S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 24
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Nisga’a to reap gold mine taxation THE NISGA’A of the Nass Valley are to be double beneficiaries from the construction of a gold mine near Stewart. In addition to Nisga’a citizens having employment and business opportunities arising from the Brucejack gold mine owned by Pretium Resources of Vancouver and for the Nisga’a Lisims Government to receive payments and royalties from the company, the Lisims government is also in line
for a share of provincial mineral tax revenues from the mine when it goes into production in 2017. Details are still being negotiated behind closed doors indicates a statement from the provincial government. “Any details on negotiations remain confidential until agreements are concluded,” added the statement. The groundwork for a share of mineral taxation dates back to the Nisga’a land claims treaty of 2000
which laid out Nisga’a geographical spheres of influence. And last year the province signed an agreement with the Nisga’a to negotiate project-byproject economic and community development agreements. A portion of the Brucejack property is within the area over which the Nisga’a have an influence. The province has negotiated more than a dozen economic and
community development agreements with First Nations and when applicable to mines, provide the latter with 35 per cent of the net mineral taxation collected each year. Nisga’a Lisims president Mitchell Stevens said he was confident a deal with the province for a share of Pretium’s mineral taxation would be signed in due course. “It’s just a formality,” said Stevens of the agreement which would
follow an already-established provincial policy on sharing mineral taxation. “I don’t see any problem with it.” While the deal between the Nisga’a and the province for the Brucejack mine will be the first between the two for a mine going into production, they did sign an earlier agreement for another proposed mining project.
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Council backs pipeline plans By JOSH MASSEY
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Restoring history FALLER JIM Quigley takes a break from cutting down trees around the Second World War bunker at the Northwest Regional Airport Oct. 2. The airport society has agreed to clean out the two rooms on either side of the bunker and during the winter, the 100 Year Celebration Committee, George Little House and Terrace 747 Air Cadet Squadron will plan the history boards to go in the rooms, painting the bunker and whatever else needs to be done on the bunker restoration project in preparation for spring when the work can be continued. With Quigley, from left, are air cadets chair Sherelyn Christiansen, Debbie Parnell, Shelley Harris, also from the air cadets and committee member Yvonne Moen.
TERRACE CITY council has reversed an earlier decision not to support a pipeline builder and instead has written a letter backing planned gas pipelines that would be built by TransCanada to several proposed liquefied natural gas plants in the region. Council first turned down the support request from TransCanada Sept. 14, saying it first wanted to gauge the results of a Sept. 21 meeting with provincial cabinet minister Peter Fassbender to discuss forwarding a portion of provincial resource taxation to northern local governments. Though no promises from the province came out of that meeting about a revenue sharing agreement, the meeting was called “successful” by city councillor Stacey Tyers who is also the chair of the Northwest BC Resource Benefits Alliance, the group of northwestern local governments formed to push for a share of provincial tax revenue from industrial development. “If that meeting had gone poorly, I think you would have heard more of a discussion about how that letter would be written,” said councillor James Cordeiro, who introduced the original motion to hold off on the support letter. He said that original position should not be regarded as the council being opposed to development. Council members unanimously, at their Sept. 28 meeting, decided to send TransCanada the letter it wanted and it was mailed out last week above the signature of mayor Carol Leclerc. The letter supports not only TransCanada’s proposed pipelines but the liquefied natural gas industry in general. In it, Leclerc thanks TransCanada for the money it has spent in the region but also says the city looks forward to continued taxation sharing negotiations through the resource benefits alliance with the provincial government. LNG Canada has chosen TransCanada to build the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline to feed its project at Kitimat and Pacific NorthWest LNG has chosen the company to build the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline to its proposed plant on Lelu Island near Port Edward.
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Farewell
Murder trial
Top racers
Cameraman calls it a day and retires after more than 40 years on the job \COMMUNITY A10
First week reveals many details in 2012 death of local teen C.J. Fowler \NEWS A4
Motocross riders here leading others in northern part of the province \SPORTS A24