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WEDNESDAY
January 14, 1998

TAN DAR —D ==

| Saying ‘sorry’ just won’t work

SORRY’S NOT good enough for some victims of native
residential school abuse.

They say an apology made by the federal government
last week will only help strengthen their civil lawsuits
against the government and churches that ran the schools.

Federal Indian Affaus minister Jane Stewart made the
apology in Ottawa Jan. 7. She said the federal government
is ‘‘deeply sorry” for the sexual and physical abuse that
children suffered at the schools. For the fudl text of the
apology, see Page AS.

The schools had been set up in the early part of the
century to assimilate native children into white culture.
There were 16 of them in B,C, — although many children
from the northwest were also sent to residential schools in
Alberta. Most of them closed by the late 1960s.

It wasn’t until the late 1980s that stories of physical,
mental and sexual abuse became widely-known.

Along with the apology, the government announced a
$350 million “‘healing fund’? that will be used to help treat
victims of abuse.

Skeena MP Mike Scott dismissed both measures. He
called ihe apology ‘‘vague’’ and argued that the Depart-
ment of Indian Affairs didn't even kriow how the “‘healing
fund’’ would be distributed,

“This is clearly the time-honoured Liberal way of throw-
ing money at problems in the hopes the problems will dis-
appear,’” he said.

But director of the Kermode Friendship Centre Sadie
Pamell says that the money will be used to fund healing
programs designed for and delivered by native people,

While some have suggested that $350 million is not
enough to repair the damage, Parnell, a residential school
victim herself, says she doesn’t want to dwell on the
money.

“No amount can compensate for the people we lost,’’
she says, “But it is a positive start. It signals the fact that
the government has acknowledged their part for bringing
this down on our people. Now the healing can start.’’

Parnell points out that the effects of residential school

abuse has been passed down through the generations and

are still being felt by today’s children.

*Tt’s affected whole families,’’ she says. “My paren
were affected. I was affected. My children were affected.”

But many residential school victims say those
responsible for the residential schoo] abuses should do
more than apologize, They should pay compensation to the
victims.

Roger Gray was one of many native children from the
Terrace area who were taken from their parents at a young
age. He was placed in a residential school in Port Alberni
where he was not allowed to speak his native language,
strapped, beaten, sexually abused and isolated from his
family for four years.

Now he’s part of a class action lawsuit that is set to go to
trial in February, Dozens of men who were abused in
residential schools have filed several lawsuits against chur-
ches, individuals and the government.

Gray and other northwest victims are suing for millions

in damages,
—— Cont'd Page A2

Roger Gray

Charity
giving
goes on

' THE FEDERAL GOVERN-
. MENT has extended until

the end of this month the
deadline for making
charitable donations for the
1997 tax year.

Normally donations made
in return for receiving tax
deductions on income have
to be made in the same
calendar year.

But the postal strike of
late last year hit hard those
charities which depend upon
the mails to deliver dona-
tions.

And that resulted in a
huget drop in donations and
the decision by the federal
government to extend the
donating period by one
month.

Hurt locally was the Sal-
vation Army’s Christmas
appeal which is down
$15,000 compared to the
previous Christmas.

Money from the appeal fs
partially used to operate the
Army’s year round food aid
program.

Salvation Army Lt Norm
Hamelin said only $10,000
has been raised so far.

“Just about every
charitable organization is
down,’’ he said.

The Canadian Centre for
Philanthropy estimates that
a donation total of $600 for
a person making $40,000
works out to a real cost of
$373 because of tax deduc-

i Now that’s big air

JOSH ANKER gets some really big air at a snow-
board competition held two weekends ago at
Shames Mountain. In spite of these amazing
acrobatics, Anker didn’t actually make the top

page BS. (photo: John Bartlett)

three in the Big Air event. But he did win the
Boardercross in his age group the day before, For
compiete results from the competition see Sports,

‘tions and credits.

eee ea

| Recall drive at half-way mark

RECALL FORCES have gathered half of the sig-
natures they need to oust Skeena MLA Helmut
Giesbrecht. But with less than three weeks remaining
in the campaign, they still have a long way to go.

Recall proponent Lome Sexton revealed Monday
the 150 canvassers have so far collected 3,772 sig-
natures. They need to have 7,558 signatures by Feb. 3
in order to force a byelection.

The campaign here is badly trailing the pace in
Prince George, where MLA Paul Ramsey is also fac-
ing a recall campaign.

The Recall Ramsey organization also started on
Dec. 5 but reached the 3,600-signature level just a
week into the campaign, and claimed to have 5,200
signatures on Dec. 22,

Skeena’s recall machine has moved much more
siowly, with less than 2,000 signatures collected at
the end of December. ;

Organizers here held off their canvassing efforts
until January, to avoid going door-to-door during the
holiday season. !

“We didn't get as quick a start as we thought,”

Sexton said, adding cold weather has also hampered
efforts.

In the two weeks since starting door-to-door can-
vassing, recallers here have gathered 1,900 signatures
— about 500 in the first week and 1,400 in the second
week, Sexton said,

Elections B.C. has advised recall campaigns to pro-
vide more than the required number of signatures, so
they’ve got extras in case some signatures are dis-
qualified in the verification process.

Sexton says he wants to have at least 8,000 sig-
natures to take care of that possibility.

The pace will have to accelerate further to reach
that level by Feb. 3.

But Sexton is confident they'll reach their target.

“Done deal,” he sald Monday. “Canvassers are
fired up. We've got the momentum going and we're
just going to go for it.”

Sexton said canvassers are converging on Kitimat
this weekend for a concerted effort to gather
‘signatures.

And he said there may be a call for an all-out push

in the final week of the campaign.

Prior to the beginning of the campaign, recallers
here had identified 2,100 people who had indicated
they would sign the petition.

Sexton’s plan was to immediately sign those peo-
ple up and then go door to door.

The butk of those peaple have now been signed up,
he said, but they’re still missing about 300 people
who said they would sign.

Sexton said canvassing efforts have covered only
half of Terrace so far and about 10 per cent of
Kitimat.

Sexton said they'll now retum to their practice of
not releasing any numbers on the progress of the
campaign to keep Glesbrecht supporters guessing.

He said he released the numbers now in an effort to
dispel fears of intimidation among some people who
have not yet signed the petition by demonstrating that
nearly 4,000 people have signed it.

Sexton claims theyre getting surprising support
from native villages, such as. Gitwangak- and
Gitanyow.

Flaherty returns
to islanders

WADE FLAHERTY is back in the big leagues
after two great starts with the New York Islanders.

Flaherty was called up from the Islander’s farm
team, the Utah Grizzlies, on Saturday aftemoon aft-
er several dismal performances by the Islanders,
including a brutal 8-2 loss to Montreal.

That night the Islanders played Carolina with
Flaherty starting in net. He looked strong, keeping
Carolina off the scoreboard until late in the second,
Still, the Islanders ended up losing in overtime 2-1.

New York coaches were impressed with his play,
however, and Flaherty was back between the pipes
Monday night against Detroit. Once again he
proved tough to beat, knocking away shot after shot
until the third period, when the Red Wings tied it up
on a lucky bounce off a player’s leg. This one ended
up lied 1-1 and Flaherty was named Player of the
Game for stopping 31 shots.

The Islanders’ next game is tonight against Tampa
Bay and odd are good he'll be back in net.

ee ere