6 — Friday, July 31, 1998 — North Shore News RIME statistics recently released by Statistics Canada show that Canada’s overall crime rate dropped in 1997 for the sixth con- secutive year, to reach the lowest lev- els since 1980. The percentage of murders, sexual assaults, robberies, break-ins, and car thefts were all down when compared with 1996, resulting in a significant 5% drop in reported crime. The 1997 figures show a whop- ping 19% decline since 1991, when crime peaked in the country. “. Closer to home, here on the North Shore, provincial statistics mirror the national trend and reveal that for the past: five years West Vancouver and North - Vancouver, District have shared the. region’s lowest crime rates. *: Yet many of us live with the uneasy oh - mailbox north shore news VIEWPOINT Reality check sense that the world out there is an increasingly disturbing and danger- ous place to be. Political expediency and media coverage fuel the myth that crime is forever on the rise and spiralling out of control. The result is a fearful population, and for the more suspicious of us out there, a population easier to manipu- late. Too afraid of the real world, we hide in our homes. Television and movies reinforce the notion of a cul- ture of violence. Fear itself is our biggest danger. The fear of crime has greater potential to destroy our communities than crime itself. If we are afraid to walk on the streets we will create the very thing we fear: abandoned and dangerous streets. ome questions : “about land clai seem to. misunderstand the reason that n _ have a-claim to vast areas of land in B.C. Here is what-I believe to be true: ims ative Indians ie Indians chad no written language therefore no docu- and. fished and travelled the lan id — camped = and i in most cases moved from site to site at v ing, mining, (to any measurable amount) n except for small Ainder-an-ace plots, was not chin they. practised... ered specific areas theirs i in: order to Protect that area. f any .durable buildings or of difficult to use materials, such as rock, monuments was Not part tory: — perhaps because of the Indians’ nomadic nature or. the ack of will. So, a “permanent” record doesn t a Nati “Indians did not have the concept of title ic. cach not assigned one'acre or 500 acres or any No need | ) because. the land was for fishing and hunt- d there: was plenty of it. low then do ey claim they own the land? Historically ever: thought they did. . may have a claim to fishing: a: a | hunti ting and the Indians aad a ‘of. those people obliterated. by the glaciers? tra = Wouldn’t the present descendants have to prove some- one else WI ose. traces have been obliterated wasn’e here first, if in fact they even have the right to claim ownership of the land? Pd like to hear other opinions on this. Noch Shere Rewes, founded in 1969 28 an and quaifed independen. under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is publsshed ench Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press WEST Vancouver has had some spots of bother in the last couple of years. Are you ready for the biggest blowup ofall? - There was that wrench- ing argument over building the old folks’ home in a leafy creekside area in Cedardale. There was (and is) the Big Box furor at Park Royal. There was the Battle of Gleneagles, with the golfers shooting below par while the community centre advocates were left in the rough. _There was the McCreary Centre survey into the drug, drink and cating habits and insufficient street-smarts of children 12 or even younger (which ended up with a 37% response rate). And there is the late-but- rapid growth of mobilization of Buricy Drive area residents who belatedly found out — only through an item in the North Shore News — about Inglewood Lodge’s hones of plunking three-storey buildings on that windin residential street. But none of the above would send as many people. rocketing inte the stratos- phere as The White Spot at Park Royal might close down! The resulting clamor would make the Third World War seem quict. On the face of it, closing this White Spot reeks of insanity. Agent KY2 informs me that in recent years it has been Numero Uno at the cash register in the entire White Spot chain. The popularity of the place would PETER SPECK Publisher Homan Resources Manager 985-2131 (101) 905-2131 (17) ; Comptrolier 905-2131 (133) MAJOR QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE NISGAA TREATY NON NISGRA RIGHTS SHouLD NON NISGAA BE DENIED THE RIGHT To VoTeE OR HOLD OFFICE? bring envy to the cyes of almost all owners of restaurants, which have a higher mortal- ity rate than just about any kind of busi- + Ness. The Saturday crowd is huge — and loyal. The restaurants that Nat Bailey started don’t have particularly inventive cuisine, but it is always tasty, wholesome, well- served, and in an unin- timidating _aumosphere that attracts customers through the whole social spectrum: Families; oid folks, young lovers, tired shoppers, ic Works (as they say of the hamburg- But a second source — Agent TR- BOW — informs me that a couple of White Spot employees have told him the restaurant could be closing. Why? The terms of a renewed lease are just too rich. _ White Spot in effect says it ‘can’t hack ” That, I think, fits in with Park Royal owner Larco’s relentless determination to renovate, expand and get t:;p dollar from this upscale shopping centre. Negotiations have been going on for about three months without resolution, at this time of 1 writing. And then there’s the interesting coinci- dence that — right next door — a brand- _ new Keg restaurant is under construction. It wil te ready by November. I suspect the Keg chain appeals to a somewhat more sophisticated and younger: crowd (the Keg does a good job of woo- ing customers with promises of fine spiri- 2 THE PRICE CAN BC TAXPAYERS Aboriaita AF AFFAIRS AFFORD MINISTER $490 MIL? 3 DALE LOVICK, WHAT'S wilh THE HAIR? crossover capability b Spot and Keg clienicle, The White Spot t that: there's the } wave'in some 6! customers, though ‘the: to-head competizon woul And West Vanienive when their i institutions was invited along for caught a 30-pound li fin, ctually, on more turned out ta be a 12 as I often say, Pacific peers lie, and some lie a litt Whatever its size, you, boy of nine catching a erable size is. a newsworthy i So congratulations, Dani 5445 Marine Driv N: Hey, what good’ . don’t use it'to Promote yo r right? LETTERS 10 THE EDITOR Letters must include your nama, fujl address & telephone sumnber. Maragi ng Editor 985-2131 (116) Office Manager 905-2131 (105) Internet- http://aww.aseaws.com ViAe-maik: trenshaw @ direct.ca “52139 (94) ~ ga6-2131 (147)