The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 28, 1994 - AS Ss It is a puzzle 19 me why the people outside Thornhill gct so uptight about what Thornhill is doing. Thomhill who should be getting uptight if Thornhill is taking the wrong track. But I don’t hear that ; I hear people on the regional district saying things, and I hear the editor of the Standard saying - that Thornhill must get its act to- gether and contro] its own destiny. Why are you so worried? A lot of people still don’t know what the Regional District is, or whiat it is supposed to do. There are directors, past and present, who don’t know what it’s for. The board’s function is really quite simple. It is there to do planning, but more important, it is there to provide government and services to parts of the pro- vince that are not organized, This is exactly the same as any city or any town does. Thornhill has not suffered under the government of the regional district. We have the best water system around — clean, clear, no chlorine. There have never becn sprinkling restrictions, Not even when the forest service tree nurs- ery was watering 5 million babies oa year. Terrace is still treating wishy- ..,..Washy water, and has the toughest ’ sprinkling restrictions in the pro- ‘vince. Way to provide services to " your taxpayers, guys. .‘ Mr. Editor gets upset that ~ Thomhill (he thinks) takes up too much of regional district staff time. Well now, if this staff was “not working on Thornbill’s prob- lems they would be on UI. And — who wants that? British Columbia is the only pro- vince in Canada which has not settled the land question with First Nations. Except for Treaty 8, a small part. of the Peace River region, ‘and the Douglas Treaties in the south on Vancouver Island, the Crown which ‘‘claimed”’ the land from First Nations has never sat - down to settle the grievances aris- ing from that ‘‘claim.’’ Every olher province and the . Northwest Territorics have nego- tiated treaties with First Nations, While there may be some colo- _ tial romanticism around an early explorer claiming vast acres for a ' foreign king, the ‘‘claiming’’ had no. sensitivity to those who in- - habited the country for thousands of. years. Those with power gave little thought to what was going * to happen to a society, a culture, a governance system which had sustained native people for gener- “ations, It is this ‘‘taking’’ of land from First: Nations which is now the _ tajor issue. It is this ‘‘taking’’ ~ which has been the source of the economic and social difficultics . of BLC.?s first inhabitants. ‘It should be no surprise that land becomes an important part of the solution for First Nations. _ It is also the focus of concern for _ others. ; It wasn’t, until the Nisga’a went to court in 1973 in the famous => Calder case, that the cracks in the ” government positions started to show, Since then we have had the . Sparrow and Delgamu’ukw deci- sions; each one added to the un- certainty for non-aboriginal ~ people and cach one gave a little - more hope to First Nations, © The judgments in the last two have clearly indicated the dangers oto governments of trying to settle ~ the issue through the courts. Ap- plication: of some provincial and federal laws have not been the same since the rulings were ‘made. | “The courts and the people have - told us to settle this issue by ne- /gotiation once and for all. The ~~ status quo.is no Jonger an option. The rules (the framework agree- ment) governing the negotiation process with the Nisga’a were de- ‘cided“in 1990. The Nisga'a, the . federal and. provincial govern- ments agreed to the process, Complaitits are that the process 4s ‘not open; that there is too much ' secrecy. Still others demand a referendum to approve or reflect It would seem it’s the people ix . Stop and think why so much time is spent on Thornhill. Thornhill bas always had an ac- tive director, who was there to achicve things for his community, and did. North of Terrace has wanted fire protection for ten years. All that would take is a simple agree- ment between the city of Terrace and the regional. disirict, It’s never happened. Where is the director for the North of Terrace? There: will come a time for Thormhill to de its own thing and that time may not be too far away. But let’s not be ina hurry to kill the goose with golden eggs, and let's allow the people of Thorn- hill to decide when that time is right. And Thornhill does not need Terrace, their council and their goofs and galfs. Whatever am I talking about, Mr. Editor? Here’s an easy example. The center line on “the 4500 block of Lakelse does not linc up with the center line of the 4600 block of Lakelse, and the center line of the 4600 block does not line up with the one on the 4700 block. They haven’t since downtown revitalization tricd to increase parking on the 4600 block. While you’re looking over that picce of nonsense, sland on the north-west corner of Emerson and Lakelse (across from the video store) and note the painted ‘crosswalk and the handicapped (wheelchair) access. You will. note, even without a Phd. in engineering, that a wheel- chair using the intended ramps will exit onto the street right un- derneath a Cadillac, Try it once. The inclines on both corners of the 4600 block are 15 feet back from where a car must stop for the light. Scoot down the ramp and Holy ICBC, right into the passenger Les Watmough doar! Been that way for 10 years, council never noticed. Too busy with land deals and carrying on about Thornhill. The regional district never locked so good. FORUM returns this week with readers’ views on a couple of issues covered in the pages of the Terrace Standard, Above, past regional district director for Thornhill, Les Watmough, questions the push to get that community to incorporate. And below, Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrechi gives his perspe ctive on the land claims issue. and deal agreed to by the parties. We need to remember that no other treaty negotiations are tak- ing place. First a framework agreement to govern future nego tialions will be necessary. The trealy commission has judged some groups ready to negotiate and discussions are currently tak- ing place as to what that process will be. It is safe to assume that it will be quite different in view of the concerns abut the current involv- ing the Nisga’a negotiations. In spite of the restrictions in the framework agreement of 1990 all partics have cooperated in involv- ing third party interest. The B.C. government has established a 31 member provincial treaty negotia- tion advisory committee that in- cludes representatives from busi- ness, labour, environmental, fish and wildlife groups and municipal governments, Regular meetings are held to consult with third party interest groups and to provide informa- tion as to the progress being made. There is an irony to the claims that the negotiations are being conducted.in secret. Our federal Reform M.P., Mike Scott, decries Nisga’a treaty ncgotialions as being too secretive but supports, without reservation, the Free Trade Agreement, . N.A.F.T.A. and the 1987 agreement on KCP Helmut Giesbrecht Settlements are. compromises and as such are harder to achieve in today’s political climate. Treaty negotiations today are ex- pected to be different than a few decades ago and solutions are much more difficult. The issues are also more com- plex.and accurate information is necessary. Treaty negotiations are new in B.C. and tuming up the rhetoric is not very productive, Another concern raised fre- quently is that a regional referendum should be held to vote on any land claims sctile- ment. On the surface it seems a rca- Private property rights will not be com- promised. No one will lose their business, their home or their land. between the federal government and Alcan. Whether you agree with the resulls or not, these agrecments were made behind closed doors and only available for public dis- cussion. after the deals were made. _ There-was no process for the public to be consulted ‘and certainly no opportunity to give their approval. One needs to be consistent in order to be taken seriously, What is really needed now in prepara- tion for future framework agree- ments is constructive suggestions about what a new or more open process for negotiations would look. like, [ have not. heard that from the critics. _ sonable approach, Yet, if a teferendum is to be held, who would set the boundaries for. a vote? Both Canada and B.C. are at the table. All Canadians will share in the cost of a national referendum is about $50 million. There. are a lot of in- consisténcies in this obsession with a regional referendum. If it is deemed necessary for a Cana- dian fiom P.E.I. to vote on a Nisga’a settlement, why did we in B.C. not get to vote on the fixed link to Prince Edward Island? If we need a referendum on any land claims settlement, then why didn’t we need a referendum on the F.T.A. or NA.F.T.A, Which . will have an even greater impact on Canadian society? Any settlement will be made public and will be given ex- tensive scrutiny by those effected, It then must be approved by legis- lation both in Ottawa and Vic- toria. Exaclly how cach government will get public input is being con- sidered. There will be lots of op- portunity for debate. For us to get this issue settled we need to base our arguments on facts. To that end I would like to clear up some confusion on a number of important points. Private property rights will not be compromised. The uegotia- . tions are being carried out within the framework of the constitution guarantecing the protection of everyone’s rights and freedoms, No one, will lose their business, their home or their land. . As future individual treaty ne- gotiations get underway, local community advisory committees will also be established to provide advice and give direction to the negotiating process, The creation of these advisory committees ensures that for the first ume community interest will be brought to bear on the decision making process, . The negotiation process is a way for First Nations to opt into Canadian society, not out. Rather than dealing with aboriginal com- munities as wards of the slate, ne- gotiation allows aboriginal com- munilies to participate as full and equal partners, We have been paying for the In- dian Act and its enormous, ineffi- cient bureaucratic structure for years. Instead of spending moncy on civil servants in Ottawa, the money will go into local economies. Your government will negotiate treatics we can afford. We have signed a cost-sharing memorandum of understanding with the federal government that . will help ensure that treaty settle- ments are financially fair to both governments and affardable to British Columbians. Most people concede that an in- justice was perpetrated on native peoples more than a hundred years ago and most want fo see a fair setiement, I expect all sides to be tough negotiators. You can be tough and fair. Your comments are ap- preciated. ] would be happy to ‘discuss your concerns’ and ‘ques: tions in more detail. CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE SYANDARD The Mail Bag NWCC offers access to all Dear Sir: In response to Bill Homburg’s Ictter, “Centre, college just do not mix” (Standard Sept. 14), Northwest Community Collcge’s Mission Statement addresses the issues of opportunitics for access and availability of education for all members of the community by working in partnership with the various community organizations in Terrace. A public communily college provides opportunilics for the ex- pression of a wide variety of opinions by groups and organiza- tions. Al present we are working with the Terrace Women’s Resource Centre to offer “Women in Trades/Technology’, Programs like this help to increase opportunitics for women and to achicve parily in the work place. The college works in partnership with the women’s resource centre as we do with many other. community groups to enhance services to individuals to improve their situation through educa- tion. We support the work of the Terrace Women’s Resource Centre. They have a long history of providing assistance to the women and children of Terrace. Through the efforts of women’s resource centre many. people have been able to improve their quality of life and assist us all to understand critical social problems: ; Doug Baker, Director,Central Region, Northwest Community College, 7 ae : Terrace, ILC. WRC ad deserves praise Dear Sir: In response to Bill Homburg's letter publistied j in the September 14, 1994 issue of the Terrace Standard; we'd just like 10 say . “Who cares?’* If Bill Homburg thinks he’s the only one who's a taxpayer, he’s 4 bigger fool than he sounds, If the N.W.C.C. wants to put an ad for the women’s resource ceater in their fall guide they deserve credit not criticism, If it weren’t for men like Bill Homburg, maybe we wouldn’t need a resource center for women. Just because women want equal rights it doesn’t mean that all women are ‘‘biased male haters,’’ Hopefully one day women and men will be able to live equally without the male chauvinistic attitude Bill Homburg has portrayed tous in his letter. Our children will be taught to respect people no matter what _ their gender, race or sexual preference, Sincerely, Christine and Michelle Kofoed Terrace, B.C. Story: painful reminder Dear Sir: The Terrace Standard's Sept. 7 tiews story headline, “(Abortion - access panned”', was-a painful reminder to me of how far our moral. standards have fallen, Three decades ' ago the status of an abortionist was that of the lowest and most despicable, member of the’ criminal world, way below ‘that of a ‘pimp, pomographer, and sexual pervert. ‘The abortionist ‘‘contract-kills” for money, taking. advantage of women’s fears, _ Now abortion is regarded as a woman’s right, forgetting that there are two human persons alive when a woman,walks into an aborturary but that only one walks out alive. When Dr. Lin, Mills Memoriai Chicf of Staff and the anesthetist, said, “Tn the hospital right now counselling (abortion) is fairly rudimentary’, he was understating the tragic deficiency in the information offered to women seeking abortion. Studies have shown that when mothers are shown the reality of — the humanity of the unborn baby that is being nurtured withia their wombs that almost always they will change their minds about aborting that baby, especially if they are offered support during and after the pregnancy, A very effective means of abortion counselling would be to’ show to the mother by means of ultrasound viewing her very ac- tive unborn baby who is a lovely miniature of herself with a head, trunk, arms and legs — with a hearibeat that can be heard — and measurable brain waves. Someday, if civilization is to endure, the evil practice of abor- “tion will no longer be a tax supported form of birth control but rather a criminal activity of the degencrate few, Then, the younger generation will question their elders about our inhumane cruelty toward the defenseless unborn. We. will ‘have no choice but to hang our heads in ‘shame because of our selfishness and our cowardice. Sincerely, Tom Brophy, Terrace, U.C. THE START IS FOR PEOPLE LEARNING TO READ The Start Bear presents problem > BLACK BEARS have been a problem in the city this year. But one bear gave conservation officers a special challenge last week. It was up a cottonwood tree on Loen Avenue when they shot it. But instead of falling to the ground it got stuck in the tree. In the end, city recreation department foreman Tim Taron put on spurs, climbed the tree and pushed the bear free. So far this year 17 bears have been shot in Terrace: Concern about loggers. THE WORKERS Compensation Board (WCB) is worried about the number of loggers being killed i in the bush this year. The number of deaths dropped to only nine ia i992 but since then has gone up sharply. The WCB says lack of supervision and safety training as well as more. logging on steep slopes are some: of the causes of, the tise in fatalities. : It will soon bring: in new regulations and Increase n- forcement. :