THE CARMANAH saw-off behind us, the next flashpoint in the ecoiogy-versus-jobs battle will be the lower Tsitika Valley on the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island, home of the Kwakiutl Indians who have lived there for at least 6,090 years. It is also home to the 2,700 resi- dents of Port McNeill, which was incorporated 24 years ago. I men- tion these little historic details to apply some perspective to the debate. A Port McNeill resident, Debi Ryan, described as a ‘‘mother of two,"' as though that was supposed to add weight to her statements (1 mean, does the fact that [’m a fa- ther of four make what I say any more rational?), says: ‘My family and my community will suffer if the government keeps bowing to environmentalists. **It makes me very angry to hear environmentalists in Vancouver and Victoria telling us what to do,”’ Mrs. Ryan adds. Well, frankly, it makes me very angry to hear loggers in Port McNeill telling me what to do with Crown land that belongs to all of us. Does proximity to a forest give anyone carte blanche to trash it at will? If living on a particular patch of land was the sole criterion for determining its fate, none of the white people in Port McNeill would have any say in the matter, since the Kwakiutl were obviously there Jong, long before anyone set up a house trailer on the shores north of Johnstone Strait. For the record, the Kwakiutl First Nations are adamantly op- posed to logging in the lower Tsitika. The seven north Van- couver Island bands include the entire native population of Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, a half- hour’s ferry ride from Port Free legal advice available UBC LAW students are now operating a fee legal advice clinic at North Vancouver’s Neighborhood House. The Law Students Legal Advice Program will be offering the clinic full-time from mid-May to mid- August. The clinic provides free legal advice and low-cost un- contested divorces to people who cannot afford a lawyer. With the help of supervising lawyer Brian Higgins, advice is of- fered on a variety of subjects in- cluding small-claims actions, landlord-tenant disputes, welfare and UIC claims and appeals, WCB, wills and employer- employee reiations. North Shore Neighborhood House is located at 225 Fast 2nd St. in North Vancouver City. APPRECIATION DAY SATURDAY, MAY 26 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. Featuring Exclusive to Norburn “ANC ANGQY THE WORLD’S FINEST CEILING FANS from $2QQ A 42" CEILING FANS from $3Q% REFRESHMENTS ALL DAY—Cofice, Donuts, Pepsi STAR FM on location DRAWS — Win a Weekend Get-Away or other Great Prizes! -NORBURN: LIGHTING: centre ‘ 99-0666 | McNeill. What I want to know is: What does Mrs. Ryan have to say about the local Indians opposing logg- ing? They can scarcely be called “environmentalists from Van- couver and Victoria.” The simple truth of the matter is that the newcomers of Port McNeill have a short-term view of the natural resources they explci:. How could it be otherwise? Thur entire history is a blip on the screen, whereas the Kwakiut! have an inherent understanding of the meaning of stewardship of the land. Their connection to the past gives them the ability to look into the future. The significance of the Tsitika isn’t just that it is one of the last of the old-growth forests. In addi- tion, it nudges against the still- pristine waters of Robson Bight, famous throughout the world because it is the place where the orcas come to rub their bellies on the pebble beaches every summer. A. spokesman for MacMillan Bloedel says that his company would ‘‘never’’ consider logging in the area if the whales were af- fected. That's nice to hear, but Western Canada Wilderness Committee member Clinton Webb claims that the forestry giant hasn't been fol- lowing its own management plan in the upper Tsitika. If that’s true, what grounds do we have for trusting them to shape up when it comes to the lower part of the valley? In the upper Tsitika, MacBlo has been overharvesting and jugegt- ing the annual allowable cut fig- ures, Webb claims. In addition, they have been log- ging right up to the edge of creeks so that their banks are exposed to the threat of erosion. MacBlo denies this, but the his- tory of logging in this province be- ing what it is, nobody can be blamed for being suspicious. In any event, the big fear is that if the loggers move to within one- and-a-half kilometres of the Tsitika River estuary, the orcas will be scared away. The number of them iurning up between June and September has already been reduced — due, some say, to the presence of tourists who go there in kayaks and whale- watching boats to ogle at them. If the mere presence of some- thing so unobtrusive as kayaks and tourists with cameras is enough to disturb the whales’ age-old pat- terns of behavior, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the shock to their nervous systems when logging operations arrive on their doorstep. Bill MacKay, the fellow who or- ganized the whale-watching pro- gram at Robson Bight, is adamant that once the loggers and their ma- chinery arrive, the whales will depart. For some strange reason I tend to believe a man who has been studying the whales in the area for a decade, rather than be- ing lulled ty promise from MacBlo. Maybe this is a prejudice on my part. If so, 1 freely confess. The mayor of Port McNeill, Gerry Furney, who makes his liv- ing distributing petroleum pro- ducts, supports MacBlo. Says Furney: ‘*Every time these companies are forced to cut back, we suffer. Tourism is not putting money in our coffers because this is a miserable, wet town most of the year.”’ The suffering of the whales is something the mayor wasn’t elected to worry about, and as for the suffering of the native people over the years, as they watched their once-lush land being carved up, clear-cut and contaminated, is something else he doesn’t worry about. But I do have a suggestion. If Port McNeill is such an awful place to live, why doesn’t Mayor Furney move south to the sun — and leave what’s left of the place to the whales and Indians? They won't weep, I’m sure. © (“| came hiding after Host 111 Ibs. | with Nutri/System.” | “For the first time in a long time, I'm bursting with confidence. I'm going out again — to movies, restaurants and baseball games. Nutri/System helped me come out of my shell and become a new person. They gave me support when | needed it — they were always there for me. Now | enjoy my life, and | enjoy being me.” (Jig 9. 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