Money Flowing in Nisga'a Territory
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Big box store grows Get educated Count 'era The Real Canadian Wholesale Local society offers help and Terrace youth soccer teams won Club plans a major expansion of support to those in abusive five medals over the Riverboat its Terrace store\NEWS All relationships\COMMUNITY B1 Days weekend\SPORTS B5 WEDNESDAY $1.00 PLUS 70 GST August 16, 2000 ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) TANDARD VOL. 13 NO. 19 Fund tapped Eye care to pay is newest AFTERdoctors NEARLY a de- battlefield cade of health care budget cuts, bed closures, and surgical delays, taxpayers Hospital is running our of have to ask themselves where the money's coming money for cataract...... surgery from all of a sudden to CATARACT SURGERY That would have worked sign million-dollar fee in- has flared up as the latest out to approximately 19 a crease deals with doctors. issue in the battle over month. The answer is a relat- health care here. The plan was rejected ively unknown account By December, based on by local physicians who called the alternate pay- the current level of catar- have decided to keep ments plan, a pot of act surgery at Mills Mem- doing cataract surgery at money separate from the orial Hospital, the budget historical levels. main, fee for service will have been spent with "I will be sending you Medical Services Plan three months left in the monthly updates as to program. fiscal year. what is left in the ophthal- This year the alterna- It means people who mology budget and when tive payments plan need surgery will then • we anticipate it will run amounts to $158 million. have to go elsewhere or out," said Dr. Jim Dun- face a lengthy wait list, field, a local surgeon and [] Doctors strike And it likely means the chair of a local surgeon area's only ophthalmolo- averted - for now. and chair ,of a regional gist, who is based in Ter- medical advisory commit- Page A12 race, will be leaving. tee, in a letter to a top There's never been en- health ministry official. By comparison, there's ough money to meet the "Once the ophthalmo- $1.545 billion set aside for cataract surgery demand logy budget runs out, then normal billings under the and so the amount provi- the ophthalmology service Medical.Services Plan. , ded~ by th.e pr0yincial gov- will cease to exist in the Traditionally the money ernment for the service has ,. pacific nortliwest," said is used to contract for spe- always been subsidized by Dunfleld. The Aug. 2 letter cific medical services at Mills. And that's added to is written on Terrace and hospital and other health the hospital's deficit woes. :' Area Health Council let- care facilities such as the But this year is worse terhead. B.C. Cancer Agency and than most because Mills "At the present rate of lower mainland hospital has yet to receive its bud- utilization, we expect the emergency wards. get from the provincial! ophthalmology budget to It's also used to put government and has no be used up by Dec. 2000," physicians on salary in idea if its requests for ser- he continued. rural or remote places vice improvements will be Dunfield said an oph- where a fee-for-service ar- granted. thalmologist on temporary rangement wouldn't bring So what it is doing is duty here likely will leave in enough income to at- operating at last year's and the permanent one, Dr. tract and keep them. level. Tom Nagy, who is away The plan is also used to But with demand conti- for a year, "will not pay for temporary postings nuing to rise, the commun- return." to rural and remote places. ity health council, which Mills chief administra- In Terrace, the budge- operates Mills, faced sub- tor Dieter Kuntz acknow- ted amount under the al- sidizing the service more ledges there was a plan to ternate payments plan for than ever. reduce the amount of pro- services already in place A first attempt in June cedures per operating ses- is just over $750,000. to /edu~e the number of sion in order to slretch out The majority of that cataracts done each month the budget. amount is going toward the -essentially to ration out But now, he says, the two pediatricians here who the budget until the fiscal number has been actually are on salary and to pay year ends next March - increased from seven to for the greater portion of didn't work. eight for each operating one psychiatrist's wage. Instead of seven catar- room session because of Some of it is also being = Chest of silver I acts per ophthalmology demand: spent on the time doctors FRED MASON, the foreman of the Kitselas band's fishwheel operation, pours wriggling sockeye sal- operating session, the hos- At the same time, mon caught by the wheel into a tote. For more on the aboriginal fishery, see page A5. pital proposed cutting it to Continued Page A2 four. Continued Page A2 Power pole crash Money flowing in turns off the lights THOUSANDS IN Terrace "The vehicle had major were without power after a front-end damage," said NIsga'a territory •.stolen car knocked out a Terrace RCMP Staff-Sgt. hydro pole just after 6 a.m. Tom Forster. IT'S A PROSPEROUS time in the tioned commercial fishery for tile Nisga'a. Aug. 11. The power outage af- Nass valley as treaty cash payments from July 1-21. The accident occurred fected nearly 2,000 people. to elders have arrived and individual It was organized to allow individuals on Kalum St. near Loen According to B.C. to go out and fish and profit directly from Ave. when a stolen 1987 Hydro, the last homes and Nisga'a people are benefitting from their efforts. Buick station wagon head' businesses were connected the first-ever treaty fishery. Nisga'a fish and wildlife director Harry ing south slammed head- again about seven hours All elders over 60 years of age have Nyce said more than 200 participated. on into the hydro pole. after the accident. received one-time $15,000 payments, The Nisga'a government set aside The vehicle smashed Police and hydro work- said Nisga'a Nation president Joe Gos- 40,000 sockeye of its total 70,000 alloea. through the lower half of ers quickly closed the nell. tion for the individual fishery, while the the wooden pole, leaving street and began replacing " About 300 people were immediately rest was to be harvested by fish wheel the top half suspended in the damaged pole and' eligible, putting the total paid out at with the profits supporting the new gov- mid-air, hanging by power wires. Telus crews were around $4.5 million. ernment's fisheries programs, and phone lines. also on the scene to safe- It's one of the first tangible benefits of The whole fishery generated about $1 According to Terrace guard phone lines. the treaty, he said, and has allowed el- million, with around $500,000 in pay- RCMP, the accident was The incident also ders to make major purchases that had ments made to individuals, Nyce said. caused by the station spurred an assault on a po- been out of their reach. "It was a very exciting time for the wagon alone, which was lice officer, Terrace Some have been able to buy cars or people to participate in a long-aaillll being driven erratically RCMP say a driver impa- trucks for the first time in their lives. benefit from the treaty," Nyce saldmlil~d down Kalum St. tient with traffic delays got The Nisga'a decided in a vote at a all the proceeds from their efforts went to Police say local resi- out of his vehicle and as- past tribal council convention to make themselves," dents reported a man limp- saulted the officer who the payments to elders, with the money Some people are using the money to ing away from the seene, was searching Kalum St. coming out of the treaty settlement cash. buy new vehicles or clothes for their kids Officers then picked up a for evidence related to the The payouts continue as each new for school, he said. suspect nearby, accident, A' STOLEN station wagon crashed head-on into a elder turns 60. Seeing their own people's fish being An ambulance took him The man was taken into power pole on Kalum St, early Friday, leaving these Also pouring money into individual caught, managed by themselves, and to hospital, custody but later released. remains of the pole behind. Nisga'a hands was the first :treaty'saac. Continued Page A2 s A2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 16, 2000 From front Why live with a diet that says no pizza, P.G. deal ope= ed floodgates no cake, no fun? (Now there's no reason to.) O Now Weight Watchers easy 1.2.3 Success Plan spend on a local diabetic ernment had hoped would increases in h~ral and re- having to do the same lets you enjoy any food you crave! program and to bring in a be an orderly negotiation mote areas. elsewhere on a communi- temporary obstetrician. with the B.C. Medical As- Those negotiations were ty-by-community basis, ~1 Every food has a POINTS® value. The plan's budget was sociation (BCMA), the to begin this fall but de- The province was able Stay within your POINTS range and lose weight! boosted this year to reflect provincial body which re- mands for more money fol- last week to return to its what the provincial nov- presents physicians, for fee lowed by a brief walk-out original plan for a provin- iiii~!i, ~i~ Now! Weight Watchers has a whole new approach by Prince George doctors ce-wide fee increase deal .....