The Prince George
Citizen
Ann Landers... .......12
Bridge......... .......19
Business...... ......8,9
City, B.C....... ........3
Classified..... ....16-21’
Comics........ .......10
Editorial...... ......4,5
Entertainment ....10-11
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Horoscope____ .......20
Movies........ .P10.P15
Religion...... .......23
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SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1989
50 CENTS
Low tonight: 9 High Sunday: 23
Fish talks resume 3
Preaching feline 12
Reds keep Rose 17
TELEPHONE: 562-2441
GOVERNMENT ATTACKED FOR RACISM
Native leaders call for alliance
by BEV CHRISTENSEN Staff reporter A call for northern natives to form an alliance to fight racist government activi-
public forum organized as part of local Native Awareness Days activities. He was one
of the natives who went to jail last year with Alberta Lubicon Cree Chief Bernard
ties drew spirited applause during a sparse-
jd ' '
ly attended native issues forum in Prince George on Friday.
“Tne Indian Act is being used by our white Canadian government to conquer us. It’s being used to abrogate all the treaties and other agreements. It’s high time we leaders got together and started uniting. We have to start building an alliance and start calling Canada the racist country it is,” Aaron GreyCloud told the predominantly native audience of more than 35 people who attended the meeting at the Holiday Inn.
He also warned the audience the free
Ominayak. The Lubicon, who have been trying unsuccessfully to settle a land claim in northern Alberta for 50 years, was one of the nine native bands which recently signed
a mutual defense pact in Quebec. :n
trade agreement will raise new concerns for native leaders because U.S. law will prevail
The pact, which was conceived by Ominayak, calls on the signators to send reinforcements to assist each other when requested.
Following the meeting, northern-interior native leaders denied there was a move to form a similar pact among native organizations in this region.
Other speakers said Canadian governments were racist in their attitude to na-
Michell: ‘not consulted’
and the rights natives have under existing Canadian laws will have no power.
GreyCloud made his call for a native alliance during the question period at the
tives and compared Canadian Indians situation to that of the students who fought for
democrary in China and the negroes’ position in the society of South African.
The speakers agreed there is growing
sense of frustration in native communities because of the tactics used by the federal and provincial governments to block natives’ attempts to obtain justice through the courts.
They pointed to the situation now faced by the McLeod Lake Indian Band which, last week, had the legal rug pulled out from under its feet. After telling the band for more than six years it had the right to adhere to Treaty 3, the federal government suddenly did an about face and filed court documents denying the band had that right.
“All along they said they’d share court and legal costs and other lawyers’ costs. This year they say it appears we don’t fall within Treaty 8 which is the same thing the province is saying,” said Vern Solonas, special projects officer for the band.
In June the band filed a statement of claim in the federal court of Canada to establish that, by denying the band has the right to adhere to the treaty, the federal government breached its position of trust.
During the meeting Friday, Solonas traced the long history and complicated legal wrangling surrounding the band’s dispute with the federal government.
Solonas also attacked the way the governments are using its laws to attack natives.
“All the laws of this province have been designed not in your interests and native people are being segregated by the Indian Act which was put in place to expropriate Indian lands and put native people on reserves. It’s about time Indian people stood up for themselves and said enough is enough,” he said.
Herb George, vice-president of the Gitk-san Wet’suwet’en Tribal Council, said his people were becoming increasingly frustrated by the position tne provincial government is taking in its precedent-setting land claims case now before the B.C. Supreme Court.
See Natives, page 2
Photos show
fire damage
more serious
Worker falls
Dave Wood, a plant operator at Columbia Bithu-lithic on Otway Road, fell 20 feet from the storage silo shown in the background at about 5 p.m. Friday. Wood was performing maintenance work on the tower when the hydraulic line on his welding
torch unexpectedly broke, spraying hot oil onto his face mask and body. The operator is reported to be in satisfactory condition today by the Prince George Regional Hospital.
Citizen photo by Lisa Murdoch
Release of air report delayed
by MALCOLM CURTIS Staff reporter
A federal report on a nearaccident of Canadian Airlines International plane close to Prince George Nov. 24, 1987 won’t be released until mid-December, an official in Ottawa says.
The Boeing 737 plane, carrying 97 passengers, was several kilometres east of its proper approach on a morning flight from Vancouver and came close to crashing in the forest near Tabor Mountain, according to earlier reports from the Canadian Aviation Safety Board.
“This is a big, big incident. There was potential for a big accident,” Joyce Pedley, board
spokesman from Ottawa, said Friday in explaining the long wait for a final report into the incident.
“This nas been an extremely thorough investigation.”
Canadian Airlines suspended the plane’s captain after the incident, a move that has been contested by the Canadian Air Line Pilots Association.
According to an interim report obtained by The Citizen in April, the captain “inadvertently” used the wrong navigation switch, putting the plane off course.
Tom Storey, aviation safety board investigator in Vancouver, said earlier tne plane would have landed in the forest if it had continued on its course.
00100
"We pool our tips here. What’s 50 cents divided by 27?"
The aircraft was flying in clouds on its descent to Prince George airport at the time of the incident. Because of the clouds passengers would have been unaware of the near-mishap, Storey has said.
An automatic warning system went off, but after checking their navigation instrumentation, the pilots decided “the alert was not valid,” the interim report said.
After the alert sounded again and a Prince George tower controller warned the pilots, the plane climbed to a safe altitude.
The interim report suggested that the two pilots’ unfamiliarity with the plane’s controls could have played a role. Formerly employees of CP Air, the pilots were flying an aircraft that used to be owned by Pacific Western Airlines in late 1986.
Storey, reached this week, said that just because the report isn’t out for “fireside reading” for the public, doesn’t mean federal authorities and the airline haven’t acted on safety concerns.
Since the incident, four changes in aircraft operating procedures have been implemented, he said. However, Storey said the changes can’t be made public because they’re part of the incident report.
The report has been sent to the affected parties, including the airline and CALPA, who have 30 days to respond, he said.
“There’s been a lot happening behind the scenes in changing operating procedures and identifying deficiencies and responding to them.”
Part of the holdup has been that
the initial report, written by Storey (“it’s about an inch thick,” he
said) has to be approved by a nine-ifety boar
man aviation safety board in Ottawa.
The board, headed by Ken Thor-neycroft, processes aircraft incident and accident reports from across the country. A wait of more foi
than two years for the public re-lase of reports of this nature is not considered unusual, federal authorities say.
WINNIPEG (CP) - A groundbreaking decision to use satellite photos in assessing Manitoba’s forest fires has led to a sharp increase in damage estimates, say officials of the provincial Natural Resources Department.
“Some of these fires are absolutely horrific in size,” spokesman Don Keith said Friday.
Natural Resources officials began using Environment Canada satellite photos Thursday to assess the size of the fires, which have prompted the largest evacuation in the province’s history.
Bill Medd, superintendent of fire services, said it is the first time the province has used satellite images to map active fires. In the past, they have been used to assess damage after fires were out.
The department estimated the area burned to date at 18,000 square kilometres — an area nearly the size of Lake Ontario. The figure was up from the 12,000 square kilometres estimated Wednesday.
Medd said the damage to Manitoba forests this year far outstrips anything else on record, including 1929 when an estimated 15,000 square kilometres were destroyed.
And he said even the 18,000-square-kilometre estimate is conservative.
“I’m sure it’s higher than that.”
No one has died in the fires, and only a few cabins and lodges have been destroyed. But over 23,000 people were evacuated from remote northern communities in the last week. Although 4,600 have been allowed to return to two communities deemed safe from smoke and flames, another 18,500 are stuck in makeshift accommodations across Manitoba, patiently waiting for word that they can go home.
A total of 245 fires were burning Friday in Manitoba, including 67 that are out of control and 126 that aren’t even being fought. The satellite photos provide an accurate
map of hot spots and where the fires are heading. They will be used to map priority areas for firefight- ' ing.
Natural Resources Minister Harry Enns warned Friday that continuing hot, dry weather will mean a long haul for firefighters. The blazes have already cost the prov-... ince $35 million.
“I can’t really answer with opti-~ mism about us getting out of the* firefighting business fairly quick-1 ly,” Enns said. 2
Provincial officials said fires * now burning in the United States " and other parts of Canada are £ making it more difficult for Mani- * toba to get the help it needs in * fighting the blazes.
The province asked for lengths of hose and 100 pumps j from the U.S. Forest Service is 2 Boise, Idaho, but was told Friday 2 that American authorities could -spare only 2,500 hoses and 50f pumps worth $400,000.
“The wholesalers in Canada are pretty well sold out,” Keith said.
2,500 £
Police attend slabbing scene]
Police were called to the scene of* a stabbing at an Alpine Village res-# idence on Upland Street at about 72 a.m. today, but RCMP have so far; refused to release any further in-* formation. *,
An attending officer would sayj only that no information would be; released until the victim is identi-" fied. 2
Formerly known as Upland Vil-J lage, the complex of 239 row* houses is currently under redeve-* lopment by Camp Developments J Corporation.
A suspect was believed to have i been arrested by RCMP shortly af-I ter police were called. No other in- j formation was available at press i time. I !
QUEBEC ABORTION CASE
Hearing set for Tuesday
OTTAWA (CP) — Chantal Daigle must wait at least three more days to hear whether the Supreme Court of Canada will lift a Quebec court order barring her from having an abortion.
Five judges of the country’s highest court will meet Tuesday to consider her request to appeal a lower-court ruling that a fetus has a right to life.
Meantime, the injunction stopping Daigle from ending her 2l-week pregnancy remains in force, Anne Roland, the Supreme Court’s deputy registrar, said Friday.
It is not known how quickly the judges will decide whether to hear the appeal, and if they do hear it when they would hand down a decision.
Daigle’s lawyer, Daniel Bedard, has asked the court to first lift the injunction to allow his client to end her pregnancy.
Time is running out. Most Canadian doctors will not perform abortions after 20 weeks. In the United States
abortions may be done as late as 24 weeks.
Daigle, “somewhere in Quebec,” has no comment,
said her sister, Marjolaine Groulx.
A procedural meeting was held Friday between Mr. Justice Charles Gonthier and lawyers for Daigle and her ex-boyfriend, Jean-Guy Tremblay.
Tremblay was granted the injunction by the Quebec Superior Court on July 17. It was upheld Wednesday by the Quebec Court of Appeal, which held that the fetus has a right to life under the Quebec Charter of Rights.
One option for Daigle is to have the abortion in the U.S. Her lawyer believes she would risk a contempt-of-court citation, punishable by up to two years imprisonment.
But Bernard Dickens, a law professor at the University of Toronto, said it’s unlikely Daigle would be found in contempt.
058307001008