JOHN JENSEN holds his original union card from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters issued to him back in 1964, He’d been A LONGTIME fighter in the north- west labour movement is stepping down. John Jensen ended 35 years of in- volvement with the Kitimat- Terrace and District Labour Coun- cil last month when he opted to not seck a position on the executive. A veteran of many strikes and job actions, Jensen’s biggest battle was probably the one to halt the gevernment-ordered closure of Skeenaview Lodge in the 1970s, The 117 elderly patients from the home were to be moved out of town, in some cases across the pro- vince. “They'd started shipping them out by ambulances and taxis and so forth to existing unils at Riverview and places like that,’’ Jensen said. The labour council mobilized and Jensen and other picketers bar- ricaded Skeenaview for three days until the provincial government backed down and allowed the home to stay open until Terraceview Ledge opened in 1984. “Had the labour council not been here there would have been no Ter- raceview Lodge,’’ Jensen says. Jensen often headed the labour council’s political efforts, en- couraging candidates to run for municipal councils in the north- west. He and the labour council also supported setlement of native land claims well ahead of provincial and federal governments, Jensen’s path towards social ac- tion began as a 12-year-old boy in Nazi-occupied Denmark, *T spent a lot of time standing in lines with my mother, who was half Jewish, which was not a good thing The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 2, 1999 - A3 active on the Kitimat-Terrace District Labour Council for 35 years until stepping down from the executive last month. Labour veteran hangs up his card to be at that time,”’ he said, He remembers bread lines, water lines, and seeing 500 police officers go into a camp and never come oul. 1 decided when I grew up [ would try to change whatI could.” He says too many people today take for granted the advances made by organized labour over the ycars in areas from the length of the work day to safety standards and pen- sions. “We forget thal people died for some of this stuff,’ he says. ‘People did time in jail and people spent thousands of hours of their free time.” “Every time we make some progress those thal are nol part of the union also gain,’’ Jensen added. “IT don’t mean just in safety and that I mean in actual pay. The spread (between union aid non- union pay) can only be so high.” kkk kk Now heading the Kitimat-Terrace aud District Labour Council is president Raymond Raj, an Alcan worker and Kitimat-based rep for the Canadian Auto Workcrs local 2301, Also elected at last month’s an- ual general meeting were first vice-president Denise Evanoff, sec- ond vice-president Don Philpott, Secrelary-treasurer Gail Murtay, recording secretary Marguerite Clarkson and executive councillars Fraser Young, Ruth Brady and Norman Lavallec. Evanoff, Philpott and Murray all represent various locals of the B,C, Government Employees Union here. Terrace to get regional youth detox centre THE PROVINCE will spend $850,000 this year to create a regional youth detox centre in Ter- race. Victoria has allocated $550,000 to pay for op- residential detox/treatment centre, Skeena MLA Helmut eration = of the six-bed youth Giesbrecht said. Another $300,000 is sct aside for capital costs of either constructing the centre or else leasing region. Up to now juveniles needing intensive addic- tion treatment were cilher handled at the hospi- tal or put on a bus and sent to Prince George for and renovating existing space, he added. He said no decision has been made on where the centre will go or what agency or organiza- tion would be contracted 1o run it here. It'll be the only such centre in the northwest treatment — an oplion that rarely worked, “This is one area where we have not had cnough resources in the past,’’ Giesbrecht said. Money for the centre here was part of a total of $9.3 million announced province-wide by the children’s and. families ministry for detox beds, YOU GET MORE. - The power to do more to make _your yard and garden Io look great! Let’s face it. Your Authorized From self propelled mulching mowers to quality & price, No matter how sy ell you That’ when ab need ¢ are able, well. designed, hare working White Frode tillers and. lawn tractors, ue White leads the industry. in - You Get More WHITE Dealer counsellors and addiction services. It was the largest amount oulside of Vancouver and Wil- liams Lake. CORRAL STOPPERS 635-TIPS News In Brief Grizzly alert at Exstew THE EXSTEW forest service recreation site will be closed for at least three weeks because a grizzly and returning black bear sow wilh two cubs have been seen in the area. The forest ministry closed the site May 28 after the grizzly followed a staff member contracted to clean the site. ; The forest ministry closed the site temporarily after consulting conservation officers. They decided not to risk any human interaction with bears in the popular camping spot west of Terrace. Terrace conservation officer Adrian Juch said the bears were most likely attracted to the spot because of garbage left after the May long weekend, “The garbage. cilher brought them ihere or kept them there,’’ Juch said, It’s also thought the unusually cold spring has delayed greening of trees and shrubs in the mountains so bears head into the valley for food. Either way, the bears seem reluctant to leave their food source. The site is set to reopen when the bears leave and move on to berries and other sources of food in the mountains. Conservation officers will be closely monitoring the bears’ activity. Track issue pondered WHAT WILL eventually happen to the Skeena Jr, Secondary school track and field is still up for discus- sion. “We need to study it a bit further,” said city parks and recreation superintendent Steve Scott said after a meeting May 20. At issuc, Scott said, is the cost of purchasing the Skeena fields from the school board when the school is scheduled to relocate to the Caledonia site in two years. The school district proposed selling the land to offset construction. costs last spring. That has coaches and recreational teams concerned about losing the well- used fields. Scott said B.C. Assessment values the property at $659,000. He said the school board doesn’t pay municipal tax on the property so there’s no urgency the value be accurate, “People don’t normally buy and trade park land,” Scolt said. He added the city would probably need to set up an- other site if the Skeena fields are developed and that cost looks prohibitive. Further track discussion is set for the committee’s next public meeting June 17, Tuition freeze continues PREMIER GLEN Clark has frozen tuition once again and this time it’s legal, Bill 59, the Tuition Fee Freeze Act, will legally ensure the government’s announced extension of the tuition freeze until the year 2000, Clark said that this is proof of the NDP’s commit- ment to keep post-secondary education affordable to B.C. students. ‘‘We have made a commitment to stu- dents and parents to build an education system that is second to none in Canada,” he said, Minister of Advanced Education Andrew Petter said ‘that the NDP’s commitment to post-secondary educa- tion is unequaled in Canada. “Other provinces have continued to raise tuition fees, while we have frozen ours here in B.C.,”’ he said. If you've got EMAIL, you can reach us elactronically. 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