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' Mow. through Sat., 8 a.9.-5 p.m. - Gitksan and Car aa cae rier peop GITKSAN-CARRIER By KEITH WATT Special to the Herald HAZELTON — The im- portance of land claima is community development, not land and money as is popularily believed, says Gitkaan-Carrier Tribal Council land claim director Neil Sterritt. “The land claim will in- volve more In the way of Indian self-government, culture and history, and less of thestrictly dollar and land concept that comes across in the media and from federal and provincial politicians," Sterritt said at the annual convention held this week in Kispiox, The tribal council is a federation of 400 Gitksan and Carrier status and non- status Indians in seven villages inthe Hazelton area. The annual convention is the second anniversary of the filing of the tribal council’s land claim over 22,000 square miles of nor- thwestern B.C. The claim extends from just east of Terrace to Burns Lake, into the Morice River system to the south and to Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Park to the north. One of the major tasks in the settlement of land claims is the preparation of com- munities for the respon- aibllity of controlling their own resource development and social and educational programs. when the set- tlement is reached, Sterritt By KEITH WATT Special to the Herald HAZELTON - School District 63 is ignoring the needs of ita Indian students, gays the chief councillor of Kitseguekla, Ken Russell. In a delegates’ forum at the eecond annual Gitksan- Carrier Tribal Council convention, held this past . week in Kispiox, Russell said Indian representation on the board is small, and the board is not developing Indian material for schools, even though it receives funding for Indian students from the ment of Indian Af- fairs (DIA). The theme of the con- yention is Indian education, “The problems we want to solve in Hazelton have developed over 100 years," he said. “It could easily take us ten or fifteen years to accompilsh our goals.” - In preparation, the tribal council has set up no less than eight agencies under its umbrella, each attacking a different social problem, Sterritt told 450. delegates and observers at the con- vention on Thursday, A law centre advises the tribal council on its land claims position and provides legal aasistance to both natives and non-natives in the area, A full-time native court- worker works with native accused to help them un- derstand the often alien criminal justice system. “Indian beople often do not understand the English legal system;" said law centre counsellor Lucille Sebastian. “It’s been common in the past for Indian people to plead guilty to any charge. We're: trying to change that.” An employment office handles job referrals and retraining for Indians and non-Indians in the area. . Outreach worker Gerl MacDougall said the unemployment rate on reserves is over 75 per cent. “We're faced with a serious — problem, especially when you consider over half of the people are in the 20 to 35 year age bracket. A drastic cut in Canada Works and Young iF. KEN RUSSELL _ esblaats schools and in a keynote address, education specialist Keith Jameson sald public schools are not serving the interests of Indian students. Canada Works only com- pileated our problem,"’ she A native alcohol abuse program is trying to make a dent in the worst medical, problem in the area — alcohol. Alcohol. counsellor Christine Green alcoholism results in about ten per cent of all hospital stays, and local hospital administrator Phil Muir said alcoholism and its related diseases account for about half of hospital admissions, “Alcoholism is easily the biggest cause of death in the area,” Dr, Muir said, Two important projects got underway this year, A research team of local natives, hired by the tribal council, has begun the first census of the seven villages. Over the next two years it will compile information to be used in land claim negotiations and in future policy decisions. | Gary Patsey, head of the research team, told the convention the project isthe only locally-controlled In- dian research team in Canada. “We could have a set- Uement tomorrow, but if we can’t handle that, we're in & trouble. Local government has to be in plate, and local government requires good information,” he said. Another research project is studying the native food fishery in the area in what the tribal council hopes will allow it to take over control “The drop-out rate for {ndians is tremendously high, and most of them just hang around until they're 16. Often what they’re being taught is not relevant to them," he said in an in- lerview, Several schools in the Hazelton area are trying to introduce Indian content into their courses. Ben Kawaguchi, principal at the reserve school in Kit- seguekla, said his school has introduced Indian language, art and history programs in the past two years. “We've devoted half of our social studies and all of our le turn out to discuss goals be Hf MORROW” Keith Watt photo LAND CLAIM ISSUE of the salmon runs through the Gitksan-Carrier district. All these programs reflect an ability of Indians to handle their own affairs, and a confidence among funding bodies — various federal and provincial agencies — that said Indians can deliver services| better than they can, Sterritt sald, Skeena MP Jim Fulton, tunity is the priority He said thé positions of the federal and provincial governments on land claims are not of concern to the tribal council yet, because they are not ready to negotiate, The groundwork has lo be laid before they sit down at the table, he said. in a joint statement with Skeena MLA Frank Howard, blasted Indian Affalrs Minister Jake Epp for not attending the Gitksan- Carrier Tribal Convention when he was within a few hours drive of the event to meet Native Indian leaders in this area. The Githsan-Carrler representatives did not meet with Epp in Terrace, saying Epp’s refusal to even respond to thelr invitation was an insult. Schools said ignoring Indians art courses to Indian material,” he said. “The kids are more interested when there’s something of themselves in the course, Even the parents are getting involved in school activilies since we started the program,” he sald. Kawaguch! sald at the end of thia year there will be 13 texts on the Gitksan language available for language courses, the largest local collection on an Indian language in the country. Other schoole are in- troducing language and art courses, and Kawaguchi is compiling a curriculum for an Indian social studies course for use in, other schools, Only one school in the district, Kispiox Elementary School, has attempted to transfer control of the school from the DIA Io the local band, with the band assisting in hiring teachers and working on curriculum. Al Friesen, regional education superintendent for the Indian affairs depart- ment, said he would like more Indian bands to assume control of reserve achools. *T've always believed in local parent control in the see 6 THREE HERE Fires mark the weekend | Eurocan mill closed A fire in a precipitator at Kitimat'’s Eurocan pulp and paper mill will close operations until the mill is repaired, Eurocan spokesman Stan Fritter said Monday the fire, which reports say may have done as much as $3 million in damages, broke out in the Precipitator following a power cutage at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Eurocan and Kitimat A fire of indeterminate origin completely gutted the central unit of a three unit apartment at 43 Wedeene Street in Kitimat Monday morning. The fire gutted the interior of the two-storey apartment and burned through part of Kitimat firefighters con- tained weingush which was jy ext éd at 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. Fritter said dry chemicals were used to fight the blaze in the precipitatar, a device which collects chemicals out of the exhausts in the steam room. He said the device is an integral part of the machinery and the mill cannot run without it. Fritter said no injuries and no estimate of damage to the mill and the: steamroom is available as yet. He said the company will have a more accurate estimate of the damage and the length of time needed for repairs within the next 24 hours. There sre 1,200 workers employed at Eurocan's Kitimat operation. apartment burns the roof, The apartments on either side af the burning wit escaped the fire, but suffered smoke and water damage. Kitimat firefighters responded to the alarm at 10:30 a.m. with forestry pumper and reserve pum- pere and recalled one of the firetrucks from the Eurocan fire, There were no injuries and no estimates of damage available, [t is known a man, ‘woman and child were taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Medical building gutted Building earlier Monday of Highways office located in A fire in the Lazelle Professional Building morning, according to Cpl. caused an estimated $400,000 Ron Hunchiak, damage Monday morning, according to Terrace fire Bradley Lance Parker was Gepartment spokesman Li. expected to appear before a Per Halvorson. justice of the peace late The fire, which was Monday afternoon for eeported at 5:07 a.m. Monday, gutted the building and ‘caused - extensive structural damage, _ Although, the exterior, ‘-walls-appear sound) Lie east" wall has cracks in the - Masonry between bricks and is teaning outward slightly. Two trucks manned by approximately 25 men from the Terrace fire department responded to the call, and they finally brought the blaze under control about 7 am, said Halvorson. . He said that the cause of the fire was still under in- vestigation, and that further details were not available. A fire department in- vestigation team was on the scene Monday afternoon, boarding up the building and securing it as much as possible. Meanwhile, Terrace RCMP are holding a Terrace man in connection with a break and enter committed on the Lazelle Professional ‘yemand on charges of breaking and entering and possession of stolen property. ‘The man is alleged to have broken into tie professional partment offices and the Ses Fire left it the Lazelle building, Hun- chiak said. An RCMP spokesman said Monday the 18-year-old Terrace man Will appear in court Tuesday to face two charges of breaking and entering and & single count of possession of stolen property. The police spokesman indicated the RCMP are awaiting the outcome of the fire marshal:’s report. a shambles way accidents. the mishap. TWO FATALS ON HIGHWAY The RCMP report two fatalities in the Pacific Northwest over the Remembrance Day weekend, both the result of single vehicle high- Preston Thomas Jarrett, 20, of Kitlmat was killed Friday afternoon when his car went out of control on Highway 25 near the Kitimat River bridge. Jarrett’ was formerly a resident of Sudbury, Ontario. RCMP are still investigating A young Smithers woman was killed when her car veered out of control about one mile east of Smithers on Highway 16, Kim Leslie Anderson, 20, died instantly when she was thrown from the car into a reveene 60 feet away. Her body was found about nine hours later. There were no passengers in either incident. Jobless rate higher By JOHN FERGUSON OTTAWA (CP) — The number of persons unable to find work rose to 743,000 in October from 719,000 in September, Statistics Canada reported today. It was the first rise in the official jobless total since since February and the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was fushed up to 7.4 per cent from 7.1 per cent a month earlier. Statistics Canada reported that the labor foree — which includes those working as well as those seeking jobs — rose to 11,334,000 in October, e up from 11,245,000 in Sep- tember, The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in- creased to 13.5 per cent for men aged 15 to 24 fram 12.3 per cent in September while the rate for women aged 15 to 24 remained unchanged at 12.3 per cent. Newfoundland continued to have the _ highest seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate, but it was down slighlly The only other province showing a decline was British Columbla where the rate fell to 7.1 per cent in October from 7,7 per cent, Chlorine escapes after explosion By JACQUELINE BOYLE MISSISSAUGA, Ont, (CP) — A railway tanker of lethal chlorine has lost an estimated three-quarters of its cargo in the 2l¢ days since the derailment of a CP Rail freight train Saturday, it was reported today. Most of the 70 tons gune from the 90-ton tanker is believed to have been forced harmlessly into the at- mosphere by initial ex- see 6 Iran is backing away now TEHRAN (CP) — Amid a call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to counter an “at- mopshere of war" being created by the United States, Iran gave a clear indication today that it was backing down on its demands for ending the U.S, embassy hostage drama. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, broadcast by the official Radio ‘Tehran, see 5