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NORTH ISLAND
49th Year No. 42
October 16, 2014
• Green scene
North Island Farmer’s Market wraps up 2014 season in Hyde Creek. Page 7
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Kwakiutl halts ribbon-cutting J.R. Rardon Gazette editor PORT HARDY—A planned grand opening for the new Canadian Coast Guard Station here was disrupted Tuesday afternoon when nearly two dozen Kwakiutl First Nation elders and other band members established a picket line of protest signs on the street above the building. The nation is protesting the Crown’s failure to consult on construction of the Coast Guard’s new office and boat house on a traditional village site at the end of Shipley Street. “We wrote to them in June,” Kwakiutl elected chief Corrine Child said. “Basically we wanted to sit down with them; actually, to find who to sit down with. They had all these dignitaries and officials come through, but who was responsible for sitting down with the Kwakiutl about this facility, and what services it is going to provide?” The Coast Guard announced last week a ribbon-cutting and ceremonial opening for the new facility, located just up the shore from its old office on Government Wharf. The event was called off after the Kwakiutl notified organizers of their planned protest. Instead, a general tour and open house was hosted for a number of
• Grand Opening
Visiting delegation from Numata, Japan, partners in torii gate dedication. Page 9
• Two-Timers
Eagles midgets sweep pair from visiting Nanaimo to remain unbeaten. Page 15 OPINION Page 5 Hot spots Page 10 Classifieds Page 11-14 Sports Page 15
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Roman Child, right, peers over his sign while joining other Kwakiutl First Nation members in a protest at Port Hardy’s Coast Guard Station Tuesday afternoon. J.R. Rardon
Loci lands a heritage home J.R. Rardon Gazette editor WOSS—With a gentle push from a more modern diesel counterpart, the historic Alco Steam Locomotive 113 was eased into its new heritage park home last week. Turns out, it’s in the same spot it used to call home decades ago. “What’s interesting is, where it’s sitting right now is the old roundhouse, where they serviced it and so forth,” said Dave Rushton, Area D Director for the Regional District of Mount Waddington and longtime executive with the Woss Residents Association. “So it’s back in the good, old Woss roundhouse.” Dozens of local residents, workers from the nearby Western Forest Products operation and officials from RDMW were on hand to watch and shoot pictures of the 94-year-old locomotive’s move from a siding in WFP’s rail maintenance yard to a newly laid stretch of track just a few hundred metres away. It is the second major heritage item place by the RDMW under the heritage registry bylaw it
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Alco steam locomotive 113 rounds the final corner as it is pushed onto a fresh line of track at the new heritage park in Woss last week. J.R. Rardon
established in 2012, following the placement earlier this year of the century-old Hornsby Mammoth Steam Tractor at Coal Harbour’s old community centre. Like the Hornsby, “Loci 113” was the subject of something of a custody battle before the RDMW secured possession in negotiations subscriptions: 250-949-6225
with the Alberni Valley Heritage Network. The society believed it had purchased the locomotive from Western Forest Products in 2010 and had secured funding to move and begin restoring the engine, which had sat idle on the side rail in Woss since running forestry
tours from 1988-94. When Rushton and other regional district officials learned of the agreement, they began trying to prove Loci 113 had already been sold to the residents of Woss by Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) before the company was purchased by WFP. “I took a loonie out of my own pocket and bought it from Canfor when we became a community, in 1999,” said Rushton. “The problem came when Canfor was sold to Western, and (the locomotive) hadn’t been taken off their books.” Under the agreement with AVHN, Loci 113 was to remain in Woss as long as the community made efforts to restore the engine, while the heritage society retained the right to follow that progress and revisit the possible move of the engine. But Loci 113’s status as a heritage registry artifact probably nullifies that option, and Rushton and other volunteers said it would
See page 4 ‘Heritage display’
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