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Sentinel
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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 27
Tickets, please Cameron Orr The District of Kitimat is working to amend their rules to allow giving bylaw tickets out instead of taking people to court. The move will give the town more flexibility in dealing with bylaw infractions without the burden and cost of legal proceedings. On June 23 Council gave three readings to the Penalties and Municipal Ticket Information System bylaw. As it is now for certain infractions people will get a site visit from the District, before possibly escalating to courts. Staff point out in their report to councillors that the process “can consume significant staff time.” The offences one can be ticketed for include things such as parking too many RVs on your property, keeping a prohibited animal or having over-sized commercial vehicles on your property. The tickets are all set at $100. “That’s the main Each day that the infraction hasn’t been thing we’re trying handled will be consid- to do here...it hits ered a new offence and the person in the people could be receivpocket book...it’s ing additional tickets. Court action could not something still be taken on offenc- we have to drag es despite this bylaw. out.” “The main point of what we’re trying to do here is we’re taking a lot of our bylaw infractions such as parking illegally, being parked on properties it’s not zoned for. Right now we have to do what’s called a long-form information, which means essentially we make contact with the person and if they don’t do anything with it, usually follow-up with a letter or two then you have to go to court,” explained Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Warren Waycheshen. He said once you get to court it will still be several weeks before a matter is settled. “That’s the main thing we’re trying to do here, things that can be easily rectified and fixed,” he continued. “A lot easier to do, it hits the person in the pocket book...it’s not something we have to drag out.” The language of the bylaw also gives ticketing power to the District’s director of community planning and development. Waycheshen said that’s because the planner will likely have the expertise needed in some infraction situations. While the town now has this ticketing power, Waycheshen said the person issuing a ticket can use their discretion and determine whether a punitive measure is appropriate in the circumstance. “There’s always some extenuating circumstances to look at most of the time.”
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
Not that this St. Anthony’s student would need help with the rain that was coming down, but she also got immersed in the dunk tank (that was actually marked for teachers) during St. Anthony’s June 19 year end fundraiser and barbecue. Cameron Orr
Supreme Court rules on Aboriginal title Tom Fletcher and Cameron Orr Aboriginal communities across B.C. are celebrating a court ruling that redefines ownership of their traditional territory outside reserves. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the Tsilhqot’in Nation’s claim to aboriginal title over 1,700 square km in the Nemiah Valley west of Williams Lake, in a landmark ruling with effects on land claims across the province. In a unanimous decision, the country’s highest court rejected the B.C. government’s argument that aboriginal title should be restricted to settlement sites and other places frequently occupied by semi-nomadic aboriginal people before European contact. Joe Alphonse, tribal chief of the Tsilhqot’in Nation, said the ruling is a victory in a struggle that had its roots in deadly conflict with a wave of gold seekers during the 1860s. He said the communities need more control over re-
sources to support more people living on reserves. “We didn’t fight in this case to separate from Canada,” Alphonse told a news conference in Vancouver. “We fought in this case to get recognized, to be treated as equals in a meaningful way.” Settlement sites and others used for hunting and fishing were exhaustively studied in a 2003 B.C. trial that granted broad title but was later overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal. “The Province’s criticisms of the trial judge’s findings on the facts are primarily rooted in the erroneous thesis that only specific, intensively occupied areas can support Aboriginal title,” the eight Supreme Court of Canada justices agreed in a unanimous ruling released Thursday. The Tsilhqot’in case was strengthened by evidence that “prior to the assertion of sovereignty the Tsilhqot’in
people repelled other people from their land and demanded permission from outsiders who wished to pass over it,” the judges wrote. Haisla in Kitimat, as well as government representatives for the region, hailed the decision as a good one for Aboriginal rights, and which sets the criteria for industry development on traditional lands. Haisla elders and members gathered at the old hospital site — which is now owned by the Haisla for commercial development — on the day of the ruling to celebrate. “I think this armours us, our communities even more,” said Gerald Amos. “I think it’s symbolic that we get together and give them our thanks and in the spirit of reconciliation to call on the governments to honour this ruling.” He said the ruling should be concerning to some companies. Continued on page 8
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Child Development Centre turns 40 ... page 9