INSIDE | | SECTION B COMMUNITY JENNIFER LANG | 638-7283 EVENTS B2 MY POINT OF VIEW | ARON STRUMECKI The Terrace stare KF RIENDS, TERRACITES, countrymen, lend me your ear. For it is today that ] must address a question most perplex- ing, one without parallel or precedent, and it is this: Do people in Terrace stare too much? The topic came up last week, when some friends and I] were in Prince Rupert. We were walking out of the local donut shop after watching the Lord of the Rings in a vain attempt to revive some life back into our backsides. That’s when Bruce said it. “You can sure tell we’re not in Terrace. Nobody’s staring at us.” “What do you mean?” I asked, He replied, “Haven’t you noticed, people in Terrace totally stare at everybody, they’re like checking to see if you an outsider or something.” ; Various jokes then followed on the ride home, including a few Invasion of the Body Snatchers type scenarios where a Terracite would go up ta someone, ask them a question about Kermodei bears, and start making a high-pitched squeal when it became apparent that they weren’t from here. I laughed at the idea, but all the time, in the back of my head, I was thinking to myself about my own personal history with staring, becanse the truth was that the idea stuck with a ting of truth and certainty. After all, it seems that some people actual- ly think that staring is rude, and being the good patriotic citizen that ] am, I took it upon myself to find out the truth of the matter. Data needed. to..be-collected. Facts needed to be gathered. ; The truth of the matter needed to be unco- vered!” When I was younger, 1 remember adults making a big deal about being able to make eye contact. Maybe it was my Grade:9 English teacher, who always insisted we look at his eyes when we were talking to him. I just took it for granted that making eye contact was just one of the ways that you ack- ‘People stared where she came from but it wasn't nice.’ nowledged another person’s existence. Besides it’s important to get a good look at things, stuff. It had never occurred to me that people might think otherwise. Fortunately, being the _student of human nature that I am, and the sur- vivar of quite a few sociology classes, I knew my own observations didn’t mean much, so I] decided to do a quick poll on the matter. I started with a call to Jennifer; my’ editor, writer extraordinaire and transplant from the -teeming city of Vancouver. We’d bandied about a couple ideas for my latest column when IJ asked her the question. Her answer was immediate, and pro- staré was one of the first things when she maved here. In Vancouver she explained, people NEVER made eye contact with people they didn’t know. It was bad form and could easily lead to conflict and confrontation. Here though, it was something that people did, and she had written it off as something that hap- ‘pened in small-town B.C. 1 was positive I was onto something now. Next, I contacted my Dad, a scholar, a gen- tleman, and a fine-prairie boy. ] asked him the question. His answer was brief and to the point, and not at all what I expected. He said he hadn’t noticed it, but thought it might be possible, I was shaken, but not to be deterred, One last call, Next I called my good friend Sasa, expert beautiful country. Having grown up in Europe, I figured she'd be the perfect person to ask, I asked her the question. There was a slight pause. After she answered, it became apparent that Sasa too had noticed the Terrace stare. In fact, she said, it was one of the first things she no- ticed after moving here, but it wasn’t bad, People stared where she came from, she ex- plained, but it wasn’t nice. Neighbours, espe- cially older ones, seemed to make a habit of spying on everybody, frequently for gossip and the excuse to give really disapproving looks, Here at least, she observed, when people look-at you in the street, it’s because they want to say hello, and so it must be-a good thing. all the answer I need. Until next time,”- oo Such a long journey TERRACE’S Martha Jo- seph says she was filled with hate when she left Prince Rupert early last fall on a walk-a-thon to Prince George. But as the 62-year-old residential school survivor began to put hundreds of kilometres of highway be- hind her, the anger began to fade. “It’s hard to explain what I really felt,” she says. “But Pm glad I did that walk. I did a lot of healing.” Joseph says she suffered horrendous abuse as a child at the Port Alberni Residential School. Although her lawsuit against the Anglican Church and the B.C. gov- ernment was thrown out last summer, Joseph still hopes to launch an appeal. Her healing journey was supposed to help her raise money for legal costs - and highlight the plight of residential school survi- vors. “I didn't raise very much money, but I got so much response in Prince George and in Nanaimo.” After reaching Prince George, Joseph decided to continue on to Vancouver Island, where she walked from Nanaimo to Port Al- ‘berni — the epicentre of a MARTHA JOSEPH: carrying on the fight. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - BI lifetime of grief - in four days, She entered the school grounds with her walk-a- thon “pilot” — Bobby Jo- seph from the Provincial Residential School Project — the night before her offi- cial arrival. They held hands and prayed, “The tears dida’t stop coming,” she recalls, She thought about her sister, an alcoholic who drank herself to death be- cause of what had hap- pened there so many years ago. And she thought about all the former students who passed away without sec- ing justice. “It's like enter- ing Hell itself,” says Jo- seph, who has now re- turned to Terrace, her home of 19 years. She realizes she wasn’t — isn’t - alone in her pain. “It makes me feel good thinking about it because of the many people wha came to see me to talk about their experience with residential school and what they’re going through.” She vows to continue her fight. “I may have to go further — I may have to walk to New Brunswick!” Donations can be made at the Royal Bank, ac- count number 5023130, transit number 2160, Demand for food jumped at Christmas By JENNIFER LANG THE NUMBERS speak for themselves. More families are relying on food provi- ded by the Salvation Army to make it through Christ- mas. This past holi- day season saw the Army and its volunteers distri- bute 587 hampers to Terrace resi- dents. The number of individuals assis- ted by the 2001 campaign totalled 1,925, says David Sessford, director of community and family services for the Salvation Army. That’s a 20 percent jump over the previous year, and an overall in- crease of 60 per cent in just four years. In 1997, the Salvation Army distributed 555 ham- pers among 1,200 people at Christmas time. “It’s surprising because that means larger families used our services this year,” Sessford said. “We did have a drop in the number of singles, which is good — I think.” David Sessford Sessford is reluctant to draw any conclusions, but he did notice many first time applicants had worked in forestry. What's clear is that more families are needing help. “Whether our scope is wider now than it used to be, I don’t know,” Sessford said, referring to the increase in applicants. “Then again, the numbers kind of speak for themselves.” Filling more hampers meant the Army had to spend more on ils cam- paign than ever. Donations were slow until the third week of the campaign. Fortunately, the com- munity came through with generous support, helping the Salvation Army ex- ceed its fundraising goal. Sessfard anticipates de- mand for year-round ser- vices to increase in the days ahead, too. “With all the cutbacks in the news, there seems like there will be more need.” otherwise you'll be running into all sorts of | nounced, In fact, she said that the Terrace : computer whiz, anda newer addition to our ° You know for me, in the end; I think that’s no DANIEL CHAPMAN and Krista Brisen will speak to Gra hy BI de 6 and 7 classes, Non-smokers on patrol By JENNIFER LANG THE BEST way to quit smoking is to never have started in the first place. With that thought firmly in mind, Ca- . ledonia Senior Secondary students Krista Brinson and Daniel Chapman will be heading into local Grade 6 and 7 classes to warn them about the dangers of smok- ing. And they’re not afraid to use scare tac- tics to get their point across. Try this on for size: smoker with a pack a day habit wheezes in a cup full of signed their presentations themselves. Each week they meet with Comerford and teacher Cam McKay, who is the school’s liaison for the program. Brinson, who tutors and holds down a part-time job at Copperside Foods after school, plans to enrol in the two-year |i- censed practical nursing program at Northwest Community College. Then she wants to head to the Univers- ity of Northern B.C.’s registered nursing program, Chapman, a lifeguard, is headed for tar and poisons in the course of a year, Brinson, a Grade 12 stu- dent who hopes to become further studies, too, He’s still trying ta decide th se! They don t un- between medicine, science derstand — it’s @ or engineering studies, a nurse, says she'll show highly addictive Public health nurse Sonja the students a cup of mo- lasses to help them see drug.” Comerford says getting the message oul ta’ students what that looks like. Hands-on demonstrations are part of . the pair’s non-smoking approach, too. Brinson and Chapman say they'll get students to try jumping up and down while they breathing through straws. That exercise mimics the toll a smok- ing habit takes on the lungs. The pair, both in Grade 12, are two of: 27 youths throughout the region who have been hired to help schools and communi- ties understand the dangers of second- hand smoke, For every hour they spend working on ‘the project, they'll earn $8 in-credit to- wards tuition at a post-secondary institu- tion next fall, a , They can earn a maximum of $1,000 in credit. a, os - -. "Phey’ve done the’ research and’ de-. _ When they’re 12 or 13 is im- portant, because it's before they start. “The younger you are that you start, ihe faster you will become hooked,” Co-- merford says. And the longer. you’re hooked, the harder it is to quit. “They don’t understand,” she says, re- ferring to young people who experiment with smoking, “It’s a highly addictive drug.” That’s why she’s so pleased to have Brinson and Chapman, teens she de- scribes as “dynamite kids”, on board. “They’re more likely to listen to these guys,” she says. _ When asked what she hopes to ac- complish, Brinson says thoughtfully, “I. just’ want’ people to. realize -how bad snioking can be.” RS EE Around Town and public health nurse Sonja Comerford. Born free IT’S LIKE baby Alyson’s new bib says, “I’m a bom non-smoker.” In recognition of National Non- Smoking Week Jan. 21-26, public health nurses in Terrace will be giving away about 150 bibs to local babies, Second-hand smoke poses a danger, so parents are reminded to smoke. outside their cars, vehicles and homes. Parent day PARENTING is a full-time job. So think of an up- coming community resource and service fair as a trade show for parents. Parents in the Terrace area are invited drop by Clarence Michiel Ele- mentary School Satur- day, Jan. 26 for an event called, A Place for Parents. Billed as a morning of recognition, celebra- | tion and information | sharing, the event will bring together a range of community programs § and agencies that are § of interest to parents. “People don’t know J what’s available,” or- ganizer Ann Peltier says. Bring the kids, _ Snacks and children’s activities will be avail- able, along with RCMP Safe Child fingerprinting kits. There will be door prizes, too. Sponsored by the Kalum Horseshoe Community Schools society’s In My Backyard Project, the fair will also feature a parent’s forum between 10 and tlam. a Peltier says society is hoping to get some feed- back on what topics parents would like to see on the agenda at a future parent conference here. “We need community input first,” she says. Ann Peltier