A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 26, 1997

| STANDARD.

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G SR2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432
EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Fairness

THE INTRODUCTION in the last decade of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was
said to be good as it put on paper what the title
indicates for individuals. Since then the Charter
has been constantly defined and refined by court
decisions which act as precedents in filling out
the intent of the document.

That partially explains how a local person had
charges of possessing 4.5 ounces of cocaine for
the purposes of trafficking stayed in local court
last month. First charged in March 1995, the per-
son wound through the court system for 30
months until last month when a judge agreed the
person’s right to a speedy trial was affected and
ordered the charge stayed. —

The judge determined the situation worked
against a person’s expectation of not having to
suffer unreasonable delays in being processed
through the court system. He used a 1990 prece-
dent, the Azkov case. This does not establish an
exact timeline for the process of a trial, but does
call for situations to be balanced by individual
circumstances.

Federal prosecutors, who have responsibility
for the country’s drug laws, have asked for a
transcript of the judge’s ruling with an eye to
making an appeal. |

There are undoubtedly good reasons for the
judge to decide what he did as individuals must
have the expectation of fair treatment from the
state. But this expectation must also be consider-
ed against the rights of the state in being able to
prosecute cases on behalf of society.

Court decisions often perplex and anger those
who view the justice system as a warren of legal
gobbleydegook. In this situation, we should ex-
pect a clear accounting of what happened to

Uh

should:

.
Patient guy
MAYOR JACK TALSTRA is, if nothing else, a
very patient person. .

It’s been nearly 10 years since Mr. Talstra first
floated the idea of a community/convention
centre complex that could also serve other com-
munity purposes. Back then the talk was of com-
bining the library and art gallery with such a
complex. The city even acquired land at the foot
of the hill containing the arena.

But lack of money and Jack of consensus
worked against the mayor’s plan — until now. A
one size fits all centre has again surfaced thanks
to the recent survey of the city’s parks and
recreation commission. The concept now is of a
facility containing a community, convention,
recreation and youth centre function. A sort of
community-based big box retail outlet.

Requests for such services, when bundled to-
gether because they could be housed under one
roof, out-ranked the wishes for a second sheet of
ice.

Perhaps this time the mayor’s patience will be
rewarded.

a a

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Serving ihe Terrace and Thamhill area, Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street,
Terrace, British Columbia, VEG 5R2. . - : to

Stories, photographs, ilustralions, designs and typostyles in tha Tetface Slandard are the property of tha
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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for their time and talents

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Thanks a lot, Greenpeace

VICTORIA — After years of
lobbying abroad for a boycott
of B.C, lumber, Greenpeace
has finally struck pay dirt.

B & Q, one of Britain’s
largest do-it-yourself furniture-
maker chains has announced
that it will boycott B.C. hem-
lock, the predominant species
on the West Coast. OK, so it
took Greenpeace a few years,
but putting people out of work
is a job that can’t be done
overnight,

In a letter to MacMillan
Blocdel’s — distributor = in
Europe, the company said it in-
tends to stop buying hemlock
from Mag Blo next year and
swith to pine from
Scandinavian forests.

The decision to find a sub-
stitute for hemlock was made

. because B & Q doesn’t believe
‘that MacMillan Bloedel and
- ather West Coast forest com-

panies will achieve internation-
al standards for logging of
hemlock by the end of 1999,
The Forest Stewardship
Council, an international group
of representatives from indus-
ry, government, environ-

mentalists and others, set those

standards in 1994 at a confer-

ence in Qaxaca, Mexico.
Regional councils were to

FROM. THE:CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

adopt the standards that deal
with issues such as environ-
mental impact, tenure and use
rights, indigenous peoples’
Tights and rules for monitoring.

A few years ago, businesses
in - Britain informed Canadian
companies that they would
look elsewhere for wood pro-
ducts if the Canadian com-
panies didn’t move towards
those standards.

B & Q’s decision to stop
buying hemlock isn’t going to
be the end of British Colum-
bia’s forest industry. The com-
pany buys its wood all over the
world. MacMillan Bioedel’s
market share is between $1

million and $2 million a year.
But B & Q’s move could
prompt other companies to fal-
low suit.

B & Q is a member: of a
buyers group that includes 79
other companies with annual
sales in wood products worth
about $7 billion, That’s consid-
erable clout, And we owe it all
to Greenpeace,

For years, Greenpeace has
spread fear and loathing by
using its massive intemational
influence to portray British
Columbia as the Brazil of the
North. Its tactics have included
every trick in the book.

The former Harcourt govern-
ment established the Commis-
sion on Resources and En-
vironment, which came wp
with detailed land-use plans. It
brought in a tough Forest Prac-
tices Code, so tough, indeed,
that rigid adherence to it would
place the entire forest industry
at risk.

Nothing was enough for
Greenpeace. The organization
continued to lobby against the
province and its forest industry
around the world, which
earned it the name ‘‘enemies
of British Columbia’’ from
Premier Glen Clark.

Greenpeace said B & Q’s de-

cision to stop buying hemlock -

from British Columbia was a

wake-up call for government |

and industry. To me it’s more
of a wake-up call for ordinary

people to take another hard —

look at Greenpeace.

To engineer a boycott of our |

forest products thousands of
miles away is no achicvement.
it’s a disgrace.

You can’t blame B & Q for
pulling the plug. These people
are in business to make money,
And if the ‘buying public in
Britain is convinced, thanks to
the efforts of Greenpeace, that
we ravage our forests, B & Q
won't buy from us, no matter
what the reality may be.

One final word to Green-
peace: if you want to find out
how to be responsible and ef-
fective environmentalists, read

‘To Save the Wild Earth by Ric

Careless.
In the 25 years Ric has been

active in the environmental

movement, he’s done more to
make British Columbia a better
and more beautiful place than
Greenpeace could ever hope to
achieve.

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
(250) 920-9300; Fax: (250)
385-6783; E-Mail:
hubert@coolcom.com

Fitting memorial to tragedy

TO KEEP alive a memory —
usually of a worthwhile citizen
— we dedicate memorials.

In Saint John, New Bruns-
wick a judge may soon order
the building of a monument to
memorialize a two-year-old
negleciled 1o death by her
parents,

Memorials take many forms:
arenas, bridges, dams, schools,
hospitals, parks, statues, librar-
ies, churches, highways, and
park benches.

For John Denver, the Amer-
ican folk singer who wrote
many environmental songs, a
grove of trees will be planted
and named after him. Princess
Diana has a white tulip.

Memorials lend distinctive
names to public buildings and
geographical landmarks,
Otherwise Terrace would have
a no-name theatre, a generic
hospital, and streets identified
by number instead of pioneer

surnames,

uO. Begs!

THROUGH BIFOGALS |
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

Ofien the type of memorial
depends upon the subject’s
lifelong strivings. But Judge
Hugh McLellan of the Court of
Queen's Bench wants a monu-
ment to memorialize the life
Jacqueline never lived. It’s to
be part of a sentence for a
manslaughter conviction of a
young couple who failed to

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provide the necessities of life
to their two-year-old daughter.

The child died of dehydra-
tion December 17, 1996 in her
family’s filthy apartment.
She’d had nothing to drink for
at least two days, possibly six.

The judge could have
sentenced the parents to
jailtime, Period. But that
would have had litle long-
term impact on public aware-
ness.

To remind cveryone of the
tragedy of child-neglect, the
judge wants a monument built
in King’s Square, a park cut-
side the courthouse.

He’s even suggested the pia-
que’s wording: That the child
was 28 months old when she
died, “‘neglected, dehydrated
and forgotten in her crib at
home, where she lived in
loneliness, squalor and misery
with her parents, under the su-
pervision of social workers,
health-care experts and child-

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protection officials,’”

Over the three years before
the child’s death, — child-
protection officials received 16
complaints, yet failed to rescue
Jacqueline or her two siblings
from their parents.

Onc peeved court observer, :

who approves the judge’s in-
novative sentence, would like
the parents brought to the mon-
ument once a month to ponder

what they did to their child. 1 .

would also fetch along the so-

cial services people who ig- :

nored neighbors’ concerns.

In a further twist, the judge |

has postponed sentencing until
noon December 17, cxactly
one year to the hour after Jac-
qucline’s death, to remind
society of the sad, lonely death
of the forgotten youngster.

To see a judge devote time
and imagination custom-filting
a sentence tailored to the crime
is as tare as winning a jackpot
lottery, but equally welcome.