Roy A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 29, 1993 * “TERRACE | STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 158 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283.* FAX: (604) 638-8432 ot MODEM: 638-7247 Fuzzy forests NORTHWEST RESIDENTS have just received a glimpse into the land claims future through the government’s decision to put up for sale the wood in the Cranberry Timber Supply Area (TSA). And the future looks more than a little bit dicey. - The ‘Cranberry TSA used to be called Tree Farm Licence 51 and was held by Westar when it operated the mill at Kitwanga. Westar sur- rendered the licence to the province early last year and the mill is now owned by a subsidiary of the Gitwangak band. With the severing of the wood from the mill, the province faced the problem of how-to get the two back together in some fashion. Complicating matters isa land claim boundary overlap through the Cranberry by the Nisga’a and by the - Gitanyow. The wood; 110,000 cubic metres can be cut each year, more less sat in limbo pending a provincial ..government desire that the Gitanyow and Nisga’a resolve their overlap. . Having seen no action on that front, the pro- vince decided to put the wood onto the open market through small business sales for 1994 and then into a longer term forest licence beginning in 1995. a . Sounds. good on the surface. But the key thing to remember here is that there is no resolution to -|- the Nisga’a and Gitanyow competing claims. So who in their right mind would want to get into “the middle of something from which even the government has backed away? _ Still unknown are the conditions that could be attached to the small business licences and to the forest licence. There may be so much talking re- quired with the . Gitanyow,, Nisga’a and Gitwangak that no company could hope to come two.of the three or even by one. «> « _, up:wwitlt a.plan accepted by. all three: parties, by « -» And*that’s where the future gets cloudy. The | * governinent is trying to: sell land claims settle- _ ments on the basis of certainty. They say final” ~ jesolutions will open the way for stable econom- — : ic development that’s safe and secure for private - investment. Yet this attempt at certainty isn’t ‘ working, leading to questions of confidence in _ the ability of natives and of the government to ~ conduct themselves accordingly. — _ Then: again; allthis may be a very simple plot on the part of the provincial government. By opening the’ wood up to bid, it’s challenging competing native interests to work together. All - that talk, about native self government’ has to _ translate into something concrete and this would seem. to be such an opportunity. In short, it’s called put up or shut up. Vicious circle WELCOME, TO 1994 and welcome to a greater ~ bite: from .your :paycheque. This time it comes _ courtesy the federal government which has raised the. rates for unemployment insurance » deductions." oo ae The unemployment. insurance. account is run- _ fiing-into the red and that means the feds need » more jand: more ‘to cover expenditures. But . . there’s: a” growing feeling: that more and :more _- taxes reduce’ the: ability of people to put money _ . back into the economy. That: stifles: economic growth, leading. to more unemployment and to ' more insurance claims. It’s a vicious circle, Eee "aS BUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link . ' |” ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L: Hamm .._ |" PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur : NEWS. AUNITY: Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter © 2 9 " QFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher _ ~. COMPOSING: Pam Odell * TYPESETTER: Ariane Viasblom “ce. DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur- - ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Charlene Matthews Sect) ft Terrace niva, Pubiched on Wecheady of wach week by Caitbio Prost (1009) Lid. at 4547 Sie, paoneh, station de and ipesyiee bs tha Torce Sida ae thu prope ofthe * poparight holders, Induding Gates Prove (1900) Lid, Hs fmt tops services and. adver 7 agencies, Sah a date im aor a ae - aie : : wea he Reproduction In whole or in part, witout Wien prrniamion, is apeciticety probed: 3 Acad us cid cash al par POO Ofoe Depa, fpr tpg Hanh . for 1 it vivide- referendum! (ssc) “Special thinks to all our contributors and correspondents - | & AY ~ ‘aunetlbettiin : : lee VICTORIA — In case you're wondering what. self- government for First Nations means or what it might in- clude, wonder no more. Gam- ‘bling appears to be one of the jurisdictions British Colum- bia's First nations are laying claim to. ; “Who in the hell says they have a right to tell us what to do,” Patty Chipps, chief of the Beecher Bay Indian band near Victoria, said in response to Scocred leader Grace McCarthy's suggestion that the issue of setting up gambling casinos on First Nations land be determined in a province- “SC casino on * its reserve land. -... "-Chipps allowed that the . provincial government~ might be able to play ‘‘some role’’ in. . the matter, but added that the band is determined to go ahead . with. the project, no. matter. ° what the government says or dogs. - 7 - We're not talking about a little bingo hall here or a few crap tables and slot machines. The band means business. It plans to build a multi-million dollar hotel- and casino com- “FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER ‘plex. Feasibility studies have already been completed. The government appears to iti be.spooked by the whole idea ..... The band in question has:iocand, 7: frankly, .. it. ‘should, :- "passed .a.series. of gaming ‘+: bylaws aimed at establishing a - farge-scale Government services minister Robin .Blencoe said: be received .- a” proposed - .Memorandum of understanding ~ through which First Nations wish to seek and agreement covering gaming operations on First Nations land. Rather than comment in detail on the proposal, Blencoe . would only say that he’ll take the matter to cabinet for dis- cussion. 7 Ona: separate front, the Kamloops Indian band recently staged a $25,000 Mega Bingo event that was in clear con- travention of provincial gaming regulations. A second such event is in the planning stage. . It'can be safely assumed that if any group other than native had held this event, police would have shut it down and charges would have been laid. Obviously, the sensitive rela- tions between government and First Nations made the Har- court government reluctant to act I don’t blame the First Na- tions for wanting to rush..in where wise folks fear to tread. Gambling is one.of the most lucrative ‘sources of income. Gaming «activities in British Columbia, including: ticket. raf- brought in $502 million in the last fiscal lest year, -hardly chicken feed. : First Nations ar on the ‘march. They demand and are . finally getting the recognition they have been denled for two * centuries. They want to take control of their future and need the revenue to do it. Gambling chsinos offer a way out. ’ But occasional bingos and - yaffles are one thing, large- " seale casino operations, Reno or Vegas-style are quite anoth-— en = The very fact that financiers _ such as Murray Pezim, . the High stakes at stake here Vancouver Stock Exchange king, want to invest in such. ventures should be reason for concern. Still, the government is tak~- ing the demands for the estab-. lishment of a gambling casino. seriously, and is obviously » worried that giving in to the. demand would open the flood- gates for similar operations elsewhere. : The danger J see has nothing: to do with who has control: over gambling. The problem is’ the scale on which it takes place. ce ‘bling palaces ‘the. “likes of ‘which you find in Rerlo or Las A little casino operating dur- ing limited hours can’t do too” _aTayeh, harm. Setting up gam-° fles, :casinos and bingo-games, |. 7 Vegas ‘is an open invitation to - the mob to come in and set up.’ shop. ; Few famous gambling towns have managed to keep the mob. » out, and Reno and Vegas: aren’t among them, Chances - that the First Nations could do so are slim at best. Without keesters in alligators. sounding too’. alarmist, I would caution the: Harcourt government. against - rushing into an agreement that’, * would give First Nations con--' trol over pambling, lest it finds’ itself in a swamp up to its Resolv "Tf it. weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.’’ Good Housekeeping My accomplishments always fall short of my New Year’s © resolutions. To make up for It, the final week of my year is as overcrowded as vacation lug- gage. In those six days before _ the diapered baby takes over - from the weary scythe carricz, I try. to squeeze in everything . on my goal list still to be done. + Powered by a belated spurt ~ of determination I vainly try to reach “more ‘of: the mileposts foolhardily proposed during last year’s week of zest. The correspondence -course stalled midway when sunny weather coaxed me from my desk. Let- + ters. stuffed’ out-of ‘sight, un- answered, between dictionary . and mail sorter. Living room drapes not hung for want of a “hem. ~ - Come December 26, F’m In- splred to do all sorts of holiday things for next year. Sew red ‘felt stockings. Create center. — pieces. Make a list of gifts, THEN GOLDILOcKS “RS CAME Te THE BEAR'S Vem HABITAT BUT THE aes FIRST SAMPLE PLOT WAS Ta XEKic! gleaned from family’s expres- sions and remarks as they un- — wrapped this year’s bounty around the tree: . Each year end niggling quilt, nudged by dreamis-stacked like 747’s° over Toronto airport, pressures me to write a broader ” set of resolutions as detailed — and exact as a recipe for make- your-own gunpowder, Living . --up to a third of my intentions © would require the stamina and singlemindedness of an IRA terrorist working thirty hour . S days. ing tho . my list is maintaining my . weight. I figure if I weigh the THE SECOND WAS Tod MESIC | BuT THE PHENOLOGY OF THE. THIRP QUADRAT Co0LD | fee fa SUSTAIN BASIC METASOLISM | Se One resolution uppermost on same each birthday ll never have to be buried in a piano ' crate. Weighing the same has _ heen a target since I was _ twelve, the year I shared my ‘ piano bench with a plate of Because my birthday is mid- January, at Christmas I have three weeks left in which to pare pounds. By foregoing after-supper munchies and sub- stituting Eresh fruit for pastries, | I’ve always weighed in, though some years it’s meant lighten- __ ~ ing up, like a Weight Watcher, by removing my wedding ~ band, : : _- When I -was twelve, our fam- ‘fly didn’t have a bathroom ‘scale. We. didn’t have a bathroom. We had a. scale capable of. weighing a ton. (Was Dad thinking of me when he bought it?) It had steel wheels big as soup plates, a platform the size of a nightclub dance floor. It was housed in f e reso lutions af. empty barmyard granary. Except for Buster, the family | dog, my weigh-ins were pri- © vate. Each year since then I grab | the eleventh hour chance to: revilalize good intentions, hone objectives, and tim my | life’s course a depree or two. I; get so little done with a page of | specific goals guiding me, . think how quickly I'd sink if 1 let go.of the dock before chart- *~ ing a route to a desired port. For decades my resolutions : have followed predictable lines - : —— fold the laundry immediate- . ly after it’s dry; keep. the.- . Mending up to date; yell less at the kids, oy Now we pick our clothes out of ihe clean hamper; buy new :- socks rather than mend; the. . kids have moved away, But. other things on the list survive.‘ Thus on Boxing Day. when . many. revelers are. moaning, : belts let out to the maximum notch, I’m nibbling carrot’: Sticks = while ~ summarizing March in a dairy entry. i. L HATE IT WHEN *