The Prince George Citizen - Monday, October 23, 2000 -13 COMMUNITY CONNECTION Have an idea for a story or human interest feature? Got something to tell about your club or organization? Do you know an Unsung Hero? Or is there a special event you’d like our readers to know about? BERNICE TRICK 562-2441, Local 395 THE BUSINESS DISTRICT by Gord Leighton Community Program teaches loggers to identify scarred trees Dollar store opens outlet One of the fastest growing retail chains in Canada, Your Dollar Store and More, opened -in Prince George a week ago, with local franchise owners Cameron Uzelman and Jason Tollefson welcoming customers to their Parkwood location. The Kelowna-based chain boasts 55 stores across Canada since it launched two years ago. Other northern B.C. locations are in Ft. St. John and Dawson Creek. The PG store is 3,000 square feet, and is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 'seven days a week, with a mix of giftware and general merchandise. About 60% of the stock is priced at $1, with the remainder at higher prices. Autobody expands shop The local economy isn’t tough in all sectors, as evidenced by an expansion at Jack Schultz Autobody on 1st Avenue. Then again, the incidence of car crashes is not necessarily related to the economy. Owner Jack Schultz says he’s adding a second paint spray booth and another two jobs. Building renovations will be complete at the end of November. Bows by Pat has Web presence Two years ago, Pat Klassen started her own home-based business, making ribbon bows under the business name Bows by Pat. In January, she launched Party-bows.com, with a wide selection of bows for special occasions, seasonal celebrations and even commercial business display applications. Through a secure server, Ms. Klassen sells bows online from $4 - $20, as well as custom bows and packages at variable prices. Pat says, “I have had some success in Prince George, however, all of my Internet orders have been from the United States so far.” Hits to the website started at about 50 per month in January, and have grown to a current rate of 800 to 1,000 per month. The website, at www.party-bows.com was created by Shelley Giese at PG Mon-eysaver Web Design, and in my view is one of the best local e-commerce sites I’ve visited. Scary words from Canfor CEO Last Thursday, Canfor bought breakfast for a number of community leaders, while CEO David Emerson told it like it is — and provided an update on the current state of the forest industry in B.C. I don’t normally get heartburn so early in the day, but I did (and it had nothing to do with the catering at the Coast Inn of the North). The core issues, as the media has often reported (perhaps not enough, but that’s another comment for another day) are a deadly combination of poor lumber prices, trade barriers (rigid quotas) to the U.S., high stumpage costs and punitive stumpage tax imposed on this region through the so-called waterbed effect. While I suspect there is broad community awareness of the problem, I doubt if most residents understand the seriousness of the issue. Set aside the data and formulas for a moment, and consider these words from the CEO of our region’s biggest employer: “What is amazing to me is that any of us (lumber producers) in the PG region are operating at all.” Scary, but honest words. Write letters, Emerson urges There are many enemies of a healthy primary sector. The two biggest are the B.C. Government’s policies, codes and taxation practices — and the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement, which have crippled the primary engine of our local economy. Mayor Colin Kinsley asked Mr. Emerson what our community could do to help, if anything. In reply, Mr. Emerson said, “Write letters. The government may not read them, but they do count them. And so far, the letter count isn’t high enough.” Friends, it’s time to write letters. Unless a remedy is found, and found very quickly, that nagging economic pain affecting many of us will become a terminal illness. For every small business that opens or expands, and adds a couple of jobs — I think that’s worthy of a cheer. But to replace the impact of Canfor’s contribution to the economy, we’d have to open 10,000 or 15,000 such businesses, or perhaps more. Shareholders bearing the brunt A comment about Canfor’s announced closure of their Northern Specialties Division. Canfor’s Jim Engleson says there will not be many jobs lost, as most employees will transfer to other Canfor operations. But what about the loss to the city’s tax base, and presumably, the lost opportunity for future jobs, had the plant been competitive. Fm not at all critical of Canfor’s decision. After three years of losses, who can blame them? Shareholders, after all, deserve a return on investment. However, there’s something fundamentally wrong if B.C. can’t compete with Scandinavian countries in selling manufactured wood products to the Japanese market. Compared to Sweden, we’re a whole lot closer to Japan. The problem then, has a whole lot to do with our productivity — and the cost of raw materials. Last year, for every $1 paid to a Canfor shareholder, the provincial government received $30 from Canfor. And from the Prince George Forest Region alone, Canfor paid $228-million in stumpage. The shareholders can’t be happy, particularly when they can enjoy a rate of return that’s four times better than the forest industry from guaranteed, no-risk investments such as bonds. Without shareholders, there is no forest industry. Hello there in Victoria — is anybody listening? Gord Leighton is president of Leighton Marketing Inc. and is a city councillor. He can be reached at 614-1141, fax 614-1161 ore-mailgleighton@paralynx.com SKATING FOR LITERACY — Kids had plenty of fun Sunday, taking to the ice at the Coliseum with members of the Prince George Spruce Kings as part of Skate for Literacy. Above, players with the Spruce Kings and some kids form a human snake around the rink. At left, Spruce King player Ryan Storey signs the jersey of proud fan Tyler Li ley, 12. Citizen photos by Dave Milne Senator to discuss end-of-life care The Prince George Hospice Society invites you to a town hall meeting with Senator Sharon Carstairs about end-of-life care next Sunday. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Atrium of the College of New Caledonia. Sen. Carstairs is an advocate of implementing palliative care in the Canadian medical system. Sunday’s meeting is the first in a series of Canada-wide town hall meetings to hear about the quality of current end-of-life care in this country. You are invited to come to share your personal experiences and stories about end-of-life care in the Prince George region. For more information about the town hall meeting, phone Donalda at 563-2551. CARSTAIRS by STEWART MARLOW Special to The Citizen Chief Alec Chingee will tell you he’s a logger by trade, but his progressive approach to managing the forest is evident in die fact that the McLeod Lake Band recendy hosted a one-day training course to teach loggers and Mackenzie and Prince George forestry personnel how to identify trees exhibiting the ancient scars of traditional aboriginal use. Chingee spoke of how the Sekani and Carrier people gathered lodgepole pine cambium in the spring by removing a strip of the outer bark and scraping the sweet pulp off in long strips, which were eaten on the spot or dried for later use. Chingee said that when they saw these trees in the forest, they would know “that a Sekani person had passed this way.” First Nations people used the cambium (known in the Carrier-Sekani language as “khunih”) gathered in May and June as a spring tonic and food which was deemed to be “good for the stomach and the blood,” and, according to at least one elder, “to increase female fertility.” The course was organized at Chingee’s request by Forests Ministry Aboriginal liaison officer Allen Cummings of the Prince George Forest District, assisted by archaeologists Frank Craig and Nicole Jackman of Arcus Consulting Archaeologists Ltd. Craig Hooper, recreation resource officer for the Vanderhoof Forest District --------- is researching and locating trails, explained that although most r„ r„ think of culturally-modified trees as being cedar trees found on the Coast, there are thousands of lodgepole pine in the Interior exhibiting cambium-stripping scars. The oldest cambium scars found in the Prince George area have been dated to 1794. The oldest cambium scars on pine in B.C. date to 1713 and the most ancient aboriginal cultural alterations found on cedar go back to 1467. The archaeologists explained how culturally-modified trees (sometimes referred to as CMTs) scarred prior to 1846 are protected under B.C.’s Heritage Conservation Act. Trees scarred after 1846 are defined as a “cultural Tree-drilling determined that the scar on this lodgepole pine resulted from the gathering1 of the sweet cambium layer by native people In the spring of 1863. Shown are, from left, Vanderhoof forest district protection officer Roy Isadore, McLeod Lake chief Alec Chingee, Prince George forest, district aboriginal liaison officer Allen Cummings and Vanderhoof district liaison officer Lori Borth. Submitted photo heritage resource” and must be managed under the Forest Practices Code. Removal of the trees must take place in consultation with First Nations and only after samples of the trees have been measured, mapped and recorded. “We agree with Chief Chingee’s approach that education and co-operation is the key to managing cultural heritage resources in the provincial forest,” said course organizer Cummings. “Before this workshop, a lot of the participants had no idea that CMTs existed. Now we feel like we’re taking the first steps to providing a better understanding of the First Nations landscape.”