A10 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 11, 1996 New merge meet wanted By CRIS LEYKAUF BOTH THE TERRACE teachers’ union and the school district's parents advisory council are asking the school district to hold public information meetings on the upcom- ing amalgamation of the Terrace and Kitimat school dis- tricts. “Amalgamation will affect students, parents, teachers, administrators and communities,” said John Perras, presi- dent of the district’s PAC, Stew Christensen, the trustee who heads up Terrace’s transition committee, received the request on Friday aftemoon. He said while no Terrace meeting had been scheduled yet, the board would probably arrange one soon. Public meetings are scheduled for Stewart, Kitwanga and Hazelton Jater this month. An information meeting was held in Terrace in early August, but it was poorly attended, as of those invited were on vacation. The two school boards are supposed to report on their progress to the education ministry by Sept. 20. Both teacher and parent representatives are hoping to have a chance fo state their opinions before that date. The Terrace and Kitimat school boards still haven't made any further progress on amalgamation issues, George Neumann, chair of the Kitimat board, says the only thing the two boards have agreed to is the name of the new district, the number of trustees and electoral bound- aries, “We've not accomplished any part of the major agenda and we have some pretty close deadlines to mect,”’ said Neumann. That’s why the Kitimat board is asking for a facilitator from the education ministry to help the talks along. The Terrace board doesn’t think that’s necessary yet, “We want things to move along as quickly as possible,” said Christensen, The biggest issue the two boards have 1o get past is how to sclect senior administration. “School District 88 is completely satisfied with their present administration,’’ said Christensen. He said the board definitely wants ta keep as many of its administra- tive staff as possible. Kitimat favours an open competition for senior administrative staff. The two boards have agreed to meet on Sept. 17 to try and come to some common ground on this issue. If that fails, Christensen says there’s still many other things which have to be decided, like the location of the new board office, and policies on student fees. Gov't walks from talks THE BOMB has finally dropped on treaty talks between Ottawa, the province and the Wet’suwet’en who claim the area around Smithers and into Houston. Federal officials confirmed last week they are suspend- ing talks until the Supreme Court of Canada reaches a de- cision on the landmark Delgamuukw land claims appeal. That's the suit launched by the Wet’suwet’en and their Gitxsan neighbours in the Hazeltons in the mid-1980s, The two groups Jost at the provincial Supreme Court and at ihe provincial appeal court levels before taking it to the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was put on hold so the two groups could ne- gotiate with the federal and provincial governments. But the Wet’suwet’en were put in jeopardy last February when the province suspended negotiations with the Gitxsan, citing irreconcilable differences over aboriginal rights. Because the two native groups are co-appeliants in the Delganuuzkw land claim case, the Wet’suwet’en will have to return to court or give up any voice in what amounts to the lead aboriginal rights case in Canada. The Delgamuukw appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada is set for June 9 ta 13, 1997, but lawyers for the Wet’suwet'en and Gitsxan must file factums with the court by October. “Its not a very pleasant situation,'’ federal negotiator Tom MolHloy said in an interview from Saskatoon, ‘‘We were put in a difficult position by the province in being asked to change our policy of not negotiating during liti- gation and a decision had to be made."* The final say in the suspension came from federal Indian and Northem Affairs minister Ron Irvin. Both B.C. and the Wet’suwet’en had hoped that Ottawa wovld agree to a workplan set out by the province. It allowed for continued talks on social services issues such as child welfare until the court case was decided, But in a letter sent to Wet’suwet'en negoilators last week, the federal government unequivocally calls off talks until a court ruling is rendered. *‘We are very disheartened that the federal government made this decision,”” said chief Wet’suwet'en negotiator Dan George. ‘‘We believe — as evidenced by the progress made at the main table — that work on child protection and policing can move ahead without talking about the digger issues of land and governance. **We’ve made headway in those areas and it’s disturbing to read that the federal government believes we haven’t made significant progress at the table and say that it was a Wet’suwet’en decision to choose litigation over negotia- tion. This is not a situation of our own making, and a state- ment of that nature is extremely frustrating’? ‘Our pracess — and indced the process of all residents in the Bulkley Valley — could be dead in the water for two to four years, maybe more,”' adds George, “‘Again that leads to my frustration.” Now that talks have been officially suspended, the ques- tion of continued money payments to the Wet’suwet’en also remains unanswered, When negotiations were called off with the Gitxsan in April, budget cuts dealt a severe blow to the Gitxsan treaty office. Once employing as many as two dozen people, the office in Hazelton was reduced to a skeleton staff — a major blow for a community suffering from chronic high unemployment. The B.C, Treaty Commission — the agency that over- sees funding for the province’s trealy process — has said it will continue paying the Wet’suwet’en money so they can negotiate a treaty settlement, but no amounts have been released, So far the province bas indicated it will continue bilateral negotiations, '‘We have been making a lot of progress on a number of issues,”’ says provincial chief negotiator Mark Stevenson. ‘And we find it very peculiar for the federal government io say otherwise. Sure, the province has policies too, bul we continued to negotiate with the Wet'suwet’en regardless of the Gitxsan situation because we felt that negotiations were extremely productive, We had hoped the federal government would take a similar ap- proach rather than being inflexible.” According to Stevenson the Wel’suwet'en and provincial negotiators will meet following the final main table session tomorrow in Moricetown to discuss what issties can con- tinue to be addressed bilaterally. 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