's Bill C-49 sparks debate over band land development Robert Galster News Reporter robort@nsnews.com A fecleral minister met with three North Shore mayors on Monday to discuss pro- posed changes to Canada’s indian Act and to address concerns about the impact those changes will have on municipalities. iederal Minister of National Revenue Herb Dhaliwal met with tie municipal leaders at) North Vancouver District hall in part as a result of a letter sent to the federal government by district, mayor Don Bell. Ironically, Bell is on holiday and was replaced by North Vancouve: District Councillor and acting mayor Trevor Carolan. Bell and the other mayors were concerned about the ramification of Bill C-49 or th. First Nations Land Management Act. If passed the leg- islation will giant participating native bands full control over their reserve lands. The powers the bands are about to be granted are further reaching than those granted to munic- ipal governments and include zoning, environ- mental protection, search and seizure and the right ro implement laws that call for punishments ranging from fines to jail terms. The Squamish Band is one of 14 native bands across Canada cur- rently covered by the proposed bill. “What we were concerned about is to ensure that in the final wording of the bill as it comes for- ward is the need for consultation,” said Carolan. In particular Carolan and the others want to see the new bill include a provision calling on the native bands to consult with neighboring munici- 70-month sentence for credit fraud Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnews.com A 37-year-old West Vancouver man, described by Surrey police as the dri- ving force in a credit card fraud scheme, rece'ved a 10-month conditional sen- terce on Feb. 12. John Bezeredi pleaded guilry to three of 27 iraud- related charges against him. He Piaded guilty co committing, fraud greater than $5,000 against the credit card sections of three banks. The offences touk place over a five-month period ending in January 1996. The offences occurred in West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Vancouver and Mission. The a es against Bezeredi were dropped (staye ’ Caen lawyer Michael VanKlaveren. North Vancouver provincial court Judge Jerome Paradis required Bezeredi to pay $20,000 restitution to Royal Bank Visa, ian Imperial Bank of Commerce Visa and Bank of Montreal Mastercard. Bezeredi also received 12 months’ probation. Said Paradis, “This was a sophisticated and wide- ranging scheme of fraud.” ¢ judge spoke quickly during sentencing pro- ceedings. He did not share details of the crimes exept to say that the credit cards related to real peo- le. P Paradis said that Bezeredi blamed his co-accused, Timothy James Williams, 38, of Surrey, as being the “prime mover” in the credit card fraud. Faradis said that Williams indicated that Bezeredi was more involved in the crimes because of his com- puter knowledge. Williams pleaded guilty and received 2 10-month conditional sentence last June for his part in the cred- it card fraud. He was required to pay more than $58,000 restitution to Royal Bank Visa, CIBC Visa, See Restitution page & Palities before embarking on any development projects. Carolan said a similar agreement is entrenched in the province’s Municipal Act which requires municipalities to inform their neighbors of upcoming plans. He pointed out that the process is more a courtesy than anything cise to ensure synchronized decision-making berveen the province's municipalities. “We want to emphasize that consultation does not include veto power,” said Carolan. Monday's meeting was also attended by West Vancouver Mayor Pat Boname and North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks. Boname said she was very pleased with its tone and was encouraged by Dhaliwal’s openness. “Mr. Dhaliwal was saying if there’s anything Wednesday. February 24, 1999 — North Shore News - 3 | issues NEWS photo Terry Peters FEDERAL Minister of National Revenue Herb Ohaliwal listens to North Vancouver District acting mayor Trevor Carolan (left) as West Vancouver Mayor Pat Boname and her North Vancouver City counterpart Jack Loucks look on. tlse we're concerned about to let him know,” said Boname. “As a card-carrying Liberal I can do that anytime.” Dhaliwal also suggested it might be possible tor the North Shore mayors to appear before a committee studying the bill in its current state, betore it’s adopted. But Bill C-49 is currently in a report stage dur- ing which various amendments proposed by Members of opposition parties will be considered. These proposals will be debated in the federal legislature and eventualiy voted on before the bill is sent to the Senate for final approval. An amend- ment proposed by the Reform Party calls for the implementation of a consultation process within the legislation's wording. LGH surgical wait time addressed Doctors reduce service Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnewecors LIONS Gate Hospital is taking steps to reduce the amount of time people are waiting for surgeries. Budget surplus money of up to $500,000 will be use room nurses, The money was left over after job actions and a lower than expected summer use of LGH. Lions Gate Hospital (LGM) administrators also plan to make changes so that more day surgeries can be performed. Currently, there are more than 3,200 people waiting for non-emergency surgeries at LGH, according to Elaine Baste, acting vice-president of acute care services for the North Shor: Health Region. The number of people waiting for surgeries at LGH has doubled since 1996. Surgerics range from orthopedic to brain operations, The average amount of time a patient waits to have surgery has gone from 67 days to 111 days in the last two years. “We are very concerned that it is almost dou- bled,” said Baxter. “Ic’s jumped everywhere in the province. Ours is probably one of the only ones that has doubled...To have patients sit on wait lists for a long period of time means that we put pco- ple’s lives on hold.” Nursing shortages and strikes has effected sur- gical waiting lists. Doctors’ “reduced activity days” (RADs) have also contributing to surgery waiting times. LGH administration soys that 50 surgeries are added to the waiting list for every RAD by doctors. Only emergency surgeries are conducted on RADs. Doctors are now calling RADs “rationed access days.” Doctors withdrew their non-emergency ser- to hire and tain additional operating, in ongoing job action Vices for three consceutive days ending tomorrow, Since last April, doctors have held 12 RAD days .. A full RAD week from March 15 to 19, coincid- ing with the school spring break, is planned in an apparent escalation of the doctors’ job action. “TL can assure you that the doctors of B.C. are not happy to be doing rationed access days,” said Dr. Jim Lane, B.C. Medical Association president. “They (RADs) do create longer waits and it's been a conscious decision of government to man- age the health care system in that way by under- funding the budget necessary to provide all the services,” said Lane. Lane said that doctors worked 33 days for free fast year. He said the RAD days do not cover all the free work of medical doctors. He said doctors worked a net 13 days for free fast year. “We would like that all the physician services that are needed to be funded,” said Lane. Meanwhile Ministry of Health spokesman Stephanie Slater said the doctors’ dispute involves $1.4 billion in last year’s health budget that was set aside to pay for doctor services. Slater said that when services appeared to be going over the $1.4 billion, fee payments to doc- tors were then pro-rated to about 95% of the amounts billed. “No doctor works for free... We are not underfinding anything,” said Slater. She said the fee payments are now back to 100%. Slater said doctors believed there would be a money surplus in the budget because of the RADs. The money surplus could be given to doctors as a “rebate,” She said the government could not force doc- tors to return to work during RaDs. Slater said B.C. has 1,009 more doctors than needed. LGH has seven operating rooms which run five days a week. The hospital has two operating, rooms for emergency cases. LGH administration want to have an eighth operating room available in the fall. Bridge work worries Martin Millerchip News Reporter martin@nsnews.com THE potential for traffic gridlock on ure North Shore during the rebuild- ing of Lions Gate Bridge has North Vancouver District council worried. There was unanimous support Monday for Coun. Glenys Deering-Robb's motion ayking staff to examine all possible traffic problems which may arise during the bridge's rehabilitation and to explore potential solutions. “I was completely unprepared for the traffic gridlock we had nvo years during the repairs on the Second Narrows. Bridge,” said Deering-Robb. She said that during the worst of that tie-up some Sevmour resi- dents sat in traffic for over 90 min- ures to get to Park and Tilford Shopping Centre. Deering-Robb_ told council that a realistic waftic management plan should be in place by this fall when the bridge work is expected to begin. She said she was concerned that nor just commuters would be affected, but thar North Shore businesses could lose customers because of trattic. Asan example she queried how tour buses were proposing to reach two of North Vancouver’s major tourist attractions: the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain. Deering-Robb said it was essential to start getting answers out of BC Transit regarding what bus re-routes were being planned, what extra SeaBuses would be possible and whether Park ‘n‘ Ride facilities would be organized. Coun, Ernie Crist agreed thar “chere’s no question our collective horizon will be widened. signifi- cantly when they close one of our bridges” and suggested that the the district’s ‘Transportation Advisory Committee (TPAC) be asked to report on the issue. Deering-Robly agreed the issue should be referred to (FPAC) and “as many of our advisory commit- tees as possible in terms of possibie solutions.” Director of engineering Bob West-Sells advised councit that the last. meeting staff had with the Lions Gate Bridge project staff, produced a commitment that the contractor selected for the bridge repair would have to produce a traffic management plan. West-Sells sid he anticipated a choice being made by the province from the short list of three contractors by May and sug- gested that the staff report to council on traffic issues and solu- tions be presented after that date. The province asked the district two years ago to prioritize possible intersection improvements to Highway 1. The district pinpoint- ed the Fern Street-Mt. Seymour Parkway as the most important in terms of congestion. The Ministry of Transportation and Highways subsequently began work on the west-bound highway exit ramp to Capilano Road — the interchange that will be least affected by the Lions Gate Bridge closures. (For more news on traffic plans see the story on page 21.)