6 - North Shore News - Friday, March 24, 2000 VIEW Poached crab OOD for His Honour T. Dennis Devitt. The Surrey provincial court judge has sent a message to fish poachers that all but the stone deaf should be able to hear: Poach and you will pay. Big time. For the first time in over 100 ycars, a poacher has forfeited far more than a token fine for his crimes. Judge Devitt took his boat. According to press reports, the poacher pleaded guilty to two counts of fishing illegally in U.S. waters and one count of possessing undersized crabs. He pleaded guilty to the charges March 7 and was ordered to hand over his $25,000 crab boat to the Crown. According to the prosecutor in the case, the boat forfeiture is the first since 1897. . come. Destruction of threatened fish stocks continues apace up and down B.C.’s west coast. Further north, the once bountiful abalone, fished to critically low num- bers by commercial fishermen in the late ’70s and early ’80s, continue to be illegally harvested by poachers even though the fishery has been closed for years. The illegal fishing of crabs, meanwhile, continues from beaches and docks around the Lower Mainland. Puny fines and other token punish- ments do little to deter fishermen, especially those newly arrived in Canada from countries where unre- stricted fishing is a way of life. Judge Devitt has set the standard for poaching penaltics. Other judges need to follow. POINT: BLAME CANADA THEY RE NOT § EVEN A REAL 4 _ COUNTRY WOKE < (NSS 1 ot BLAM THe vYarcs From { SOUTHPARK: BIGGER f Y pONGER & UNCUT PERFORMANCE OF Best It should be the first of many to maiibox Leave N. Van district rezoning bylaw alone Dear Editor: Re: rezoning issue Forest Hills and Canyon Heights. . March 28 is payback time for the developers and spec- ulators who own property in the Forest Hills and Canyon Heights areas. In 1997, in the wake of public outcry and with suffi- cient support from council, a bylaw was passed to protect ~ neighbourhoods frum monster houses — that is, 2 house that exceeded the height of the existing structure, The res- idents were happy with this new bylaw; the developers and speculators were fiat... ; «In 1998, the planning department sent a 15-page sur- vey to the residents of Forest Hiils and Canyon Heights. 1The survey contained misleading language and ambigu- ous questions, The few brave souls who did their best to respec” to the survey are now the unwitting facilitators of _ thezscam. Their answers were deliberately misinterpreted _ by the district’s planning department, their consuitants and . the. working groups. The written comment of approxi- mately 30% of the respondents, expressing a desire to . Yetal : character of the neighbourhood — is being totally ignored. \.. While: the mayor acknowledges the survey was flawed, _ he maintains the answers were not skewed. Proof that he is " not interested in the wants of the residents. Unless the residents attend the March 28 public hear- ing and voice strong objection to the bogus rezonin rocess, and demand the current bylaws be maintained, -. Mayor Don Bell will gladly hoodwink them into believing they want houses at feast 4,000 square feet, 28 feet high to “be built next to their 2,500 square foot, 11- to 21-foot- . high houses. ae ; «iThis would make Forest Hills and Canyon Heights ‘résemble Tempe Heights. wos -< The rezoning is not for the residents, but for the bene- _ fit.of build-and-cun speculators and for the power they wield at district hall. . Linda M.’"McDoneli -_ Licdonell@netcom.ca North Shore Hews, founded in 1863 as an independent suburban newspaper and quakfied under Schodule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act. is publeshed each Wertnesday, Friday and Sunday by HON Pubhcations Company and distetnted te every door on the ‘Mail Sales Product Agreement io. 0037238. Mailing rates avallabte on request. Distribution Mananer 9868-15397 (124) bemogesnews.cam Fancher Creaiive Services Director 989-2121 (127) snfancher@nsnews.com 61,582 faverage ccuiabon, Weondsisay, Fesday & Sunday) NO go for Nisga’a? How now, former Premier and Minister of Disaster Glen Clark? And how now, Minister of Indian Affairs and Minister of Gentler and Kinder Politics Dale Lovick (yeah, the guy who led a gang of anti- free speech New “Democrat” bully-boys trying to break up a meetiny, he disapproved of)? And how now, Nisga’a Chief Joc Gosneli and his power circle, several of whose members are his near relatives? And all the others who smeared Nisga’a treaty critics as racists? Let's hear from the treaty’s enthusi- asts: Will they now declare that former Supreme Court of Canada judges Willard Estey arid William MelIntyre are also racists? Estey, now in private practice, was scheduled to talk yesterday (after this col- umn’s deadline) to the Senate sub-com- mittee on aboriginal peoples. His goal is to delay implementation of the Nisga’a Treaty bill unti! the top court rules on its constitutional validity. That makes a lot more sense than doing so after both houses of Parliament have passed the treaty. A court overturn then would, understandably, infuriate even most moderate Nisga’a. Estcy’s position seems not unlike that of B.C.’s distinguished constitutional experts Mel Smith and Gordon Gibson, Gordon Campbell’s (but not Jean Chretien’s) Liberals, and others: That the treaty would create an Indian state with ney Fetora lography Manager pd (160) (peterseasnews.com ie E >) OPT RPE Sa EEO ET. Classified ‘968-6222 (202) vstephenson@nsnews.com AN OSCAR NOMINATED SONG Former judge tackles treaty certain sovereign powers untouchable by the Canadian state. Campbell and the Liberals have gone to court citing 14 such areas. Gibson has superbly detailed many fundamental fiaws in the treaty. Not least, as he has recently written for the Fraser Institute and described on Rafe Mair’s CKNW prograin, is that power over land and land sales would be vested entirely in the Nisga’a government — and denied to Nisga’a private individuals. Of course that sore of collectivism, the para- mountcy of the group over the individ: ual, and the accruing “identity politics” are right down the New Democrats’ ide- ological alley, They love it! That’s their joytul view of what a repressive corporate state ought to be! The treaty gota surprisingly tepid endorsement by the Nisga’a themselves ~~ those who bothered to vote. There’s no doubt that Indian self-gov- ernment (which in my and others’ view should be more akin to municipal-level government) and land claims must be set- tled. But Nisga’a is a bad model, And it will be a cruel awakening for the Nisga’a if it turns out to be constitutionally invalid, as its critics have said all along. Boa ; Speaking of Indians, every journalist eventualiy has the unhappy experience of criticizing someone who happens to die, or be seriously injured or taken ill, after the presses have rolled. ‘ Thus my March 10 column; which , Trevor rapped Squamish Chief Joc Mathias’ indignant reaction to Lieutenant- Governor Garde Gardom’s innozent remarks, regrettably appeared on the streets just hours after Chief Mathias’ death at 5.30 that morning. _ I met Chief Mathias several times — ° “the last time telling him what I hoped he saw as a funny and ironic real-tife story — and the only point on which I disagreed . with some of his culogists was their description of him as a moderate. He was no moderate, He was impas- sioned, forthright and often angry. And, -: like so many people, I liked him personal, ~ yy. Mo 900 ; Fight on, North Vancouver school : trustee. Tim Morrison and others, against the McCreary Cenire’s U.S.-based ado- lescent “health” survey — an intrusive, state-sanctioned sniffing into the lives of students and their families. Py In a culture where “cool” and peer: pressure are powerful, it also makes kids: (as young as 11 or 12) feel uncool if they. -;.. can’t measure up to questions like No. 76 . in the 1998 survey, aimed at those who divulge they have already had inteccourse: “During the past 3 months.” — italics in the original — “with how many people did you have sexual intercourse?” The. options run from one to “6 or more.” _ The McCreary ceatre hides its ques: tions from kids and parents until the sur. vey is sprung on them — on class time ‘at that. If you reject this snoopery, or object solely because it’s imposed on taxp: _ funded time, I suggest you phone its? “executive director, Dr. Roge! 291-1996, and your trustees. Tonkin, iy LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name. full address & telophone number. . VIA e-mali: trenshaw@nsnews.com . Display Advertising Manager * 960-0571 (317) Gwhitman@nsnews.com, Entire contents © 1999 HCN Publications Company. All rights ceserved, ©: sher Pater Speck, fre < Gall Sesigrove "" Generab Office Manager ~ $85-2131 (165) gsnelgrovegnsnews.con " wob site — wesi.conevs.com’ a Hp in ater hus) 5-208 rst 3) barrie os Me Ae AD Rh a at A dt