- Friday, October 16, 1981

: ‘Y

: SS
| 30°
Vol. 43, No. 37

Multinationals
lose a friend
with the death

of Anwar Sadat
—page 10—

racism by tenants

Asian, East Indian and Philippino tenants at an E. 6 Ave. Van.
‘apartment owned by notorious city landlord Luigi Aquilini
face eviction for the specious charge of putting garbage in the
wrong place. However Aquilini did not count on the political
| | | action which the evictions sparked, highlighted by a
‘| | | demonstration (below) last Sat. at-his Slocan St. house accus-
‘| | | ing him of abusing tenant rights and of racism. See story,
| | | page 11.

a aaa

Mass public action is the only
way to ensure that British Colum-
bia’s environment is protected, its
resources not recklessly depleted by
the numerous mega projects now in
the planning stage. This was the
conclusion drawn by participants
at a public meeting on industry and
the environment at the Fishermen’s
Hall Wednesday.

But it will be an uphill fight since
funds and access to information on
major industrial developments are
not readily available, those atten-
ding the T. Buck Suzuki Founda-
tion’s panel discussion on ‘““Mega
Projects and Threats to B.C.
Fisheries’’ were told. _

The panel discussion, part of the
week-long Open Conference on
B.C.’s Environment staged
throughout the city by en-
vironmental groups during Canada
Environment Week consisted of
reports from Environment
Canada’s Bob Sherwood, Peter
Deverell of the Hat Creek Coali-
tion and environmental consultant
Bob Dundas.

Sherwood began by listing many
of the large-scale developments
which will affect B.C.’s coast, in-
cluding the already started grain
terminal project at Ridley Island
and the coal port at Roberts Bank,
as wellas a number of hydrocarbon
and petrochemical production and
transshipment developments cur-
rently under review.

In outlining the environmental
concerns such as waste effluent em-
mission, toxic waste disposal, spills
which could be ‘‘innocuous to
relatively toxic’’ and the general ef-
fect of development on the salmon
resource, Sherwood admitted that
public input into the decision-
making process for these projects
faces many barriers, including lack
of funds and the absence of
freedom-of-information. legisla-
tion.

But it became apparent that the
major barrier to public input is a
lack of public hearings. Of the
three federal and one provincial set

| Aquilini accused of | Foundation rallies action
to preserve environment
from mega-project threat

of discussions on environmental
impact of the mega projects, Sher-
wood listed only one — the
ministry of the environment’s en-
vironmental assessment review
process into the locale of the pro-
posed projects — allows for par-
ticipation of concerned individuals
or groups.”

The National: Energy Board’s
‘quasi-judicial hearings’’ to begin
this spring or summer allows for
presentations by concerned groups
with counsel, while hearings into
navigational questions have ex-
cluded public participation. It is
not yet clear if public input will be
allowed in the B.C. Utilities Com-
mission’s review of the
petrochemical industrial projects.

- In response to a question from
panel organizer Arnie Tomlinsen,
Sherwood admitted there had been
no public hearings for the Ridley
Island projects and Tomlinsen
himself noted there had been no
hearings for the controversial Nor-
theast Coal Project.

Environmental consultant Bob
Dundas drew criticism that he was
acting as a spokesperson for B.C.
Hydro, of which he is a former
employee, when he suggested that
the proposed Site C, Liard and the
Stikine river dam projects will have
little or no adverse effects on
salmon runs.

Conceding that there is ‘no fun-
damental research going on con-
cerning Hydro/salmon interac-
tions — a ‘‘serious omission’’ on
Hydro’s part — Dundas proposed
that various concerned groups act
not as adversaries but as par-
ticipants in Hydro projects. He
suggested that government funds
be. made available for some
autonomous body to conduct
studies into the effects of Hydro
projects on salmon resources,
noting that ‘‘we have the people
but not the funds.”’

Speakers from the floor, in-
cluding Tomlinsen and Stikine
River fisherman Doug Dobyns,

See B.C. HYDRO page 12

sditbatn

E convention

—page 6—