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Sentinel
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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 13
DCW set off plebiscite campaign
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Canvassing takes off in lead up to community vote Cameron Orr Douglas Channel Watch (DCW) has launched their campaign to get voters out for Kitimat’s April 12 plebiscite on the Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. “We fought hard for a simple, clear question but didn’t realize how important the plebiscite was until we started getting interview requests from the BBC, and heard of other international news organizations that were also coming to cover it,” said DCW member Murray Minchin in a news release. DCW conducted door-to-door surveys, the organization says, to find out what people thought ahead of the community vote. There were five key reasons that they found for people to vote no in the plebiscite, whether they were a ‘fence sitter’ on the issue or supporters of the Northern Gateway project. Those reasons were, it “will allow temporary foreign workers to build the pipelines,” it describes “Northern Gateway as a raw diluted bitumen export pipeline,” it “does not mandate upgrading or any other job creating, value added projects,” it will “allow 1,100ft long oil supertankers on BC’s pristine north coast,” and that “the JRP considered the Exxon Valdez and Kalamazoo spills as localized events with temporary effects, which would be ‘justified in the circumstances’ if they happened in BC’s waters.” Minchin said that this plebiscite is a “golden opportunity,” for Kitimatians to send a strong message to Ottawa that the Northern Gateway should not be a priority. DCW has launched their campaign as a grassroots action against Enbridge’s own advertising efforts. Enbridge has been running a number of ads in community newspapers and radio as Kitimat leads into its early April plebiscite. The question being asked on April 12 is: Do you support the final report recommendations of the Joint Review Panel (JRP) of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and National Energy Board, that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project be approved, subject to 209 conditions set out in Volume 2 of the JRP’s final report? Visit www.kitimat.ca for detailed information on advanced voting opportunities and more details including voter eligibility. Turn to page 11 for more on this issue.
Having fun with science was on the agenda at the Kitimat Public Library on March 21, part of their series of Spring Break activities. These scientists — Rachel Barnes and Teanna DeWalt at left, with Tatianna Bailey at right — watch how different densities of liquids separate when poured on each other.
Housing issues laid out in forum Cameron Orr The path towards an eased housing market in Kitimat continued with a community housing forum hosted last Tuesday. The March 18 event was hosted by Skeena MLA Robin Austin. The event was put on in partnership with the Skeena Diversity Society, Terrace District Community Services Society, the District of Kitimat and Kitimat Housing Resource Project. The panel included Austin, Kitimat housing resource worker Anne Moyls, the District’s Director of Planning and Community Development Gwen Sewell, area landlord Kevin Coelho, and Stacey Tyers. A comprehensive list of suggestions was later compiled by Tyers after the meeting which included everything people had brought up regarding how housing should be developed in town. That
list included requiring legislation which would allow municipalities to create bylaws to remove derelict buildings, develop mens’ shelters, incentives for secondary suites, and reduced rent for small apartments, among many other ideas. Following the forum held last Tuesday, we were able to follow-up with Tyers to get her take on how it went and where the community can go from here. “Obviously we know that we need federal and provincial government to step in and start footing the bill for some of these constructions,” she said. “And of course that resonated repeatedly through the forum.” That said, she doesn’t feel that the province or federal government has given much thought to communities affected by housing issues. “We’re facing all of these projects where we’re told ‘don’t worry, we’ll take care of you,’ but the problems are already
starting and we’re already being blown off. It’s really hard to trust that when things get into full swing we’re going to have the help that we need, because we already don’t have the help to get ready for any of it.” But beyond the senior levels of government, there are efforts that could be undertaken locally, both traditional and some ‘outside the box’ ideas. “One I found interesting was renovating closed schools for mini-apartments. Is it feasible? I don’t know, but it’s something we could look at.” Being from Terrace, Tyers does recognize certain ways that Terrace has it slightly easier than the District of Kitimat. Namely, Terrace has land to themselves that can be put towards development, whereas Kitimat does not have that luxury. Continued on page 2
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Cultural Warming tournament ... page 10