ROB BROWN

Forbearance od

’ “signment were sharply. etched in Rick’s
‘ memory. It wasn’ t surprising. There i is al-

"a new job, but the fact that this one was set in the

midst of Indian territory, amid physical and cultural -,
— landscapes dramatically different to those he knew,

_ ensured that the impression was deep and lasting.

When he took charge of the school, the First Na-
tions had only recently been given the right to vote ©

for their oppressors. Most of them chose not to.

The vivid contrast between the vigour of the —
_prosperous white community; set on the high side’

of the tracks, reaping the benefits of forest mining,

and the lassitude of the squalid Gixsaan village bi-

sected by:the same rail line, weren *t lost. on Rick.
That was how things were.

He did.his best to educate. the: children and :

soothed the spiritual abrasions acquired onthe job

by fishing the fish- ‘filled rivers that bounded the re-

gion.
. We were talking about | that fishing, about how
‘Chuck Ewart, who had killed the world record steel-

: head, used to make the drive from Prince George to:

fish the Kitwanga River-and where one could find
‘cutthroat trout, and the conversation began to me-
ander.

Rick recounted how he closed the school down
a month early for lack of kids because the fishing
season had begun and the natives left to work in the

ime

Years iater I thought about the truancy of Rick’s
First Nations students and realized that that annual_
migration was a result of a profound and destructive

. blow to all the late, great First Nations living along

the Skeena and her tributaries, part of the plan of

cultural genocide whose yoke is still worn by First.

Nations today.”

The Gixsaan at Gitwangak and Gitanyow, whose
offspring Rick once taught, were fishers. They ate
fish. It was the mainstay of their diet. They traded
‘fish. Fish was their currency. They built. their vil-

lages in places where the. fish were abundant and _

killing them was most efficiently effected. -
Land rich in fish is land enriched by fish. It’s

-fertile bottom land. It’s the place where the timber

is tallest and the game most abundant.

When the colonists arrived with their nationalist —
aspirations they found aboriginal peoples occupy-

ing or using almost all of that prime land.
They were obstacles to growth and progress.

They had to be moved off those lands or had the }-
_extent of those lands drastically circumscribed. 7

The cultural genocide took the shape of an unho-.
ly trinity that intcluded Christianization, residential

schooling and fisheries reorganization, assisted by -
‘recurring plagues that ravaged native populations.

‘The introduction of Christianity, with its danger-
ously bizarre Old Testament ethic that insists man’
should dominate the natural world, greatly assisted

in severing the First Nations from their pagan ani- ©
mist ethos, which insisted that man was but a co- -

operating part of nature.

‘Residential schools attacked native e language and
did its damnedest to undermine the First Nations’
social fabric at its fundamental level by wrecking
families.

But, the reorganization and usurpation of the

aboriginal fisheries did more to suck the life blood
from aboriginal society than. bad beliefs and poor
schooling.

Fish were the centrepiece of the aboriginal econ-
omy, the engine of sustenance and commerce.

Losing control over their fisheries turned aborig-
inal peoples from powerful, self-sustaining societ-
ies into dependant entities devoid of self determina-

tion.

Imagine our society, on its knees after being rav-

aged by a particularly virulent pandemic.

A resistant culture invades .and. takes control

-of all credit cards, cash and any other medium of

exchange, some of which it returns in dribs and
drabs according to rules of its own creation, and
you will have an inkling of what First Nations have

endured.

To undermine the aboriginal economy, the. gov-

ernment of Canada empowered the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans to destroy traditional fisheries

and promote the centralized commercial industry.
This is just what the DFO has done.
First Nations have been patiently. sitting down
with negotiators appointed by their oppressors to

’ determine. how much of what was once all theirs

will be given back to them.
Given the track record of these treaty talks and

the achingly protracted time frames, First Nations

couldn’t be blamed if they stopped talking and went.

“fishing, on their terms in accordance to their rules.

That’s the way it used to be for the people of the
salmon,

SKEENA ANGLER

he details’ of ‘his. first administrative as-",

ways an air of adventure swirling around —

canneries on the. coast,” ‘aking: their, families : with 2

A TRIO of stock car r drivers
is ready to rip up the Terrace
Speedway in the Thunder
races. — ;
Dave Reinhardt, ; Blair
spent’ a. ‘couple of months
now rebuilding’ a Ford Mus-
fang= “{nito a, thunder car in
Reinhardt’s shop.

Reinhardt,
racing at the speedway for
_anumber of years now, says
this marks: the 20th car he’s
built, although it is his first
thunder car.

4
2

who’s | been:

s TERRACE STANDARD gam

For Loset and Lynch, the
experience is a new-one.
Loset built a bomber car

: last season that he drove to

the award for Most Improved |
Driver, which he shared with
Jolynn Orango and ended up

y. Lynch? ‘have’ *20 points shy of being named *~*"'
‘ Rookie of the Year. “: °-

Lynch» assisted with the

-building of Reinhardt’s pro

stock car last year.
Reinhardt raced it to
the Sportsman of the Year
award, being named Crowd
Favourite, scoring top points
in the Pro Stock class and a
tie with Ian Black for Best

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - BS

%

Looking Pro ‘Stock car. ,

Mustangs - have - - domi-

nated the track in past years’

thanks to their’ lighter chas-

sis'‘and smaller engine that .
give them a competitive ad-_

vantage over heavier cars.
To remake the vehicle,
the trio'started by gutting the

“vehicle, removing anything

and everything flammable

-and breakable.

A roll cage was added

_with four horizontal bars
across the driver-side door. .

for protection in case the
vehicle is t-boned, or broad-

sided, and two bars arranged

ie

in an .‘X’ ‘shape inside the
- passenger-side door.

The project quickly. be-:

come a family affair.

Loset’s two youngest
children, Colten, 11,
‘Dylan, 9, painted the inte-

“ridr'and'the engine compart-"

_ment with grey “porch and
. deck paint.

His oldest son, Justin,
helped weld part of the car
using the knowledge he
‘learned in a power mechan-
ics course in school.

The car’s probably about
halfway finished, Reinhardt
says. So

e

and

- BLAIR LOSET works on ‘the engine compartment of the thunder car he. and ‘pals Dave Reinhardt and Guy Lynch ¢ are building i in ‘Reinhardt's.
* garage. They hope the Ford Mustang will “ them to victory | in the thunder races this season. ae

"MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO.

| How OE build a a stock c car, ‘or, how three friends plan t to dust their ycoretion :

By MARGARET SPEIRS _A net will.be placed over. |

_ the driver’s-side: window i in- -

stead of glass.

A racing seat will be in-
stalled, the ‘only one. in. the
vehicle.

The engine, will be add- .
“ed and the ‘fuel’ ‘cell ‘will be” ,
locked off in ‘the trunk. with,
‘atin seal over it.

A fuel shutoff switch that

can be reached from.outside.-

the vehicle will be added. —

The windshield, the’ only ~

window in the car, will be a

piece of Lexan, a safe prog

uct that won't break
Cont'd Page B Bi6”

By JILL HAWORTH

ALTHOUGH the Caledonia girls’ »
- soccer, team didn’t do as well as
_ planned. during the Prince Rupert
tournament April 7, they did gain —
experience and had.a good look at

the competition they will be. facing
throughout the season. ~

The team faced some tough
competition and although it didn’t

win any. games, the scores were

close.
With two losses and one tic,

‘ment],”
‘Krisinger.

the lineup, but overall the players

~ jseemed to have a lot of fun.
“Although we didn’t do as well.

as we expected last tournament, we

have a good team and hopefully —
we’ll do much better next [tourna-
said team member. Anna

The weather did not agree with
the team either. °

It was pouring .rain and hap-
pened to be one of the coldest days
Prince Rupert has | Seen in a long

- lime.

played on artificial turf, which can
. get pretty rough.

By the end of the tournament,

"all of Cal’s. players had scratched

arms and legs.

- Coaches had them play one half |
of each game and sit out the other |
. half.

This may not have been the m most

_ effective way to win but it gave the
coaches an opportunity to view all

the players before making cuts.
The team, which took 22 ‘play-
ers to Prince Rupert, has now been

cut down. to 16- ‘five Grade 11s:

ing more efficient and better able to

“work well together under pressure.

include skills -’

- training twice a week and intense |
fitness training once a week before:

» These sessions

school.

Hopefully all this practising
‘will pay off during the team’s up- ,
‘coming tournament here. ~ 7
Cal hosts teams from all around”
the Northwest to its tournament

Cal finished near the bottom of

_ Not to mention ‘the fact that they

this Saturday, April 29.

Artists: take up the challenge

Popular sports series searches for fifth anniversary logo design _

’ ORGANIZERS OF the Terrace Standard

Adventure Challenge. are looking for
submissions from local artists for a logo for

‘the event that celebrates its fifth year in 2006.

The winning logo will be eye-catching,
bold and will capture the spirit of the event.
The Adventure: Challenge is a locally
run and staged gruelling three-day event
that sees participants competing in moun-
tain trail running, rock climbing, open water
swimming and mountain biking.
The winner will receive free entry to-all
five events this summer and an Adventure
Challenge hoodie and: T-shirt. The prize
pack is worth $200.
Plus, the winning logo designer will also
have his or her name entered into a draw to
win a Trek-Fuel 70 full suspension mountain
bike from Outspoken Bike and Sport. Out-
spoken has donated the bike and only the |
participants who compete in all five events _
will be entered into the draw as Well. _ .
Black and white logo submissions must
be received at the Terrace Standard news-
paper either by e-mail or hard copy no later
than 5 p.m. May 15. E-mail images to news-
room @terracestandard.com or mail to 3210
Clinton St. Terrace, BC V8G 1R9. .

The Adventure Challenge 1 is slated for
July 1-3..

The winning submission will be an- —

nounced in a future issue of the Terrace
Standard.
The Adventure Challenge dates are:
Saturday, July 1:
¢ 3 a.m. Ruins Open Water Swim, Lake-
Ise Lake.
_ © 2 p.m. Hothouse/Skeena Valley ‘Run-
ners Club King of the Mountain Footrace,
Terrace Arena
Sunday, July 2 .
* 8 am. Azad Adventures Outdoor Rock

Climbing Competition, Chist ‘Creek. Forest ° .

Recreation Site

_ © 5 p.m. All Seasons Source for Sports
Psycho Cycle, start Terrace Arena, finish
Northwest . Community College (XC/road/

DH)

Monday, July 3.

° 8:30 a.m. McBike Eight Hours of Onion
Lake, Onion Lake Cross Country Ski Trails
(XC)

- © 6 p.m. Wrap up party and awards cer-
emony.

For details call Sarah Zimmerman at 638-
7283.

FAY CAMPBELL celebrates after completing the out-

8

TASS

door rock climbing competition during last year’s Ad-

_ venture Challenge.

FILE PHOTO

638-7283

~ Aiming to score at hom e y |
~ Cal soccer girls return from Rupert ready to rule = a
and 11 Grade. 12s..

These 16 players practise three ,
: times a week in the hope of becom-

ee ey Te ne ee et ee Te ae