A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 14, 1996

“TERRACE...

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Strect Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 » FAX: (604) 638-8432
E-MAIL: terrace standard@sasquat.com
MODEM: (604) 638-7247

Leaky canoe

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS minister John Cashore
is standing with his feet at the edge of a large
chasm, staring across at the rest of British
Columbia on the contentious issue of land
claims. ;

While the vast majority of British Columbians
may have some sympathy regarding native land
claims, they don’t understand what Mr. Cashore
and his government and the federal government
are doing. That lack of understanding is leading
to a growing sense of unease at the prospect of
dealing with land claims and it’s giving Mr.
Cashore a major headache. Senior negotiators in
Mr. Cashore’s ministry have stated their worries
that despite intensive and extensive public rela-
tions campaigns, there remains very basic
knowledge gaps.

How can Mr. Cashore forge ahead on signing
treaties when nobody understands what is going
on? How can he have any confidence in doing
what he is doing without acceptance by British
Columbians?

All of this explains last week’s orders given to
an all-party legislative committee to go out and
take the pulse of British Columbia. Short of a
referendum (something which Mr. Cashore and
his government won’t do) this is the only way he
has of determining popular opinion.

Mr. Cashore calls it an education process. He
calls it a way of finding out what British Colum-
bia thinks of the main issues of self government
and resource control contained in the tentative
Nisga’a deal signed earlier this year.

What he’s really doing is market testing a pro-
duct that’s already been manufactured and is out
on the shelves hoping to attract a buyer without

knowirig if it’s what consuniers waiit'in thei first |

place. In other words, it’s putting the cart'before
the horse.

The dangerous part of this is the tentative
Nisga’a land claim. It contains the essential in-
gredients of land, money, resource control, self
government and third party resource loss that'll
appear in all other treaties. The all-party com-
mittee is going to use those themes as its starting
point for gathering public opinion.

Mr. Cashore says the findings of the all-party
commitiee will form bench marks for future
treaty talks yet won’t delay the final Nisga’a
talks starting this fall or any other land claims
talks now underway.

But what happens if the all-party reports back
with discouraging news? What if it finds out
British Columbians are unhappy with the scope
and extent of what’s contained in the tentative
deal? Mr. Cashore then has the problem of
balancing off that with the commitments he and
his government have already made. And he then
has to deal with the philosophical differences be-
tween his government’s actions and the rest of
British Columbia.

The Nisga’a entered land claims talks by using
the phrase they own the land ‘‘lock, stock and
barrel.’’ When they signed the tentative deal this
spring, Nisga’a Tribal Council president Joe
Gosnell said the Nisga’a ‘“‘canoe has landed.’?
Should that canoe hit a couple of rocks going to
shore and spring a leak, it won’t be a very nice
time for anybody.

a: S|
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Commer APRS
Abeotiarrcen
Wiltish Colombia ond Vaboe

MEMBER OF B.C. PRESS COUNCIL . :
Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area, Published on Wednesday of aach week by Cariboo Prass (1969)
Ltd. at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, YEG SR2. oo
Stories, photographs, Mustrations, designs and lypsstyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the
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agancies, . :
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Authorized as second-class mall pending tha Post Olfice Department, for payment of postage In cash.

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
. ' for their time and talents

oo

tie
; _»» YOU heard me right, Chief...
“Wee yidls, tom England...

thousands and

‘

CHOUSANAS Of UleM, «-

Can't anyone

VICTORIA — Last Friday,
George Furmanck appeared in
the press gallery, asking to talk
to me. He said something
about being at his wits’ end
and ready to go to jail, if
necessary.

My time is at anyone’s dis-
posal, but somehow, [ thought
that this man needed a serious
ear, | talked to George for
several hours that day, and if
ever there was a man with a
problem, it was George.

It would be easy to dismiss
George as a victim of the
proverbial system, but there’s

more to it, George is a victim .

of political ineptitude, a
bureaucracy that runs circles
around its supposed political
masters, and big business. This
then is the story of a man wha

_ got royally screwed by all

three.

Back in the eighties, George
worked for West Fraser in Ter-
tace, When he saw that per-
fectly good lumber was being
fed into chippers, he became
convinced that something bet-
ter could be done with it.

George had lived frugally
and had some savings, He
quicily bought all the lumber
he could get his hands on and
Started a litthe value-added
business, making stuff like pal-
lets and crating material. In
lime, he employed three
people.

THE RIVERBOAT Days duck
race is over for another year.
Thank heavens my entry didn’t
win, Ever since I bought the
ticket I’ve worried how I’d
handle having my duck finish
first. Now I cam relax until next
August.

First prize, a trip for two to
Mexico, was no problem; my
husband and I still get along
well enough to leave home to-
gether without observers call-
ing in the riot squad. Getting ta
Mexico was my dilemma.

The only way I can handle a
plane ride is to console myself
as I step on board, ‘From here
on, my fate is up to God and
the pilot. Que sera, sera.”?
Thus far, Doris Day’s philoso-
phy has seldom encouraged me
to repeat a flight.

Even riding in a car, I don’t
feel safe. Especially if I’m
doing the driving.

Then there’s foreign foods,
foreign customs, foreign lan-
guages. .. And leaving home

IT BUST BOUGHT THIS
AT THE BOREAL |
MUSEUM AUCTION,

a napa EEE

FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

Blessed with a healthy entre-
preneurial spirit, George
thought of expanding his small
operation. He researched pro-
ducts. He researched markets,
and eventually hooked up with
the East Asia Company, which

- opened markets in Japan for. .

him.

He then shifted into high
gear. He and a partner formed
Hazelton Wood Products in
1988 and proceeded to build a
new plant. Although lumber is
a prized commodity in British
Columbia, George managed to
scrounge the necessary raw
material from numerous
sources,

His off-shore customers liked
his products and were prepared
to buy whatever he could pro-
duce. But then, the sources of
lumber dried up.

But in June of 1990, George

THROUGH BIFOCALS.
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

means the chance of breakins,
theft, vandalism, arson, gas
leaks, lightning strikes, dogs
digging out of the yard, The
hazards are too many to risk.
Just enumerating = them
diminishes the prospective
pleasure of a holiday tour,
Second prize would have
been my choice. Two gold
bars, anyone can use. They're
tidy, easily converted into fig-
ures safe in a bank account, or

MY GREAT GREAT

GRANDADDY MADE.
‘ THIS FOR HIS Son's
FIRST HUNT!

help him’?

was awarded a timber sale un-
der the province’s value-added
program. It was to assure him
of 86,000 cubic metres of tim-
ber over the next five years. It
was also to assure his 18,
sometimes 23 employees, of
their jobs.

Unfortunately, George was
over-extended, particularly to
one of the companies that had
supplied him with lumber -
Hobenshield Bros, Logging at
Kitwanga.

At that time, the government
could have saved George and
the jobs of his employces by
granting him some stumpage
concessions and an accelerated
tate of cut. The latter was par-
tially approved, the former
denied.

There followed a Jot of nego-
tiations, none of which solved

Gedrge’s probléms, Since thén, *

the bank has foreclosed on the
Furmanek family home, repos-
sessed the car and taken just
about everything else that
wasn’t nailed down. And the
education fund for the
Furmaneks’ three children is
gone,

With all that in mind, you
can see why George was at his
wits’ end when he came to see
me,

This trip to Victoria was to
be his last one. He thought
he’d have one more kick at the
can. It was to no avail. Some

pul toward buying anything
one could want.

Third prize —- $500 to be
spent at Safeway — was suffi-
ciently generous to give a good
Tetum on the price of the tick-
et, ] wasn’t sure, though, about
the conditions ruling the shop-
ping spree.

Would you have to elbow
your way past kibitzing
customers and staff restocking
shelves? Or would the store be
closed so that you could shop
alone like the Queen in Har-
rod’s?

Was there a time limit? If so,
I'd have to pick items that
could quickly be whipped off a
shelf: cases of canned goods,
bulk packages, family packs of
meat.

Could you fill only so many
shopping carts? If volume was
regulated, [’d need to select
concentrated items — aspirin,
coffee beans, cheddar cheese,
canned tuna, peanut butter.

To not run short of storage

NEVER COLLECT ARTEFACTS I™
'\EROM CULTURES You 'RE /*
FRIENDLY WITH!!!

bureaucrat told him there was
nothing the government could
do for him. But he was the
kind of guy the government
was looking for. Maybe he
cared to try again?

As for his being willing to go
to jail, he had originally in-
tended to barricade himself in
the bureaucrat’s office, I talked
him out of it and invited him to
spend the night at our house.
Just a small repayment for the
hospitality I’ve been offered
every time I’ve been in the
north.

And now, I’ve got a few
questions for our esteemed
government: Why do the major
forest companies keep getting
preferential ireatment over
small operators, even though
they don’t deliver anywhere
near as much bang for the buck
or-rather jobs per cubic metre

of Jumber as the small com-

panies?

Why does the government
not guarantee small operators a
bigger slice of the total annual
harvest? And why are there —
hundreds of millions of dollars
in the Forest Renewal Fund,
waiting for the goverament to
get ils greedy hands on, when
George, with a little help,
could keep 20 families earning
a decent income? .

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
920-9300; Fax: 385-6783; E-
mail: hubert@eoolcom.com

Winning is

Space, whatever I put in my
cart must need no refrigeration
and musn’t dry out, mould,
sour, or soon become outdated,
In all cases, I’d have to buy
only my usual, favourite items
so I could use them up rea-
sonably soon,

Taking those points into ac-
count, I prepared a shopping
list just in case an organizer
phoned to tell me I'd won third
prize.

I listed coffee beans, sugar,
cream of mushroom soup,
canned tuna, pork and beans
wilh molasses, pancake syrup,
flour, Shreddies, cheddar
cheese, frozen. juice, fresh
meats, aspirin, raisins, dates,
laundry detergent, and pow-
dered milk.

I didn't get around to arrang-
ing the list so I could zip up
one aisle and down the other,
For that I need my husband's
help; he docs all our shopping.

Pil file the list until: next:
year. ; me