ef rv UNBC fate here still unknown | TERRACE — The future of ihe University of Northern B.C. in Terrace will hinge on the out- come of critical negotiations this month between university offi- cials and Northwest Community College. UNEC president Geoffrey Wel- ler said how many courses the university can offer here — and indeed whether the university can offer courses here — will depend on a negotiated deal with the col- lege in the next couple of weeks. ‘What UNBC can do is very dependent on the number of stu- dents there are,’’ he explained. Because third- and fourth-year courses attract fewer students, FORESTRY Minister orders damage check TERRACE -- Local logging practices are about to be exam- ined by two government -ap- pointed consulting companies. Art Charbonneau, acting forests minister during Dan Miller's suspension, announced last week Tripp Biological Consultants and Northwest Hydraulic Consultants will immediately begin an audit of northwestern cut blocks. What they will be looking at is whether logging operations have complied with guidelines aimed at protecting fish bearing streams. ’ Tripp. was. the. anditor, which blew the whistle on several com- panies which had cut timber on Vancouver Island. They found more than 20 in- stances of waterways having been damaged as a result of the way logging had been carried out. The offending forest companics were subsequently given 60 days to clean up.the damaged streams. Forest companies who had op- erated on the Island were also or- dered to review all the remaining cutblocks harvested since Jan. 1, 1988 -- approximately 3,000 -- by last week, Those reports are now being looked at by Forest Service staff and they are expected to report their findings to the ministry by the end of the year. Locally, Charbonneau has asked Tripp and Nautical to check out a random selection of 90 cutblocks in the Prince Rupert Forest Region, which includes the local Kalum district. Weather permitting, Charbon- neau expected the consultants to complete the audit of these selected areas by the end of the year. He said the audit will cventual- ly be expanded to take in all coas- tal area forest districts. most universities need large num- bers of First- and second-year stu- dents enrolled in order to balance the costs of providing instruction in later years, Weller said the colleges may have to give up some of their first and second-year students — to UNEC to make it feasible to offer degree-completion. “We have to make some hard decisions,’’ he said. ‘‘We have to figure out what we ‘re both going to do”? He said numbers of students in Terrace are quite small. “We're not talking very big numbers and that’s the limiting aspect for us,’’ he said. ; “courses,” | Colleges have been ‘given’ the power to issue what are called. as- sociate degrecs, Weller added, for students who have finished their first two years. That may make the colleges want to retain ‘the administration of first and second year niversity courses. “That would restrict us to of. fering third .and ‘fourth _ year he said, would be difficult for UNBC to offer those courses. without hav- ing administration of first- and second-year. Any deal where the. colleges gave up some or all university transfer course: programming to adding it — UNBC might require the injection of more money from the ministry of advanced education as com- pensation to the colleges, Weller indicated. - ~NWCC_ board chairman Al Brockley says the college hasn’t issued any ultimatums, but itdoes - . wamit to retain all first ‘and second year courses, ; “We want -to work this thing out,’ Brockley said. “It’s impor- ‘. tant to us. It’s important to them. So we're talking.”’ _ He said NWCC believes il can offer more courses because it’s more flexible than UNBC on minimum class sizes. “We can hold courses for When local residents gather at the Cenotaph tomorrow to lay wreaths in remembrance of those who died for their country in past conflicts, mem- bers of the 747 Squadron Air Cadets, including Leading Air Cadet Tracy Coulas (above), will take up position at the four corners of the memorial once again in recognition of the sacrifice made by those whose names appear upon the Honour Rall. Nass elementary school up in air TERRACE — Nisga’a school district officials are still no fur- ther in getting an clementary school built in. Gitwinksihlkw. A trip down south this week resulted only in statements that the education ministry would consider the proposal, says dis- irict secretary-treasurer Alvin Azak. : The problem fies in. what tenders for the three-classroom project are compared to what the ministry thinks it is worth. The lowest of tenders opened in October came to $800,000 over what the ministry is prepared to pay, said Azak. “The minisiry’s opinion is that the size of the school should cost only $1.2 Iniltion anywhere in the province.” “But building costs in Van- couver are a lot different than they are here. Even the amount they did give us for geographic SEREN Jocation isn’t close’? Azak con- tinued. estimated the project cost at $2.024 million, just under the low It’s the second time the project has been tendered. The first time, bids were also over the projection and changes were made to scale down the cost for the second go around. Azak said he felt the school bid amount of $2.033 million. Students from Gitwinksihlkw now take the bus daily to school in New Aiyansh. The ministry has suggested removing a covered playground and emergency power equipment « Council’s decision was music to the ears of a group of local singers. ~ NEWS + A8 would already be under construc- tion if the ministry had a realistic _ tstimate in the first place. He said an independent study to further reduce the cost. Azak said he felt that would be unacceptable because of weather and power outages. , smaller groups than we believe the university could,’’ he said. Construction of administrative centres ‘in cach of the regions — referred to in the university’s new 68-page regional plan — will be tied to the negotiations ‘on courses, Weller said. UNBC would Ilkely build centres to house office space, lec- ture rooms, distance education facilities, and computer Jabs in each of the regional centres, the plan says. ‘It will depend on the outcome of the first set of negotiations,’’ Waller notes. ‘‘It wil] depend on who is doing the programming,’’ “Tf we have a larger role there will be more (construction). TE we. have a smaller role there will be. less,”’ The calendar for next year must. be concluded soon, he said. '“We ¢ hope to have things sorted out by” the end of November.” - Weller maintains the new uni- versity is committed to serving the regions. “We'll do as much as we can’ as soon aS We can — within the confines of practicality,’’. For details of UNBC’s new regional policy report, please see page Al3. Natives get first crack at mill wor TERRACE — Natives will receive a hiring preference on the proposed Orenda Forest Products pulp and paper mill, says a spokesman for the company that’ll construct the facility, But there probably won’t be a quota system sct, adds Com- monwealth Construction industri- al relations manager Bob Marsh. And he says there’ll be plenty of opportunity for employment for all residents of the Terrace- Kitimat corridor. ‘The general policy is to give people a preference who reside in the area of a project, In this arca, the native Indian populace to a greater degree will have a prefer-_ ““ence;*? said Marsh. Fleshing out what will happen temains difficult until a study is done of area natives to determine jeb skills they have and how those will fit in with mill con- struction labour requirements. That’s part of a larger research project examining the impacts and possible benefits the $410 million project will have on area natives, Native job skill levels will determine what construction posi- tions they could fill and what kind of training might be needed to increase qualifications, said Marsh. The kind of employment plan that will emerge wiil be the largest Commonwealth has un- dertaken in Canada but won't be in other countries in which the company has operated. “In the Phillipines, in Peru, for instance, the requirement is to maximize to a very large extent local people,”’ said Marsh, - The idea of preference will also be extended to local companies bidding for service contracts dur- ing construction. “There will be a cerlain amount of latitude given, but we do not want to quantify it,’ said Marsh. “But we are emphasizing that local companies must be compcti- tive. This is not a licence to add.a couple of zeros to the contract,” he said. kkk The secretary treasurer of the provincial umbrella group of con- struction unions says the kind. of: - native cmployment being talked _ about for the Orenda project will... ‘be significant. ‘This is the first time we have ever discussed native involve- ment .on a project’ of that mag- nitude,”’.said Bill Holmes of the B.C. and Yukon Construction and Building Trades Council. “We have asked monwealth) to make enquiries of natives who are qualificd and who can be qualified,’ said Holmes. He said the council supports the concept of native hire on all relevant construction projecis. “Individual unions already have natives - indigenous people’ - who are members of ‘their union,’? Holmes added. The council has already pro- posed up to 50 per cent native workforce participation on con- struction projects on reserve lands, Holmes said. The Orenda project is expected to create up to 572 manyears of employment. Feds hand out UIC penalties TERRACE — _ Just over $156,000 in penalties were as- sessed against 181 people for abusing the unemployment insur- ance plan for the six month peri- od ending Sept, 30, In all, Canada . Employment Centre _ investigators’ found $322,448 in overpayments during the same period. Investigators looked at 1,446 cases. covering Terrace, Kitimat, Hovwston, Hazelton, Smithers,” Granisle and Stewart. , Employment cenire figures -in- dicale that 4,870 people made un- employment insurance claims amounting to $28 million during . the six month period. ADE 262 Lear SPROUL ME ACERT PRONE ZCI a ide Teaiee style, ee Innocent mistakes leading to averpayments and possible false reporting are detected by employ- ment centre computer. programs which match employer” records with claims, But information also. comes from: other uhempioyment insur- ance employees and tips from the public, says -invesligation. and control officer Sherlyn: Taylor, and one of three people in the ine. vestigations unit. ~ She said those giving false or misleading information will be not be assessed penalties or face prosecution. if they voluntarily’. come forward, wee a Downunder [| @ Pitcher Brad Neuteldl | tries fastball - — KE. (Com-.