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SIMON BAKER

Capilano band produces honorary Sechelt chief

SOME PEOPLE CROSS the chasms of cultural boundaries as easily as the rest of us cross the

Street.

B OTHY RENSHAW

On April 14, Simon Baker, 20 years Chairman of North Vancouver’s Capilano indian Band Council, 40 years a Band Counsellor, was made an honorary Chief of the Sechelt Tribe. The honor hangs framed in a house already crammed with similar tributes to an ambassador both of his own culture and of the human spirit.

Baker beams with par- ticular pride over his latest tribute: ‘‘Coming from a neighboring tribe, it is really an honor.”’

His association with the Sechelt Tribe goes back to 1942, when Baker waded into the wilderness of Indian politics with Sechelt’ Chief, Clarence Joe. The two

pioneered the concept of B.C. Indian unity and strove towards an organization that was eventually to become the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

Endowed with intelligence, patience, and feresight, Baker is a natural leader who has naturally risen to the hierarchy of the Capilano In- dian Band, the Squamish In- dian Nation and, ultimately, the entire West Coast Indian population.

His Indian name is Khot La Cha, ‘‘man with a kind heart’. With it, Baker has travelled the world. spreading an understanding of Indian culture in general and West Coast Indian culture in particular.

“Ours is the richest Indian culture in North America. 1 have been to Europe seven times, to Australia, to

England, and Japan in order that our culture and = the cultures of other world peoples meet and better understand each other.*’

in 1965, Baker was hired by CP Air to act as the airline’s cultural ambassador to Europe. He is currently working with Expo 86 ar- ranging the participation of all 11 West Coast Indian tribes in the fair's celebrations.

Preservaticn of Squamish tribal language and values has always been of particular importance to Baker. It is a task that, he says, becomes evermore difficult amidst the roar of modern white culture.

“Young Indian people have changed attitudes, they no longer want to do it the way their grandfathers did. Things are more fragmented now, tribal ties have become less strong and the need for our language. becomes !ess and less important.’

NEWS photo Terry Paturs

HONORARY SECHELT CHIEF, Simon Baker, displays the latest tribute to his lifelong con- teibutions to the world’s knowledge of West Coast Indian culture. Baker was made an honorary Sechelt Tribal Chief, April 14.

‘ity budget approved

FINAL APPROVAL was given to North Vancouver City’s 1985 budget Monday night.

Tax Rates Bylaw 5644 was reconsidered and given final adoption with a 4-1 vote in favor of the bylaw.

The new municipal tax, which will be due in early July, will see an overall! in-

crease to North Vancouver City taxpayers of 2.8 per cent,

Industry and utility taxes will hike by 10 per cent, commercial property taxes by 1.8 per cent, strata prop- erty taxes by 10.7 per cent and single family home taxes by .2 per cent.

Mayor Jack Loucks suid the less than three per cent

increase to the City was modest considering day to day costs of operating the municipality -have increased considerably. Such costs in- clude RCMP contracts, grants and recreation Sacili- ties expenditures.

The 10 per cent industry increase was to bring in- dustry and utility taxes in line with other tax increases,

But Baker is far from a brittle relic lost in the glories of the past. He realizes the importance of change and the need to live in the present. He says the value of higher education has struck home to his people: “Over the past five years, | have noticed a big change. There is a new pride, a new thirst for better- ment. Most of the young peo- ple are going to university, and this is good, because we must assimilate, we have to work with the whiteman. We can not isolate ourselves.”

Baker says he has also noticed a change from beyond reservation boun- daries where white people, once afraid to set foot on In- dian land, have dispelled these fears through education and association and are now a common sight on reserva- tion lands.

Though he left the reserva- ticn when he was 15 to work West Coast waters as a fisherman alongside whites and Indians alike, Baker says he has never been faced with discrimination: “It was something | didn’t want to accept, something 1 refused to get involved in.”

Alcohol, says Baker, is still a problem within the Indian community, the source of many broken homes and broken lives. But it is a pro- blem that is now being com- batted within the various tribes by organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Baker, who has been an A. A. member for 30) years, says alcohol problems cannot be solved by twisting a person’s arm, ‘‘you have to decide for yourself, make a choice for your life and your family or throw up your hands and lose everything.”

Baker’s home is a warehouse packed floor to ceiling with the cultural legacy of his own past and that of his tribe’s. Their Janguage and traditions, he says, will not die, they will be passed on: ‘‘I am teaching my granddaughter all she wants to know. She is vitally interested in her past and our history.””

After 40 years on the band council, Baker says he will step aside this year to allow younger blood to contribute to and guide the fortunes of the Capilano Band. He does so with the confidence that the future is in capable hands: ‘‘There are a lot of good young leaders coming into their own now and a lot of good boys coming along.”

Baker plans to spend part of his retirement writing his biography, documenting a life that has embraced his In- dian heritage and helped spread its cause to the four corners of the earth.

since the land is not assessed as frequently due to the slow turnover.

Hikes to taxpayers will

differ because of fuctua- tions in assessment valua- tions.

Ald. Dana Taylor voted against the bylaw. He said the increase to industry should have been 7.5 per cent instead of 10 per ceat.

3 - Wednesday, May 8, 1985 - North Shore News

NEWS BRIEFS

Man pleads guilty to arson

A “VANCOUVER man has: pleaded | :guilty in Vancouver:County Court to willfully setting a fire after an incident at Clark's Roofing last year.

William Frederick Foden, 57, was arrested after North Vancouver City ficefighters attended a fire Sept 21. .

‘Foden will be sentenced June 3.5.

The fire was contained to the rear of the building

. and. cvery little damage

has: been set pe May 2

i Bennett “will: “appear

ver City Fire. Department: :

botiom: of Fell: St.: There’ were “thir

fate fires in refu

> when”: firefighters.

‘Stable

_ was sustained,” police and

fire “officials. ‘report.

. Firefighters : attended.

within minutes.

Foden was employed by Clark’s Roofing at the time of: the ‘incident.:The company is located at 663 W. 3rd Street, North Vancouver. - Firefighters were called at 3:35:p.m.. ; and - Foden. was :arrested

Jater that same day,

The charge, carries. a maximum © term “of. five -. years in prison. ° :

owner

to Sanieheing |

A NORTH -WAN-

COUVER riding academy.

operator has “ been’ ‘con- victed of sex charges in- volving a 12-year-old girl.

Robert John Thorburn, 46. operator with his estranged wife .of the Korral Riding Academy. 1301 Lillooet Rd., was found guilty May 3 of having sex with a female under the age of 14 and committing: gross int- decency, The first charge carries a maximum penal-

ty of life i imprisonment.

The charges stem ‘from a series of: incidents:: be- tween June. 1979 - and June 1983. :

The defendent, who is now 18, testified at. the three-day trial that Thor- burn took her to a series of hotels and, motels ‘in the Lower Mainland. tor: sex during that four-year - peniod ater forcing hes, to have sexual intercourse when she was 12-years- old.