Ce eee Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. ‘The written wo } Te oop star returns Changing the way the forest industry gets its wood will lead to more employment/NEWS A5 It's Young Writers Week and that means a variety of activities i in the . area/COMMUNITY Bi Michelle Hendry was here passing on the finer points of basketball ‘Strategy/SPORTS C1 Laurence Turney A LANDSLIDE near Lakelse Lake has partially dammed a tribulary creek and may muddy the waters of the Lakelse River all summer long. Environment ministry officials are also worried that fish popula- _ tions in Mink Creek could be harmed as a resull. An area of approximately 25ha was affected by the slide in which up to 200m of hillside slid down into Mink Creek’s shallow valley. The forest service and Skeena Cellulose (SCI), which has a woodlot in the area, last week released photos of the slide which occurred sometime between March 8 and March 23, “The whole area seems to have dropped 20-25ft. and moved and churned,’ said Skesna Cel- Iulose’s Archie MacDonald. As a result, the valley floor is covered with a ‘‘soup’’ of clay, gravel and silts, he added, Although it was not possible to tell exactly, MacDonald said it appeared the slide began in the treed area toward the bottom of the slope. At the top of the slope, small portions of SCI and Crown land cutblocks that had been logged between 1981 and 1985 slipped down to leave a 25ft, drop-off. MacDonald also noted the ter- rain was relatively flat with only a 10 per cent slope (a 10m drop over a distance of 100m). The slide sent a surge of sedi- ment into the Lakelse River, the discoloration being clearly visible in aerial photos taken by SCI, Mud and debris also created a dam, backing creek water up- stream as far as the CN railway trestle. Although the Jand slippage has halted, MacDonald said there was a risk that water build-up would eventually ‘‘blow out’? the dam, causing more siliation, Laurence Turney, an environ- ment ministry ecosystem specialist seconded to the Kalum Forest District, noted rains could » Canada’s very own LOOK WAY up and we'll call the Snowbirds. The famed squadron takes to the air May 3 as the main attraction of the Terrace-Kitimat alrshow. There'll be various other aircraft in the air and on the ground. One word of warming. Bring sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen and a chair for full enjoyment. For mara details, see Page BS. RICK RADELL PHOTO UI changes to cut benefits and reduce payout period IT’S GOING TO take longer to qualify and the payment period will be shorter if proposed changes to unemployment insur- ance fake hold, In this area that means people will have to work for at least 12 weeks instead of the current 10 in order io collect, say Canada Employment Centre officials. And those on claim will only be able to collect fora maximum 24 weeks instead of the current 34, Also coming Is a reduction in the amount to be paid out — from the current 57 per cent of a per- son’s wage to 55 per cent. Overall, there'll be fewer people collecting unemployment insurance here and less money paid out in the northwest. ‘An awful lot of fishermen qualified before with 10 weeks. The change to 12 weeks will be quite significant,’’ noted employ- ment centre official Alice Ban- “ nister, She and centre analyst James Gilham add that while changes came into effect April 1 L legislalion to make them law has yet to be passed, Claims filed after April 1 are being judged according to the Proposed changes and have been flagged by computer so that ad- jestments will be made If the changes are altered in any way. Any alterations in the proposed changes won't put people in the position of having to pay back money they may have already collected. Gilham and Bannister said it is too early yet to determine the ex- act impact of the changes, But Gilham did note that the average number of weeks people now collecting unemployment in- surance has dropped over the past several years to the level of the proposed change, . “Tn 1992. the average weeks On claim-for a person in the Terrace . area was 17,’* he said. “Ta 1993 the average number of weeks on claim dropped to 15 and in the first quarler of 1994, the number of weeks was 14,” There has also been a diop in the average number of people collecting over the same period — from 2,025 in 1992 to 1,714 in 1993 and to 1,644 in the first quarter of 1994, In terms of dollar amounts, $4,038 million was paid out in work related claims In Dec, 1993 to 3,203 people in this area, Gilham also said very few people on work related claims ever collect to the maximum number of wecks, Work related claims amounted to a pay out of $42.076 million in 1993, a drop from 1992, he sald. The proposed changes are the second series in. two years {o af- fect the unemployment insurance program. | Last year it became harder to - qualify of a person ‘quit or was fired: and the benefit rate was dropped from 60 per cent to 57 per cent. Gilham said the changes of last year and this year must - be balanced against the northwest’s economic picture, He noted that while there are fewer people on work related claims now then before, there has been an improvement in employ- ment opportunilies. “The trend {swe have more claimants on shorter benefit dura- tion periods,” he said. “If this was five years ago, these changes would have a much greater impact than now,’’ Gil- ham said. kKkkkk One piece of good news in the Proposed changes is a reduction in the premium rate for 1995 and 1996, This means that pedple will pay . 33 for every $100 of income compared. to. the current tate of $3.07... ~ STANDARD = andslide swoops into creek also carry more of the ‘soup’? into the Lakelse. That, in turn, could have an ad- verse affect on fishing in the river this summer. “Tt doesn’t take much to cause discoloration with this kind of silt,’’ he noted. Turney said Mink Creek itself is 2-3 metres wide with some ponding in parts. Although it was known to be home to cutthroat, dolly varden and coho, he admitted there was no detailed information on fish stocks, While the silt would certainly have harmed fry and eggs in the gravels downstream, there was no ~-BESTCOPY AVAILABLE 756 | PLUS 5 GsT. VOL. 7 NO, 2° way to assess any changes in fish Numbers in the creek, Turney The dam would also prevent fish from reaching the upstream north and south arms of the Mink. Turney said the environment ministry experts will draw up plans to repair the damage. MacDonald said SCI has pro- posed sowing grass seed and planting alders as soon as_pos- sible to stabilize the slope and keep surface erosion to a mini- mum. He also suggested work could begin next month on removal of _log jams created by the slide. For more on the. slides in this area, see Page A3 Nisga’a head into crucial NISGACA. ‘ARE. getting. fo hear... loadersiwere Sleceuigk } - important information on the state of their land claims negotiations al their 37th annual convention this week in Prince Rupert. ““We will spell out our negotiat- ing positions on important issues such as compensation and land,”’ said Nisga’a Tribal Council presi- dent Joe Gosnell. . Those positions are being dis- clused to delegates in closed ses- sions which began yesterday and continue today and tomorow. A public session is planned Friday. This’ll be the third year of ne- gotiations between the Nisga’a Tribal Council and the provincial and federal governments. There’s been no sign of visible progress save for an agreement on Nisga’a citizenship that was released two weeks ago, But Gosnell did say Nisga’a ne- gotiators last month outlined their position on land and compensa- tion issues to federal and provin- cial negotlators. Also a factor, but nat a direct one, in the negotiations is the land claims overlap between the Nisga’a and ithe Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool). The Gitanyow say ihe Nisga’a claim can’t be settled without first addressing the overlap. Gosnell and other tribal council terms. on Nominations for the position of president, secretary-treasurer, ex- ecutive chairman and representa- tive to the Northern Native Fish- ing Corporation took place yes- terday. Voting is tomorow and the results will be announced Friday, Among those attending sre Ovide Mercredi. from the As- sembly of First Nations, provin- cial aboriginal affairs minister John Cashore, labour minister Dan Miller and agriculture, fisheries and food minister Dave Zirnhelt Both Cashore and Zirnhelt are expected to make announcements affecting the Nisga’a. Former tribal council president Frank Calder will be given a tribute Friday. His name became famous in the 1970s when. the Nisga’a Tribal Council took the federal govern- ment to court to prove its claim. The court action became known as the Calder case because his name was first on the list of those listed as suing the government. The Supreme Court ultimately split on the Calder case, rendering a no-decision, but the result did solidify the concept of aboriginal rights and title. THE FUTURE of green space around Howe Creek will be the topic of a public meeting, Called by the Terrace Green- belt ‘Association, the session will open with presentations by five speakers, City recreation director Steve Scott will give an outline of park planning. Federal fisherles community liason Barry Peters will ad- dress Howe Creek enhance- ment issues, local fishing guide Jim Culp will talk about water quality while birdlife wili be Judy Chrysler's topic. Finally, Scott MacDonald, unsuccessful candidate in last fall's council ‘elections will tackle community use of the area, . : Afier 4 short interval, ihose present will divide into work- Ing groups cach of which will Public invited to think green try to come up with ideas on what should or should not hap- pen in the Howe Creek area, The mecting takes place in the cafeteria building at North- west Community College be- ginning at6:30p.m. Meanwhile, the owners of Property adjacent to the creek are suggesting the city should buy them out. That comes in the wake of council’s rejection of a rezone application that would have al- lowed construction of luxury condominiums at the comer of McConnell and Munroe... That rejection killed the sale of the land to developer Dick Coxford, *"We feel that we have been providing this greenbelt and paying taxes on it for long enough,” the eight owners sald ina letter to council. :