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Treaty awaits ratification
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff The Lheidli T'enneh are poised to be the first First Nation to complete a deal -- after negotiations that stretched over 13 years -- under the province's modern treaty process. But there is still work to be done. Negotiators for the Lheidli T'enneh and the
Citizen photo by David Mah

Lheidli T'enneh chief Dominic Frederick, right, and chief treaty negotiator Mark Stevenson shake hands Wednesday during the treaty agreement announcement.

governments of Canada and B.C. stressed Wednesday the agreement -- which includes self-government, $27 million in cash, revenuesharing, land, timber and fishing rights -- still must be ratified by each party. That's a process that could take a year or more. The deal must first be ratified by the Lheidli T'enneh's 312 members, then approved through legislation by the B.C. and Canadian governments. Lheidli T'enneh chief negotiator Mark Stevenson said the first step is for the commu-

nity's treaty council to approve the deal being considered for ratification. Then the deal will be explained to the community in workshops, he said. "It's important that every clause be reviewed and understood by community members prior to the ratification vote," said Stevenson. Lheidli T'enneh chief Dominic Frederick said the deal will have a huge impact on his community, in particular, in learning to govern themselves, a change from being governed by others. -- See BAND on page 3

Friendly weather excites farmers
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Some years even farmers can't complain about the weather. The chief profession that depends on the fortunes of the sky has had a good run of luck all spring and summer, according to local crop growers. "We have the whole hay crop off now and with the rain we did get, it was absolutely fabulous," said Donna Allen of Majestic Arabians farm, a 160-acre spread in Pineview where she grows hay and grain to feed their 26 horses. "It came in unbelievably well. It was double the yield of last year. Boy, did it grow." On the other end of town, things are growing gangbusters at Beaverly Meadows Farm as well. The only commercial corn crop in the area is having a banner year. "Last year we didn't open because the corn drowned," said proprietor Laurie Dillman. "This year, it looks like we're going to get a bumper crop. It was a big job to water it, but the more heat it gets the better corn does and we have had great temperatures this year." Dillman had hopes of opening to the public on the long weekend, but the recent cooler temperatures has pushed that back a week or two. "All this rain in the last week doesn't hurt it, it just slows down the growing," she said. "Anything over 15 degrees Celsius, it still grows, so it is doing really well, but it is slower when those really hot temps aren't here. We will have a lot of good corn this year, when we do open the doors." -- See BUMPER on page 3
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Laurie Dillman expects a bumper crop in her corn field this year.

Forest critic questions lumber deal position
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff NDP forestry critic Bob Simpson questioned Wednesday whether the B.C. government has changed its position on the softwood deal following comments from Forests Minister Rich Coleman. Coleman told The Citizen this week there is still time to salvage the softwood lumber deal, which he believes could be made acceptable to the Canadian industry with changes on "a couple of outstanding issues." Coleman also said there are no deal-breakers, but only deal-makers on the agreement which will replace tariffs with an export tax collected in Canada, and return $4.5 billion of $5.5 billion in tariffs to Canadian lumber companies. Simpson said that position runs counter to the B.C. government's position articulated in a June 30 letter to the Canadian government. In that letter, the province laid out four points it wanted met in order to support a deal. The points included a demand that the trigger point for a termination clause should be three years. It's currently two years. In addition, B.C. was seeking a border measure exemption for lumber produced from logs on private land in the province, better provisions for the lumber remanufacturing sector and more workable running rules. "It's my understanding that there's been no headway on any of those points," said Simpson, Cariboo North MLA. Simpson also took exception to Coleman characterizing the deal as "fundamentally, probably the bestconstructed deal" the country had ever seen. "That's not what the industry is saying," said Simpson. Lumber associations in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have voiced opposition to the deal. In B.C.'s Interior, companies like West Fraser and Tolko are opposed. While Canfor has said it can support the deal, company president and CEO Jim Shepherd said this week there's little chance the softwood deal negotiated by Canada and the U.S. last month will go ahead without changes The deal can be blocked because it needs the agreement of companies representing at least 95 per cent of the tariffs on deposit with the U.S. Companies must also drop their legal cases. More doubt on whether the deal will proceed was also raised Monday when Trade Minister David Emerson said the negotiated settlement might not proceed to a vote in Parliament if there is not enough support from provinces and industry. That's a departure from an earlier position, when the federal government said the deal would be put to a confidence vote when Parliament resumes in September. ghoekstra@princegeorgecitizen.com

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 16 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . 3,5,6,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 18-20 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 16 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Drug crimes up, other offences down, stats show
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Crime statistics for all of Canada do not parallel any one community, according to local RCMP, who say they have their own trends to track and respond to. In a recent report compiled by Statistics Canada, the overall crime rate in the nation fell by five per cent. The same report said serious crimes were up, but non-violent offences were down. The numbers for B.C. showed a 4.8per-cent drop in overall crime in 2005 compared to 2004, but violent crime was up. According to Prince George RCMP spokesperson Const. Gary Godwin, the local numbers are produced each month but not collected until late winter or early spring each year. "If we look at the numbers we do have from 2005 to 2004, is homicide up? No," Godwin said. "In 2005 we had a total of four homicides/manslaughters and three attempted murders. In 2004 we had a total of eight homicides/manslaughters and five attempted murders, and that was the highest we've seen in the past five years. "We did OK there last year, and this year so far we have had two definite homicides and some attempts, so we still hope we will be lower again, but it is still early for all that." Drug offences are up, though. Godwin said there were 550 drug-related investigations started against individuals in 2005, compared to 503 in 2004. On the other hand, property crime produced 6,151 offences in 2005 compared to 6,596 in 2004, so a decrease was seen in that category. Youth crime, Godwin said, remained about steady: 268 young offender charges laid in 2005; 272 charges in 2004. Thefts of motor vehicles were also up in 2005, with 981 vehicles reported stolen compared to 898 in 2004. Assaults took a major jump in 2005 with 2,067 reports filed, up from 1,636 in 2004. Reported sexual assaults, though, dropped to 146 in 2005 from 155 in 2004. It is still far too early in 2006 to meaningfully compare this year's numbers, Godwin said. The community data pool is small enough that one or two active criminals or a couple of single major events can skew the numbers in a given category. "So much of all crimes in general -- break-and-enters, assaults, vehicle theft, even homicides -- are connected to drugs and drug addiction, and all that is directly connected to organized crime," Godwin said.

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