apaewe cern ae

» Dear Sir:

-Lyane Christiansen, the president of the farm-
> ers’ market, is someone who has dedicated
smany hours of time to the market’s success, She
sis certainly a good Terrace citlzen and deserves
stecognition for her work for the betterment of

« Terrace and its people.

+ Ata council meeting last month, Lynne was
: : there to represent market vendors and their sup-

. = porters,

+» Lynne did not deserve the attack she received
«from city councillor David Hull, This attack
= certainly should not have happened at a city

«council meeting,

‘ The attack Lynne received was totally a per-
: «sonal one on her character, and not on the farm-
sers’ market debate — which was what she was

« there to discuss.

« The personal attack by David Hull was not
; only uncalled for, but also very embarrassing
:  that-such bebaviour could come from a city rep-

resentative.

And I believe that our mayor Jack Talstra
should have more power to control such dis-
gusting behaviour,

E personally know Lynne as a beautiful and
good young person and a very good mother. She
volunteers her free time so others can enjoy a
moming at the market.

The Farmers’ market on Saturday mornings
brings many people together from near ard far.

I believe the current Davis Street location is
the best location for the market. More thought
should now go towards how to improve the site

so it can attract even more people,

Pavement and some type of structure to keep —
out the rain would be wonderful.

Joining with the city’s Parks and Recreation
department, summer programs, outdoor art
classes and other activities could turn this area
into a beautiful and safe area for everyone.

I would also like to comment on the letter

Councillor's behaviour disgusting

from counsellor Rich McDaniel that appeared in

our local newspapers concerning the rumour or
misinformation campaign going around con-

ceming the farmers’ market,

The words were, rather then which he stated,
that the market never contributes a bean to the
city. Wrong. These were the words that I heard

him say three times: ‘“The farmers’ market con-

we do need it.

tributes beans to Terrace.”’
And that is where Rich is terribly wrong. The
farmers’ market does contribute to Terrace and

I am not trying to condemn our mayor and

council because I do know they are all doing

their best for the city. But they must move on

and move the right decisions regarding the

market.

And J hope it will make everyone happy be-
cause we do huve the best people living here. So
lets all work together to make things happea.

Yvonne Moen, Terrace, B.C,

SOUR EPR RSPT RSET EER ee

Veggies
for sale!

Reinhold and Emma —
Koerner sell vegeta-
bles and bedding
plants Oct. 31 at the
last Farmers' Market
of the season. They
have been vendors at

the market for 15
years. They said
market sales were

good this year despite
the poor economy.

Electric fences at
dumps bad for bears

Dear Sir:

Conservation officer Peter Kalina found my

these bears when they leave the dumps?

I have followed both black bears and

sign.‘“Who: kills: more ‘bears; ‘conservation! ‘‘grizzties' form the Terrace dump, Hyder,
officers or poachers?”?,10: be: inflammatory |. Alaska dump and Aiyansh dump. ‘

‘and a disservice to conservation officers.

‘TL. find killing both black bears and
grizzlies for being in town to eating grass,
‘human garbage or to stare at people, a dirty

thing to do.

The major problems occurred when the
stupid jerks in Victoria decided to install

* electric fences around all the dumps in B.C.
Now instead of bears feeding on human

" garbage at local dumps they’re going into
towns feeding on garbage in residential

* areas. ||

Its obvious these electric fences are pro-
tecting the garbage from bears. I always
thought people were more important than

garbage.

Now that the environment department
knows that the electric fences are chasing
the bears into towns looking for human gar-
bage. The conservation officers are killing
all the black bears and grizzlies in the

dumps and in the towns.

To justify this, conservation officials are

stating that these bears in dumps and in

~ towns can’t take care of themselves and
feed naturally once they leave the dumps.

What conservation officers have followed

Eight alternatives

By MEL SMITH
A RECENTLY | released
study by the federal Depart-
ment of Indian Affairs con-
firmed what we all know:
that living conditions on
many Indian reserves in
Canada are comparable to
those of the Third World.
Unemployment, poor
housing, drug abuse, lack of
education and economic op-
portunity are far worse than
' the national average, The
"plight of many native people
who have left their reserves
and congregated in large
cities. is, in many cases,
even more pitiful.
. This much is certain, the
present stale of affairs must
not continue and on that we
surely all agree. Where
there is genuine disagrce-
“ment ‘is on the appropriate
coursé of action best likely
" to provide a remedy, |
There are those who advo-
cate the. treaty-making pro-
cess in B.C., of which the
Nisga’a agreement is the
first ..manifestation. They
wrongfully brand anyone
' who raises serious questions
or concems over the im-
plications of treaty-making
as being mean-spirited and

All the beavs (both black’ bears’ and
grizzlies) ate grass, dug for rocts and fished
for salmon after leaving the dumps.

The fact is the make believe conservation

officers are doing everything possible to

exterminate all the bears in British Colum-
bia and they are doing a good job of it.

If these electric fences were eliminated
the bears would be at the local dumps and
rarely in town, The electric fences have cre-
ated very dangerous situations between 1o-

cal residents and bears.

Naturally, as in the past, humans are
never to blame for an incident and the bear
is always to blamed.

I would also appreciate it very ‘much if

to students.

government officials would quit giving out
wrong information concerning bear safety

For example, if you see a bear, whistle. I
have done this with both black bears and

grizzlies at close range and in all cases the

wick

determined to keep native
people in their backward
condition.

They seem disinterested
and even _—_ antagonistic
toward any consideration of
an alternative solution.

Before going on to suggest
an alternative solution to the
treaty-making process, al-
low me to list a couple of
self-evident but often ig-
nored facts,

bears approached me.

My information isn’t second hand, it’s
from my own experiences.

Keith Scott, Fredericton, New Bruns-

Don’t misunderstand me.
Tam not advocating the con-
tinvation of the reserve sys-
tem. In fact I advocate the
very opposite. I am merely
saying that entering into
treaties in other paris of

. Canada has not proved to be

the panacea.

Secondly, the problem has
not been solved through the
massive expenditure of pub-
lic funds made each year.

The problem is that the native people
have suffered for 140 years under a feder-
al government policy regime that has
made them wards of the state.

First, treaties, long-since
in place in the rest of Cana-
da, have not resulted in any
better living conditions on
reserves established by
those treaties than on the
1,634 reserves already in
place in British Columbia.
In fact, the government
study above referred to,
found that living conditions
on B.C, reserves were some-
what better than on those
elsewhere in Canada.

Special federal programs for
status and treaty Indians
(which incidentally will
continue to be paid to the
Nisga’a) amount to close to
$7 billion per year:
Provincial programs and
tax exemptions.add at least

a billion dollars more, So

massive amounts of money
have not solved the prob-

lem.
Well, what is the solution?
It starts with a deeper diag-

BEAR ACTIVIST: Keith Scott t pickets outside the B.C.
Access Centre Sept. 25 to draw attention to the num-
ber of bears killed recently by conservation officers.

to land claims treaties

nosis of the problem.
Poverty, dug abuse, high
unemployment, poor hots-
ing on reserves, efc. are not
the problem, They are mere-
ly symptoms of it.

The problem is that the
native people have suffered
for 140 years under a feder-
al goverument _ policy
regime that has made them
wards of the state.

It is a system based on the
collective rather than indi-
vidual ownership which has
discouraged self-reliance,
individual initiative and its
rewards,

It places the power and
dollars in their leadcrship’s
hands rather than their own.
And above all, a system that
has treated native people
differently in law from olher
Canadians. Such policy,
with the Indian Act as its
centre-picce, has isolated
aboriginal people from
mainstream Canadian
sociely; it has allowed spe-
cial federal laws based on
race to supersede mary
provincial laws of geficral
application; it has isolated
reserve. communities from

has deprived native people
of developing a sense of Ca-
nadian or provincial com-
munity.

Sad to say, the proposed
Nisga’a treaty does not
strike out in a new direction
but reconfirms this failed
and discredited —_ federal
policy even to the extent of
incorporating some of the
undesirable provisions of
the Indian Act into the
treaty.

There has to be a better
way. Here is an alternative
approach:

1. Transfer the ownership
of all 1634 of the Indian
reserves in the province to

the various bands who now |

occupy them to be dealt
with as those bands sec fit. -

2. Supplement . reserve
lands with the transfer of
Crown land, or dollar com-
pensation in licu, on the
basis of a limited but rea-
sonable interpretation of
aboriginal tithe as found in
the Delgamuukw case. Re-
quire that 4 portion of such
lands be made available to

“individual band members.

3, Encourage,.. where vi-

the provincial society to able, thez*stablishment of

which they are adjacent aing--deinocratically.

elected

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 4, 1998 - AS
ee

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

Dear Sir:

healing debate.

remedies,

ral healing practice.

fect for the client.

the first to use itin B.C.

Dear Sir;

The Terrace Standard.

off by, th

relevant).

tial lawyers?

The Mail Bag

More on holistic healing

Allow me io make a few clarifications on the holistic

Regarding the ‘herbs do no harm’ mini-controversy,
(letter to the editor, Oct. 21, 1998), That was not a
direct quote, but a reference to an article entitled
“Where are the Dead Bodies’’ addressing the restric-
tions the government was proposing to place on herbal

At the Viva Clinic I work with clients to recover their
health in a natural integrated way, utilizing herbs, diet,
aromatherapy, clay poultices, baths, applied heat, ex-
ercise and natural therapies.

I do not sell herbs, Dried herbs, clearly labelled and
in their whole leaf identifiable form whenever possible,
are given as part of a Life Energy Assessment process.
There are no pills, vitamins or supplements in my natu

Through the assessment process the clicnt’s own
body’s energy indicates (through applied kinesiology)
which of the over 50 varieties of tocal/regional medi-
cinal herbs will assist in boosting their immune system
and detoxifying/cleansing their affected organs to re-
store balance and promote good health.

The Life Energy Assessment allows me to check any
chemical medication and/or vitamins, supplements,
tinctures, etc. to determine if, in fact, it boosts the im-
mune system and, assists in the healing process.

I always check the selected herbs combined with the

__.vitamins/supplements to determine their beneficial ef-

Herbs — and natural medicine generally —- work to
detoxify and cleanse the body, and boost the person’s
natural defences to enable them to resist further infec-
tions, and enjoy good health. I am interested in restor-
ing balance from lack of harmony in the body.

The Life energy Assessment is being used on a
world-wide basis, as the assessment tool under the nat-
ural medicine approach to healing called Kai-igaku. I
wrote a thesis on this subject and adapted the Japanese.
concept to English as universal medicine,

_ ] am trained to the Master level, and associated with
the Kai-igaku International Network based in Tokyo,
Japan. This is recognized around the world, and [ am

Frances Birdsell, Viva Clinic

Terrace, B.C.

Disgusted by article

‘Lam writing with regard to the article “Get Off Your
Butt and Work Out,’ published in the Oct. 21 issue of

As owner of one of the fitness facilities featured, I
was completely disgusted with the article, When ap-
proached by your reporter, she misled me to believe
that the article would simply be what fitness alterna-
tives were available in the community, The end result
was nothing short of tabloid trash. It secmed to me that
Ms. Wiens was more concerned with pitting’ Gne facil-
ity against another through catty quotes.

When I:called: to-voice my complaint, I was brushed
¢ publisher : and told that, “If I didn’t like ity.

write a letler to the editor.”

My complaint, sir, is with the shoddy journalism dis-
played by our reporter. I’m not sure why you think a
public forum is the best way to resolve this issue.

_ As a-business owner, when one of my customers has
“a complaint with my business practice, I don’t tell them |
to write a letter to the newspaper (that scems quite ir-

I think The Terrace Standard and Ms. Wiens owes
an apology to each one of the facilitics featured in the
article, or are your apologies reserved only for influen-

Kim Croot, Terrace, B.C,

standard@kermode.net

About letters

THE TERRACE Standard welcomes letters to the
editor. Our deadline is noon Fridays. You can write,
us af 3210 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C. V8G SR2. Our
Jax number is 250-638-8432 or you can emait us at

More letters, Page A6

municipal governments on
native lands, with
municipal-like powers only,
but ontside of land claim
agreements so as {o avoid
constitutional rigidity,

4. Make all economic and
social programs of general
application, both federal and
provincial, available to na-
tive people, with some de-
gree of preferential treat-
ment but this preference to
be phased out over 25 years,

5, Begin to phase out, to
be completed within 25
years, the 100 or more spe-
cial programs that now app-
ly to natives only,

6. Confirm that all laws
and government institutions
both federal and provincial
will apply to all native
people throughout the pro-
vince, save only municipal
laws of native
municipalitics,

7, Repeal the application
of the Indian Act to B.C.

&. Turn out the lights
forever in the federal De-
partment of Indian Affairs,
so far as B.C. is concemed,

and do Jjikewise” in the

provincial Ministry
Aboriginal Affairs, .
It would be preferable if

of

all of the above could be set
out in agreements through a
concentrated effort at nego-
tiation between — senior
governments and the native
leadership over the next
three years,

It would be understood
that, failing a negotiated
selllement within that time,
government would proceed
to legislate this or 4 similar
solution and, if necessary
seck from Ottawa a con-
stitulional amendment to
achieve it.

The end result would be to
integrate native people into
Canadian socicly and yet
respect their land rights.

Integration without cultur-
al assimilation. it’s the only
permanent solution. — It’s
lime to get on with it,

Mel Smith was a lawyer,
genior bureaucrat and con-
Stitational adviser to a
series of Social Credit
governments in B.C, retir-
ing in 1991, He's the author
of Our Home or Native
Land? lives ln Victoria and

isa columnist with B.C.

Report, This column was
commissioned by the com-
pany that owns The Terrace
Standard,