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VOL.18 NO. 32

www.terracestandard.com

TERRACE

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7

ratify a plan that will bring them jobs and" investment based on the development of - a multimillion dollar copper, gold and

silver mine in their traditional territory.

Vancouver-based NovaGold Resourc- es has'committed itself to job training and hiring of Tahltan, to business opportuni-

. ties for Tahltan companies and to financ-

ing a heritage trust fund in recognition of the social and other impacts coming from

. its proposed Galore Creek mine.

~ Ratification will take the form of a vote at the end of this month after 13 in- - formation meetings are held in 11 com- munities, says Curtis Rattray, the chair of ,

fahitan <2

“THE TAHLTAN. ARE being asked: to

The draft agreement, worth millions to the Tahltan ‘who live in and around Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek, north of here, has the blessing of the two Tahitan band councils and’of the central

council, he said.

“What we believe is new in the prov- ince for First Nations is the heritage trust fund. It’s quite common in other jurisdic- tions but we think it is a first of its kind in B.C. It’s precedent setting,” said Rat- tray.

NovaGold will make payments based on the. profitability of the mine to the’

:Tahltan Heritage Trust Fund, which the

Tahltan will control.” The company is forecasting a mine

after-tax annual cash flow ranging from $200. million to $350 million. in its first years. of operation.

“As many as 1,000 people will be

‘needed to construct the mine and it coul “employ just'over 500 people during, ifs

operating life. As well, a variety of support services

~ will be required, opening the way for

more employment and business ‘opportu-

"nities.

Rattray said the tentative agreement calls for NovaGold to train Tahltan and to identify gaps in education and _ skills

’ that will need to be closed in order. to se- - Cure employment. Some of the workforce is anticipated

gold mine, also on Tahltan traditional ler- ritory, which is scheduled to close within

‘the next 18 months.

NovaGold’s development schedule

. anticipates a construction start in mid- * 2007 with commercial production to be-

gin in 2010 based on the completion of a final feasibility study and environmental approval:from government.

Rattray said there is no set number of . jobs to be set aside for the Tahitan but: that the company will give them m prefer- ence when hiring.

» “What we need to’do is assess the

_ skills and qualifications needed. We have .

four years before the mine is to open,” said Rattray.

the Tahltan Central Council, Which put

together the deal. - a ‘life of at Teast 20 years with estimates of

ur

| a A veteran remembers oo SECOND WORLD WAR veteran Leonard “Curley” Casey looks on ‘during the laying of wreaths at the cenotaph in front of city hall on Remembrance Day. The wreath-laying was preceded by a formal service at the Tillicum Twin The- atre building. DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO

Lost days recovery plan coming.

to < come from the existing Eskay Creek

NovaGold Galore Creek project man-

asked to approve mine plan

ager Car] Gagnier described. the : draft

agreement as awin-win for his company.

and for the Tahitan.

“We've made a very. large commit-.. ment to the Tahitan people through this’: - agreement,” said Gagnier. “There’s plen-.

ty of opportunity here for the Tahltan.”’ He said the formation of. the heritage

‘trust fund is. NovaGold’s: way of ac-

knowledging its project.will have social

and other impacts on the Tahltan people. woe ~ “What we have tried to do here is put. .

‘in place a legal document that formalizes and defines how we will work together,” ;

Gagnier added. Rattray and Gagnier said one.example of cooperation resulted in NovaGold |

Cont'd Page A2 7 ae.

Hockey players draft picks | for municipal election race

’ By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN.

THE TERRACE Men’s Recreational

Hockey League has released the names

of candidates for city council it feels will work most quickly to bring the . “second sheet of ice/sportsplex to frui-

tion. The league sent ‘out questionnaires

. to-all_of. the. candidajes,, in.the,, TAGS. £08 on eect

city council with the goal to select six

* people that best serve their needs ~ the

building of another ice rink — and fast. Having a group release a list of can-

- didates it endorses'is a rare occurrence

in Terrace municipal politics.

“The idea behind it was if we didn’t promote people that were looking to help our program than we were go- ing to be waiting another three or four years for something to be done,” said _ league president Chris Chicoine.

Based on the answers submitted to the organization — which has about 200 members — the league executive select- ed two existing councillors and. four newcomers: as their picks to a quick resolution to the sportsplex issue.

The two incumbents are Marylin © “Davies and: Carol Leclerc and first- time council hopefuls are Kim Croot, Brad Pollard, Brian Downie and Gor- don Oates.

And though veteran councillor Rich McDaniel, who has :long_ supported

. building a multiplex which would in-. clude a second sheet of ice, was not on ~

thé list, the group said he ranked sev- _enth.

“Not wanting to upset anybody, Rich was on the shortlist, or the next

‘list, for councillors but there are a few

councillors at this time who have said

> quite a bit or talked a lot but not done a .

lot,” Chicoine said. “ The league felt despite many years

of vocal support.by council, little ac-.

» tion has been taken on the project. “As a group we are not telling ev- erybody they have to vote this way, this

"is a suggestion on who‘can benefit us i said: :

down. the road in the short term,” ‘Chicoine,

“Again it’s basically a frustration

that they tease us with this and tease us with that,” Chicoine said regarding the numerous proposals the city has come up with over the years to develop a sec- ond sheet of ice.

And though the league would like to see shovels in the ground SOOK, it is NOt convinced the design before the city to- day is the best solution.

That’s because it’s been pared down from a design first released in 2003 and may not address key issues such as the need for more showers in dressing rooms.

The existing four dressing rooms only have showers in two of them. That means when hockey games are booked

‘back to back, players must shuffle

between the dressing rooms to allow the first team to shower after its game

while the second team gets ready in the .

rooms with no showers. That team then

‘Plex money

A FORMER member of the: city’s sportsplex fundraising group says city council should be worried about using donated money for a lesser project than was first envisioned. .

Businessman Bob Park says the majority of the money raised was for a plan that included meeting rooms anda teen centre but that the current council plan is forjust a second sheet of ice.

“Will the big corporate donors ‘now ‘come to the city and pull their dona- tions based on what. they are seeing

now versus what they were originally »

shown by the city?” said Park, who has.

himself donated money to.the project. “A lot of the money was donated

because of the teen centre and now that:

concept is gone.” . He also questions how council can

moves into the dressing rooms: with

showers to clean up after the game.

Chicoine.

He and other players hope. whatev- er design is implemented will include

dressing rooms with showers to allevi- ate the problem. But Chicoine says the league recog- nizes there isn’t a lot of. time fo look: at _ hew designs.. ;

“At this point we are probably ¢ on the: a

verge of losing grant money which has been mentioned before,” he said, refer- ring to a federal- -provincial grant worth $2 million. That comes with a use-it-

or-lose-it deadline which was extended

this past summer. The new deadline to

get the project started is early 2008. The league did note that while most

of the candidates, with the exception of

Robert Shkuratoff, support the comple-. tion of a facility i in some form or an- -

other, the short list contains those who

indicated they want a a quick resolution -

to the issue.

issue arises. ‘decide on the lesser second sheet of i ice. proposal without at least letting the do-

nors know first. - The 2003 design used by the city

group to raise money was to include |

renovations to the banquet room and office space ‘in the existing arena and for astructure between the arena and the aquatic centre.

It would have resulted in a “second 7 sheet of ice, youth centre, meeting

rooms and retail space. Rising building costs forced’ city council to reconsider that: plan, opt-

ing instead this year to proceed with a pared down version consisting of _

dressing rooms, limited seating and‘a second sheet of ice to be situated on the north side of the existing arena.

Cont’dPageA2 ss

: “It’s called the hallway dance,” ‘said ;

By DUSTIN QUEZADA

SCHOOL DISTRICT officials here will decide this week | how to make up for days lost because of last month’s illegal

teachers’ strike.

Friday openings are the likely way to recoup as many of |

the eight lost days as possible, says school district chair Lor-

rie' Gowen. “For us, our concern is whether money will be provid-

ed for transportation,”

Of greater concern to the local board, however, could be

; getting the teaching staff to comply.

Veralynn Munson, the Terrace and District Teachers’

- Union president, said last week the board had not contact- _ ed her but she feels teachers would not be inclined to work ’ makeup days.

“I don’t think teachers would be receptive (to extra days of instruction),” Munson said. “There’s a preoccupation and distraction with the lost days and not with the larger prob- jem.”

: Munson said teachers can adapt to cope with the lost time, leaving the government to use the money saved during the strike to be put to class composition — a key i issue for teach- ers in the October job action.

' Overall, the provincial education ministry is focused on grades 10 to 12 students and adjustments to provincial

said Gowen, adding it would need ~ ‘$40,000 day to min the district’s bus service.

exam rules. These include pushing January provincial exams back a week to February, allowing more opportunities for students to re-write exams and paying for instruction outside |

' the regular school day for'students requiring help.

Gowen said there are enough Fridays between now and the end of the first semester to not push back the January “exam period, while she said she would support allowing stu- dents to re-write exams in more than just one exam period.

A broader measure is for boards to consider reducing orf

eliminating non-essential activities in K-12, such as field trips, in favour of intellectual and academic development. - ‘While Gowen said that makes sense given the circum- stances, Munson disagrees, saying she was surprised that ed- ucation minister. Shirley Bond has it listed as a possibility. “Tt shows how little (Bond) understands about learning,”

~ Munson said, adding she’s disappointed out-of-class learn-

ing is not given equal footing with academic instruction. District superintendent Rob. Greenwood said he’s not

’ confident the school district will get the necessary money to

cover the eight days lost here once the majority of the money saved during the strike is paid out to meet mediator Vince Ready’ $ recommendations.

“What’s left of the money for the Vince Ready recom-

mendations? A third?” Greenwood said. “That would maybe’ give us a maximum of three days just to put it in perspec- tive.”

a Oops a daisy

ARLENE SHEPPARD, left, and Mary Ann Lawrence work on their parts for. - Nunsense, a Terrace Little Theatre. musical production. It’s the largest produc- tion to be mounted this year by the group. See Page B1 for more.