Port Corporation eyes Fullerton Fill property Forum discusses waterfront future THE 68-acre Fullerton Fill site in North Vancouver City is the last prime piece of real estate left in the Port of Van- couver and should be protected for future use, Vancouver Port Corp. (VPC) chief executive officer Capt. Norman Stark told a weekend waterfront forum. The forum, sponsored by North Vancouver City, was held to hear industry, business and union views on what the future holds for the North Vancouver industrial water- front. And Stark said the VPC is prepared to buy the Fullerton Fill site from the Fullerton family if they wish to Sell it. The site is located south of First Street between Bewicke Avenue and Mackay Road along the city’s waterfront. “We believe that Fullerton should be protected for the years ahead. It’s the last good piece of property left in the inner harboz. If the Fullertons want to sell it, we'll buy it,’’ Stark said. North Vancouver City Ald. Stella Jo Dean said the Fullerton family pays about $400,000 a year in taxes on the waterfront proper- ty and questioned whether the site should remain vacant for future use. 44 There's over 23 million tonnes of cargo moving through the North Shore. That’s equivalent to the Port of Montreal. 99 — VPC Chief executive officer Norman Stark Stark, meanwhile, told the forum that half of all the cargo that passes through the Vancouver port originates from North Shore terminals. “There’s over 23 million tonnes of cargo moving through the North Shore. That’s equivalent to the Port of Montreal,** said Stark. While Versatile Pacific Ship- yards Inc. has been granted tem- porary protection from its cred- itors and is working on restructur- ing its finances, Stark said the port still needs a shipbuilding fa- cility the size of Versatile. “Versatile, unfortunatley, is having its problems today, but we need a dry dock of this (Ver- satile’s) size,’ said Stark. He also dismissed suggestions that some port facilities and operations be moved from Bur- rard Inlet to Roberts Bank, ad- ding that there is only enough room at Roberts Bank to build one and a half terminals. “The area is about the size of Lynnterm and half of Seaboard,*’ Stark said. ‘“‘It's a very en- By Surj Rattan News Reporter vironmentally-sensitive area.’* Stark said there are over 9,000 jobs associated with the Port of Vancouver which provides for an annual payroll of over $400,000. He added that the port wants to ‘harmonize’ its plans with the plans of the city and districts of North Vancouver. “We know there are problems that need to be addressed, such as Low Level Road, and we’re work- ing with the city to do that. | believe the industry and the parks in the Fort of Vancouver can live together,”’ said Stark. ‘‘We have tried to work with everyone to make sure their needs can be met.” Consultant Paul Sorensen, ad- dressing the subject of port devel- opment, said he believes many of the products moving through the Port of Vancouver ‘‘can be handled easier through Washington State.”’ He added that in 20 vears most of the waterfront land on the North Shore will be used for non-industrial purposes. “The port should plan for multiple uses (of waterfront land),’’ said Sorensen. ‘You (North Vancouver) have a very good industrial base here, but you also have woefully inadequate ac- cess here. You don’t have very good public access to the water- front.” He added that the city needs to examine its liability and develop safe public access to the water- front. Another consultant, Joost Bak- ker, said the city has the opportu- nity to “‘create a real working waterfront character for North Vancouver.*’ “One of the things that happens is the waterfront gets turned into residential use, like in False Creek, and I have some concerns with that,’’ said Bakker. ‘‘I would question if urban use is critical (to waterfront lands).”* He added that more work should be done to make the North Vancouver SeaBus terminal more visually attractive to visitors arriv- ing on the SeaBus from Van- couver.’” Bonnie Pyplacz, economic de- velopment officer for the North Shore Economic Development Commission, said her organization recently conducted a survey of 60 companies located along the North Shore waterfront and found that 48 per cent said the working waterfront was the main reason they moved to the area. “A working waterfront is what originally developed the communi- ty and a working waterfront should be maintained,’’ said Pyplacz. THE NOW IS NEW! IT’S NOW and it’s new. The North Shore News’ award-winning Now entertainment section has been redesigned and updated (see page 33) as part of the newspaper’s commitment to keeping Now and the News at the forefront of the community news- paper market. Now, a weekly package of entertainment features and reviews published every Wednesday in the News, was launched in January 1988. In both 1989 and 1990 it won the best entertainment category in the prestigious Suburban Newspa- pers of America editorial competi- ion, We hope you like the new Now look. We welcome your com- ments. 3 FEDERAL FINANCE Minister Michael Wilson was confronted by angry shipyard workers Friday night Wednesday, March 20, 1991 — North Shore News - 3 . . t NEWS photo Mike Wakefield when he paid a visit to the Lonsdale Quay Hotel in North Vancouver City. The workers, laid off from such places as North Vancouver's Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc., called on Wilson to provide assistance to B.C.'s sagging shipbuilding industry. MacPherson critical of NV report From page 4% workers and residents that rely upon industry for their liveli- hood,’’ said MacPherson. ‘‘It is based on several shallow assump- tions about the role of industry in a healthy municipality, and about the shipbuilding industry in par- ticular.”’ He added that ‘‘precipitous ac- tion’’ by the city ‘‘could deliver a final blow to this beleaguered in- dustry.’* ‘*The city would bear a share of the responsibility for the im- mediate loss of jobs and the long-term de-industrialization of the community that will ensue,” MacPhersen said. ‘‘Large costs would be involved in making the site environmentally acceptable for public use.”” He added that VPSI's current plan is to use ‘‘more public money to strip the shipyard of its assets, move them to another location, and then have the city facilitate windfall profit through rezoning to residential.”’ If the federal government had given VPSI the $500-million Polar Class & icebreaker contract, which was cancelled last year, Versatile would have stopped all ship- building work at its North Van- couver yard once the vessel was built and then moved its ship repair division to the Duke Point area of Nanaimo, documents filed last week with the B.C. Supreme Court show. Natives the ‘abused child’ of Canada, says NV chief A NORTH Vancouver native leader is calling the recent the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en land claim a *‘bad decision,but just a begin- B.C. Supreme Court ning.’ Burrard Band Chief Len George responded recently to a judgment by Chief Justice Allan McEachern stating that Indians do not have aboriginal land rights in B.C. Said George, ‘‘l think that for the average Joe Canadian, that statement (McEachern’s) had to be made to put the cards on the table. This is one side of the argument. I think it is only just a beginning. The average Joe is say- ing, ‘This is not right.’ ‘It was a bad decision. I have no doubt that in the Supreme Court of Canada, it will be thrown out,”’ he added. McEachern’s judgment has been branded by some native Indian activists as racist and conde- scending. In McEachern’s decision, Indian tights are defined as ‘‘user rights’’ limited to pursuits including hun- ting, trapping and berry picking. Some fear the judgment will derail tripartite talks under way between B.C. natives and the pro- vincial and federal governments. But said B.C. Attorney General Russell Fraser following the deci- sion, ‘It is my hope we will no longer resort to the court pro- cesses to settle issues of aboriginal title. That era should be put behind us.” Both the Squamish and Burrard bands belong to the First Peoples’ Congress. George said the man- ® Budget Beaters Business ruling against By Michael Becker News Reporter Chief Len George... has no goubt that the Supreme Court will reverse decision. date for the group remains direct negotiation with the province and the federal government. “The focus is constitutional changes — let’s have our rights entrenched in the Constitution,’’ he said. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, recognized and confirmed aboriginal rights. But McEachern Second Class Registration Number 3885 found that because the Crown was not connected to the Canadian West at that time, the Royal Proc- lamation does not apply to B.C. natives, Said George, “If I was to describe the whole situation right now it’s like the analogy of a dysfunctional family with the fed- eral government being the father and the provincial government be- ing the mother and native people and the rest of the Canadian communiiy being the children. “(As natives} we're the abused child. That child still has the rights and privileges that all the other children have. Without stopping the cycle, the dysfunction of this family will not stop,’’ he said. t See Gollins page 9. George said the McEachern rul- ing does not ‘‘stop the cycle.’’ Said George, ‘“‘The problem is not going to go away. The moral responsibility is still there."* For the Burrard Band leader, the notion of sovereignty means having control over his destiny. “To take part in the growth or the demise of Canada by being a contributor to it and not depen- dent. Now we’re criticized for be- ing dependent. But we never ap- plied to be here. When my people were pressed on to the reserve it was against the law to purchase land off the reserve. We were never a part of the growth of Canada in that way. And some- thing like jurisdiction over our own land that’s a simple right,”’ he said. Weather Thursday and Friday, mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs near 11°C and lows of 3°C.