So

A10- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 29, 1994

Claims talks draw
heat from chiefs

A GROUP of Gitksan hereditary
chiefs say they don’t support a
decision by other Gitksan and
Wet’suwet’en chiefs to adjourn a
land claims suit agalnst the
provincial government in favour
of negoliatlons. '

Gilsequecla chief Vernon
Milton, who speaks for the group,
says a majority of Gitksan chiefs
opposed a negotiations deal
Signed with the provincial
goverment earlier this month.

And that leaves them wonder-
ing how Gitksan = and
Wet’suwet’en leaders could have
signed the agreement on behalf of
all the chiefs.

“There was not total agree-
meni, There were no guidelines
as to how many were io agree,”
said Milton last week.

“Under our system, all the
chiefs are supposed to agree be-
fore any decision is made,’ be
said.

The opposing chiefs represent
house groups in Gitsequecla and
Gitwangak at the western end of
Gitksan Iraditional territory.

Even before the idea of negotia-
tions took hold, the western
chiefs had been working on
scpamting from the rest of the
Gitksan.

At stake is self government and
control of 58,000 square kilo-
metres of land and resources
centered on the Hazeltons,

The Gitksan and the
Wer’suwet’en began their couri
case in 1984,

Their absolute claim was denied
first in the B.C, Supreme Court
and then in the B.C. Appeal Court
but native rights to use, if not
own land, were strengthened,

The adjournment is of an appeal
the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en
have filed with the Supreme
Court of Canada.

‘Millon said the western Gitksan
chiefs believe lawyers hired by
them to fight the case wrongly
conceded that overall title to the
land resis with the government.

7h

MAP HELD by Irene Ness and Gitksan hereditary chiets outlines
the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en land claim. the pair said a good
number of Gitksan chiefs, primarily from Gitsequecla and
Gitwangak, oppose a deal signed by other chiefs to negotiate
their claim instead of taking it to the Supreme Court of Canada.

‘Authority resis with the
chiefs, not with the crown,”’ said
Milton. ‘*What power do we have
otherwise? We were sold down
the drain.’”

Milton said discussions about
negotiations resulted in all of the

Wet’suwet’en chiefs being in
agreement,

Buia majority of Gitksan chiefs
did vote against negotiations and
some chiefs didn’t come fo the

Cont'd Page A11

~~ a — 7

Q,.
A.

Use of the $70- million facility will allow the lakes to return to natural
inflaws by eliminating the need to send large volumes of cooling water
through the system to protect sockeye salmon during their summer _

migration.

=acts about KCP

The $1,3-billion Kemano Completion Project, half built when Alcan
halted construction in 1991, is on hold pending the outcome of a
public review by the B.C. Utilities Commission. This series addresses
subjects raised in the review and answers questions we have received
at KCP information centres and through our 1-800 hotline.

What will be the effect of Kemano Completion on the
Murray/Cheslatta lakes system?

KCP offers a unique opportunity for redevelopment of the Murray/Cheslatta
syslem. The key is KCP’s Kenney Dam Release Facility, which will allow
waler from the Nechako Reservoir to be released directly into Nechako
Canyon instead of being routed th ough Murray and Cheslatta lakes,

Ada Solowoniuk

“I think it is charming as weil as
practical for a man to open a door
for me Men will always be
stronger, and maybe that door ts
h eavy. ”

Those words by Ada Louise
Solowoniuk, who died from
cancer at the age of 65 on March
13, 1994, reveal’a lot about a
person who ran businesses and
raised a family.

They show Ada’s practical side
but also the human side which
bore fruit in her taking care of
more than 400 foster children over
the years,

Bom Dec, 15, 1928 in Vedder
Crossing in the Fraser Valley, Ada
spent her prowing years in Lytton,
She moved to Kilimat in 1956 and
4 year later, came to Terrace.

Her first business venture came in
the form of a truck garden on farm
land at the comer of the highway
and Kalum Lake Road. It now
contains Fountain Tire.

She sold that farm in 1980 and
started Chimo Delivery in 1981.

It was at Chimo that Ada became
well known in the business
community. She employed a large
number of drivers who, with a
fleet of vans, do contract delivery
and errand work in Terrace and

area.

Friends and family are just as

proud of Ada’s involvement with
_ foster children. That figure of 400

is no exaggeration as her home

became a haven for those young
people who needed a temporary
safe place, love and
encouragement. Counsellors and

Tree was

By Ada Louise Solowonick
A tree stood alone. At first it was alone in
a field of grass, and as years went by i!
stood alone in the middle of a town.
It was nota special tree, nor was it a fruit
tree, but it was a leafy, branchy tree thal
was Very shady in summer and in winter
had very small berries on the eads of
every twig.
Every year little brown birds made the
tree a stopping place on their way back ia
Ibe north, and every fall they stopped on
their way back south.
They would swirl out of the sky like s
wind-born lot of leaves, and then for
several days they would be very busy in
the tree eating ihe winter banquet of
berries and cleaning the tree of any grubs
and pests that would be in the bark.
Alter they had given the tree a good
housekeeping they would be on their
merry way again, and the tree would still
be standing In its usual place, growing
and producing its leaves aod bemies.
The town grew, and ane year it was
decided to cut the tree down to make way
for a parking lot. There was no ane lo
speak for the tree, because it had always
stood alone and did not produce fruit,
The tree had been there a long time and
AO one gave ita thought,
But then the tawn came onto harder times
as the rest of the world did, aad no one
got around to culting the tree down, It
still slood as always, growing its berries
and leaves, dropping its leaves in fall to
enrich the soil it lived in.
Every spring the bees visited the tiny
flowers the tee produced, and every
spring and fall the little brown binds came
to the tree for their rest and food.
One year the town decided to turn the
part of tawn that the tree lived in into
towa lots, and the tree was left on the
corner of the lot when it was surveyed,

Ada Solowonluk

government officials, in a
newspaper story some years ago,
praised Ada’s combination of love
and common sense which she pave
to her young charges,

Ada’s commitment to family came
out in written tributes from her
geandchildren at her March 19
memarial service. “I liked it when
you smiled and when we got to
help you bake,” wrote Natasha

Dawn while Dianna Mary said, ©

“You made me laugh when you
did the rain dance outside.” Deidra
Sarah remembered the surprise
parties her grandmother provided,
“Tt is a fact that we humans must
have roots and love as well as the
rest must have them if we are to
live a happy and healthy life.
Each is as important as the other.
Each deserves equal respect and
care,”

Ada at age 3

no longer alone

The tree still stood alone, for no one *
bought the lot for a very Jong time.

One year the lot was scld to a
grandmother who had had to sell the farm
she had raised her children on. The tady
was very sad about that, and she missed
her farm a lot. She planted every inch of
the lot into a garden and she put ia berry
bushes. She put up a greenhouse and she
grew flowers,

This grandmother had two cats, and one
day she noticed that the cats spent a lot of
time in (he tree, They would climb ¢o the
very top and run dows. They wauld sleep
in the shade and in winter they used it to
Tun up and down when the snow was on
the ground.

Now there were no leaves ta
speak of left on the tree, and the
birds had a feast on the berries
left on the tree, They also
cleaned the gribs off of the bark
and in the leaves around the
free.

The first spring that the lady lived in the
house she had built, she was very
surprised to see so many birds come
swirling out of the sky to git in her tree,
and she was also delighted.

The cats looked at the bieds but were well
fed and did not even try to catch them.
The birds az usual spent a couple of days
cating and resting in the tree. They were
happy to see that the garden was also full
of plants and grubs, One day the lady had
her sprinkler on and many of the birds had
a showes, tuming this way and that to
enjoy the waler.

They had a good drink in the pools that
formed from the sprinkler, and returned
again and again to the shower. The

grandmother was pleased with this, She
sat in ber carport ond watched the lilile
brown birds, and she saw that they ate a
lot of the bugs that had been giving ber
garden trouble.

In the fail the birds came back, swirling
out of the sky as gaily and busily as
before. Naw there were no Icaves to
speak of lefton the cree, and the birds had
a feast on the berries left on the tree. They
also cleaned the grubs off of the bark and
in the leaves around the tree.

Again the cats did not bother with the
birds, being well fed and getting older au
wo all do.

‘The grandmoaiber begin to look foreword
to the binde coming twice a year, and she
began to love the tree and the home she
had. She did not miss the farm she had
had to sell as much, and after awhile, she
did not miss it at all.

As time went by the grandmother grew
more and more garden on her little lot in

the town, right up to the shade casi by ihe |

tree. She put compost and fertilizer
around, the tree as well as everywhere
else. Then she planted shade-loving

flowers right around the tree, ao the -

comer became a litte place of beauty.
The tres did well, and every day the cab
would climb [nto it, or rest in the shade
cast by the tree in summer.
So the tree and the bees, the cats and the
grandmother, the birds and the plants, all
did well together, all helped each other
For it is a fact that we humans must have
roots and love as well as the reat mus!
have them, if we are to live a happy and
healthy life. Each is as important as tbo
other, Each deserves equal respect and
care.

* Because the tree was there, the birds were
there. The tree was no longer alone, and
the last] heard it was still the same ...

~The lakes area includes former reserve lands of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation
that were purchased by Alcan in the early. 1950s because of'the risk of -
flooding from the operation of Skins Lake Spillway, Alcan has signed an
agreement with the Cheslatta to sell that land to, the federal Crown for $1
after KCP goes into operation, so that the Crown can again designate the area
as Cheslatta reserve territory. The Cheslatta have already receive a

settlement of $7.4 million from the Crown to compensate them for the

manner in which their land was acquired,

According to provincial officials who testified at the B.C. Utilities
Commission review in Prince George, the Cheslatta Carrier have plans to.
develop the area’s recreational potential once KCP is in place. As many as -
10,000 angler days may be added to the province's sports fisheries : asa aresult
of the system’s restoration to natural flows, they said.

The Kitimat Information Centre

The Kitimat Information Centre is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from. 10a. m.
to4.m, Drop by the office and we will be happy to discuss any questions you may:

have about Kemano Completion.

Another way to get the facts

We have opened a toll-free line so that people throughout the province can find
oul more about KCP. The number is 1-800-942-5226 (or. 1-800-94ALCAN),
But don’t foret that face-to-face discussion is often more productive, and that
Alcan employees at our regional information centres will be pleased to answer

your questions any time you call or visit,

Kemano Completion Project

KITIMAT

INFORMATION CENTRE

224 City Centre

Kitimat, B.C. V8C 1T6

Tel: 632-4712

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