{u fh * A4-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 31, 2005 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK _ ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G 5R2 ‘ TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 - FAX: (250) 638-8432 mo WEB: www.terracestandard.com . EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com - Blockade — “We are all here to stay. We agree to a-new gov- ernment-to- -government relationship baséd on re- spect, recognition and accommodation of aborig- Inal title.and rights. Our shared vision includes | respect for our respective laws and responsibili- ties. Through this new relationship, we commit to reconciliation of Aboriginal a and. Cc rown titles and jurisdictions.” oe These words are from the opening paragraph of : : The New Relationship, a document signed by the _ provincial government and native organizations. this past*spring and intended to be the starting point for a final resolution of native land claims: ~ and aspirations in B.C: . | Expect to hear a lot more about, this document | ‘and the plans to move forward once Premier Gor- don Campbell’s. government officially gets back -to-work this fall. It will form the centrepiece for Mr. Campbell’s second term in office and, as such, there’s a lot riding on the outcome. That’s because Mr. Campbell’s own vision for B.C. starts with a strong economy. From a strong economy comes jobs and profits. From jobs and profits comes the foundation for social programs. . Without a strong buy-in from the native com- | “munity in such a fashion that fits the native way, ‘there can be no foundation upon which to build 7 ° _ that economy. Which brings us to northern B.C. and the block- "ade by a group of Tahltan of.a road leading to. the Klappan area. It contains. anthracite coal and quantities of coalbed methane natural gas. Ontar- io-based Fortune Minerals wants to open a coal mine and Shell wants to see if there’s enough coalbed methane to warrant development. Both have been: prevented from gaining access ito the area because of the blockade. a By all accounts this is an internal dispute among | the Tahltan with the blockading group at odds with the elected Tahltan leadership over the pace and scope of industrial development on their ter- ritory. The provincial government doesn’ t want _ to step into an internal dispute and the companies are being advised to sit tight and let the situation work itself out. ss But the dispute-and the blockade, which Bulk- - ley Valley-Stikine Liberal MLA Dennis MacKay characterizes as illegal, pose a major problem for the province. : The longer the blockade goes. on, the more -. word will spread within the mining community and other industrial sectors about the uncertainty of investing in the province. That could put the brakes on Mr. Campbell’s “open for business” theme and it could stall his attempt at forging a new relationship with native people. The former can’t take place without the. latter. Wish Mr. Campbell luck. 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Published on Wednesday of or each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. @) Black Press Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copy- right holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., its iltustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents Petes © _ INCAPACITATING, But A TAD Burry... ios WELL, Yes, VERY EFFECTIVE AT ae AND THe SEARCH FoR A SAFER ALTERNATIVE Th THE TASER GOES ON... Got lemons? Make lemonade WHEN YOu look. over ’the Jast decade ‘at the legacy: of closed pulp mills in Canada, it . should raise alarm bells in ev- "ery small community that has - come to depend on them for their town’s primary employ- ment. It is an industry that faces - ever-increasing . -inc competition from China, Russia and Latin America, where capital, labour and fiber costs are significant- ly lower and larger manufac- turing sites create greater ef- ficiencies. Combined this with the ‘rapid rise in energy costs anda ~ ~ high Canadian dollar, it is little wonder the industry in Canada has only been profitable in two of the last ten years. As we look at the impacts of - closed plants in B.C. — Skeena Cellulose, Port Alice and Gold River — it is little wonder some communities are getting ner- vous today. The recent article by the Conference Board of Canada . only drives home the point that this is an industry in trouble. Pulp maker Cascadia stated recently that “they will cut costs at money losing mills in Thunder Bay and put other as- sets on watch.” In response to all of this, our provincial government has struck a task force, chaired by Dan Miller, to look at the * competitive factor of business in B.C. It has specifically been asked to look at the pulp and . paper industry first and for ’ good reason. | In Kitimat we have already - seen the impacts of a global economy on Methanex and 1 GUEST COMMENT ROGER HARRIS may soon feel what the loss’ of that industry means to the . community. Certainly the Alcan de- bate is about build two oriented strand board (OSB) plants in the interior is _ good news for the interior And that announcement is equally important tc fo the north-. west. “Where the mountain pine beetle. may be a huge natural disaster for the province, it may also bean opportunity. ' Under the mountain pine beetle plan, the new fiber is specifically targeted away * facturers. Instead it is put into the _ hands of businesses that would use. the fiber to make other : ~“ mill sends most town councils | With the increased oppor- : products. tunity to access fiber, we are witnessing an increased mo- mentum in the research and development global eco-: nomics, but around the should circle the wagons and ignore what is happening in the global market place? It is a strategy that has been tried jin the past and really doesn’t work very well for anyone. The solution to not becom- ing:a victim of the global mar- _ket place is to stay ahead of it. As long as we choose to compete in commodity prod- ucts the challenge from third world countries will only be- come greater. _ This is why the recent an- nouncement by Ainsworth to possibly the “The pine beetle has design and next victim the potential to advance manufactur- could be the the engineered woods _ ing of engi- Eurocan pulp product sector by a _ neered wood and kraft pa- decade.” products. per mill. In just ~ _Does® this the last year mean that we alone new polymers have been developed that al- low for the use of a significant percentages of pine’ in OSB, something «unheard of two years ago. . The pine beetle has the potential to advance the engi- neered woods product sector in B.C. by a decade, making us world leaders in the tech- nology and creating a whole new woods industry. This availability of fiber, as _a result of the pine beetle, has created the opportunity in the interior for companies like Ai- nsworth and others. a ~ Tt was the recent demise of a local pulp mill in New York State that prompted Ainsworth to propose: a plan to build a new OSB plant in that region, This opportunity was made possible due to the freeing up of previously committed fiber for that pulp mill. “ This: is .relevant for the » northwest, as with the on go- ing saga of New Skeena, there is a significant amount of un- der utilized and available fiber here. The thought of losing a pulp into a frenzy, and with good - reason. But ignoring the reali- ty of a global market place has even greater consequences for the public they represent. The demand in the market place for. engineered wood products is growing steadily. We have in the northwest a large volume of uncommit- ted fiber and new forest tenure - holders looking for long-term customers or partners. Most people are holding their breath hoping for the re- surgence of old Skeena, while in Kitimat they pray Eurocan has another 30 years in it. But when we look to the ~ future and see what is happen- ing in the global market place, maybe we should. be working © _a little less on re-creating the past and spending more time on looking ahead. It might be a little ‘more work today, but the pay off to communities across the north- west could be much greater. These teens won ‘t learn lesson © ‘ LOOKING AFTER someone’ s home and pets while they’re , Off on-a holiday is easy. Make sure dogs and cats - have water and food, the litter box is cleaned and the yard is tidied daily. Spend time with the animals so they don’t feel abandoned. Water houseplants before the.“birds” chirp. Bring | |*° in the mail. ‘What ties my stomach in knots is the worry I will ar-_ rive one day to find the yard ‘gate swinging and the dogs escaped, a window broken, or . the front door open and other signs of break and entry. _ Just such a scenario greet- ed a caretaker one evening recently. He arrived to see a window had been smashed to gain entry to the home. Before leaving on holidays the couple had painted their kitchen and living room and bought a new sofa set. Eggs had been thrown at the kitchen walls and drizzled over appliances. Fruit juice had been poured over the ve- lour sofa and carpet. Draw- ers had been ransacked in the master bedroom and personal THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI valuables stolen. Fortunately an alert neigh- bour had called the RCMP at . 5:30 that morning when he heard smashing glass. Police. caught up to the culprits: be- fore they had a chance to stash their loot. The thieves turned out to be 15-year-old students of the teacher whose home they robbed and vandalized. No doubt they knew exact- ly who owned the home they burgled. Talk about getting on a teacher’ S good side! If the teenagers had broken in a week or: two earlier the — family’s entire holiday would - have been blighted. As it was, the family was on their way back to Terrace when they learned their home had been desecrated. For several days they anguished not knowing _ how bad things might be. Added to the futility of * painting the rooms and buying new furniture before they left, the family had to deal with the putrefying remnants of crusted egg in odd corners missed by .the caretaker’s prompt scrub- bing upon finding the mess. ' And sticky juice glued in crev- ices and carpet. A joyless ¢ end- ing to a vacation. Regardless of how ‘the court rules, the teenagers will . be paying the $500 insurance deductible. They should also replace the new furniture and pay to have the rooms profes- . sionally cleaned, including carpet. I’d spare no expense in setting things right and pres-' ent the teenagers with a bill and a deadline for paying it. Probably Mom and Dad will fork over the money. They no’ doubt have a history of clean-- ing up behind their angel. The teens would come. out of this experience a lot wiser if they _ were made to work to pay res- titution. But | don’t look for that to happen, or these teenagers wouldn’t have been roaming the streets at 5:30 a.m. and Spare me the crap, “There’s ~ nothing for teens to do.” Outside of stupidity and -drugs, what motivates anyone to break and enter, burglarize | or vandalize? Even’ though the law protects these crooks from having their names and ‘pictures published, all their | neighbours, as well as friends and coworkers of their vic- _ tims, know who they are and their crime, and will be wary of them as well as their fami- lies in the future. And next summer if these teenagers ask for work mow- ing lawns or doing handyman chores around someone’s yard, they may find work scarce. Who would knowingly invite a criminal into their home or on to their property?