Al0 Terrace Review -— Wednesday, May 16, 1990

by Tod Strachan

Native RCMP officers are not an unusual sight. But finding one isn’t an every day occurence either. In - fact the RCMP are looking for

more native officers and that’s

why Ottawa recruiting officer, constable Arrof Crier, was in _ Terrace last week. It was just one _ of several northern B.C. stops in a recent native recruitment drive.

Touring with Crier were special

constable Colicen Erickson from

Vancouver and, in the Terrace

area, special constable Jim Cooley.

For Cooley, born and raised in the

Terrace area, Terrace is his first

assignment as an RCMP officer.

But why do the RCMP want native officers? Is it tokenism? Not at all. As explained by Erickson, native RCMP officers fill a very important and necessary law enforcement role. Historically, there has been a problem with non-native officers patrolling native communities. They were viewed as being there simply to arrest people; they reacted to native problems in a law-and-order - sense and made little effort to educate the native population in preventative measures or even to understand native culture and traditions,

Erickson gave one example of how cultural differences can fead to misunderstanding and possibly arrest: "Most native languages are non-verbal and eye contact is different. In our society, when being spoken to, you look down or away from the person as a sign of

listening. But to the white person:

this is seen as a sign of disrespect and can be misconstrued as a sign of guilt." In other words, a native person could be arrested by a non-native officer simply for showing respect.

When that officer is native, though, things are different. The "law" understands what the native person is saying and acts accordingly. And here the native officer plays an important preventative role. According to Cooley, the native and non-native reception in Terrace was "warm" during his first few weeks as an

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eeks native involvement b

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Newly assigned to Terrace, s

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cial constable Jim Cooley (left) toured the area

last week with Vancover special constable

Colleen Erickson and Ottawa recruiting officer, constable Arrol Crier, in a Native recruitment drive.

RCMP constable; a time when his main function was to introduce himself to the community.

During that time he also met with children and adults to talk about drug and alcohol abuse. On

“Friday, May 11, he met many -More local residents during Career

Days at Terrace Inn. Career Days was open to everyone and was hosted by the Nisga’a Valley Health Board and the Kermode Friendship Centre.

The difference with this approach to law enforcement is significant, says Erickson. As different as night and day; it means policing "for the people" and not "of the people". It means that an RCMP officer is a friend; no longer sonicone whose title in the native tongue translates to "They’ve come to get us", So the next generation of natives, says Cooley, is going to

grow up with a much different view of the world than past

_ generations. And that can only be

good.

But there is a ways to go yet. According to Crier, of 14,000 RCMP officers in Canada today, only 326 are of aboriginal ancestry. By -percentage of population, this number should be closer to 500. This means, says Crier, there are jobs out there for Canadian natives who have the right stuff. The RCMP - wants members who are a reflection of Canada’s ethnic ‘and cultural diversity.

For more information you can stop by the local RCMP detachment. Talk to Jim Cooley, a friendly, easy-to-talk-to police officer who knows the tre value of policing "for the people" rather than “of the people",

Local tree planters pondered

by Tod Strachan

Kitimat-Stikine Regional District director Dan Pakula wants to know if there is a way the board can encourage the opening of local tree planting companies who would hire all their help locally. "There seems to be a real vacuum in this area," he says. "Most of the tree planters are brought in from out- side the area."

Director Pete Weeber, a long- time employee of Westar in Hazel- ton, says from experience that it’s not a situation that’s going to _ change very soon. The main prob- . lem is one of. steady employment in one area. He explains that tree

: planting operations in any one area

| * usually last no more than three to ' four weeks before the company,

* ? and planters, move on to another

ni site; They: might: move, for + example, from Alberta to Hazelton:

. and then Prince George In a single

an ae : . Comet a SER Ta ed ee To

season. "It’s a struggle," he says "We have been trying for years to set up local contractors, But there’s no, or very little, interest." He adds, however, that Westar has been working on a plan. Besides planting, he says, there’s a tremen-

dous amount of brushing and

weeding to do, and if they could find the right contractor the com- bined work might be turned into an eight-month-a-year employment opportunity. He even suggests that the Ministry of Forests might ‘sponsor a seminar to train the contractor and workers. Sounds good. But all good ideas have a down side, and as concen- tration wandered and focus drifted around the board room it became,

apparent that tree planting ‘has its down side too,

Well off the topic of promoting,

pened to mention that tree planters traditionally cat out of a bean can and sleep in tents during the week: and eat steak, drink spirits and sleep in motels on weekends, And they’re all that "dynamite age".,, eighteen and ninteen.

Perhaps it’s good that tree planters move on every few weeks,

And Weeber’s comments prompted director Les Watmough to look at another aspect of the job. He suggested that the $50 to $250 a day summer students can make planting trees might not be enough money anyway. After a

_ summer of weekends, many are © likely wind up back: on campus . with a pretty good hangover and .

"tuition broke",

local employment, Weeber nap-

Perhaps it’s good that tree plan- . ‘ter’s parents, the ultimate source of © .. mid-semester funding, don’t live:

here.

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