Spend on firefighters not statues Dear Sir: . Okay, this is interesting, we have an extra $200,000.00 in one pocket of the city while in another pocket two firefighter position are cut because the city cannot afford them. This is interesting to say the least. Are we really short of funds or aren't we? I am all for keeping the city’s finances out of the red but only if itis honestly done. As a volunteer firefighter I have worked alongside an incredible group of career firefight- ers who regularily put their lives and quality of life on the line for the city’s taxpayers and now this same group is being made expendible in the name of a balanced city budget. It is hard to describe the feeling of safety one has knowing that any one of these will literally tisk his life to save me or any other citizen. Now the same $100,000.00 in saved wages is being spent on a bronze kermode bear at the city’s gateway, thanks but no thanks and please reconsider how funds are spent. Bill Braam Terrace, B.C. Firefighter freeze doesn’t make sense Dear Sir: If there is a hiring freeze on all city positions, why has a position been created to get the Ter- Tace sportsplex and proposed conference centre off the ground? ~ To me it doesn’t matter if this is a temporary position or full time position, it is a position that shouldn't even be considered. I am all for the new sportsplex, but am rather confused. Jt is my understanding that the sports- plex will not be built on taxpayers money, we would not be asking the city for money and we as a community need to be fully responsible for raising the balance of the monies required. I know many people think the profession of fire fighter is such an undemanding job, but I wonder how many of you actually know what these firefighters do on and off duty. As a member of the community |] have been involved with the Terrace Skating Club, Terrace Minor Hockey and Caledonia Dry Grad. I do know first hand how often these fire fighters are asked to volunteer their time and if it wasn’t for their generosity many of the events we hold in Terrace and so look forward to, as a communily would not take place. It only seems reasonable to say that with two fewer fire fighters, the remaining fire fighters will be on call more often and attending to more call outs. I wonder if the community realizes that when one of these men, fathers or husbands are on call. that they need:to. be. able to drop ‘what: . ever they are doing at the time. This could be attending a soccer or hockey game of their child’s dance recital, a family din- ner, a social event, Christmas breakfast or Easter dinner, etc, That they are unable to be home alone with thier children while their wife may be out for the afternoon in case there is a call out. During the night while we are all sleeping they could be attending to call outs, when off duty sometimes two, three, and four times a night and the list only goes on. I take great pleasure in saying that over the years I have personally had the privilege to meet many of our fire fighters and are very proud of each and every one of them for all the sacrifices and generosity they give to benefit our commun- ity. If the City of Terrace and the community of Terrace are going to continue to expect the Ter- race Fire Department to volunteer as they do, you need to reconsider the hiring freeze that is currently in place as you have in other depart- ments, Kelly Mattern, Terrace, B.C. ‘ A boulder is a better ~ tourist attraction ~. Dear Sir: ’ The Terrace Standard (July 9/03) depicts Jack Talstra and Roger Harris with the dead city mas- cot. The article is about their intention to have the Kermode promoted as the mascot of the 2010 Olympics. The idea is to make some money has its virtues, but let us not forget that old Gimpy was shot by one of us, Of interest is a Kermode Bear websile I re- cently saw that said that old Gimpy passed on. While I am not on either side of the fence here, the “Spirit Bear” is also the poster child for the environmentalists amongst us, Seems a bit contrary to the industry that this town was built around. The city has stated $200,000 in savings on the cost of highway upgrades required to bring in Wal-mart, Now they want to spend half of that to put up a statue of a Kermode bear along the highway for a mere $100,000 — big tourist attrac- lion — this while planning to cut fire department budget by about the same amount. I propose that the statue should be a big boul- der — it’s cheaper and truly reflects that this town should be called the Gravel Pit capilal of B.C’, since we are surrounded on all four entrances te this town by new or old pits — another big tourist attraction. - Leave the Kermodes alone. Jack and Roger can market pet rocks. : ~ Chris Spangl Terrace, B.C. Where’ S the - transparency? “Dear Sir: Our. Terrace Nisga’a Society was formed many: Years prior to it being established under the Sociely Act of B.C. in November. of 2000 as a not-for-profit organization. © | CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mall FIREFIGHTER Peter Weeber carries a woman out of @ a local seniors complex after a kitchen fire filled the apartment building with smoke last year. FILE PHOTO The purposes of our society are to enhance the social, economic, physical, cultural and spiritual well being of the Nisga’a citizens who live in Terrace. To my knowledge, from 1992 to 2000 we were informed of what was available to us and had a choice of participating in any and all activities sponsored by our organization. We were regularly given information regard- ing our finances. We didn’t have to ask for min- utes, molions, or financial statements because there was always another member who would tell us what was going on and if we didn’t know we could go to our member-friendly office and ask. Many of us have been asking about social ac- tivities, sports and recreation activities, cultural and language classes, and many other programs providing an avenue of personal growth, involve- ment, and belonging. We have been told there is no money. I was surprised to read in the Terrace Stan- dard July 2 that we had received money to assist our vice president and directors to be account- able. Accountability to us, the membership, is’ first and foremost. After many trips to the office, many phone calls and a couple of meetings, I have received no answers, incomplete answers, and many ques- tions completely brushed off at times. We have even passed motions at our meeting to get some information. and give our directors some actions to take. As usual they choose to do what they want, pive us a report that we could read in the previous two minutes. We are not at meetings to pass time or listen to reworded previous reports. We are there to find out what our organization has done, what it’s planning to do, get financial information, ask questions, give suggestions and direction, and most of all to assess: whether you are still acting in our best interest and that of our organization. Transparency and accountability is exper- ienced and can be used to check the actions of our vice president and directors in fulfilling their promises to uphold the purposes of our society ~ not just an idea that sound good. Congratulations to us. Now how much money did we commit to this project? Yvonne Glover Terrace, B.C, Accountability needed Dear Sir: I got more direct financial information from the Terrace Standard’s July 2 article “Terrace Nisga'a Society sets sights on global economic market” than we have been able to get over sev- eral years — that contributions were as follows: Western Economic Diversification $100,000, Royal Bank $10,000, and Aboriginal Business Canada $66,900. Statements have been made that we should be. attending meetings. That’s what membership Meeting minutes, board of directors minutes, mo- tions, resolutions, financial statements, con- tracts, agreements, etc, are for — to keep those of us, who can’t make it to a meeling or have been alienated in one way or another, informed. Many or-us have been seeking information from our three active directors over a period of | time and even at a meeting called by the mem- bership May 25, to present direct questions com- piied by many members. We did not get any an- swers, As usual they tell us what they want us to know, We have nat been able to get any information regarding SkeeNass Ventures Ltd, At ‘first we were told that it was not in operation because our sociely Was a non profit organization and. Skee- Nass was just being incorporated and would be operating in September 2003. Then we find out that it had been in operation in 2002. We later learned that same of our money had been invested in SkeeNass. We still have not been able to view the details of the business plan, the key executive team, amount invested, budgets, contracts entered into or the expected’ return on our investment. Our feast and cultural system of accountabil- ity is far superior to any accountability feature of transparency and accountability that Charles McKay, our vice president, refers to as idens of ISO. However, the mechanisms entrenched in our cultural system of public accountability is im- practical for our organization - therein lies the standards and practices of transparency and ac- countability that many of us have adhered to within each area of our profession ~ peer moral and ethical obligations they have chosen to ig- nore. The three active directors Charles McKay, Martin Adams and Matthew Bright Jr. are parti- cipating in the Nisga’a Lisims Government on our behalf as well as administering all areas of financial decisions and disbursements in our Ter- tace Nisga’a Society. We have not been able to view any funding agreements or verify how much has been re- ceived by Charles McKay, Martin Adams, and Matthew Bright Jr., on our behalf under the col- lective benefits financial agreement between Nisga’a Lislns government, the federal govern- ment, and the provincial government, and pos- sibly others. We emphatically state that the accountability ° features of our TNS organization and Lisims Nisga'a Government (as it applies to our govern- ment representatives) are ineffective if: 1) the decision making process is not trans- parent so that we can either endorse their deci- he Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - A5 sions or challenge it. 2) we cannot receive financial information such as budgets upon request and question our receipts and disbursements — then have no one to complain to when we don’t get any answers, Up until May 2003 our understanding is that there were three active board of directors.There have ~ been two more who joined them — under what process we don’t know. There were supposed to be five directors since the 2000 elections. There isa process to follow if the directors elected withdrew. 3) we cannot verify the process or outcome of any of their financial decisions because we are not given any. information, We have nat been able to find any member who is more informed about our three active board of directors actions since the Nisga’a elections of 2000. 4) we cannot determine that they are acting in our best interest and that of our Terrace Nisga'a Sosicty, They lost our bingo license in June of 2002 and are jeopardizing our society by failing to comply with the requirements of the Societies Act. Charles McKay and Martin Adams have been involved with our Terrace Nisga’a Society for about 15 years in one executive capacity or an- other. They have alienated in one way or another persons working for our organization, volunteer- ing, assisting at an executive level or any mem- ber who dared to expect them to follow policies and procedures -- that they were also actively in- volved in developing. What should have been a very proud day for us to collectively demonstrate our accomplish- ments and share another step in our journey of reaching our aspirations, turned out to be disap- pointing when Mr. McKay and Mr. Adams touted 1SO as a new level of accountability. This could have been a process of improve- ment and confirmation of already established standards and practices, at all levels of our orga- nization which they have chosen not to follow. As a member of the Terrace Nisga’a society, I am very pleased that we have been selected for the ISO project. I am confident that we, the members of Terrace Nisga’a Society, will once again demonstrate our collective ability to pro- ceed and succeed. as long as we are not unin- formed by-standers. Barb Zvatora Terrace, B.C. Four-day week not the only solution Dear Sir: I would like to address comments by Peter King, chair of the Coast Mountain school dis- trict, in a July 2 letter to the editor. I understand that the Coast Mountain school board faces some budget challenges in the com- ing school year. The provincial government shares similar budget challenges. ; Despite those challenges, for the coming year our government has increased the per-pupil base funding to $5,365 from $5,308. We've been able to'do that because we are continuing lo protect , education, ; funding. even though there’ ate fewer stidents in our schools. * Al the same time, we-are providing school districts with the opportunity to deliver education in ways that meet the unique needs of their com- munities. The four-day school week is just one of those ways, Is it the only way? Of course not. The Central Okanagan school district believes that students learn more in their younger years, so it has introduced a program called Achieving a Necessary Future. Each school in the program gets an additional teacher, which allows for smaller class sizes in the early prades, Other school districts are providing students and parents with more choice. For example, the Cow- ichan school district on Vancouver Island has ap- proved an international hockey program that will serve local students and attract new students from around the world. Government has fulfilled its commitment to provide school boards with greater autonomy to better meet local needs. Now, it’s up to the Coast Mountain school district to meet those Christy Clark Christy Clark Minister of Education Bring on stat shopping Dear Sir: This letter is directed to councillor David Hull regarding the article in the Terrace Standard July 9 about businesses being open on statutory holi- days. Now the city is going to make the decision not the members of the business community — the Chamber of Commerce. ] think that it is time David Hull and the rest of the elected officials became progressive and let Terrace businesses do what a lot of the rest of the province is already doing. Terrace is.a great place with a lot of great people but today we are suffering with a terrible economy and we need to become progressive and not sit idle. _ The last time [ wrote I was called to the mat because I was new to town and really shouldn't say anything until I have lived here for 37 years. If we keep the attitude that we are nice small town and we should keep it that way, it is that altitude that will keep us from progressing for- ward. . I love living in Terrace but & will not keep quiet as businesses go bankrupt Or move out of town, David Hull needs to decide if he wants to help lead us out of the troubling times we are in or continue to hold us back. It was three months ago that I phoned David Hull to talk about my concerns and he assured he would come and talk to me, but to date he has made no contact, I think itis time for action. This is a simple issue and if were are going to be open on statu- tory holidays then lets not be a little bit pregnant, Glenn Kelly Terrace, B.C.