PRINCE GEORGE
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Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2003
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Spring rush caused accident: advocate
Local logging truck driver recovering from broken neck
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
An accident two weeks ago at Cantor's Polar division sawmill yard in which a 31-year-old driver broke his neck is a result of loggers having to rush and haul maximum loads in order to stay in business, says a former logging truck driver, who now works as a safety advocate.
“This is a very serious issue, that the Workers’ Compensation Board, the lumber industry and the Ministry of Forests needs to resolve,” said Brian Brown, who heads up BB Consulting, which offers advice to injured workers and analyzes accidents.
Logging truck driver Shane Cardinal was injured about 1 a.m. on March 20 when he was hit on the head by a log from the top of his loaded rig while it was being prepared for unloading.
Brown, wno obtained a copy of a Can-for incident investigation report on the accident, noted the contributing factors cited, included “rushing” and that the truck was loaded too high. Other contributing factors cited in the Canfor report included a cable wrapper, used to help hold the load in position, was too far back.
The report also said the driver moved in before the load was secured by the machine used to lift the logs off the
truck, and noted “everyone is tired and in a hurry on the night shift at the end of the season." Spring break-up, when hauling is stopped while roads thaw, was just a week or so away.
Brown said a number of years ago off-highway logging trucks were no longer allowed to haul tree-iength loads, but still required to haul the same weights in an increasingly competitive industry. It now means quite often that off-highway loads extend over the height of the stakes, said Brown. And while highway truckers are allowed to drive 15-hour days to a maximum of 60 hours a week, there are no such restrictions for logging truck drivers, he said. That means they can be on the road up to 105 hours a week, added Brown.
“It further demonstrates the need to hurry and haul maximum loads to survive. Safety concerns need to incorporate all aspects of the industry, not just the bush and the mill. Truck drivers have the odds stacked against them,” he said.
The WCB is investigating the accident. Canfor has said it can say little until the WCB investigation is complete.
Cardinal’s family said last week that it appears his spinal cord is intact, but it’s not known what his prospects for recovery are.
Slate of gov’t offices closed across region
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
B.C. government forest offices closed Monday in 20 rural communities, including five in northern B.C., part of the Liberals’ cost-cutting measures to balance the budget by 2005.
The province’s remaining Industry Training and Apprenticeship offices also closed, including in Prince George.
Forest offices in Smithers, McBride, Houston, Hazelton and Fort St. John are closed, affecting more than 150 workers.
The closures were announced last year, but northern communities are still trying to figure out exactly what will be the impact on their communities.
“We just lost somewhere in the neighbourhood of 25-plus jobs. So, in our community that’s a big deal to us,” said McBride village councillor Mikel Jackman.
If people leave — and some already have — they’ll take their spouses and children with them, which is a big hit for a community of just over 600, he said.
And while the Ministry of Forests will retain a field presence, it will only be in enforcement and compliance, explained Jackman. Adminis-
tration for logging permits and planning approvals will be handled from Clearwater, three hours away.
Coupled with the Liberals’ sweeping changes to forest policy introduced last week — including introduction of an expanded timber auctions and a market-based pricing system — it’s created a lot of uncertainty, said Jackman, who works for McBride Forest Industries.
“We’re not really sure what to expect, it just changes so much,” he said of the wait to see the details of the forest policy reforms.
Houston, west of Prince George, lobbied Victoria to retain some forest personnel in the community of 3,900.
Right now it looks like about 13 to 15 workers, including in the important new Timber Sales program which will handle expanded timber auctions, will remain. Initially, about 35 forest service jobs were on the chopping block.
“We felt there was no real justification for closing down the office given the size and stability of the timber supply area, even though we do understand the cutbacks,” said Houston mayor Sharon Smith.
“But I do believe with a field office we will have some services in the community.”
The B.C. Government Employees Union, which represents many of workers in the closed offices, continues to criticize the closures and staff cuts. “It’s another blow to rural communities and young people,” said BCGEU president George Heyman. “And it’s like one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. The government talks about revitalizing the forest industry, and opening doors for students and apprentices. Instead, it is closing doors on their future throughout the province.”
Prince George North MLA Pat Bell said he believes there’s a good plan in place to oversee the forest policy changes, including phasing them in and relying on professional foresters to take on more responsibilities. “We allow engineers to stamp a bridge that millions of people drive across, but yet a registered professional forester with a similar amount of education isn’t allowed to stamp a cut permit to harvest one tree without having it double-checked,” said Bell. “We think it makes good sense to move to professional reliance.”
Bell also said the policy changes should open up more opportunities in the value-added sector and perhaps for a town like McBride to secure a community forest.
Iraqi immigrant watches war with growing fear
by KAREN KWAN Citizen staff
As bombs continue to blast Baghdad and coalition forces battle their way to the capital, Bushra Dawood-Hunt is growing more fearful for her family’s safety in Iraq.
The Iraqi immigrant, who lived in Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War, said she was relieved to learn her family is safe for the moment. But ‘Tm more worried now, because I also believed it was going to be swift and fast,” said Dawood-Hunt, who now lives in Prince George.
There’s also the fear of what chemical-protective gear and gas masks left behind by retreating Iraqi soldiers could mean. “If Saddam has the chemical weapons, he will use it when (coalition forces) enter Baghdad,” she says.
Although Dawood-Hunt’s repeated attempts to contact relatives in Iraq have been unsuccessful, her cousin was able to keep in touch with-them by telephone and e-mail, until communication towers were bombed recently. Her parents and one of her sisters have sought refuge outside Baghdad, but other relatives are
staying in the city with several other families. “They stay inside. They go out whenever it’s quiet during the day, if they need something or to visit someone, or to check on their house,” she says. “The bombing is quite far away and people don’t really know what’s happening,” she says. So far, people still have food and water.
Dawood-Hunt says she’s grateful for the many supportive phone calls and letters as
DAWOOD-HUNT
flowers she’s received, since she first shared her story in The Citizen when the war began. That support has helped her get through anxious days, she says.
From what she hears, she says residents are torn between elation that Saddam Hussein’s regime could soon be toppled and sorrow over the destruction of the military strikes. “Their country is
well as being bombed and after all, it’s an inva-
sion. They don’t know what the future will hold for them,” she says. There’s growing fear that a civil war will erupt if the conflict is drawn out with lots of casualties, she says.
Although residents fear reprisals if they speak candidly about what’s going on, Dawood-Hunt says she doesn’t doubt civilians have been handed weapons and ordered to fight invading forces. That also happened in the 1991 Gulf War, she recalls. “In that case, they have to do it, and they’re dead, one way or another.” — See related stories on page 19
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INDEX
Annie’s Mailbox ..
Bridge..........
Business ........ .. .16-18
City, B.C......... ...3,5,13
Classified ....... .. .20-23
Comics ......... ......14
Coming Events ...
Crossword ...... ......14
Entertainment ... ......15
Horoscope ...... ......22
Movies.......... ......15
Nation .......... ......6,7
Sports .......... ...8-11
Television....... ......15
World........... .. .19,24
Forestry changes worry MLA
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The B.C. government needs to assure First Nations it intends to consult with them over significant forest policy changes introduced last week, or it could find itself facing court action and blockades, Prince George-Omineca MLA Paul Nettleton warned Monday.
Both of these courses needs to be avoided because they’re not productive, said Nettleton, who sits as an Independent liberal after being kicked out of caucus for accusing his own government of a secret plan to sell B.C. Hydro.
First Nations in northern B.C. reacted angrily to the Liberals’ forest policy reforms, saying they were not meaningfully consulted. Several First Nations groups have called on Victoria to put a hold on the changes until it has talked to them. Those include the Northwest Treaty Tribal Nations (NTTN), which represents more than 50 bands in northern B.C.; and the First Nations Summit, which represents bands involved in treaty negotiations.
The NTTN has called an emergency meeting later this week in Prince George.
“Unless there is some willingness to work together with respect to First Nation involvement in the changes about to be implemented, it will not really satisfy industry or First Nations,” said Nettleton. The Prince George MLA has put together a number of questions for the Liberals.
The eight per cent of the annual timber harvest being
set aside for First Nations — about equal to their percentage of the B.C. population — works out to about 28,000 cubic metre per band, noted Nettleton. “Is this small apportionment significant enough to develop true economic opportunities for First Nations?” he asked.
Nettleton also questioned whether the $95 million in forestry revenues earmarked for First Nations in the next three years was enough to develop a forestry enterprise, given it breaks down to about $160,000 a year per band.
The NTTN demanded last month equal decision-making powers on all forest issues, half of the stumpage revenues from traditional territories in northern B.C. and half of the annual allowable harvest.
The province collected $489 million in stumpage in northern B.C. last year, and since the bands’ overlapping traditional territories cover most of northern B.C., their stumpage demand could alone easily amount to more than $200 million annually.
The amount of timber that the treaty group is calling to be directed First Nations in the North — half of 25-million cubic metres — would mean even more timber would have to be clawed back from major forest companies like Canfor, West Fraser Timber, Slocan, Weldwood and Skeena. The province is already taking back 20 per cent of the harvesting rights of major forest companies as part of its policy reforms. Half of that timber is being set aside for First Nations.
New youth law taking effect
OTTAWA (CP) — Sweeping revisions to the youth justice system, passed 14 months ago but put on hold to give police, lawyers and judges a chance to school themselves on the new regime, are finally about to take effect.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act is the federal government’s latest attempt to resolve the longstanding debate over the best way to deal with adolescent offenders — get tough with them or try to rehabilitate them. The law, which comes into force Tuesday, is designed to strike a delicate balance.
It makes it easier to impose adult-style sentences on youths as young as 14 for offences such as murder, manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault. But it also provides for out-of-court settlements, probation, community service and other nonjail solutions for things like shoplifting, theft, property damage, breaking and entering and drug offences.
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Citizen photo by Dave Milne
SWAN BEAUTY — A pair of white swans cruise the Mud (Chilako) River, basking in the sun and enjoying the warm weather before either heading further north or hanging out for the summer near Prince George.
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
First-year carpentry apprentice Shane Jordsvar tries the door and checks the sign Monday, announcing the closure of the Prince George Industry Training and Apprenticeship Office.
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