AA- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 13, 2005.

Puram errnrrsetrerensere rary

. B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION,

TANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK |

-. ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2
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EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com

Uncommon
sense

A report released last week by Statistics Canada

. ; says the high number of people who are obese in
~._ Canada should be a wake-up call for Canadians to
- exercise and eat healthy. _ so

_ Exercise and eat healthy.
“Its just plain common sense, but sometimes

ie $ not as common as one would think.

Canadians spend millions of dollars every year

- buying books describing in detail the secrets to

the latest fad diet. The Atkins and South,Beach

‘ diets are just two of the most popular food crazes.
- to hit the mass media in the past couple years: -

-. Retailers and corporations take advantage of the ;
ae popularity. of diet fads by advertising their products «
... as ‘low in.trans fats,’ or ‘Atkins-approved.’ And _
' . consuiners eat it right up, regardless of whether or |
‘not these diets mention the first word about get-

ting exercise or changing. one’ s lifestyle.
“Check out any magazine stand in Terrace and

you are guaranteed to see some magazine espous-

ing | the latest and greatest trend in dieting.
The. one thing fad diets have proved consistent-

dy over time is that they'don’t work in the long
.. term. Take the grapefruit diet or the juice-only di-
“ets popular i in the 1980s. Perhaps they help people
- shed some pounds in the short term but it all just
- comes back once the person gets tired of it and
| begins eating like they did before. co
>. The recommendation to eat healthy and get e eX-.
| ercise. is a sound. one. It’s nothing new. or outra-

geous. It’s a recommendation that doesn’t come

_ with attractive advertisements. It’s more:the type
of advice:your grandmother would give you.

Visitors to Terrace often remark on the exten-

sive trail systems here such as Howe Creek, Ferry
Island and the Grand Truck Pathway .
' Not a day goes by that somebody is not tak-
ing a walk on the mile-long walkway downtown. |
- And on a sunny day, you can’t miss the oodles of
people making the 20-minute hike down the trail |
to access Gruchy’ s beach at Lakelse Lake.

- This year’s Adventure Challenge saw a record
number of people take on all five events of. the

_ Series. The upcoming Riverboat Days celebration
will feature’ ‘dozens of sporting activities from

soccer, baseball and street hockey to volleyball

and dirt biking.
| Literally hundreds’ of Terrace residents will.
" take part in. these activities. Real people being re-
: ally active. The summer months see people of all

ages. — ~ and sizes — hitting area trails, swimming

in local lakes, kayaking, canoeing, wakeboarding
-and water skiing: We are fortunate to live ina city
with such a plethora of outdoor activities to keep

us active — and healthy.
Hopefully people will heed the feds’ advice and

ss start making those healthy choices.

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Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace,
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~ Special thanks to all our contributors and
correspondents for their time and talents

‘| the Stampede’s
Alberta’s centennial ranks as

one of the stupidest notions |
ever. And to quote Air Farce, ©

1

gurieos |

"| Municipalities need to build on.
relationships | with First Nations.

BACK IN May when the North

Central Municipal Association _

‘held its annual general meeting

in Terrace, it was a significant

community event.

Quietly, in the last week. of

June another very important
meeting occurred in the Ter-
race area. First Nations lead-
ers from across the North met

-for three days at Kitsumkalum |

Hall. The meeting was equal-

-ly ‘an event for the attention of | «
~ municipalities. no
The Northwest Tribal Trea- -

ty Nations (NWTT) i is an orga-
nization of First Nations com-
munities . that covers an ‘area .
from the Queen Charlotte Is-

lands/Haida Gwaii past Prince.

George and north to Deaseé
Lake. It is a foot print that very
“closely mirrors the area cov-

_ ered by the North Central. Mu-

nicipal Association, (NCMA)
but the similarities do not Just
stop there.

The NCMA has for many
years been the collective voice

of northern municipalities at

the Union of B.C. Municipali-
ties organization as well as at
the provincial and federal gov-
ernment level: .
_ It has been the vehicle
where, on broader.
communities -have been able
to build support for their. own

- local. initiatives. In a prov-

ince where the majority of the
voices live in the larger-urban

_ centres making yourself big so.

you can be heard is critical.
_ The NWTT is attempting

- to become that same common
voice for First Nations com-.

issues, :

GUEST COMMENT .

ROGER HARRIS ..

7 many . non-aboriginals _ may
' view this as an obstacle in at-

munities in north. Already
some of the members are rec-.
ognizing the value of using

this organization for pushing

-forward their own communi-

ty’s agenda.

But one look at the program
of this meeting and it becomes
very apparent this organization
plans on being the Strong voice
in crafting economic develop-
ment across the entire north.

The NWTT presented a
recently-completed report en-

titled “Working Together to

Create Sustainable Wealth.”
This report identifies: many
of the challenges and obstacles
to economic development’ for
First Nations communities,

but it also gives some good di-

rection on how those commu-
nities should proceed to over-
come many of the challenges.
It’s’a document not without
some controversy, but never

the less, should be mandatory.
reading for every chamber of |

_commerce and municipal eco-
nomic development office.

The meeting included pre-'
sentations on forestry, from

Enbridge Pipelines and the
2010 Commerce Centre.

. ~ But one of the more inter-

esting sections was the discus-

~ sion around the creation of a.
_ First Nations energy council. °

With the renewed interests
in mining, gas and oil, power
production and transmission,

_ First Nations plan on having a
significant voice in determin-
ing how and where this devel- .

opment may occur. Although

tracting interest and invest-
ment in projects, it holds the
potential to be just the reverse.

A northern energy council

with participation from every
region, including non-aborigi-
nals, could in fact become the
marketing arm for those indus-
tries in the north.

It could be the single win-

dow where investors are given

advice, direction and support
in approaching first nations.
It could remove obstacles not
erect them.

In the past, First ‘Nations

‘communities have not bene-

fited as prosperity flowed into
a region. Certainly the Haisla
today would say they have not
benefited from the 1950 agree-
ment that has brought such
prosperity to the District of

Kitimat through the Alcan hy--

dro-electric power and smelter
development.

In the new world they in-

tend on not only benefiting
from the new opportunities,
but in many. ways crafting

what they will look like. Cu- -

riously. enough, the broader
investment community , views

First Nations participation as
a positive not.a negative. This"

comes as a surprise | to many.

‘The re-elected provincial ©.’
Liberal’ government has. now. .

established a stand alone min-

_istry for aboriginal affairs. It

has clearly demonstrated the

priority the province attaches :
to first nations issues, mu- . ~
nicipalities need to watch and ~
possibly follow the province’ s

lead in building new relation-

ships, especially as it applies ©

to economic development.

The NWTT may be a young
organization, but the leadership
is doing all the right things.
By focusing on establishing
themselves as an organization,
they may rival the NCMA as a
voice of the.North.

By taking a strong focus on

‘economic development they
are establishing credibility in’

both the aboriginal and non-
aboriginal communities.

* The reality today is no ma-
jor investor is going to look at

any region if there is not First
‘Nations _ participation.

Mu-
nicipalities must start to work

‘Closer with neighbouring First
Nations in developing commu- —

nity plans so that the goals and
benefits are shared by both.

Horses and faith lost i in Stampede

-TRAILRIDING 200 untamed
horses into Calgary as

it was a notion, too small to be
an idea. ~ : ®

While crossing a Calgary

city bridge, nine horses died

either from the 30 foot tall
to the. ground below, or by :

drowning in. the flooded riv-

er. What a salute! Few things -

dampen enthusiasm of rodeo
attendees like seeing the bod-
ies of dead or thrashing horses
studding the river bank below

_ amajor highway.

Over the past: 40 years

1. these valuable rodeo animals,

raised on the the Stampede
Ranch near Hanna, Alberta,
shave been trucked to the rodeo
grounds. :
Trailriding over unfenced
prairie with only four wran-
. glers ceased in 1964 when too
many modern obstacles made

‘the trek a planning nightmare |

with major highways to cross,
fences to go around, and traf-
fic control everywhere.

This year’s trip took a year ©

tribute to-

THROUGH. BIFOCALS

‘CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

to plan. Organizers arranged
for trains to be stopped and for
a police escort into town. they
even managed to have the Red

Deer River’s flow controled :

above at the Dickson Dam.
Nonetheless, one train might
have contributed to the mis-
hap. Observers report a train
tooting nearby as the horses
began crossing the bridge. |
Anyone with horse know-
how realizes sudden unex-
pected noises can spook even
an experienced, calm animal.
Along with the tooting train,

reports say the bridge i is dark.

To the wild animals that could —

have signaled danger.

In. their headlong dash to.

outrun the dark and reach

_ the light, they bunched and

pushed, shoving outside ani-
mals off the bridge.

- Owners lament the loss:

of valuable - bucking _ stock.

‘Horses with names like Papa.
. Smurf, Guilty Cat and Grated

Coconut ranged in value from

* $8,000 to $50,000, depending

upon their bucking record.
Owners might do better to

worry about lowered rodeo at- .

tendance. One observer of the
carnage noted, “T’ll never go to
another Calgary Stampede.”
The wranglers trailing this
herd — from southern Alberta,
Texas, and California — may
have had misgivings about the
commemorative ride into: a
mega city but failed to go with

‘ their gut instinct. Any farm kid
_ could have predicted trouble.
As kids we lived by strict:

tules around livestock: no sud-
den noises, no flapping our

_ arms, and never start the herd
’ Tunning.

Whether horse or cows,

once they took off, natural in-
stinct kicked in. They would
trample over you with nary a
thought that you were the one

-who filled their manger with

oat chop daily.

. Cost certainly didn’t factor
into deciding to trailride’ in-
stead of haul by truck. Caterers

provided food for the wran-

glers and feed for the horses
during the six day ride.

And I’ll bet: after each °

day’s seven hour ride wran-

~ glers communicated with their

agents on their Blackberries.
How nostalgic is that?’ —

Each year someone some- -

where gets the bright notion to
recreate some romantic event
from an era no one wants to
relive full-time. _Remember
Manitoba’s' “settlers” who

“homesteaded” for 12 months -

in the mosquito-infested bush
for $100,000 each? Even they
lost a pregnant pig to fire when

they forgot embers, breezes,
and dry grass are a lethal com-

bination.

Losing nine horses in such
a gruesome disaster sure me-
morializes Alberta’s centen-
nial for me.

Failure to grasp the value.
of building these relationships.
will have dire consequences
for both communities.

ie