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Cassiar Courier

the Voice of Cassiar Country

October 1982

10 cents

Government takes over Cassiar Hospital

On July 26, 1982, the Cassiar Private Hospital was taken over by The Cassiar Hospital Society and, although the Society is now responsible for the financing and oper- ating of the hospital, the actual transfer of the operations from Grinco will take place when staffing contract in- formation is finalized and a budget is drawn up. It is hoped this will take place before the end of 1982.

Brinco Mining Limited will be deeding to the Cassiar Hospital Society the hospital building and land it is situat- ed on, all equipment, except the lung function and hear- ing machines, and all supplies. In addition, Brinco has giv- en to The Cassiar Hospital Society five residential lots, outstanding mortgages on two residences and a three- bedroom house which the Society will use as a hospital employees rental residence. Brinco has also agreed that if it becomes necessary, hospital employees can rent ac- commodation at an agreed upon price. In addition, Brin- co h.ining Limited has agreed to underwrite 40% of all capital expenditures Tie Cassiar Hospital Society and the government agree on.

The Cassiar Hospital Society was formed in 1981 and its constitution states there will be ten members on the Board, one appointed hy the Lieutenant Governor and the other 9 elected by the members of the Society. Claire Redmond is chair-person, Frank Buckley is vice- chair-person and Cec Pulsifer and Kathy DeCecco are members of the present Board. f..s. Redmond said it was hoped a meeting will be held in October to explain the function and responsibility of the Society and to encour- age people to become members and attend meetings. This

decries budget cuts.

by Owen Corcoran

At a well-attended meeting in Cassiar on Saturday, September 11, the Board of Trustees debated the cuts necessary in its 1982 Budget to comply with the Minis- try’s order that it excise $82,894.00 from its current budget.

The Administration presented a series of budget changes for Trustee approval. In speaking of these changes the Superintendent, Owen Corcoran; indicated that the following criteria had been applied:

(1) the preservation of the basic education program al- ready in place in the schools

(2) maintenance of the integrity of existing contracts with teaching and non-teaching staff

(3) the fine-tuning of forecasted budgets to reflect actual costs already evident

(4) the avoidance of staff lay-offs

(5) the evaluation of proposed changes not already in place.

Mr. Corcoran stressed that it was impossible to make any

reduction which would not impact on the total education-

al service. The suggested reductions were those which would, he felt, have minimal impact.

The major reductions achieved were in the areas of non-salary items such as district travel costs, maintenance and office supplies, extra-curricular travel, non-hiring of replacement staff, reduction of teacher-aide time, and the freezing of several accounts. :

The Board. approved the changes recommended by the administrative staff and directed the Superintendent to notify the Ministry of its budget changes.

In conclusion, the Trustees passed the following re-

solution: -

‘The Board of School Trustees of School District No.

87 (Stikine) accepts that, in the current economic

climate of this province, government restraint is de-

sirable. Having examined the impact of the govern- ment’s latest phase of economic restraint, the ex- cision of $82,894 from its formalized budget, the

Board is adamant that the required budget cuts can-

not be made without inflicting a serious reduction of

educational service in the Stikine.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Claire Redmond Hospital Board Chairperson

is an interesting and challenging area. This will be follow- ed in November by the first official meeting of The Cas- siar Hospital Society at which time the executive board will be elected by the members. To become a member a fee of $1.00 must he paid to The Cassiar Hospital Society.

The Cassiar Hospital Society is responsible to see that the hospital functions in an efficient manner in accordance with the B.C. Provincial Hospital legislation. The funds for operating the Cassiar Hospital will now be allocated by the Provincial Government. The Provincial

The Ministry of Lands; Parks and Housing has a mandate for the management and disposition of all un- reserved and unalienated Crown land and foreshore in British Columbia. The statutory basis for this mandate is the Land Act.

Formerly, land management decisions were based on a referral system which encouraged input from various resource agencies affected by a particular applic- ation for Crown land. This system proved to be unsat- isfactory for several reasons. Firstly, applicants were of- ten required to wait long periods of time before receiv- ing an official adjudication; secondly, the system reflect- ed a reactive (haphazard) as opposed to an anticipatory (planned) approach to land management; thirdly, the system lacked a forum for resolving land use conflicts in a consistent and comprehensive fashion as.agencies were encouraged to respond to referrals on an individual basis and generally did so in terms of maximizing their own narrowly defined resource management goals; and fourthly, the system failed to consider a wider perspec- tive achieved through the expression of public prefer- ences.

This Ministry presently recognizes that these prob- lems can largely be resolved through the implementation of a comprehensive planning process. The primary ob- jective of this approach is the resolution of land use con- flicts by the participants of a task force which consists of resource agencies and affected interest groups, as well as through a process of public participation.

The ‘aim of a study is to arrive at a comprehensive land management strategy as determined through the analysis of social, economic and resource values associ- ated with various land uses. These values are identified from available bio-physical data, key resource agencies and the public.

The bio-physical data forms the basis for determin- ing land use capability. Where Crown land has competing capability ratings, conflicts are resolved through the ap- plication of suitability criteria as identified by the above- mentioned values, as well as the process of negotiation amongst the competing interests. In this manner, land that is identified as being capable of supporting a spec- ific use is not restricted to that use if it is not socially, economically or environmentally suitable.

Government also has the power to appoint a trustee to run the Cassiar Hospital if it at any time feels that the Cassiar Hospital Society is not running the hospital properly.

To date no changes have taken place regarding staff, policies and drug dispensing although when the complete operation is phased over from Brinco Mining Limited the hospital will be administered by a part-time administrator who will work also as either a nurse or secretary. Accord- ing to Nis. Redmond, no increase or decrease in hospital employees is foreseen at this time.

Doctors will, in future, apply to The Cassiar Hospital Society for the right to practice in the hospital. Brinco Mining will continue to assist with the hiring of doctors and have negotiated with The Cassiar Hospital Society for doctors to operate out of the hospital premises. Brinco will also pay for hospital staff time used to do as- bestosis tests on lung function and hearing machines.

The Cassiar Hospital Society members have met with the hospital employees regarding their concerns about the take-over and his. Redmond stated it was the Society's hope that all the employees will continue to work for the Cassiar Hospital Society. Vwhen asked how the changeover will affect benefits of some of the long-time Brinco em- ployees, fv.s. Redmond hoped that the new staff contracts would compensate for this in other areas.

The Cassiar Hospital Society would like to thank Brinco iWiining Limited for their co-operation and gener- osity during the negotiations for this takeover.

- Board of School Trustees Land use study proposed for Cassiar =

A complex situation of land use conflicts exists in the plan area. Numerous unauthorized mine access roads have been constructed on Crown land. Additional facili- ties have been constructed also without proper Land Act authorization. Confusion may exist with some of the smaller mining companies not being aware that Land Act authority is required for certain land uses even though mineral claims and permits have been obtained from the Ministry .of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. Others may simply choose to disregard the fact. Know- ledge and enforcement is a difficult problem to address in such a remote area.

Rural residential and recreational cottage demand is a major issue. Residents of the Cassiar townsite ac- _count for a limited (in Provincial terms) demand for these uses that, due to the lack of a private sector in- ventory, can only be met through Crown land dispos- ition. In the past the Crown has experienced difficulty in meeting this demand due to status constraints, primar- ily conflicts with mineral claims:

The presence of substantial numbers of mineral claims is an issue that is interconnected with all of the other identified issues. Not only has this severely hamper ed the efforts of the Ministry in meeting the demands for the Crown land base in a. systematic or planned fashion but it also has directly contributed to another land use conflict which is trespass. Trespass is endemic throughout the area, not just in terms of the industrial or mining related trespasses but also in that many in- dividuals frustrated in their attempts to obtain a Crown disposition for residential or recreational purposes will construct in trespass. Ministry policy does not permit the issuance of a tenure over an area which is covered by a mineral claim in good standing. Due to topographical and access constraints there are few building sites avail- able and these are invariably covered by mineral claims. On the other hand, mineral activity is the only economic activity of note in the area so it is unrealistic to assume that the situation will improve without Government action.

There is an unrealized potential for highway-com- mercial development at the junction. The area was id- entified in the Highway 37 Corridor Report as a develop- ment node, primarily because of its strategic location.

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