TERRACE
1.34
$
S TANDARD
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VOL. 24 NO. 51
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Treaty talks bearing fruit THE KITSUMKALUM and the Kitselas are about to take a crucial step toward negotiating land claims treaties with the federal and provincial governments. Negotiators for all parties are close to initialing agreements in principle setting out general terms covering land, cash and self government powers taking in everything from resource development to taxation. Once signed off by negotiators, the agreements will still need to be approved by Kitselas and Kitsumkalum members and by the federal and provincial governments and only then will become the basis to negotiating final treaty details.
The Tsimshian First Nations of Kitselas and Kitsumkalum, with a combined population of more than 1,500 people, lay claim to thousands of hectares of land surrounding Terrace and Thornhill. Their treaty efforts date back to the early 1990s with a statement of intent to negotiate submitted in late 1995. Actual negotiations began in late 1997. Although the Kitsumkalum and Kitselas will have separate treaties, the vast majority of their content will be the same, says Gerald Wesley, the chief negotiator for the Tsimshian First Nations Treaty Society, an umbrella group taking in the Kitsumkalum
and Kitselas. “I can tell you they will be two distinctly similar agreements,” he said. The two treaties will be the first in the northwest to be negotiated under the auspices of the BC Treaty Commission which acts as an impartial referee. The Nisga’a Final Agreement of 2000 was negotiated outside of the treaty commission. While optimistic of an imminent initialing of agreements in principle, Wesley hesitated to give an actual date, saying there remained a few details to finalize. He did acknowledge that he and anoth-
er negotiator, Mel Bevan from the Kitselas First Nation, met with provincial aboriginal relations minister Mary Polak two weekends ago at an event celebrating the signing of an agreement in principle for the K’omoks First Nation on Vancouver Island. “We’re very, very close,” Wesley added. If Wesley was reluctant to provide a date, Kitsumkalum and Kitselas treaty negotiations employees are gearing up for a busy summer, preparing pamphlets and other information for the run up to a ratification vote by the two First Nations.
Cont’d Page A2
Job cuts still a go at the college here
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■ Seedy people JACKIE STEELE gets some tips from gardener Mary Haigh on how to plant dahlia bulbs, which Haigh says are her passion, at Seedy Saturday March 31. Gardeners of all ages packed the health unit auditorium to exchange seeds, listen to demonstrations and learn from master gardeners.
NORTHWEST COMMUNITY College is still going to lay off instructors to cut a threatened deficit approaching $2 million but how it does so has now changed. What had been a mass notice of potential layoffs issued in January has now been withdrawn, says a union official following two days of informal hearings conducted by the provincial Labour Relations Board. Instead, individual instructors and other affected employees – ones who have already been told they will either lose their jobs altogether or face reduced hours – will get those notices in a different fashion. At the same time, college officials will be meeting with instructors and other affected workers belonging to the Canadian Union of Public Employees to review options such as early retirement packages and severance packages that could cushion or otherwise alter final layoffs. Cindy Oliver, the president of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, an umbrella group made up of unions such as CUPE
which represent post secondary instructors in B.C., said she was pleased with the results of the two-day session held by labour relations board vice chair Ken Saunders here March 27-28. “It was worth filing,” Oliver said of a request made by the instructors to the labour relations board for a cease and desist order to stop the layoffs. “It is a very large victory for the faculty.” Instructors who had already received layoff notices teach post secondary academic courses. The college has been facing declining academic enrolment in its university credit courses for several years now. Oliver said the college also needs to spell out how its programs will be changed or affected because of the layoffs. If Oliver was satisfied with the results of the twoday session, so was the college. “It is an agreement that defines how CUPE and NWCC will move forward with the processing of any cuts that may impact CUPE employees,” said college
president Denise Henning in a release. “We are pleased with the outcome of this process and will continue to move forward with CUPE to ensure that the consultative process set out in the CUPE collective agreement is followed.” Last week’s agreement does away with the need for a formal labour relations board hearing. CUPE members had not been taking part in talks with the college about how to reduce its deficit. The union has also asked the province to audit the college’s finances. Last week’s session did not involve college employees who are members of the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union. Individual employees who will lose their jobs have already been told and the college and the union are working through provisions of their collective agreement. The college earlier this year said it had to cut the equivalent of 32 full time positions to balance its budget which last year ran a deficit of $1.6 million on a budget of approximately $30 million.
Culture mix
Flood help
Making a splash
Multicultural dinner features variety of exotic entertainment \COMMUNITY A14
Dutch Valley residents wait to hear if proactive flood help will come \NEWS A12
Cal students get their feet wet playing a sport long since gone in Terrace \SPORTS A22