our people,” said Tait, an accomplished artist and carver whose spectacular poles dot the Nass Valley. His apprentices include Paul Mercer, Eric Clayton, Rachel Robinson, Ritchie Morgan, and George Gos- nell Jr. Tait is amazed by whal’s taking shape under his direction, He realizes he’s drawing “experience * and Swedish business patt- ners. Though such homes are out of reach all but two per cent of the Chinese hous-: ing market, Shaw remin- ded his audiences that given China’s population, this still translates into huge potential markets. “Within five years’ time we’re looking at in- creasing our exports from 1,006 units per year to over 12,000,” said Shaw. Optimistic projections aside, Shaw dispelled any fantasies that the Japanese tie “could be quickly or easily repeated in other Asian countries: “China is a new story.” He noted that every Pa- cific Rim country poses unique challenges for soft- wood exporters in terms of building codes, supportive infrastructure (or lack of it), and local workforce skills. And Shaw’s own exper- ience in China has also led him to conclude that patience and persistence are absolutely key to suc- cessful business transac- lions there. “There are two golden rules to doing business in China,” opined Shaw. “Number one: anything is possible. Number twa: nothing is easy. When you get pessimistic, you have to remember the first one - and when you get optimis- tic you have to think about the second.” He cited an example of -one ’Cénadian .company ° that-had spent six months ~ refining details of a con-" struction contract that it thought was in the bag — only to be told at the end of that time that design details had been changed, and the company’s ser- vices no longer needed. Shaw added that tradi- tional North American sates people would be hard pressed to walk away with contracts, alluding to the importance the Chinese place on relationships de- veloped over time. “It?s essential to main- tain a presence in the mar- ket, by having people there on the ground, on an ongoing basis.” Forward-thinking B.C. forest companies such as Weyerhaeuser, Canfor, and Slocan are puiting people in Pacific Rim countries. For its part, CrossRoad- seminars on wood-frame developers, | tutes in target Chinese ci- ties. CrossRoads also pro- duces technical literature on wood-frame construc- tion in Chinese, which it distributes through a web- site supporting its efforts. That address is www.cana- dawoodexportbureau.com. cease 4 —— THIS TOTEM pole taking shape inside a carving shed in New Alvansh will begin its epic journey from the Nass Valley to an Austrian zoo in a few weeks. day, on or around May 29. “Because we believe it’s a living thing and a valuable and precious piece of work,” Tait says. “It’s a part of on all 20 of his years of carv- ing experience to get the job done. “You can see the figures in the wood. You know what you have to do,” he says, “That’s what exper- ience does for you. Although this pole is a way for Tait to tap into the internation- al market, he's is sticking closely to Nisga’a tradition for each aspect of the pro-. ject ~ from. selecting the tree and blessing the wood ‘to preparing for moving. Alver Tait the Nisga’a Nation. Tait selected the tree, twice as old as the zoo it’s headed for, back in March. A few weeks ago, elders and other commun- ey ity members fq gathered for a " traditional pole-blessing. “We bless it so that it will serve us well,” he said, adding the cerem- ony functions as a way to seck permissian from the elders for the project. “The tree was the life-. saver of our. ancestors, in the old days,” Tait says, . adding wood was historic- ally used for boxes, shel- ter, and canoes. Bark was used to make clothing. Another ceremony will lake place when the com- pleted pole is lifted onto the truck that will haul it to Prince Rupert. There, it will board an ocean barge that will take it to Vancouver, and then it will travel by rail to Montreal, It will be ship- ped across the Atlantic to a German port, and finally loaded onto a transport Iruck bound for Vienna. The trip should take about a month. Tait will complete the final touches in Vienna - beaks and wings will be travelling separately. Zoo directors, Austrian government officials and other dignitaries are ex- pected to attend the pole raising ceremony. Tally dressed ‘in tradi-~ tional regalia, will direct the pole raising, which is as much an architectural feat as a cultural event. Tait’s Breath of Life Dance will to give life to the pole. With his carving tools strapped to his body, Tait will alsa dance the earver's dance, no doubt ta the audience’s delight and fascination. Nisga’a art and culture «housing technology ; with : eagineers,:. builders: and design .insti- - enjoy a high profile insAu- | Stria, according to Con- exus Research Group’s Peter Baird, the Vancou- ver-based project manager. In 1998, Nisga’a presi- dent Joe Gosnell travelled to Vienna as part of a speaking tour to explain the Nisga’a Treaty. Baird says the Nisga’a were recently included in Elsewhere, an award-win- ning Austrian documentary on aboriginal communities in the first year of the 1 new: millennium. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Wasn't their idea Dear Sir: The District Parent Advisary Council (DPAC) of School District 82 wishes to advise parents that the views expressed in a May 15, 2002 article in The Terrace Standard entitled “Parents Want Expert Hired” was not initiated by DPAC. This letter was initiated by the Parkside Elementary PAC and was submitted to The Terrace Standard in draft form. After reviewing the letter, neither DPAC nor Clarence Michiel PAC was prepared to support the initiative. We had advised Parkside PAC that this issue should be raised at our next DPAC meeting for review, We were unsure at the time of writing this letter to the Standard if the letter ta the Ministry. of Education was actually sent, We are hopeful that it has not, as we feel that district issues need to be addressed at the district level. ; Our objective is to continue to support the PACs of our district and bring issues to the board’s attention through the proper channels. We will strive to work with the board, not against it. We trust this clarifies DPAC’s position and look forward to working with your paper as we inform the public on issues that affect our children’s education. Linda Marshall, DPAC Treasurer, Terrace, B.C, Head injury revelation Dear Sir: OK, so here’s the scene. | find myself in a ditch in my vehicle. I was just out for a day of fiddlehead picking up some obscure logging road. OK, it is the Exstew mainline.and the last thing that I remember was seeing a logging truck flying down the gravel road at me. Yes, I remember, it had a special bug deflector on the hood that said “export this.” Well, that driver must have been doing 160 kilometres an hour (that’s 100 miles an hour for all you cld time loggers). Well that overlength load swept me right off into the weeds as the truck rounded the curve. All that I can figure is that driver must have been in a big hurry to get his load to be included in the rush to export 35 per cent of our focal logs. | sure hope he gets paid. So anyway, there I am, bleeding and all, and | come ta the conclusion that perhaps I need some medical attention. I recall that there is a forestry campsite just down the road, so ] stumble my way along until i come across a Winnebago heading out from the rec site (American plates, dang). I ask this guy if he could give me a ride to town, but he just muttered something about “no free firewood" and “all kinds of empty ‘bud’ cans all over the place” and softwood subsidies, and blah blah blah. He peeled out of there, said he was going north to Alaska to. get, hyderized. and to get souvenirs of the (50th Staje.on his list. bet et et ‘But “he also. said that he would get on his satellite phone and call an ambulance for me. I said thanks ( and sorry the Habs beat the Bruins) and sat down to wait for help. Well, sir, the bleeding did not stop, and I was getting worried that my emergency room might be closing soon. But then I remembered that stuff that the government just said about emergency care, you know, the lower mainland people getting health care within one hour and us gelting it within four hours, southerners because my government said so. just ‘cause Weil, it wasn’t long until the “golden hour” (described as that crucial timeframe to get a critically injured patient to care) had passed. Hey, at this point ] wouldn’t have cared that my lifesaving emergency health care was going to be administered by the competent paramedics. My head hurt. Heck, I saw visions of Bill Vander Zalm and his wife with headbands. No matter, I died. Turns out the Exchamsiks instead of Exstew. Dang! This story is fictional. All parties mentioned in this tale moved to Usk, the far side, and have to pay for the ferry. Chris Spangl, Terrace, B.C. Patient respect needed Dear Sir: I am writing in concern to an incident, which occurred on April 24, 2002 at Mills Memorial Hospital. The intent is not to criticize staff or operations of the Mills Memorial Hospital. However, I feel the public should be aware of such incidents, If a patient cannot verbally, physically abuse staff at Mills Memorial Hospital, staff of Mills Memorial should treat patients with the same respect as well, My daughter was referred to the hospital to have her baby monitored and blood work was ordered. The lab technician tried to remove blood from one of her arms several limes, not being successful with that arm, she then tried the other arm. The pain from the lab technician trying to draw blood was very painful for my daughter and she started crying and telling the lab lechnician she was hurting her arm. In turn, the lab technician insulted her and used coarse language when leaving. The incident was immediately reported to the lab officer of Mills Memorial and reported the incident. As a parent it is only natural to protect your from happening to other community members. The chief executive officer was very kind and considerate with this incident and I send out my respect and appreciation for his prompt course of action taken. Cheryl Johnson, Terrace, B.C, About the Mail Bag The Terrace Siandard welcames letters. Our address Is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at standard@kermoda.net. No altachments, please. We need your name, address and phone number for verification. Our deadline Is “noon Friday or noon Thursday If it's a long weekend, Hallelujah, I was saved. 1 could outlast those Hell, | drained an extra pint of blood on the gravel . ambulance dispatch office sent the crew to supervisor. I went directly to the chief executive , children against these kinds of incidents to prevent it.