Survival skills
Aboriginal youth get
head start on
adventure tourism
training\SPORTS B4

Headed south
Paul Wadsworth murder

trial heads down to
Vancouver to wrap

up\NEWS A12

A class act

Why six high school
graduates are about to
make Terrace
history\COMMUNITY B1

$1.00 plus .7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area}

By JENNIFER LANG
MUNICIPAL officials can’t answer
one of the biggest questions surround-
ing the renewed push for a multiplex:
will voters have a say through a refer-
endum?

Fifteen months after sending in an
application, the City of Terrace
learned last week its long-standing
multiplex proposal has now qualified
for $2 million in senior government
grants.

Half of the money comes from the
province and haif from the federal
government under a joint program.

The news has restored efforts to sal-
vage a $7.6 million proposal that
failed a 1999 referendum when Ter-
race voters said ‘yes’ to borrowing
money but regional district volers said

Y

‘no’.

The city’s chief administrative offi-
cer has now sought the advice of the
provincial government.

“We are waiting for a definitive
answer,” Ron Poole said June 28, “We
don’t know.”

If the ministry can’t provide the an-
swer, Poole said the city may have to
seek legal advice.

The referendum question asked vo-
ters if they were in favour of borrowing
up to $7.6 million.

A majority of voters in Terrace (55
per cent), said yes but the referendum
failed to pass in the rural areas.

At the time, mayor Jack Talstra
said the results provided a clear man-
date from the people of Terrace for al
least $5.6 million of the price tag

More inside
@ Getting $2 million for a multi-
plex is a sign the province hasn't
forgotten about the north, says
MLA. See Page At0

under what would have been a 70-30
capital cost sharing. arrangement with
the regional district.

Its not clear if that mandate still
stands three years laler.

Poole said the city is commilted to
pushing for a private-public partnership
to reduce the financial burden on tax-
payers.

A new community charter is expec-
ted to replace the Local Government
Act in January, lifting some of the
city’s restrictions on how it can raise
money.

Poole said places like Cranbrook
and Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Is-
land have already built recreational
facilities using private dollars.

Meanwhile, last week’s grant ap-
proval has rejuvenated efforts to make
the multiplex a reality,

“PHP make a very bold announce-
ment today,” the mayor tald about 20
people gathered at the Terrace arena
June 25. “We'll put our shovels in the
ground in the spring.”

The original design plans for the fa-
cility were created using information
gleaned through a series of public for-
ums in the 1990s.

When voters turned down the $7.6
million proposal in November 1999 —
which included a gymnasium, a sec-
ond ice arena, and meeting rooms —

Multiplex vote remains murky

Talstra refused to let it die.

Sailing into another consecutive
term as mayor that fall, Talstra’s first
order of business was to seek council's
support in appointing a special task
force to look at creative ways tu re-
duce the amount taxpayers would be
asked to shoulder,

That comniittee has been virtually
on hold pending a response to the in-
frastructure grant application submit-
ted in March 2001.

“We thought for a while it got lost
in the fog in Victoria,” Talstra said,
thanking Skeena MLA Roger Harris
for his assistance.

Talstra has asked the committee to
reconvene. Its job will be to review the
design plan and investigate private

Continued Page A10

Garbage grab
GARY MCQUAID, James McGettigan and Reuben Bond are

determined to rid a local recreation area of unsightly litter July
7. The trio is hoping other outdoor enthusiasts will come out to

help clear the area near Copper Mountain’s hydro lines. The
area is used by hikers, rock climbers, mountain bikers and ATV
users, For details see page B4. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

Assault centre cut opposed

CUTS TO sexual assault
services here may seem as
if money is being saved
but much more will be
spent in the years ahead as
a result, says the exec-
utive director of the Ksan
House Society.

Carol Sabo made the.

comment last week after
learning the sociely’s sex-
ual assault centre is losing
$60,000, or approximately
half of its budget, begin-
ning next year.

The reality is that vic-
tims of abuse can become
abusers themselves, af-
fecting more people, she
said.

“We know we can
never slop sexual abuse
completely, but we have
to work to break the
cycle,” Sabo continued.

“If we can’t provide
counselling to victims
now, if they become abu-
sers, the costs of dealing
with that will be much
more.”

That $60,000 works out
to providing counselling
for approximately. 19

people for one year under.

government rates but the

same amount, when spent
by Ksan, delivers more
counselling and other ser-
vices, she said.

The cuts to sexual as-
saull services here are
being repeated around the
province by the provincial
government in its efforts to
both trim spending and
change the way it does bu-
siness.

Sabo is also troubled by
impressions the provincial
government may have that
there’s duplication in sex-
ual assault services in Ter-
race.

Court-based victim ser-
vices have been cut and
there’s increased pressure
on another local program
called the Terrace Victims
Assistance Program, she
said.

“Currently the program
offers services to those in
crisis including children,
teens, women and men,”
Sabo wrate in a letter to
MLA Roger Hartis asking
him to intervene. |

"There is no other pro-
pram in Terrace that pro-
vides support. counselling
of this nature, Our clients

include residents of not
only Terrace but of Kiti-
mat, the Nass Valley,
Telegraph Creek, Dease
Lake, Stewart and the Ha-
zeltons.”

“Terrace is not an urban
area where if one service
is not available, you hop
on a bus or drive to an-
other section of town to
see someone in a different
agency.”

Victims can apply to
the province’s criminal in-

juries compensation pro-
gram for money to spend
on. counselling but that
route often doesn’t apply

to Ksan’s clients, Sabo .

said.

That's because as many
as 90 per cent of sexual
assault victims don't report

‘to authorities such as po-

lice forces and the com-

pensation program only

acts on behalf-of people
who have started files, she

added,

As well, there aren’t
many private sector coun-
sellors who take on crimi-.
nal injury clients, Sabo
said, .

A 1-800 service for vic-
tims may be of use to
some people but not to
others who may not have
accéss.to a phone or who
don't feel comfortable
speaking to a voice at the
other end of.a line, she

"continued.

Multiple frauds alleged

A TERRACE woman faces 14 counts of

west, sald Shirley Kimery the northwest’s

. ment will bring

fraud and one count of theft after alleged-
ly pilfering more than $73,000 from her
employer, Human Resources Develop-
ment Canada (HRDC), the agency which
manages the employment insurance pro-
gtam.

Colleen Helen Russell, 42, is alleged
to have defrauded HRDC of $73,875 be-
tween Sept. 23, 2001 and April 3, 2002,

She no longer works for the agency.

It is alleged Russell created fictional.

employment insuratice claims and then
pocketed the money. .

The investigation and chatges are, the:
first of their kind to occur in. the north

regional director for HRDC.

HRDC officials began examining some
files closely after an electronic system
began flagging errors,

Colleen Russell was arrested March 28
at her HRDC office and a computer at the
office was seized at the same time, po-
lice said,

Police executed a search warrant. at
the woman’s home that same day but.’
would not say if anything. was seized from
there, - ue
Russell was formally charged June 24
and she makes her first court apppatance :
July 19. .

MLA urges
SCI parties
to reach deal

Tide of people leaving must

be stemmed, says Harris
SKEENA LIBERAL MLA Roger Harris spent last week

working the phones in: an.attempt to- bring- -SEI*s- REW OW: |

ners together with its unions,

Getting the players talking to each other in one room
is needed to bridge differences which erupted after the
unions rejected NWBC Timber and Pulp’s demands for
wage and benefit cuts, he said.

“We are in labour dispute,” said Harris, “Impasse
isn’t the right word, but where we are right now is posi-
tioning.”

Whatever is happening couldn’t come at more crucial
and troubled time in the northwest’s history, said Harris.

Now that school’s out, families who have a breadwin-
ner working in another city or province will be deciding
if they will stay here or follow, he said.

And idled union workers at Skeena's closed mills are
coming to an end of their El coverage and seniority
benefits from
collective
agreements,

Harris added. More inside .
Failure to  NWBC boss issues

have NWBC wake up call to unions,

and the unions Page A2

reach agree-

m FRBC contractors finally
get their money, Page A8

unfortunate and
dramatic re-
sults, he said.

“y think
we're at a watershed,” said Harris of the situation.
“There's a sense of urgency.”

That sense of urgency was fuelled by a trip Harris
made two weeks ago to Cheslatta country, south of
Burns Lake across Francois Lake.

_ There, the Cheslatta band and Carrier Lumber a pri-
vate timber company based in Prince George, combined

{o start a lumber mill.

“There were three people at the Cheslatta sawmill
fram Terrace, that’s what I’m talking about. It’s my job
to get, them back fhere],” said Harris.

‘Harris, himself a former [WA member and negotia-
tions veteran, feels there’s room for the two sides to
reach an agreement.

“What I’m tatking about is a chance to negotiate. An
impasse is something that is cast in stone.”

“Once we can get everybody in a room, there's a
chance ta work it out really effectively.”

Harris is heartened by NWBC's decision to retract
termination notices sent to all of SCI’s Carnaby workers '
before it assumed control of the company in the spring.

“I think that says something about their commit-
ment,” said Harris,

He’s less enthusiastic about some of the union posi-
tions, saying pulp union and [WA head office officials
shouldn't be closely involved in talks with NWBC,.

“Things like this are better solved by local people,”
said Harris. -

_ The key, the MLA continued, is for all parties to real-
ize it is better to have the mills open than for thers to be
closed.

NWBC needs a stable workforce and low production
costs in order to line up long term financing, Harris said.

NWBC's Dan Veniez says the company needs wage
and benefit cuts to reduce its costs in order to make
starting up SCI’s pulp and sawmills viable.

“But he’s balancing that off with a commitment, for

. instance, to profit sharing based on the ‘company’ 5 eco-

nomic performance. .
“NWBC bought SCI earlier this year, bur: says it won't |

“re ‘Dpen any of its mills without first reaching new labour
agheements with workers, ~~ .

~