Page 2 November 1981 Cassiar Courier Grace McCart The following is a letter received from Grace McCarthy, Minister of Human Resources. Dear Sir, There are children Jiving in our Province who have never known any other life than that of welfare. Their Parents or parent applied for assistance some years ago, and now © several years later, they are still on welfare and many ex- perience a lack of confidence and initiative to even begin to look for a job. The recent changes in income assistance policy are intended to discontinue this practice;'and the original intent of income assistance will be reinforced; temporary help in time of need. Income assistance was never intended to. be a lifetime pension plan for the able bodied, and in many cases family. problems have escalated because of the money problems associated with it. The Government believes that most people on welfare want a better way of life for themselves and their families We believe that most people on welfare want to work. Welfare is second best, and what we want for each British Columbian is the best that their individual efforts can bring. Unlike the NDP Party spokesman, our Government does not want to commit any of our citizens to a lifetime of welfare. The attempt to provide the employables of our Province with independance and a better way of life should not be a matter of partisan party politics, but it appears our political opponents wish to make the poor -people Pawns in a political game wherein the poor re- ‘main on welfare while the socialists gain their headlines. Let‘s look at the facts: - MO person in need, under the G_A_I.N. will be denied income assistance. - The G.AI.N. for specoaes program remains unchanged. - For employable singles. and couples, assistance will be granted for 1 month after which time the case will be automatically closed. If they have not found employment , they will be required to reapply for as- sistance. - For family cases classed as employable, eligibility will continue for no more than 4 months, at which time a review of alternatives will be required. - Anyone suffering from a physical or mental infirmity rendering him temporarily or permanently incap- able of accepting employment, will continue to re- ceive income assistance. regulations Gries Back 4 Bon Mer eon - A single parent with one child.six months and older. will be classified as employable. - ~ Increases in day care have been announced as well as a broadening of subsidization of in-home care arrange © ments. ; : - The individual Opportunity Plan, introduced a year ago offers retraining, rehabilitation, counselling, re- education and various supports on an individual basis. This preceded the new policy and is achiev- ing dramatic success. The socialists are also. pointing out. that a single Parent of a child over six «months should have the “right” to choose not to work. Of course they have the right to choose--—-but not at the taxpayer's expense. The right to welfare -is‘not a matter of choice. It is a question of el- igibility and eligibility for employable people demands that they are actively seeking work. There are approx- imately 35,000 single parents working today in British Columbia attesting to the fact that mothers with child- ren not only can work and raise a family but do so very well indeed. Negotiations during the recent postal strike were fought over the issue“of a seventeen week maternity leave. Our new policy recognizes six months maternity leave, two months longer than our adjoining neighbour of Alberta. The suggestion that jobs are unavailable for the employ- able is nonsense. Builders, restaurants, offices, banks, fact- ories, etcetera, etcetera, cry out for responsible workers. Our unemployment figure in British Columbia has not been as low in years. The two major dailies in British Col- umbia list over five thousand help wanted ads each week, and if that is not enough to help a person bécome employ- ed, we have the Individual Opportunity Plan which allows them to keep full benefits while training for a job. As a representative of the taxpayers of the Province, my responsibility is to see that help is given to those in need, and this year our Government is spending $467 million or $1.7 million each working day to assure that assistance is there when needed. In spite of what the NDP wants the welfare recipients to believe, there is a better way, and there is an opportunity for every employable person in our Province. We plan to give them that Opportunity. Sincerely, Grace McCarthy Minister of Human Resources. R. C.M. Pp NEWS On September 27, 1981, Dennis Nairn was charged with impaired driving as a result of a motor vehicle accident in Cassiar. On September 24. 1981, a vehicle went out of control and overturned on Highway 37 near Boya Park. A num- ber of passengers were taken to the Cassiar Hospital with injuries and one was later flown to Vancouver with neck injuries. The driver was Kevin Davidson. There was an assault charge investigated in Cassiar but no charges were laid. A number of harassing phone calls have been investigat- ed and charges are pending on these. On October 13, 1981, a motor vehicle driven by Chris Tate left the.road at Cottonwood River and went over a forty foot bank, landing in the Cottonwood River. This accident was caused by a mechanical defect and neither the driver or the Passenger were injured. No charges were laid. On October 13, 1981, a theft of clothes was reported in Cassiar. This is now under investigation. On October 16, Mr.B. Smallwood accidently backed his car off the road at Joe Reid’s hill and it went over a 70 foot bank. The car was completely demolished and Mr. Smallwood and his Passenger, Al Young, were taken to Cassiar Hospital with minor injuries. He was charged with “Driving without due care and attention”. A breaking and entry was reported by Doris Carlick at the Good Hope Lake Community Hall on October 17. Cigarettes and jewellery were taken. That same day An- gel Carlick also reported a breaking and entry. These are being investigated. On October 18, 1981 there was an attempted rape re- ported in Good Hope Lake and charges have been laid. A charge of Assault causing bodily harm has been laid - against a male from Good Hope Lake as a result of an ; incident on October 17 at Good Hope Lake. From ‘September 25, 1981 to October 20, 1981 there were seven accidents investigated, three with injuries. There were 11 charges laid for speeding and other Motor Vehicle Act offences, charges. There was one impaired driving charge laid and two others under investigation. including some “‘No Insurance‘’ SNOWMOBILES With the coming of snow and everyone tuning up their machines for the season, this is a reminder to all snow- mobilers that there is a certain amount of responsibility in operating snowmobiles — they are not just for fun. _ Tewn Council Continued from Page 1 _ WELCOME FOLDER — A “Welcome to Cassiar” folder has been designed, in- corporating all relevant information about Cassiar. As soon as this is returned by the publishers it will be distrib- uted to new families in the hope that it will assist them in making them feel at home in Cassiar. TERRY FOX WALK We would like to thank everyone who Participated in the Terry Fox marathon of Hope. A cheque for $140 will be sent to the Cancer Research Society on behalf of those who participated. CLEAN UP TIME AGAIN You have probably noticed recent- ly a group of Cubs and Scouts, or- ganized by Mary Ryan and Kurt Aregger, once again cleaning park areas and some of the streets of Cassiar. It is hoped that the exam- ple of these small bodies wander- ing around with large garbage bags will be an example to everyone — in particular to those who SUM from “Litter Mania”! The Editor, Cassiar Courier, Dear Sir: : i i fey ihe aa SEES With regard to the story of the. “beautiful” lynx hanging -on the wall at Dease Lake School, | should like to com- _ ment that the only ‘place a lynx skin looks beautiful is on a lynx — where it belongs! Yours truly, M. G. Buchanan 18. 10. 81 The Editor, Cassiar Courier, -Cassiar, B.C. ; 1 would like to congratulate everyone behind getting the new street signs installed. As a newcomer to Cassiar | remember asking directions and getting remarks like: 1. Go up the main drag until you pass two red lights, fire stations, turn right three houses 2.-Or go up to the large black house and turn left 3. Or go past the ski hill left and three trailers down 4. Or the bright orange house you can’t miss it, but | usually did. The list goes on, but you get the idea. It’s nice to see that who ever was behind getting the - signs replaced: must have had the same experience. Con- gratulations Cassiar, on your new street signs and future improvements. A new citizen, Brian Beaudry. rp eh A MESSAGE FROM THE R.C.M.-P. CANADIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY has declared NOVEMBER 15 — 21 as WINTER SAFETY WEEK ET a a Ever since its existence, the Ge rinunity Club of Cas- siar has been subsidized by Cassiar Asbestos Corporation, “and now by Cassiar Resources. At one time the Club was mainly for the purpose of providing recreation to Cassiar- employees and their families. However, this has changed and to accommodate the changes the Cassiar Community Club Constitution was revised about four years ago, allow- ing anyone living within a four-mile radius of the Cassiar Post Office to become an Active Member, with voting priv- ~~ ileges. Country Memberships are available to anyone living outside the four-mile radius. We have seen many changes in the past couple of years, and have watched: new mining companies open up, with their employees using the Cassiar facilities, and each of these employees paying their memberships to the Club. The membership has grown and some areas of the Club have overflowed to the point of a definite need for expan- sion. : Approaches have been made to the outside companies © that are in production to help with the operation and by Garry Periard maintenance of the Club, with a direct yearly grant. This grant would help offset some much needed expansion, and give every company the opportunity to help share the expense. This would also save the outside companies from ‘having to build very expensive facilities for recreation, and give their employees a wide variety of recreation in their _ leisure time. To date no approach has been made to the Commun- ity Club to set” up a meeting nor has a reply been received to the letters we have sent. _ It is to be realized that changes to the Constitution would have to be made should grants be made, but it.is very difficult to make any changes when no psholes is received. ; _ Cassiar Resources is paying $271.00 per capita in or- der that recreation is provided to the community. This amount is for 1981 and will be higher in 1982. Let’s see input from the outside companies that are «in production in the not too distant future. Where do we go from here? The following is a letter received in the Recreation Office. Over the past year, letters have been sent back and forth with regards to the arena roof grant application that was turned down by the B.C. Government. This letter tells us in Cassiar just exactly where we stand with the B.C. Government. In recent issues we have given the public the whole - story with regards to our situation with the B.C. Govern- & S ment. We were told a while back that the Community Club was okayed to apply for direct grants from the Goy- ernment. Previously this was not possible because. the Government felt we were not open to the general public. However, this was supposedly cleared up when it was ex- plained that everybody was allowed to enter any facility ’ owned by the Community Club, as long as they paid - membership. The other problem that was supposedly cleared up was the ownership of the building. It should be noted that _ Cassiar Resources DOES NOT own the arena as the Min- ister has stated, but rather the Community. The letter from the Minister speaks for itself, and | would expect that with the amount of money that is pour- ed into the Government from the taxpayers of Cassiar one . would think that a visit from the Minister’s office could be arranged in order that somebody in Victoria would know what kind of a building we are working with, and just exactly how recreation really is in the Town of Cas- siar. Invitations of letters from the local people would be appreciated in expressing their views on the arena roof situation, and what direction they feel we should look at. by Garry Periard September 29, 1981 Mr. Garry Periard, Business Mgr., Cassiar Community Club, P.O. Box 336, Cassiar, B.C., VOC 1E0 “Dear Mr. Periard: Re: Recreation Facilities Assistance Program Thank you for your letter of June 26, 1981, which only recently arrived in my office. The Province recognizes the value of recreation and has responded by providing, where possible, capital grants to develop facilities and thereby increase access to recre- ational opportunities Province-wide. Our position is sim- ply that the provision of capital funds frees local funds which can then be redirected for operational and mainten- ance uses. It is, therefore, a local responsibility to efficient- ly run local facilities, including structural repairs, when necessary. | understand that Cassiar Resources is the owner of the building, and has not entered into a long term lease with the non-profit Community Club sere ensure public ac- cess for all citizens. Cassiar Resources is the main contributor to the op- eration and maintenance of the Community Club and de- rives benefit from supplying such a fa cility for its employ- ees. This application, as stated previously, appears to be more of a maintenance nature and does not increase re- creation opportunities. The competing demands placed _upon our funds available for capital assistance makes it very difficult to approve this subject. _ | trust this matter has been clarified and thank you once again for your enquiry. _ Yours very truly, Evan M. Wolfe, Minister. MINING ACTIVITY IN THE AREA CUSAC INDUSTRIES Cusac Industries has closed down its mining oper- ation, located. south of Cassiar on Highway 37, for the winter months. During the summer 8,000 feet of core was drilled. This now has to be split and logged and the results eval- uated. The evaluation results will determine the type of _ programs that Cusac will develop in the future. The stock- pile accumulated during the summer has been put through the milling process at the Erickson Gold Mine. To date the findings look very promising with a pos-. sibility of an underground mining operation being devel-- oped next year. The crew will be returning to camp by the middle of February, at which time they hope to have a definite idea about what direction the operation will take. The deadline for the December issue of the Courier is November 7th. If you wish to place a Christmas greet- ing in the paper please be sure that your greeting is in before the deadline so that space may be reserved. PLAZA MINING CORPORATION With the onset of winter, Plaza Mining has laid off most of the construction crews which were hired this past spring and summer. This has reduced the work force to operating crews only. While the underground division of Plaza has closed down temporarily, the open pit is still in operation and, weather permitting, it will remain so until the end of November. The ore is being trucked to the mill by R &S Services. At the present time the mill is processing approx- imately 125 tons of ore per day and the mine has al- ready sent out shipments for smelting. UNITED HEARNE United Hearne has a new manager — Mr. Bob Smith. He was formerly employed by Cyrpus Anvil Mine as mill superintendent. United Hearne is continuing the underground oper ation with a stoping development on the Upper Level, where they are driving another drift. They are also carrying out a drilling program. Work will continue on these projects all winter. Like Plaza, the mill at United Hearne is processing about 125 tons a day and have sent shipments out for smelting. Cassiar Courier, Novenber 1981 phage 3 Erickson c reek e Column | sa 5 Pat Habe Looks like winter is. upon us. Most of the placer miners in the valley have packed up and gone home but Erickson’s_ hardrock miners keep drilling and blasting a- ~ way. Gold mining is quite a profession.Our men work in the dark with only a small miner's lamp to_light the face. They work in water so bad sometimes:it seems like it’s raining. underground. (We even purchased skin diver’s gloves for one of our crews the water was so persistent!) The men have to climb ladders to the work place carry- ing their 20 pound drills on their backs — all this in pur- suit of the elusive yellow metal men have prized since the‘beginning of time. . And what a prize indeed! I’ve seen the glint in many a man’s eye when he first sees a piece of free gold stand- ing out of the white quartz. It’s magnetic! The eyes wid- en and zero in on the tiny yellow spot. The heart seems to skip a beat and the breath is held in too long. “Is this really gold?” the uninitiated almost always ask. “Yes” is always the answer, “You'll never confuse it again once you've seen. the real thing.” This first exposure often leads to gold fever and the once uninitiated now be- comes expert at picking out the gold in every sample he can get his hands on. I’ve seen it happen time and time again! People at Erickson are gearing in for the winter. Sev- eral of the crew have joined the local hockey league and were organizing a few curling rinks. Cary Moffat has ~ been elected to the executive of the Cassiar Curling Club (which I’ve been told is a first for a non-Cassiar resident) The cross country skiers are waxing their skiis and gaug- ing the snow. The ladies are pulling out their needlework and their projects from last year (and the year before, like me) and.we’re all saying we'll finish them this winter for sure! . __A few congratulations go out this month — to Cathy and Brian Mercer on the birth of their first child, Ross - Gideon, on September 13th at Vancouver General Hos- pital, 8 Ibs. 4 oz. Brian is a miner at Erickson and Cathy has been a sub teacher at the school. : -— to Leo Tazzer and his new wife. Leo is one of the fora est serving employees at Erickson and is a strong mem- ber of the underground mining team. — to Gil and Lillian Brett of Cusac, who were married this spring. Brothers Gil and Fred Brett are no strangers to Cassiar Country. They have been prospecting these hills for 25 years. t i Winter’s here — enjoy the beauty of our mountains and the whiteness of our snow. Cancer Awareness MRS LIENWEBER AND MRS BUNN On October 24 and 25, two respresentatives from the ‘Canadian Cancer Society were in town to talk with vari- ous people in the community. Mrs. Pat Bunn, Northern District Co-ordinator, and Mrs. Eileen Leinweber, North- ern District President, had two main reasons for coming to Cassiar. They are: ? 1) To promote breast self-examination among women. One in fourteen women get breast cancer. By doing a -regular examination and going to the doctor within a week of finding any lump, a woman has a 75% greater Continued on Page 15