Program starts this fall
for urban native children

By JENNIFER LANG
A PRESCHOOL program
to give aboriginal children
a foundation with which to
enter the school system is
opening up downtown this
fall.

The Kermode Friend-
Ship Centre will run the
program and has received
a $300,000 federal grant to
construct a building, says
program co-ordinator Liz
Williams.

There are already simi-
lar programs at Kitselas
and at Kitsumkalum with
the idea of improving an
aboriginal child's chances
of success once they start
school.

But the program is
about more than just get-
ling ready for school, said
Williams, who brings
seven years experience
with the head start pro-
gram in Kitwanga with her
to Terrace,

Head start programs in-
corporate traditional cul-
lure and languages, giving
children a better under-
standing about who they
are in order to boost self-
esteem..

The programs also pro-
vide nutrition information
and health promotion to
parents, in addition ta so-
cial support and referrals.

Improving health and
nutrition is another compo-
nent. Staff will prepare
daily meals for the child-
ren and -help enhance their
eating habits.

“We're haping to get
information to families
about healthier lifestyles,”
Williams added.

There may be work-

' shops showing parents how
to prepare traditional
foods, for example.

“This is going to be a
program that will support
children -and families that
are living off reserve,’

* Williams said. ;

Aboriginal kindergarten
students already have the
option of full-day kinder-
garten.

Williams is setting the

By Dr. Zucchiatti

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Smile and Whitening

Phone: 635-2552

4623 Lakelse Avenue, Terrace
Mon-Fri « 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

NEW PROGRAM, new place: Larisa Tarwick, Liz

Williams and Fern Windsor of the Kermode Friend-

ship Society with design’ plans for the building that
will house a new head start program this fall.

program up right now,
making contacts with var-
ious agencies in town.

Head start programs are
alfered across Canada.

Williams said U.S. re-
search shows children who
attend do better once they
reach school and are more
likely to complete high
school,

Many educators and
community leaders believe

head start programs are an’

essential step in reversing
the trend where just 39 per
cent of aboriginal students
in the Coast Mountains
school district complete
high school:

The society is building”
anew, 2,500-square-foot

preschool to house the pro-.,.

gram on vacant land be-
hind its Kalum St. head-
quarters.

The friendship centre

We welcome
all new patients

—
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BEAUTIFUL SMILE

Dr. Joe Zucchiatti

20 years of mercury-free dentistry
Founding member and treasurer

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General Practitioner

Providing services in:

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For your comfort, we have
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society is also applying for
money to build a cultural-
ly-appropriate playground,

and other plans could in- |

clude building a long
house and a place to
smoke fish.

The head start program
should also dovetail with
the Kermode Friendship
sociely’s existing family

programs and its new
FACES fetal alcoho! syn-
drome program launched
late last year.

Part of the FACES pro-
gram’s mandate is to ass-
ess children and provide
support programs for their
parents.

Coordinator Larisa Tar-'

wick said it became clear

a wider range of services
for aboriginal families in
Terrace was needed.

The society hopes to
build a care group of ser-
vice programs for the abor-
iginal communily.

“There are a whole lot
of children in this town
who never even go to
preschool,” she added.

Teachers join large labour group

-TEACHERS HAVE said yes to coming
under the umbrella of B.C.'s biggest labour

group.

Members of the B.C. Teachers’ Federa-
tion have voted 58 per cent in favour of
affiliating with the B.C. Federation of La-

bour.

OF the 16,988 ballots cast, 41.9 per cent
were opposed. Poll-by-poll results are not
available, The BCTF membership stands
at 43,000 teachers, meaning just 39.5 per

cent took part in the vote.

The BCTF said the results send a

b mL

By

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strong signal to Premier Gordon Camp- -
bell and education minister Christy

Federation of Labour president Jim
Sinclair, who travelled around the pro-
vince Lo meet with teachers, said the af-

filiation vote has bolstered the fight to

defend public education.
The pro-affiliation vote represents a
substantial change since 1996.”
That year, teachers rejected a BCTF

proposal to affiliate with the B.C. Fe-

deration of Labour by 59 per cent.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - A3
Ee

News In Brief

Facilities pass test

MILLS MEMORIAL Hospital and Terraceview
Lodge have received an accreditation from a yvo-
luntary national standards body.

It means the two facilities meet tests of patient
salisfaction, wait times and the like, says Cholly
Boland of the Northern Health Authority.

Although meeting standards of the Canadian
Council on Health Services Accreditation are yo-
luntary, Boland said a facility that does not seek
accreditation through the body should raise eye-
brows in the community in which it is located.

“Any facility that does not should stick out like
a sore thumb," said Boland,

Specialized tool swiped

POLICE are looking for information about the theft
of a very large, heavy, specialized attachment for
a drill from a construction site in the Terrace area,

Police say a rotary hammer attachment for a
tank-style rock driller used for road construction
was taken from the site along the Skeena West
logging road sometime between March 14-18.

The attachment is about 2.5 to three feet in.
length and weighs 400-500 pounds, police say.

It has a three-inch air hose input and a two-inch
drill bit output. Police say though it has a signif-
icant value it only has a specified use.

Information is welcome by calling the Terrace
RCMP at 638-7400 or Crimestoppers at 635-8477.

ICBC manager leaving

GEOFF BUTLER, the regional operations manager
for ICBC, is leaving his Terrace-based post at the
end of this week. Butler came to Terrace in No-
vember of 2000. .

He and his family are moving to Williams Lake
where he'll be the operations manager overseeing
both the Williams Lake and Quesnel claims
centres.

“P’'m exciled, absolutely,” Butler says. “It means
a new challenge and new opportunities,”

Butler says he's leaving with mixed emotions
having made good friends here and because Ter-
race is where his son Sean was born 19 months
aga. No replacement has been named to fill his po-
sition yet, he said.

Mail shifted

OUTBOUND MAIL from Terrace and Kitimat is
taking a little bit longer to get to Vancouver.

That's because Canada Post has shifted from
using Air Canada Jazz at the airport here to truck-
ing mail to Prince George to be flown south.

The problem began last month when Jazz
switched from jet service into Terrace to a smaller
Dash 8, reducing the available cargo space,

Canada Post official Bob Taylor did say that in-
coming mail is still being flown up using a cargo _
courier service called Western Express.

He said Canada Post will look’ at® “using Jaze
again for outbound mail if and when the carrier re-
turns to using larger aircraft,

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