News

The End of the PGSO?

By Nicole Larson

This could be the end of an
era in Prince George’s musi-
cal culture. The Prince
George Symphony Orchestra
is in serious financial trouble.
After 30 years of presenting
quality musical programming
to the Central Interior the
PGSO is having trouble main-
taining that high level of qual-
ity and remaining in the black.

PGSO co-ordinators finger
the slumping regional econo-
my as playing a major role in
decreased PGSO funding in

recent years. Sponsorships
and the local subscriber base
have decreased and the sea-
son ticket holders for the pop-
ular Legends series has
decreased by more than 100
over the past 2 years.

“We have exhausted our
accumulated resources from
earlier, more prosperous
times,” says PGSO vice-chair
Lee Keener. “Besides
appealing to the City of
Prince George for our share
of the vanished casino rev-
enue, we will approach our

customers, seeking cash
donations, as well as their
continued patronage.”

Right now the PGSO is in
the process of restructuring
their budget yet again,
through a combination of
strategies to increase rev-
enue and to reduce expens-
es. They have already
reduced concert expenses
from $335, 705 in 1995-6 to
$304,454 for the current sea-
son. The PGSO if hindered
from cutting expenses further
by Prince George’s geo-

New documentary film
exposes RCMP

By Ben Mahony
LETHBRIDGE, Alb. (CUP) -A
controversial new documen-
tary that depicts RCMP offi-
cers fabricating evidence
against native people is caus-
ing a sensation in British
Columbia, and is likely to gain
national attention very soon.
Above the Law 2, an indepen-
dently produced film, argues
that the RCMP and then
British Columbia Attorney-
General Ujjal Dosanjh - who
was recently sworn in as BC’s
premier - lied to the media
after police shot at Native
protesters at the Gustafsen
Lake standoff in 1995.

The movie depicts RCMP
and Canadian military offi-
cials as being in a war
against a small group of tradi-
tional Native Sun Dancers.
The standard image of
Mounties as beacons of fair-
ness comes under attack in
scenes that show RCMP offi-
cers in back room discus-
sions falsifying information.
“Smear campaigns are our
specialty,” one officer
remarks.

Much of the film consists of
footage that was taken during
the Gustafsen siege by the
RCMP’s own cameras.
During the summer of 1995 a
group of native people held a
sun dance on Shuswap terri-
tory, near 100-Mile House, in
the province’s interior.

After resisting an eviction
attempt by an American cat-

tle rancher who claimed own-
ership of the land, several
Shuswap maintained they,
like all native nations within
BC’s provincial borders,
never ceded or sold any por-
tion of their territory to
Canada.

The conflict came to an end
when 400 RCMP officers
confronted the 18 Native pro-
testers. The $5.5-million cam-
paign was the most expen-
sive domestic military opera-
tion in Canada’s history. Four
hundred RCMP officers -
armed with M-16 assault
rifles, land mines and eight
armored personnel carriers -
fired 77,000 rounds of
ammunition. During the
standoff, the Canadian public
was told that the Natives
were “militants” and “terror-
ists.” In contrast, the RCMP
was shown to be moderate
and patient men who were
victims of native aggression.

For example, the RCMP told
the press that on September
4th, 1995, officers were
“actively pursued by persons
from the armed camp and
only great restraint on the
part of the officers prevented
what could have been a very
serious incident.”

But this film shows the
RCMP were the ones who
were actively pursuing. Until
now, most observers viewed
the Sun Dancers as “a band
of thugs,” as they were
described by RCMP media

liaison

Sergeant Peter Montague.
Similarly, at the time Dosanjh
called the natives reckless
law-breakers.

Although pressed to provide
some account of the Native
side during the standoff,
Dosanjh states early in the
film that, “there is no other
side to the story.”

The remainder of the film
elaborates, in detail, the
“other side of the story.” It
shows Dosanjh and the
RCMP, with whom he worked
closely, push for the use of
the military to “take down” the
Native encampment. A par-
ticularly telling scene shows
an RCMP negotiator advising
his fellow officers of a plan to
attack Bruce Clark, the
native protestors lawyer. “Kill
this Clark and smear the prick
and everyone associated with
him,” Sgt. Ryan is heard to
say. A fellow officer concurs,
calling this “a good tactic.”

The movie’s credibility is
strengthened with commen-
tary by former U.S.-Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, and
defence lawyer George Wool.

Some darker revelations in
the movie consist of footage
the RCMP recorded them-
selves, to be used as a train-
ing to guide officers in future
conflicts.

The RCMP footage shows
snipers shooting at unarmed
protesters and referring to

Continued on Page 13

graphic location, they fre-
quently have to import musi-
cians from Vancouver.

The PGSO does not want
their current financial situa-
tion to draw attention away
from the rest of their concert
season. The last of their
Legends Series “Hasta La
Vista, Baby” will be per-
formed on March 11 and 12.
There will be receptions after
both performances so that
the public can bid farewell to
Paul Andreas Mahr, who will
be taking his final turn as

conductor and music director
of a Legends Concert with
this one. Tickets are still avail-
able at Studio 2880.

“These next couple of
months will be vital to the sur-
vival of the PGSO because
we need awareness of our
situation that will hopefully
lead to enough support to
ensure our ongoing viability,”
says director and publicity
chair of the PGSO Mark
Allen.

Geography class crosses
international border

By Christopher Bolster
ABBOTSFORD; BC (CUP) -
Geography’ students __in
Canada and the United
Siates are breaking new
ground after enrolling in a sin-
gle class that’s being taught
on both sides of the border.
The geography departments
of Western Washington
University, located in
Bellingham, Wash., and the
University College of the
Fraser Valley (UCFV) in
British Columbia, are offering
their respective students a
joint course on issues arising
from the shared Canada-U.S.
border.

This is the first class of its
kind in North America, says
UCFV geography Professor
John Belec, who is teaching
the course with Doug Nicol, a
faculty colleague, and Pat
Buckley of Western
Washington. “The course has
been developed to study the
impact of the international
border on the region that peo-
ple at both institutions co-
inhabit: the Fraser Lowland,”
said Belec. “It provides an
opportunity for students in
both countries to overcome
the limitations of maps that
end at the border, and study
critical transboundary issues,
such as resource manage-
ment, environmental protec-
tion and economic co-opera-
tion?”

The class, which began in
January, has already studied

fisheries management.
During the first week of the
course, Dennis Streifel, B.C.
minister of Fisheries, talked
about managing the resource
from a Canadian and provin-
cial perspective, while Ernie
Crey,; executive director of
fisheries for the Stolo Nation,
gave the local aboriginal

viewpoint.

The following week, Leo
Bodensteiner, a fresh water
ecologist at Western
Washington, and _ Dale
Griggs, a fish biologist for the
Nooksack Tribe, shared their
views. “We're finding that the
most important impact that
the border presents is two
entirely dissimilar ways of
dealing with our geographical
resources,” said UCFV pro-
fessor Nicol. “Even in
instances where we share the
resource, such as the aquifer
and the fisheries, we’re find-
ing out just how different the
two jurisdictions’ approaches
are.”

Nicol also notes the border
serves as a barrier to urban
sprawl from the Canadian
side. “The Fraser Valley is an
urbanizing region that’s under
great pressure because of its
proximity to Vancouver,” said
Nicol. “Whereas northern
Whatcom County [in
Washington] is still very much
a rural area, and Bellingham
is still a long way from
Seattle.”

Continued on Page 13