Inside
u New face for Chamber P. 3 u Fire for the ladies P. 6
u Housing Co-op P. 5 u Moola Matters P. 12
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WEDNESDAY, April 16, 2014
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VOL. 37 NO. 07 $1.30 inc. GST
NEWS BRIEFS Back and forth Dispute over cigarettes turns violent at Tache Reserve April 5 at 5:44 a.m., RCMP responded to an incident at Tache Reserve. A suspect had reportedly stolen smokes from the home of the victim. The victim of the theft then reportedly tracked down the suspect and threatened to stab the man who had stolen his pack of cigarettes. The suspect in the original theft then was said to have further retaliated by returning to the victim’s residence with an axe and threatening him in return. A fist fight then ensued from this confrontation. No one wanted to press charges in the incident, however, and RCMP attended to break up the fight and prevent further escalation, but then closed the investigation.
Brenda Gouglas of the Fort St. James Sustainability Group had a dramatic costume as an oil spill cleaner as part of a rally the group did in Spirit Square on April 6. Photos courtesy of the Fort St. James Sustainability Group
Anti-Enbridge rally Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier The Fort St. James Sustainability Group pulled together a small rally on Sunday, April 6, with only two days notice and during spring break. It was “quick and dirty” according to organizer Brenda Gouglas of the Sustainability Group. It was “a great opportunity to get together face to face in the real world outside of our computer terminals,” said Gouglas. She said about 20 people came out to Spirit Square for the rally and she talked about the Joint Review Panel (JRP) recommendations for the Northern Gateway Pipeline, pointing out the 21 references which relate to Fort St. James. Gouglas said she has been going through the
209 conditions stipulated in the JRP report and looked for anything of importance or relevance to Fort St. James and the proposed pump station. “It was quite interesting to see us in there,” she said. She said the rally also offered the group a chance to discuss the plebiscite going on in Kitimat, a non binding vote to determine support for the project going forward based on the 209 recommendations of the JRP report. Residents of Kitimat will have voted on the project on April 12, after the paper goes to press. She said the gathering in Spirit Square offered people a chance to share their own thoughts and ask questions. “It’s not always so much what I have to say,” she said. She said there were some new faces out and the crowd consisted of teachers, business
owners, retirees, seniors and landowners who may be impacted by the pipeline. Gouglas said the Sustainability Group was not necessarily surprised at the decision of the JRP, as it seemed like a foregone conclusion. “It was a disappointment yes, but not a shock,” she said. The final decision to approve the pipeline still rests with the federal government, and while she said most who are listening to what Minister Joe Oliver (Oliver was the Minister of Natural Resources until early this year) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have said about the project assume it will be approved at the federal level, they are waiting to see what happens with the First Nations opposition before the courts. There is pressure on the federal government to delay their decision until after the court makes their decisions.
MLA Kwan returns to work at legislature
Tom Fletcher Black Press
VICTORIA – Vancouver Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan returned to work at the B.C. legislature Wednesday after a self-imposed exile in the wake of her involvement in lavish spending by Vancouver’s biggest
poverty agency. Kwan continued to insist she had no knowledge of the inappropriate spending outlined in audits of the Portland Hotel Society, except for trips to Europe and Disneyland that she participated in. She said she has had no further contact with her estranged hus-
band Dan Small since she took her unpaid leave of absence March 21. Directors of the society resigned after terminating the four executives, Mark Townsend, his wife Liz Evans, Kersten Stuerzbecher and Small. Kwan has maintained Small told her he was personally covering the
family’s travel expenses, and she paid back $35,000 from a personal line of credit. Housing Minister Rich Coleman has said a new “professional” board will continue to examine society expenses, and if any potential fraud is discovered, it would be referred to Vancouver Police.
The society, which operates a string of hotels in Vancouver’s downtown east side and a supervised injection site for drug addicts, set up companies to do maintenance, pest control and other services. Coleman said those arrangements are being reviewed by the new board.
An audit by KPMG Forensic Inc. covered three years of expenses, 2010 through 2012. It found managers and directors expensed nearly $70,000 over three years on restaurants and more than $300,000 on travel. Trips were to Vienna, Paris, Bristol, Istan-
bul, New York City, Los Angeles, Banff and Ottawa. In addition to hotel rooms, some costing more than $800 a night, there were charges for spa services, alcohol, fresh flowers, a cruise for a society manager and other questionable expenditures.