FRIDAY
JANUARY 11, 2013
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Vol. 61, Issue 08
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Ktunaxa finds ally in United Church
AN N AL EE GR AN T Townsman Staff
BARRY COULTER
Youngsters are taking to the ice to learn that greatest of Canadian winter pastimes. The Cranbrook Skating Club has started up its CanSkate program for the winter session. The club is the sole provider of learn-to-skate lessons, effective January 1, as the City of Cranbrook is no longer offering their skating programs. Because of this, the Cranbrook Skating Club is offering punch cards to match what the city previously offered. Sessions are underway from 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at the Memorial Arena in Cranbrook.
Merkel steps down as CBT chair C A R O LYN G R A N T Daily Bulletin
Kimberley’s Garry Merkel has announced he is stepping down from his active role as Chair of the Columbia Basin Trust. Merkel has been involved with the Columbia Basin Trust since its inception, being part of the committee which negotiated with the province for the es-
tablishment of the Trust, and then serving as a founding member of the Board. He served as Vice-Chair from 1995 to 2006, then Chair from 2006 to 2012. Replacing Merkel as Chair will be Greg Deck, also newly appointed as Mayor of the Jumbo Resort Municipality. Merkel says he leaves the CBT confident that it’s in good hands.
“It’s been almost 20 years and it’s time to move on,” he said. “I might have stayed another year to help with the transition, but if you help build something and you can’t let go, you really haven’t succeeded. “But you don’t really ever leave the Trust. It’s part of all our lives.”
See MERKEL , Page 3
Garry Merkel
On November 22, 2012, representatives from the United Church of Canada Kootenay Presbytery met with Ktunaxa Nation elders to reaffirm their apology and throw their support behind the First Nation’s battle to save their sacred land. The Ktunaxa have been fighting to save the Jumbo Glacier area, which they call Qat’muk, from development. In November, 2012, they launched an application for judicial review of the master development agreement which gave Jumbo Glacier Resorts Ltd. the go ahead to construct a year-round ski resort in March. That agreement between the proponent and the provincial government was signed in March, 2012. On November 20 the area was granted Mountain Resort Municipality status. In 1986, the United Church offered an apology for the harm done
to First Nations children and their families — 22 years before the Canadian federal government offered their own apology for the federally-funded residential school program. Frank Lewis, minister for Cranbrook’s United Church, attended the November 22 meeting between elders and church reps, and said the apology was the right way to start off the meeting which took place at the St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino. While the St. Eugene Mission residential school was run by the Catholic Church, Lewis said the United Church did have involvement in other residential schools in Canada. “The Christian churches — most denominations — were involved with residential schools, funded by federal government, to assimilate First Nations people into European culture,” Lewis said.
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