Page Ad — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Septamber 23, 1992 aan "TERRACE STANDAR * ESTABLISHED APRIL 27,1984 _ ~ Registration No. 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C., V8G 188 Phone (604) 638-7283 Serving the Terrace aréa. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. at 4847 Lazelle Avo., Terrace, British Columbia. Stories, photographs, ilustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyrigh! holders, including Cariboo Press (1965) Lid., its i istration repeo sacvicas and advertising agencies. Reproduction int whole or In part, without written permission, is spocificaity prohibited. ee ; Jett Nagel — News/Community, Malcolm Baxter — Nows/Spais Publisher/Editor: Rose Fisher — Front Office Manager, Carolyn Anderson.—. Typesetter Rod Link Arlena Watts — Typesetter, Susan Cradgeur. — Composing/Darkraom, Special thanks to al " Janat Vivelros — Advertising Consultant, Sam Collier ~ Advertising Consultant, ° our contributors and Advertising Manager: Charlene Matthaws — Circulation Supervisor. correspondents for Mike L. Hamm ) their time and Fax (604) 638-8432 Pte talents. Pa Production Manager: Wy en, (cha ond ; VER! QO. Edouard Credgeur rad a etas assole CIRCULATION: SONA . SPapeas co Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Oifice Department, for payment of postage in cash. CONTROLLED EDITORIAL, — Bad boys return They’re back. Yes indeed. The Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en of the Hazeltons have proved once again they are the bad boys of the land claims business. That became evi- dent. last week with Premier Mike Har- court’s three-month suspension of forests minister Dan Miller. It was the Gitksan and the Wet’suwet’en who pushed the Miller issue to the fore over the summer. They didn’t want Mr. Miller to approve: the : sale of Westar’s Carmaby mill and its wood. licence to Repap. They believed such a move would only continue overcutting in the, Hazeltons and an inevitable crash of the milling in- - dustry and loss of jobs. Their. preference was for a community- -based. approach to trol. Although — the Gitksan and — the Wet’suwet’en ‘lost a court battle to block Mr, Miller’s decision, the publicity sur- rounding his connection with Repap resulted in ultimate victory. Their point is that only natives should Moving The departure of city planner Marvin Kamenz to the greener — and warmer — climes of Sidney is regretted. It’s happen- ing just as his version of the new official community plan is set for public debate ' This. meansi “the document, will have.tozbe explained, defended and". criticized’ by™: others not completely familiar with the: thinking and reasoning that backs it up. It’s not-an ‘understatement to suggest that a the: new’ official community plan will be the most important document this city has ever adopted. The population is growing, .. there’s been a tremendous number of hous- - logging that. would incorporate native con: _ Zoning issues can’t be’ dependent. upon 4*piecemeal réasonit “herein. the ‘past: have jurisdiction over resource control and other matters in their territories. The ‘removal of Mr. Miller, even if only fora. brief period, is typical of the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en ‘‘take no prisoners’? ap- proach. This is in contrast to. the Nisga’a ap- proach, They portray themselves as very. patient -but very insistent. negotiators, moving slowly forward, They are great at schmoozing in public and only: océasional- ly pound tables in private. The Gitksan “and .Wet’suwet’en pound tables in public and in private. Mess with | | them at your peril. This obviously doesn’t -: make any friends but it doesn’t matter. The © Gitksan and. Wet’suwet’en believe in. themselves and that’s all that matters. The interesting thing here is that- the Gitksan ‘and the Wet’suwet’en and. the Nisga’a will likely end up with the same kind of land claims settlement in the end. One method is done rather quietly. The ~ other isn’t. You do what you have to in or- der to get through the day. forward ing starts and developments are springing: the phone that my stand on - “. gender equality.in the pro- . posed new Senate is ill- up all over the place. Mr. Kamenz brought a sense of profes- sionalism to the business of deciding. what "informed at best-and outright should go where. There comes a time when , Ese 1 ng “as-has'been the: cage That"gdod ald boy. ap: proach might ‘work, with a smaller municipality, but doesn’t cut it for the evolving new Terrace. - City council should move fast to replace, Mr. Kamenz. Lost opportunities can rarely.” be regained There’ s too. much at stake here. . A dedicated crew Fire is an instant cure for procrastination. When six foot flames leap toward you, windows before you split from top to bottom from intense heat, and smoke pours through the cracks, eve a chronic put- offer like me is galvanized intoaction, Fire also cures indecision. Through Bifocals | by Claudette Sandecki ashe iah, There’s no weighing. of: pros and cons, no considering which items. will be most use- ful re-cstablishing a normal life after the fire. Input is out. From the moment fire is detected, survival boils down to preparation, instinct, and luck. - , Thursday night, when 1 tumed around after having coffee wilh my husband at the kilchen table and saw a leap- ing red glow outside two windows, I .moved.:My first instinct was to grab the fire extinguisher beside the back door and dash outside to quell the blaze. But one look at: the flames blasting from my husband’s shop’ window: convinced me that was a poor call; My puny extinguisher stood as -much chance of impeding the fire as - a prairie dog hunched in the path of an Indy racer. ‘Call the firé department,’”’. was my next thought, I re- membered 638+ but nat where, the red sticker was with bold lettered emergency numbers printed on it, Luckily, - Thornhill ‘Thursday, ‘nights Volunteer’ Firefighters. iain. The dis- . patcher answered my, first - ring. ‘“There’s a fire al 3901 Dobbie Street, Pioneer Uphol- stery, It’s a gas fire,’ I shouted. . The dispatcher confirmed my address, .and. fire trucks were parking around our 'prop- erty by the time my husband helped me wrestle a-: file drawer to the front step. Tran back for a drawer containing documents and cash, my hand- bag, anda cozy. burgundy housecoat hanging beside il. Later, I found myself. Swearing my winter jacket, although I have no recollection of snatch- - ing it from its hook on my way out. | — , Leaving the fire department to-exercise the skills and train- ing they’ve acquired through- out countless Thursday eve- ning practices, I] wandered the street in my quilted slippers, slaphappily tossing out one- liners; well aware that 31 years of work and belongings owere as-good as gone... As, “scores: of — onlookers clogged the street, drawn by flames visible for miles, I . pondered ‘the. gentlest way to tell: our. daughters’-that - their - childhdod tame was ashes, At “the... same’ — time, t firefighters’ - spouses: worried about the safety of their mates. Foams, vinyls, vinyl-covered shingles and siding gave olf. toxic fumes and smoldered for hours after mop-up. The dedication of: volunteer firefighters is awesome to sec. Most of them are there alter a | full day’s work on a regular jeb. Yel they don’t even look fora paton the back, They do, however, look fot! volunteers, Then maybe they. wouldn't be spread thinner | than butter on a lea sandwich. In the words of one weary.. firefighter, ‘‘If even one-tenth of the spectators volunteered, what ‘a back-up crew we'd have.”’ What are you doing Thurs- day night? Guilty verdict laic On | uSTICe syste mM | a VICTORIA —Toall of you who told me in letters and on undemocratic‘at worst, I'd like _ to say: read the report, bythe | Soaiety’ of British’ Colum-! “bia om gender: ‘bias in in’ *B. C. Ss ‘ court system...” ” Read. it and then tell r me again we don’t necd some ~ “kindof affirmative'action, ~ some thechanism, some ges- ‘lure to make women equal. The report, written by a _three-women, tliree man com- mittee, headed by the pro- vince’s. respected Conflict of Interest Commissioner Ted Hughes, is nothing short of an indictment, not only of our justice system but society at large, At the very least, the report is a shocking window. on how | the justice system in British Columbia, and undoubtedly elsewhere, treats women. Women, the report states, are sexually harassed, humiliated, belitiled and treated unfairly in B.C.’s justice system. _ “Judges have been trying lo improve the situation in the courts, but it was reported to us that there are instances of insensitivity and cases where "judges belittle experiences of violence that cause women. to. doubi the-impartialily of the. courl,”” Hughes said. Peter Leask, treasurer of the law saciely, said the panel _knew the:system wasn’t per- fect, but added that ‘‘T was ~ shocked at how far we still have to go.” The 600 page report is filled: - with accounts about gender bias from more than 1,000 peaple who came out to public hearing. Here is but one of -themi ° “Ina chambers meeting, a Q woman lawyer asked the op- posing male lawyer what his MY GOD! LOOK AT THIS AGIIMESS YOUKHO#!! BLOODY SONS OF #*!'#6 sf "From the Capital - _by Hubert Beyer position would be concerning the case at hand. In front of the woman’s client, and other lawyers, he said: ‘‘T prefer the missionary position.”’ The woman lawyer said she was rattled, embarrassed and angry, but her learned col- league just looked blankly at her and turned away. The judge didn’t see fit to.call him . on the carpet. But sexual harassment and innuendo by male lawyers tawards their female col- leagues is just one aspect of “thaw far we still have to go.”’ Far more insidious is the un- fair way in which the courts treat women victims. ‘*We believe the family law system in our province fails to provide women and children with adequate means of eco-. - nomic support upon marriage - - breakdown,’’ the report states in the introductory chapter. “We believe women do not always receive fair and equita- ble treatment in the courtroom “asa result of direct and sys- temic biases based upon gen- der,’’ it adds, And here’s one for the chauvinists. Throughout the “report, the committee used the term ‘‘feminist’’. But to dispel _ the myths and misunderstand- ings about this word, the com- mittee decided itwas impor- ‘tant to define it, ‘Feminism is not about. hating men. A feminist believes the world should be a comfortable place for women, “men and children, free of stereolypes and myths which restrict the roles each may as- sume,”” The report makes more than 300 recommendations, which is rather shocking in ilsclf. Our justice system is our most | important and often the last bulwark against our own fol- lies, and as long as itremains - so patently flawed, we are far fram having reached our goal of being-a fair and com-. passionate society. Some of the problems the | report says should be remedied include the lack of women judges, sexual harass- ment in law offices and laste- less jokes in the courtroom. Other recommendations.re- quire education for judges and lawyers who can’t seem to-un- derstand that all people are supposed to be equa! before the courts. As an example, the report | mentions a job interviewer at the department of justice who. - asked a.native woman law:stu- dent if she would be able to. : prosecute a case involving an Indian who was accused of trafficking i in drugs. What an asinine question, butendemic of the gender bias that con- tinues to permeate not only the justice system, but Soclely a asa whole. . We may be on our way toward a fairer sociely, devoid of discrimination against ' women, but-we’re not there: yet. Nat bya long shot. Aftir- mative action is clearly: re- quired, and I say it again, as- suring that women will have three seats on the new Senate - is an idea whose time has. © come.