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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 51
Haisla take to China Haisla Chief Councillor Ellis Ross and Deputy Chief Councillor Taylor Cross have recently returned from a trip to Asia with the Premier to research natural gas demand overseas. Ross and Cross published their report to council on the trip on December 6. In summary, they found that access to natural gas was very important to China, which is currently dealing with new socio-economic situations, and high levels of pollution. “The perception in Canada is that China doesn’t care about the pollution and emissions,” they wrote in their report. “Based on what we saw and heard, this is not true.” They say that China is working with private industry to find ways to reduce pollution and use energy efficiently. “The air quality problem in China is real and they do need a cleaner fuel to burn as their emerging middle class is larger than the population of B.C. and Canada and this new class of people want a standard of life that is comparable to what we have in Canada,” the report continued. (South Korea as well is anxious for China to move away from diesel and coal, the report states, because air pollution from China blows into their country.) Ross, speaking to the Sentinel from Vancouver, said the trip was eye opening for him. “The biggest thing that it opened my eyes to was just looking at their energy needs and energy consumption with my own eyes. It’s just amazing in terms of how they use energy, when they use energy and what the impacts are,” he said. He said the Haisla have been working on natural gas files effectively since 2004, but have rarely, if ever, stepped out of their own territory to look at impacts. “I’m not one for traveling, ultimately, and it doesn’t make sense for us to go anywhere on our own coin. It’s not just our agenda we’re trying to push, we’re trying to push Canada’s agenda, and B.C.’s agenda. In the same breath we’re pushing for the region’s agenda.” In all Ross and Cross describe as Asia’s need for energy and to reduce their pollution problems as “very urgent” and that B.C.’s LNG plans are only a start. “If they can’t get BC natural gas, they will look at other forms of energy from different sources as they are using all forms right now,” they write. “They especially know the impacts of pollution and want to switch to cleaner fuels. The problem is that they just can’t turn it on like a switch. Until they get access to cleaner fuels, they have no choice but to keep burning dirty fuels.” Continued on page 2
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Volunteers were hard at work over the weekend at the Catholic Church hall which was again converted into the Christmas Hamper depot for the holidays. The hampers were hurriedly packaged on Friday morning, and were set for delivery the next day to families all throughout town.
Nowhere to go but out of here High rents forcing this family out of home Cameron Orr A renter and his family at 702 Kuldo Boulevard has until January 31 to move out. But because rentals, especially affordable ones, are hard to come by, Grant Yeager said he and his partner and stepson will just move elsewhere to continue their lives. “Post-eviction housing options have been pretty grim,” he wrote in an e-mailed interview with the Sentinel. “Most places have raised their rents far out of our price range, and whatever is left is either full, considering their own renovation options or just not pet-friendly.” He added, “Currently my disabled significant other and stepson have no other choice but to plan to move to Duncan to stay with family and I will more than likely have to stay with my parents while I save up and hope for either a transfer or new opportunity in that area or elsewhere.” He first moved to the Kuldo Apartments in 2007, but has lived in Kitimat off-and-on for 30 years. His family first moved here with him when he was one-year-old, and then he spent time in Kemano when he was five. “As a Kemanoite I am no stranger to displacement though we were fortunate to move out a year or two before the town site was closed,” he said.
When he moved back to Kitimat for good, he moved into a townhouse on Wedeene Street for about $400 a month, he said. “Coming back from Victoria [and] Vancouver at rates of $575 for a one bedroom in the former and somewhere over $1,000 [in Vancouver] for a two bedroom, the lower rates were certainly welcoming.” He said the affordable living in Kitimat has been a big reason why he continually moves back to town. Two units of the Kuldo Apartments are slated for renovations, which gives a landlord the ability to evict residents. The Sentinel did call Kiticorp, the property managers for the Kuldo apartments, when we first heard about possible evictions but the person who answered the phone did not want to discuss eviction issues. Yeager says that since the eviction notices they have been given relocation offers to other places in Kitimat but they’ve been quoted rents of $1,200 a month, way higher than what his family pays now, even since having a notice of rent increase this past February. Working to support people such as Yeager is Anne Moyls, who is a housing resource worker for the Kitimat Housing resource Project. Continued on page 8
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