employment i in the area, the Kit- wanga’ mill. operated by the. Hobenshield' family “should be -

given additional. timber and run on a two-shift basis and Westar’s

Kitwanga mill should be de-com-..

missioned and. replaced with a smaller value-added operation. In’ analyzing’ the sawmilling capacity in the area and compar- ing it to the timber available from the Kispiox Timber Supply Area ‘and Tree Farm Licence 51, Watts and Langforth found- that com- panies would have to purchase

582,000 cubic metres of sawlogs .

from outside their allocations: to

keep all the mills running. They .

deemed’ that concept to be: unreal- istic,

Hobenshield and Westar Kite

wanga, when both mills ‘are run-

ning normally, employ a total of. 144 workers. The Hobenshield.

mill, unlike Westar’s Kitwanga — Nl gale of the Westar assets under “the conditions that Carnaby keeps operating, that the purchaser assists in the establishment of

and Carnaby mills, is configured to cut the full forest profile, from small to large logs and cedar. The report suggests that the Hoben- shield operation could be fed the logs that’ Carnaby ‘is unable to mill, an amount that the commis- sioners calculate would be enough

to add an extra shift. Combined’

with the construction of a reman and value-added mill in place of

the Westar Kitwanga mill, which.

they conclude is doomed in any case, the commissioners figure two-thirds of the jobs at Westar Kitwanga could be saved.

_ Nearly a third of the 36-page report is devoted to analyzing aboriginal interests in the sale of

Westar’s assets. Native clainis to -

the land affect every square-inch of the tenures that Westar is proposing to transfer in the sale, and the commissioners concluding that there is no rational solution to the situation that does not. involve bringing several native

interests into decision-making _

and consultative roles.

The entire northern third. of the Kispiox TSA has been ren- dered inaccessible by a court injunction obtained by. the Gitksan Wet’suwet’an Tribal

Council to prevent. Westar from bridging the Babine River. There are 61 separate - Gitksan house

territories in the’ ‘TSA, and | the

report says every one of them

were "totally ignored" during the Ministry of Forests, planning ‘regime for the ‘area. ‘A. Gitksan

submission stated'that a resource inventory should be done on each house territory to make manage- ment planning possible.

- Both the Nisga’a Tribal Coun- cil and the Gitanyow (Kitwancool) Band lay claim to the entire area

of TFL 51.

After considering 33 written

submissions from native groups,

industry representatives, contrac- tors, workers and interested indi-

viduals, the commission made an

‘array of recommendations in eight general categories.

‘It is recommended that the Minister of Forests consent to the

native logging and silviculture companies in the Hazelton-Kit- wanga area, that the purchaser

helps build a reman plant at ‘Kitwanga, and that there is com-

mitment for a log transfer pro- gram with both mills in Kit-

wanga. ~ ,

The report recommends. that

the government convene a meet-

ing between the Gitksan and Nisga’a to sort out a working agreement on their overlapping land claims, with the objective of

establishing. a forest business

consortium. The native operation would receive TFL 51 and 100,000 cubic metres of timber a year

from the Kispiox TSA Small Busi- |

ness Program to operate a value- added mill in place of the Westar Kitwanga sawmill. The operation would involve timber exchanges with Hazelton but it would be forbidden to do any primary Pro- cessing of lumber.

The report also recommends the establishment of a broad-

based resource management advi-

sory group for TFL 51 and the

Kispiox TSA. It adds that the government should advise the

Gitksan Wet’suwet’an hereditary . chiefs of where it stands on the

fiduciary duty concept set out by. Justice Allan McEachern in the.

Delgam uukw decision of last _ year, or alternatively to advise - the chiefs that it is waiting until, . the appeals are exhausted? Mc- Eachern’s decision maintained :

that ‘aboriginal title is extin-

guished but that the government”

has a duty of trust to native

peoples. The appeal is - being . heard ‘in : Vancouver now, with: ~

numerous intervenors having applied for status in the case.

Finally, the ‘commissioners . recommend that the Minister of | Forests review the 1988 Sustut- — Takla timber allocation decision, which. allotted. a major timber - licence north of Hazelton to a:

consortium of Prince George com-

panies. That decision is widely

viewed as the final and fatal blow

to Westar’s viability in the Hazel-. :

ton-Kitwanga area.

Forests minister Dan Miller

said in an interview in New Aiyansh April 30, the day the

‘report was released, that he has not yet endorsed the recommenda-.

tions, approved the sale of Wes-

tar, or set a deadline for the deci- _

sion on Westar. He also said he is

not concerned with the outcome of. the appeal on the ‘McEachern. - decision.

"I'm the Minister of Forests, and rm not part of that," he said.

It appears, - however, that : Miller favours the Kitwanga rec- ommendations, and he said the. - province would commit some money to reconfiguring the Wes- . tar plant there for value-added —

. manufacturing. "We're not talking

dollar figures yet — we're also looking to the feds," he said. Miller also supports the

native involvement recommenda- tions. "I hope for a joint venture’

among Skeena Cellulose, the Nisga’a and the Gitksan. I would be quite pleased if that came about," -he said.

— M ichael Kelly . “

Terrace Review — May &, 1992 13

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