The Chilliwack
Progress Friday
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Song
Fishing
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African children sing for freedom.
Coho to take bigger hit during sockeye fishery.
Noisy aircraft under fire again.
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • F R I D AY, J U N E 2 7 , 2 0 1 4
Court ruling welcomed by Sto:lo
■ R OLLOVER C RASH
Court decision on aboriginal title has local implications Jennifer Feinberg The Progress It’s going to be a game-changer in the struggle for aboriginal rights and title. A court case for aboriginal title that took almost 25 years for the Tsilhqot’in Nation of B.C. is going to have implications for First Nations in Chilliwack — as well as clear across the country. A historic ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada upholds the BC Supreme Court decision recognizing aboriginal title to huge tracts of land totalling almost 2,000 square km in the heart of the Tsilhquot’in territory, west of Williams Lake. Sto:lo leaders had similar reactions. Joe Hall, president of Sto:lo Nation Chiefs’ Council, took a break from treaty meetings to describe how he sees Supreme Court decision. “As you’d expect, we are very pleased with the decision,” he said. “In summary, the government has been told it can’t run roughshod over First Nations’ rights.” Sto:lo legal counsel is still scouring the 80-plus page decision for “pieces” they can implement in their ongoing treaty talks. “It came with a message that it’s time for governments to start following the Supreme Court rulings on aboriginal title, it’s time to go back and negotiate. It’s been made clear they need to consult, and then accommodate First Nations to resolve the issues,” Hall said. The court ruling has “tremendous” implications for current treaty discussions, and touches on a range of areas of interest to Sto:lo communities, including future resource development on their territories, Hall said. There are many projects and ventures put on hold, pending resolution of outstanding questions around aboriginal rights and title, he noted. Continued: COURT/ p5
An RCMP officer investigates the scene where a 20-year-old woman flipped her car while travelling southbound on Wiltshire Street, just south of Stevenson Road on Thursday. The woman was the only person in the Chevrolet Cavalier at the time. She was not seriously hurt, nor did she collide with anything else. Before the rollover happened, one witness said, the driver was sitting in her parked car about a hundred metres north. The woman then drove off and moments later the witness heard a crash. RCMP continue to investigate. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Summer school pickets next: BCTF Tom Fletcher Black Press Teacher pickets will target locations where summer school is being carried out if they don’t have a settlement of their strike by June 30. BC Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker announced that decision Wednesday, as he prepared for the first meeting with BC Public School Employers’ Association since a full-scale strike began June 17. The meeting has been characterized as “exploratory talks”
dealing with possible mediation. BCPSEA has applied to the Labour Relations Board for summer school offerings to be declared essential services, if they are “secondary remedial programs provided to students who have failed a secondary level course.” Summer programs for elementary school students, international students or secondary students trying to improve a passing grade would not be protected by an LRB order, meaning the majority of summer programs wouldn’t go ahead.
Iker said the union is also considering the plight of B.C.’s five modified calendar schools, which have three month-long breaks instead of the traditional summer vacation. They are in the middle of their final three-month term and are facing more disruption than other schools. BCPSEA has also applied for essential service protection so they can resume operation. Iker said if there is no deal by June 30, BCTF negotiators would be available to continue talks, rather than take the sum-
mer off as they have done in previous disputes. The two sides remain far apart on wages and benefits, with a long-running dispute over class size and special needs support levels going back to court this fall. Chilliwack school district, meanwhile, was holding a special board meeting Thursday evening to consider how it would handle facility rentals over the summer months. Check www.theprogress.com for any updates.
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