Venwbwe ath
vow

A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 13, 1995

! |

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. *V8G 158 -
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432
MODEM: (604) 638-7247 .

Health at risk —

IF MILLS Memorial Hospital was ‘a patient, ‘its -
diagnosis would be poor aifd the progriosis even »
worse. Strangled by four successive years of zero

budget increases, hit by bed closures and having
workers put under major stress, the facility’ S vi-
tal signs are failing,

The latest. whammy is a deficit approaching
$300,000 despite major attempts: at, cost cutting

and efficiencies. And there’s absolutely no ex- -
pectation: of relief from the provincial health -

ministry. .

That’s because the hospital is considered by the
provincial. government to be a local service,
despite it acling as a northwest regional health
facility. It’s right for Mills to be treated as a
“proper and sufficiently supported regional health

centre. The alternative — sending people down -

south for anything greater than a hangnall - —
simply does not make any sense.

All of this comes as a warning for the new com-
munity health councils and regional health
boards now being readied to take over northwest
health care.

These bodies are to make the decisions for fu-
ture health care needs in the region. The key to
their success rests in having adequate budgets.
With one major player — Mills — on the sick
list, things don’t look all that promising.

Flawed logic |

A COUNCIL committee recently rejected the
idea of giving the Skeena Valley Golf and Coun-
try Club a letter of support for a provincial grant
application.

The club is seeking money from the BC 21 pro-
gram towards the cost of its back nine expansion
project. But that’s the same cash bucket the city
is hoping to dip into for a second arena.

In making the case for turning down the gol-

' fer’s support request, councillors Rich McDaniel
and David Hull professed. to be motivated by
concern for the taxpayer.

If the golf club got in first-and was successful,
they argued, BC 21 would turn down the arena
application because Terrace would have got its
allocation for this round of largesse. That would
hurt Terrace taxpayers who’d have had to cough
up that much less if the province paid part of the
arena cost.

That sounds logical enough, but if the welfare
of taxpayers were a genuine concer, shouldn’t
these gentlemen be falling over themselves to
back the golf club?

After all, the club hasn’t asked the city for any
form of cash handout for the expansion, with or
without a referendum. Nor will the city be ex-
pected to subsidize the club’s operation o once the
expansion is complete,

In other words, the golf course expansion is not
going to cost the taxpayer one red cent.

And the arena? ;

Gn 5 PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link .
ul ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur eoNEORA
NEWS Jeff Nagel» NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter “fee
COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf
OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher, Terry Miller
, ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:

Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Tomas
COMMUNITY SERVICE/TELEMARKETER: Monique Belanger
ADVERTISING ASSISTANT; Helen Haselmeyer
DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur COMPOSITOR: Shannon Cooper
CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunetle
: MEMBER OF 8.0, PRESS COUNCIL :

Sarving the Terraca and Thornhill area, Published on Wernasday of each week by Cariboo Press (1989)
Ltd. et 4647 Lazalla Ava., Terrace, British Columbia.

Stories, photographs, ilustraions, designs and typestyles In tha Terrace Standard dre the property of the
copyright holders, including Cariboo. Press (1969) Lid., ils ifustration tepro Servicas and advartising
agancles.

Reproduction in whote of in part, without written petmission, {3 spacificaly provibited, “
Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Deparinent. lor payment of pastaga in cash.

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

SONTADLLED

STANDARD

: |

Women’s |

VICTORIA — All we sce,
hear and read in the news
about the Fourth World Con-
ference on Women held in

. Beijing, China, are reports
about the boorish and threaten- -| -

ing behaviour of government
security officials.

And while it’s important to |
heavy-handed |

expose the
policies of the most powerful

diclatorship to a world conm-

munity that will no longer

tolerate them, we are. being

short-changed by the media.
Thave scoured the papers and

: found litde or. no mention: of

the work being done by
delegates to the conference.
And yet, there are several hun-

dred journalists covering the -

event.
The topics discussed al. the

conference show the wide pull. -_
_ between rich aud poor nations.

The problems facing womeit in
one country can barely be
fathomed in
aspirations .of women in Cana-

da and other developed coun. ,

tries are something women in
poor countries dare not dream
about. :

A paper submilted to the
conference by the Toronto
Platform For Action deals with
women’s role in the media.
The paper was adopled by
participants in the Internationa!
Symposium on Women and
the Media, held in Toronto last

SPIN

IF YOU keep your dog on a
chain all the time, you don’!
deserve a dog,

‘Keeping, a dog on a chain

all day — no one is going to.

approve that sort of thing,”

says Richmond’s Mayor Greg. |:
Halsey-Brandt. “Its the dif--).° |"
what’s.[o 04 <
criminal and what's humane.’' |

To back that statement, Rich-. |°
mond has become the. third ‘|. -

ference between

Lower Mainland council: —
after’ North Vancouver and
Surrey — lo pass amendments
to ils animal-control bylaws
that sel down precisely how
domestic animais must be kept
wilbin city limits.

Richmond’s Animal and Bird

Control Bylaw No, 3825 has.

been amended to say that no

_ person may Keep an-animal un-

less that animal is provided

- with clean drinking water and

suitable food at all
necessary

slimes}

tacles; and most ‘important of

all, ‘‘The opportunity for peri-"
odic exercise sufficient ta’
maintain good health, includ-. |

THE ARROW 'S BACK:

Vv VER SUMMER

IS REALLY ,
1 HERE -

“FROM THE CAPITAL’
HUBERT BEYER

another. The: .

. The paper = advocates
women’s access lo expression

..in and through the media, It

demands more participation in
decision- making and manage-
ment, Of the media. to

bution to sociely. .

The paper calls ‘on media en-
terprises to. adopt ‘positive ac-
tian programs, including equal

pay. for equal work, equal ‘ac-

cess lo taining, fair promotion
procedures, develop editorial
policies. that ‘are . gender-
sensitive, and include women’s
perspectives in all topics. :
Most of it makes imminent

” sense, There are about a dozen
journalists in the, Legislative -

Press Gallery, where I" hang
my hat, but only three are
women, Not exacily an exam-
ple of employment equality.

“cucaurage the: ‘ucdia to “pro--
‘mote. women’s positive contri-.

' destination,

CLAUDETTE SANDECK]I

veterinary. care;
clean food and water’ recep- |

ing the opportunity to be un-
fettered from a fixed area and
exercised regularly under ap-
propriate coutrol,’’

The bylaw amendment. was

_ introduced to council at the be--
gitning of July. By the end of -
“August the bylaw was law. .

How could Richinond amend a
bylaw so quickly? No council-
lor objecicd; the bylaw makes
‘sense,

‘Richmond's bylaw should be

adopted | forthwith by: every
B.C, council and regional dis.

7-39 j WHAT'S THE ARROW?

AFLOUIK OF GEESE ? °
. SNOWMELT. PATTERN 2

2 ystin case have you sea made
alist Hf EXCUSES W on
_ yeurelect ion promis

issues ignored _

But then, I look at another
submission to the conference,
this one about violence against
women migrant workers, and
again, I’m aware of the chasm
that separates rich and poor na-
lions.

Worker migrating to jobs is
nothing new, In its best form,
peaple will migrate to another

‘country to improve their eco-

nomic conditions. That's. the
case in Canada, The problem
arises wilh temporary migra-
tion, prevalent in Asia.

Studies have shown that
Tecruitment agencies often ask
exorbilant fees to place
migramt workers in jobs in an-
other country. In many cases,
these fees excced what the per
son can possibly earn, ,

In its worst form, women are _
-reeruited ostensibly for jobs in

restaurants or as domestic help,
but “forced into prostitution
when they arrive at their
One study
estimates that between 20,000
and 30,000 women and girls
from one Asian country, who
had expected to work ~ in
restaurants and factories, were
prisoners of debt in brothels in
a neighboring country.

The study documented police
complicity through the exlor-
tion of protection moncy, ar-
rangements for border cross-
ings and transportation, and
patronage of the brothels.

But even if the women end

A plea for animal rights

trict. Adopting the bylaw

‘would give neighbours a way

to deal with animals treated in-

-| Bunianely,

Right now, acither Terrace

_| “nor -Kitimat-Stikine regional
“> district have bylaws empower-
“| sing theit animal control of-
_.|.ficers’ to intervene unless an

animal is in immediate danger
of death by starvation. That's
not good enough, _

I've agonized daily watching

_| a dog chained to a heap of
‘THROUGH BIFOCALS.-

criss-crossed scrap lumber
studded with spikes. And I’ve
watched two dogs tethered for
three years without a chance
for ‘‘unfetlered”’ exercise.
No one played with them. No
one walked them. No one
heeded their barking. Most

-days they spent alone from 7

a.m. until late evening, If they
upset thelr water

Their only shelter v was under
a travel trailer which offen they
couldn't reach. Where the big

dog chose to move, the smaller

SUMMER'S DEFICIALLY HERE
Nope? WHEN THEY PuT UP
THE ARROW ON
THE FIRE SIGN | J

Nope!

NoPE!

TRAPMONAL KNOWL eDCHE J

hy you can't K
Ge Cua

hbeyerttirect ca

dish or.
couldn't reach it because their

chains tangled, they \ weul thir-
“sty.

up in legitimate jobs as:.
domestic help, they are often -
little more than prisoners, ;

Again, in one Asian may e :
it was found that 72 per cent of S

female seryants got no any
off. Only 13 per cent bad one -
day a week off. In many cases,
employers restrict. domestic;
servants from leaving th

house, do not allow them to: % i

use the phone and don’t permit :
visitors.

And I haven’t even touched a

on the . abuse
through deliberate government,

policy. One example is the:

Siate-sanctioned and ~~ en
couraged rape of Muslim
women by Bosnian Serbs.

Against this background, the:,: ve

advancement of women’s:
tights is our collective respon
sibility. This has nothing tod
with «strident feminism,”

though I have nevér ‘had ‘a!’
problem with that either, Nou... -

cause will ever be advanced -

without some form of. extrem: oo

ism. : :
But it is essential that we:

lems facing women in ad
vanced countries such as Cana-:

da just because they pale in 7

comparison to the plight of.

women in many other parts of

the warld.

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
(604) 360-6442; Fax: (604)
T83- 6783;

was yanked along. On hot
summer days, they lay exposed

to the beating sun; nothing’ ”
grew in their yard except : a

dumps of doggie do. When it.

tained, they stood, forlom, or.
lump on the

curled in a

_puddled ground, 7
After one howling blizzard 7

with uo sheller, they woke in«

the morning to find they had ao

only two feet of free chain.“

The rest of the chain was":
pinned under bard packed

snowdrift. It took untif late

afternoon for them to wiggle‘.
cnough chain loose to move ©

from the spot. In the meantime,”
they had neither food nor.

water,

When they became entangled».
with a four foot tendrilled root -

until they were slamese, 1 :
trespassed. I unsnarled thelr |

chains, gave them water, and
left hal€ a Crisco can of ie

...dog food for them. They ate ae
" ravenously. -

With, Richmond’s bylaw T):
could have rescued them.

SAPD)

of women: o

- don’t lose sight of the prob-

E-Mails

re

Once in those three years, oy