Funny money - ‘Step inside A subsidy for after-school child care won't be of any use to parents in Terrace\NEWS A9 Inmates at the correctional centre play host to local seniors and elders\COMMUNITY B1 In swim trim A former Blueback swimmer dives onto the national . stage\SPORTS B6 WEDNESDAY. $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST- ($2.40 plus 4¢ GST outsida ofthe Torrnce area) July 5,'2000 ° ANDARD Locals back gay pride day request VOL. 13 NO. 13 City council urged to reverse its decision By JEFF NAGEL CITY COUNCIL may have provoked much more uproar by refusing to pro- claim a gay pride day this summer than if it had simply complied. Local gays, lesbians and their suppor- ters are ressurrecling a dormant-commit- (ce that had formed to encourage toler- ance of homosexuality, and there’s talk about entering a gay pride float in the Ri- verboat Days parade. “Gays and lesbians work and live in the community,” said local lesbian Etiza- beth Snyder. “We're business people, we're moms and dads, we're sons and daughters, we’re ptominent peaple and we're on welfare.” “We are this community, and for that not to be taken into account by this town council is troubling.” Snyder said the local tolerance com- mittee will come to city hall and ask city council to reverse its Fune 26th decision and proclaim a gay pride day. Council had voted 5-1 to defeat coun- cillor David Hull’s motion to proclaim Aug. 5 as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Pride Day” in the City of Terrace. The request for the proclamation came from Rainbow B.C., a provincial coalition of gay and affiliated groups. Some councillors based their decision to oppose the motion on the fact the re- quest wasn’t initiated by a local group. Snyder said the newly revived toler- ance committee, which met last Wednes- day and plans another mecting at the li- brary this Friday at 6:30 p.m., hopes by coming to council directly next Monday they’ ll eliminate that objection. “The plan is also over the summer to plan some celebrations,” she said, adding that could involve participating in River- hoal Days, a rally or other events. “We haven’t pinned down yet what that would fook like.” Snyder said the group felt they couldn’t allow the decision to go unan- swered, even though making it a public issue lerrifies some gay people who aren't open about their orientation. “It has such a negative ripple effect in the community when something like this happens,” she said. “It would be negli- “It’s often a shame when a decision like this occurs there’s an immediate re- action that has to take place, but I guess that’s how change has to occur.” The debate at council on the procla-' mation almost never even happened. After Hull moved the proclamation, mayor Jack Talstra twice called for a seconder and was met with silence both times. But just when it appeared the motion would die a‘ quick death councillor Olga Power seconded the motion for discussion purposes. Power said she opposed the proclama- tion because the day to be proclaimed is during Riverboat Days celebrations. “I see this as a conflict with an event Continued Pg A11 gent on our part not to respond.” Olga Power mine A SUPREME Court ruling last week thal the province failed to address Tlingit natives’ environmental concerns is a major set- back for a proposed mine in northwestern B.C. B.C, Supreme Court Justice Pamela Kirkpatrick teleased her ruling June 28 after critics warned that the mines ministry fast- tracked ,the Tulsequah Chief mine’s enviran- mental approval despite concerns raised by scien- tifists. “The failure goes to the heart of the environmental process and, as such, ren- ders the ministry’s deci- sion unreasonable,” she said in her judgment. Taku River Tlingit First Nation spokesman John Ward calls the decision a “clear sign that First Na- tion concerns will not be overlooked any longer by the B.C. government.” The Tlingit worried that the road proposed by the mine’s developers, Red- fern Resources Lid. of Vancouver, would seriaus- ly damage the Taku River wilderness, The Tlingit argued their concerns regarding the sustainability of the water- shed’s lands, which houses a rich selection of wildlife, were nat addressed by the government, They were backed by studies that found the mine’s potential acid drainage posed a threat to salmon and grizzly bears in the area, Redfern Resources is calling the judgment an “extreme disappointment” but stresses the ruling found the company in compliance with .environ- mental standards and it was the ministry that didn't address Tlingit fears. The ministry has 30 days to appeal the ruling, but what steps it chooses io take is still “up in the air’, said ministry. spokes- man Kerry Readshaw. Up until now. the big- gest hurdle facing the mine had been opposition from Alaska. Mines minister Dan Miller had been making progress in meetings last month towards easing the state’s concerns. WEST FRASER employees Craig Jennings and Max Dasilva strike 5 outside of the timber company’s lum- ber yard in Terrace June 28. They both are members of the Industrial Wood and Allied Workers of Cana- da union (!WA). The strike began after negotiations between the company and the union failed. Strike closes sawmills MORE THAN 600 Terrace-area saw- mill workers and loggers walked off the job fast Wednesday as part of a coast-wide forest industry strike. They're among 12,000 Industrial Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA) on strike around the province, Work ground to a halt at the Skeena Cellulose and West Fraser sawmills here as picket lines sprang up around the plants. “There’s absolutely nothing com- ing into our yard at all,” said West Fraser gencral manager Lou Poulin. Most if not all logging contractors working for both mills have also been affected, Skeena Cellulose sawmills in Carnaby and in Smithers were not immediately affected, but could be shut down if interiors workers also strike. Both West Fraser and Skeena Celiulose, however, were confident their pulp mills in Kitimat and Prince Rupert would. continue to operate despite a reduced flow of chips. Skeena Cellulose’s pulp mill, presently in the midst of a partial shutdown for major capital improve- ments, is to resume full production by the second week of July. - “IVs not expected to affect the pulp mill,” said SCI spokesman Don McDonald. At issue in the labour dispute are what workers say are employer de- mands for concessions on job flex- ibility, vacation scheduling and pen- sions. The industry says it needs the same contract language on the coast already agreed to by IWA members in the interior, “We'll stand our. ground for as long.as it takes,” sald Mike Dougall, a package press operator at SCI. Other IWA members are hopeful the strike doesn’t last long, “The sharter the ‘strike the better,” said Laudo Botelho, a fork- lift driver for West Fraser for the past 23 years, “This is going to affect everyone in town,” he said. “I mean, it’s not good for Terrace.” Mr. Music is latest health care victim Jim Ryan faces lengthy stay in P.G. for kidney dialysis By JENNIFER LANG THESE ARE dark days for Terrace’s celebrated music man, Jim Ryan. The 65-year-old founder and conductor of the Ter- race Symphony Orchestra has suffered kidney failure. That means he needs kidney dialysis three times a week, for up to six hours al a time, just to stay alive. But because the nearest hemodialysis unit is in Prince George, the Order of Terrace recipient is now for- ced to live in exile — indefinitely. He and other renal patients like him shouldn’t have to, his friends and supporters say. Terrace is still awaiting word on whether a proposed regional hemodialysis unit based at Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace will gain final approval. Renal patients in the northwest needing hemo- dialysis have two options: they can eet the ongoing treatment they need in Prince George ar Vancou- ver. AL present, three Ter- race residents including Ryan have moved to Prince George for hemo- dialysis treatment at Prince George Regional Hospital. A fourth Terrace patient uses a dialysis unit at . home, an expensive aption that’s out of reach. for Jim Ryan most, and requires special training 10 use, A December 1999 report prepared by the B.C. Provin- cial Renal Agency at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver estimated that 39 patients in the northwest region need a renal unil like (he one Ryan needs three times a week. Mills Memorial Hospital CEO Dieter Kuntz says Ter- race is the location for a proposed six-unit, ambulatory ’ hemodialysis program that would serve the region. Terrace already has a qualified renal specialist — Dr. Michael Kenyon, who’s the local coordinator helping to put the program in place. Kuntz said Terrace’s renal unit would be designated as a regional service operated as a satellite program of the Northern Interior Hospital Region in Prince George. Approval is expected lo be announced in time for this financial year, ending in March 2001, But Kuntz cautioned that final approval may not be made until the fall. “Once the ministry approves it, it will take 18 months, approximately, to formalize it and put it into action,” Kuntz said, adding renovations will -be neces- -sary lo accommodate the program at Mills. - While that may sound like a long wait for Terrace pa- tients wanting to move back home, Kuntz stressgd least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.” am Meanwhile, family, friends and supporters are rullying around Ryan in a bid to bring him home.. “It could take up to two years,” said Yvelte Bos, a colleague of Ryan's who has joined the effort to hasten the approval of Terrace’s regional hemodialysis program. We want to try and speed it up as much as possible.” Ryan, who originally started to suffer from renal fail- ure in 1991, ‘has needed two kidney transplants. Continued Page A10