Capacity building is visionary at McLeod Lake Indian Band

McLeod Lake Indian Band, north of Prince George, B.C., is building investment and employment capacity for their Tse'khene members in a variety of industrious directions, "It started way before I came along," says Chief Derek Orr, (elected 2008), and, he says, economic development initiatives of MLIB are especially evident since MLIB joined the Treaty 8 groups of First Nations.
    

History shows MLIB began coming into its own prior to 1987 when leaders advised the Canadian Government of their intention to join Treaty 8. This move was made after a forestry  company, Duz Cho Logging, begun in the early 80's, produced enough profits to hire legal counsel and negotiate McLeod Lake’s adhesion to Treaty 8 with Canada.
    

As economic capacity grew, MLIB created Duz Cho Construction in 2002 to work in the oil and gas and coal industries of north eastern B.C.. A lobby effort with oil companies garnered the construction company its first contracts and Duz Cho Construction was profitable by the middle of the decade. Acting further on the growing oil and gas activity in North-East B.C., MLIB made a major share purchase of  Summit Pipeline Services Ltd.. 
    

Summit constructs pipelines, conducts diagnostic and repair services for pipelines, municipal sewer systems, pulp mills and other industries. MLIB in the most recent context has business development programs to assist MLIB members gain skills and establish business ventures. They are doing so with owner-operated equipment, forestry, construction, steel sales and fabrication, and business in the accommodation of work crews. 
    

Having members working in the surrounding traditional territory is not new because these lands and waters once provided abundant harvests of fur and wild game to Tse'Khene people. The key is to build a capacity to do the changing nature of work, "We targeted seven or eight members who were mentored and encouraged to join the effort at building the capacity for McLeod Lake Indian Band to participate in industrial development."
    

MLIB endured the toughest year in recent history, especially tough for a new chief, youngest in their history at age 35. "It's been one and a half years since I have been able to give members any good news. A lot of community services for youth and elders were put on hold while the world economy battered the financial stability of MLIB."
    

The MLIB operations are back in high gear and the Band is looking closely at the coming opportunities in mining, regarding Terrane Metals Mt. Milligan project in Mackenzie, B.C.. This gold/copper mine could provide good jobs and new business opportunities within their traditional territory. 
    

MLIB is working closely with Mt. Milligan Copper/Gold Mine, "We are working to ensure jobs, business contracts, revenue-sharing, and environmental monitoring. We have a Memorandum of Understanding with Mt. Milligan Mine to provide environmental monitoring at the mine site. It's important because we have a huge demand for services on reserve," says the Chief.
    

"Housing and facilities for youth are in short supply. We have people who wish to live in McLeod Lake but instead live in Prince George, Williams Lake, or Vancouver. We need more facilities in Prince George to provide services to our members who live there." Youth can choose from a variety of directions to plan a career, in jobs that work for the benefit of all Tse'Khene.
    

The MLIB elders need a facility that provides health and accommodation but remains within traveling distance, so the Band is making plans for a multi-plex that accommodates extended living and assisted living in Mackenzie, B.C.. 
    

MLIB has further opportunities for members to enter the mainstream economy in creative ways like green energy projects in wind energy (Dokie Wind/Plutonic). In fact, Mortenson Construction has begun the process of constructing the first elements of a major wind farm facility.
    

The Dokie Wind Project includes 48 Vestas V90 wind turbines, a switch-yard and transmission lines at a total project cost of $228 million. The Dokie project is on-time and on-budget and represents Plutonic Power's first wind project. Upon completion, it will be the largest wind farm in British Columbia. 
    

Mortenson Canada Corporation is a leading North American wind energy contractor, and uses a mix of their own personnel, local hires, and local subcontractors. The Dokie Ridge area - near Chetwynd, BC - is considered to be one of BC's best wind power assets in terms of generation potential. 
    

The existing network of provincial roads, logging roads, and rail corridors is ideal for transporting the turbine components which can weigh as much as 70 metric tones. This project will deliver 333,000 megawatt-hours per year of clean electricity to BC Hydro, commencing on March 1, 2011, under a 25-year EPA, through a partnership between Plutonic Power and GE Energy Financial Services.
    

Chief Orr says MLIB also has plans for additional community infrastructure that includes an indoor ice-skating rink.

Industry based skills development a strong suit at Northlands College

The Northland College Campus in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, is practically speaking a First Nation college, "The majority of our students are First Nation and Metis," explains Carson Poitras, "and the college engages these students in a wide variety of programs and courses," including many through distance education delivered at communities throughout northern Saskatchewan. 

Northland College celebrated the 20th anniversary two years ago, and 22 years of Northlands College has created a large alumni of First Nation graduates. Programs include GED preparation, technical programs, and many other more advanced programs, some delivered in outlying areas, however, "Some courses are lab-oriented programs," such as one recently delivered in La Ronge, "like engineering technology where students came to the college campus in La Ronge," said Poitras.

The college provides accommodations at hotels and motels for students to stay in La Ronge comfortably for the duration of their participation. Others are delivered in a far-reaching manner, for example, "In the first week of the coming month of August 2010, the college will deliver a heavy equipment operators program using simulator technology, which will run from August 2010 to May 2011 with two trainers and one simulator." 

The heavy equipment operator program uses a portable simulator to teach students to drive rock truck, operate loaders, dozers, excavators, and other equipment. "We put the simulator on an 'air-ride' trailer and take around northern Saskatchewan to places like Buffalo Narrows and many other communities to teach eight students per session how to operate mine and forestry equipment."

The college bought their simulator in 2006 to deliver programs that run on a continuous intake basis. It is very uncommon for non-Aboriginal students to be in these courses. The courses are five weeks long and demand for delivery of courses, "is huge," says Poitras. "Uranium mining is booming and calling for skilled labour and First Nations personnel will fill those jobs. "

Skills are in demand in a resurging mining economy in Saskatchewan, "There are several new or reconstituted mines in the north," says Poitras, "thus we use a lot of industry partnerships to deliver training," he says. "We receive $3 million in funding and deliver $20 million in training each year, so you can see that industry helps deliver a lot of the programs."

Fifty percent First Nation students at North West Community College

North West Community College has campuses in Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Masset, Nass, Prince Rupert, Village of Queen Charlotte, Kaay Llnagaay, Smithers, and Terrace. Ruth Wheadon is the Director of NWCC campuses in Haida Gwaii. "In Haida Gwaii, we run developmental programs that we call Essential Skills for the Workplace (ESWK)," says  Wheadon .
 

"We also run Continuing Education and Training courses that include work-preparation in first-aid, eco-system management, natural resource management," and others, "but the ESWK contains an art focus in the past couple of years, and ESWK continues to offer development of work skills."
 

The art focus introduces business management skills to artists. "We give them the tools to take their art to the business level, and we introduce them to success strategies in marketing their work." Students range in age from their late teens to their fifties. The main purpose of ESWK is to bridge the gap between the public school system and learning today, including a culturally inclusive environment for study.

"It allows students to experience a different perspective on education," says  Wheadon. NWCC also offers university credit courses, "First year anthropology and 2nd year ethno-geography are running this summer from July 14 to 30, 2010, including a four-day trip to Swan Bay Rediscovery Camp, and other trips to four different field sites in Haida Gwaii." 

The Swan Bay Rediscovery Program operates a cultural camp to teach Haida cultural skills and knowledge, plus new life skills, self-esteem and confidence to help build character. Swan Bay puts traditional Haida values at the center, and students at the camps participate in a variety of activities designed to challenge, teach and nurture.

The NWCC website explains that the college operates in a region that encompasses 104,689 square kilometres with a combined population of approximately 83,000 people. "This region is home to seven First Nations whose students make up over 50% of the College's student population." 
 

First Nation participation in the college serves to enrich the cuture of the NWCC community and strengthen its connection and relevance to the area. The College region's geographic boundaries are defined by Haida Gwaii on the West, Houston on the East, Hazelton to the North, and a less defined Southern boundary approximately 800 km due north of Vancouver.

Strategy is there but WFCA wonders if regulations are disappearing

The Western Silviculture Contractors Association (WSCA) is delivering tree-planting training this year through the federally funded and provincially administered Community Development Trust Fund. John Betts, WSCA Executive Director, says, "First Nations are training in driving on resource roads, operating brush saws, running all-terrain-vehicles, and driving crew buses," on highways and resource roads.
     

"We delivered training last year in the Chilcotin and Blue Collar Silviculture's Mark Courtney instructed a class in the field. It was an opportunity for the First Nation trainees to experience the life of a tree planter in a forestry bush camp," says Betts. He believes training in these close quarters produces an excellent outcome for silviculture contractors. 
     

"The trainees get the inside track on the 'stocking' standards in B.C. forestry," which species of trees are used, and the spacing and placement requirements of the seedlings. Betts notes that the province of B.C. has been depending on nature to take it's course in regeneration of forests. 
     

"We have seen a lower priority given to stocking the forests with seedlings. We went from planting 250 million seedlings a couple years ago to planting 160 million this year," and even fewer next year. He says that 40 percent of the MPB ravaged landscape is not growing any new trees. 
     

"We have 18 million hectares of MPB degraded forests in B.C. alone," including forests eaten by the spruce bud worm. "We have many areas with bug kill, other blights, and forest fire burned areas where restoration is being ignored." Betts notes that arguments made by Keith Atkinson, CEO of the First Nation Forestry Council, correctly identify the problems in a sketchy funding regime.
     

"The FNFC recognizes that we have crushing regeneration issues and huge demands for landscape level replanting operations," including transmission line corridors, highways, and watersheds. Electrical grid failure is just one of the threats in the forest fire (inferno) scenario. Destruction of watersheds also demands more attention."
     

Meanwhile the province is overrun by environment lobbies that want to lock-down forestry operations, "They are not recognizing the problem. Leaving forests alone is perilous when fires are increasing in number and severity." Betts notes that historically First Nations used a lot of fire to manage forests and make them produce specific plants, trees, and ecologies.
     
"The so-called natural fires have been eliminated by suppression and fire is gone as a forestry management tool. In place of managed fires the unnatural fires we see are non-renewing events." The intensity of these unnatural fires wipes out water resources, aquatic plants included, and all the grasses and trees in an ecology disappear. 
     

Worst of all, the soil gets super-heated and destroyed as an eco-system. Unfortunately, says Betts, "We see no real strategy and the demand is growing to get involved with biomass reclamation and refurbishing of these provincial forests.
     

"Nature won't be fooled. Interior forests are being left behind, whereas these landscapes require a change in strategy." First Nations are blazing the trail in the pursuit of a biomass economy from these decadent forests. "They see perpetual employment and management requirements for the eco-systems in their territories."
     

Betts believes the existing proposals for use of biomass are too large, and should be made smaller than those seen in the BC HYDRO call for power scenarios, like the 40 MWh cogeneration plant in Gitxsan and the 60 MWh plant in T'silcotin. "Go smaller, scale back the size of the projects to 1 to 5 MWh and make more of them," because smaller plants make more efficient use of biomass to create electricity."
     

While restoration strategies are in place the regulations behind it are being deleted left and right, and, Betts adds, "The premier may say, 'Well I'm not getting any calls on this,' but it appears that overall he's not paying attention to a degrading public resource."

Fire reduction strategy was high priority in 2010

B.C.'s forests are becoming an international concern when the release of carbon continues from the MPB ravaged timber and decadent forests are standing without producing much (if any) oxygen. Chris Akehurst of Akehurst and Giltrap Reforestation says, "The Western Silviculture Contractors Association has the numbers, but B.C. exported more carbon from forests last year than lumber."

Huge issues confront the citizens of B.C. with regards to the condition of the Crown's forests in 2010, 95 percent of B.C. forests. There are increasing numbers of interface fires, decadent forests that are mismanaged, and decreasing numbers of seedlings being planted.

"Fuel reduction programs are very important now," says Chris, "and the purpose is to remove biomass fuel from areas surrounding communities." The biomass offers too much fuel for prospective infernos. "We also need to perform prescribed burns after the clean-up to further reduce fire hazard."

Failure to do fire reduction will cause increasing incidence of city and town evacuations and losses of infrastructure, including housing.

"As these MPB destroyed trees fall it happens in a criss-cross manner and the maze of fuel is laid out to burn intensely hot. The fires travel fast and run right up to cities and towns. The fire behavior becomes so powerful that it is overwhelming."

Fire fighters have told Chris that when it gets to that stage all they can do is watch, aghast. Furthermore, as interface fires spread the problem of fire-fighting jurisdictions starts to affect tactical operations of fighting the problem.

He cites one fire near Princeton that burned away while the local fire department was restricted from entering the field. "A fire department was called in from the Merritt area instead but it was too late for the Friday Mountain fire. The fire took off into the Simillkameen." Princeton was spared but the destruction of forest was greatly magnified.

One resident of Glenrosa in Westbank, Okanagan, described on-line what he was witnessing in  2004 interface fire: "There's a shitload of wind blowing from the south, which means the fire is heading into Westbank/Glenrosa. There have been at least 3 or 4 houses that have burned down, and the neighborhood of Glenrosa (around 8000 people) is completely shut down."

Chris does a lot of work in reducing the risk of fire in these interface scenarios around the southern interior of B.C.. One recent project in Manning Park included removing coniferous trees and replanting with deciduous trees near campgrounds and other public facilities.

"The fire reduction projects don't always involve reforestation. Often it's a process of fuel removal and reduction." Meanwhile silviculture in the province is being reduced because the number of trees harvested has been shrinking in a down-turned economy.

The forests that are filled with dead trees create new priorities in forestry management. Twenty to 30 percent of the untouched MPB forests filled with dead pine trees will not come back naturally. It requires silviculture on a massive scale to restore these forests that are being written off and ignored.

Further delays will make problems worse, and Chris believes the federal and provincial governments must take responsibility for the damage ensuing from the pestilence. "Back in the 1980s and 90s we took on silviculture projects to restore the 'silviculture slums' left from the 1960s and 70s."

Chris notes that when Prime Minister Harper got off the plane in Prince George some years ago he promised $1 billion to work on the restoration of B.C. forests, with dispersals at $100 million a year. The industry is standing around wondering what happened to that money.

Foresters are grappling with the issues and growing cynical. "There is a moral obligation to do the work in these forests. The funding mechanisms aren't going to magically appear." He is aware that fire reduction programs are underway and funding is flowing to the problem. The MPB issues are magically ignored.

His own business saw a 44 percent reduction in volume last year, and this year it will fall another 10 percent. Chris works with the Upper Similkameen First Nations. Elsewhere he sees openings for forestry workers in fire reduction plans. It may be good prospects for First Nation forestry personnel, he says, because they seem to prefer working with chain saws rather than seedlings.

Geothermal utility delivering new housing energy community-wide in B.C.

Geotility is a geothermal utility service that is the brain-child of Jim Leask of Kelowna, B.C., who envisioned natural gas and other non-renewable energy sources becoming less-affordable as time goes by. The energy options to burning fossil fuel were practically non-existent in North America when he started a mechanical company in the Okanagan Valley of B.C. in the early 1990s.

Rick Nelson works for Geotility in their Kelowna office, “Jim was a visionary in setting up a geothermal utility company in B.C.,” says Rick. “Running a geothermal utility is not that difficult in this province but different provinces have different rules.” In the province of B.C., meanwhile, Geotility has  found a lot of success by working with First Nations. “They are leaders in the green energy debate in this province.”

 

Geotility runs the Sun Rivers geothermal utility in Kamloops, a housing development that resides on land belonging to Kamloops Indian Band, and recently Geotility broke ground on a centralized geothermal utility service for a  brand new  housing development for the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, in Tofino, B.C., on Vancouver Island. “It's all geothermal in Tofino at the new the Esowista housing development of the Tla-o-qui-aht community.”

 

Rick says of the company he works for, “We're passionate about delivering geothermal services. What started as a mechanical company under Jim Leask and Sons has become a complete geothermal company,” he says, including all the services involved, from drilling to mechanical installations to heat distribution, billing and maintenance.

 

Rick says, “Basically Jim Leask saw the day 20 years ago when natural gas distribution would become more and more expensive and he began looking at the options.” As a mechanical engineer Jim Leask saw geothermal as the next step in energy services and geothermal was a perfect fit for mechanical company, so, “Seven years ago Geotility was launched to pave the way for the geothermal industry to operate at the same level as other utility services.”

 

Today Geotility even owns the drills (manufactured by Multi-Power Products in Kelowna). Geotility worked with Tom Ulm, Sr., of Multi-Power Products to design a drill to fit inside an underground parkade, and as a result, Geotility is able to retro-fit buildings in the core of a city's downtown with geothermal heating systems.  Drilling is underway directly beneath existing buildings like the Georgia Hotel in Vancouver, and the Hudson's Bay Building in downtown Victoria, “We have two modified drills with short masts that can operate in all ground conditions.”

 

Geotility designs the utility systems that run heat through whole communities. “We drill 700,000 feet per year and fill the holes with geothermal pipe.” For example since the ground was laid out for new housing on Esowista property, in Tofino, drilling is commencing to supply heat to the entire community of 160 new houses plus other facilities, including a new Long House and community facilities.

 

Jordan Parrot is one of the engineers at Geotility, and Jordan is in charge of the Esowista drilling program in Tofino starting this January. “It's one large geothermal field with centralized distribution of the hot water,” says Jordan. “We are doing the field engineering and mechanical design on this project. We are producing hot water for the geothermal array from hundreds of ground-loop drill holes.”

 

Jordan says the Esowista field is a large one, “It's a substantial size field, hundreds of holes. The drilling program will take three or four months to complete, depending on  the weather.” The company is hiring some of their required labour from the Tla-o-qui-aht community.

 

Moses Martin is housing manager for Esowista Housing, the department belonging to the Tla-o-qui-aht community based in Tofino. “Construction is underway,” says Moses, “the roads are roughed in and a new bridge was built to join this project to the existing Esowista community.” Sixty-eight is the number of new houses slated for immediate construction and another 100 houses will be built within the next five years.

 

Funding for the new housing development ($17 million )was obtained under the Canada Economic Action Plan and Moses says $3 million of that was earmarked for geothermal heating. “With the overall size of the project we anticipate the return of Tla-o-qui-aht families to Tofino from places like Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Victoria, and Seattle, Washington.”

 

Moses adds, “It's a well-rounded housing plan that includes the geothermal heating for the new Long House and an eventual school for the new community.” The bridge connects this subdivision, called Ty'Tan'Us, to the existing Esowista community and the nhe new community will have three access points, says Moses.

 

Tla-o-qui-aht members will be active in the building of all phases. “We are ramping up the workforce as we speak. We will have a team of labourers working throughout the phase, and phase one alone will supply jobs and paycheques for at least two years.” Some training and apprenticeship will ensue.

 

The skilled labour will be learning new aspects of construction, says Moses, “We are looking for better quality housing construction being put into these homes. We want these homes to last at least 50 years. We are looking hard at the quality of the houses and we're going for the LEED Gold Standard of green and sustainable housing construction.”

Complete green energy production has been set for 2020

Run Of River (ROR) Power develops renewable, sustainable energy through its portfolio of run-of-river and biomass projects in B.C., and the company is working toward biomass energy production by answering BC Hydro calls for power in energy production in wood waste. Rick Connors spoke on behalf of Western Biomass Power Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of ROR Power that runs out of Prince George, B.C.. 
    

"Our Suskwa project is taking advantage of First Nation natural resources in the Gitxsan traditional territory," a land-base that spans 33,000 sq km in the Pacific North West. "They have decadent forests and mountain pine beetle damaged wood fibre," says Connors,  "Rejuvenation of these decadent (80 year old) forests is necessary because they are no longer sequestering carbon." 

    

Connors notes that a healthy full grown hemlock will sequester 20 lbs of carbon per year and produce oxygen in abundance for people to breath. Due to their current condition the forests surrounding Hazelton and Smithers are ideal places to start seriously greening the Canadian economy. This 40 year project is designed to take out declining grades of wood and replace this decadent fibre with vibrant new forests. 
    

"We are proposing to build a high-pressure boiler to burn wood and heat water to create steam." Steam will spin a turbine, which charges a generator to produce 34 MWh of electrical energy. Connors says the project puts a $150 million economic infusion into a depressed area, and, "the Gitxsan people are partners having full ownership, buying in, and completely participating. And it is a project that provides links to all kinds of jobs in the forestry sector." 
    

A BC Hydro purchase of power from the plant would give Gitxsan a long-term cash flow running many years. The proposed plant site will be constructed on 16-acres including a former gravel pit operation outside of Hazelton,  says Connors, responsible re-application of land used as development property in the region.  
    

The power plant operations will employee 35 people full-time, and another 130 more jobs will be found in the 'periphery' doing  wood salvage, working in the greenhouse that provides seedlings to reforestation projects, and logging for a sawmill cooperative with Gitxsan license holders feeding the fibre from an Annual Allowable Cut in their territory. 
    

Suskwa depends largely on decadent forests for fibre, and other biomass fuel loads will be found in MPB killed lodgepole pine. The plant has been designed for a 40-year life span. The Run Of River Power development in Gitxsan is joined by an even bigger biomass power proposal (that has a shorter life span of about 20 years), says Connors. 
    

"The 60 MWh Tsilhqot’in Biomass Power Project is to be located 75 kms west of  Williams Lake in Hanceville, B.C.," and most of the biomass fuel for this energy production will be found in the MPB forests of the central interior. The Tsilhqot’in proposal is a 50/50 partnership with the First Nations and these folks have a huge problem with 'beetle' kill in their forests. They have less work to do in reversing decadent forest conditions. 
    

In this regard the Tsilhqot’in proposal focuses on beetle kill (and reforestation), which shortens the time span of energy generation according to this one-shot consumption of beetle damaged trees. Meanwhile the BC government's self-sufficiency targets for energy production are slated to be 2016, and the goal of complete green energy production has been set for 2020, says Connors. Carbon-neutral biomass projects contribute to government meeting both objectives. 

    

The ROR Power focus on B.C. has been based on First Nation initiative in all corners of the province. They have one fully operating run-of-river power generation facility on Brandywine Creek near Whistler with a rated capacity of 7.6 MW. They built close working relationships with First Nations of Squamish and Lil'wat communities. The turn into biomass includes the aforementioned partnerships. The company is presently developing five run-of-river project clusters totaling 639 MW of potential capacity. 
    

The green energy initiatives coming from IPPBC members like ROR Power are "creating opportunities where there are no opportunities to be found otherwise." Furthermore, says Connors, "The use of forestry biomass to create energy is proven technology and forestry byproducts have long been in use for energy production of forestry facilities in B.C.. The projects like Suskwa and Tsilhqot’in are taking energy production values from biomass to a new business level."  

Vancouver 2010 Olympics security an impressive array

The security budget for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics ballooned from $84 million to $330 million in the post 9/11 world. In Greece, where 70,000 security persons were on patrol for the 2004 Summer Olympics, the government spent $1.5 billion,  including a ratio of approximately 7:1 in security-to- athletes.
 

Meanwhile in Vancouver the 2010 Winter Olympics security costs will be more than twice the original estimate of $175 million, according to former Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (the department  now under Hon. Peter Van Loan). Day said in 2007 that the original estimate was “drastically low” and that the cost will be, "more than $400 million but less than $1 billion."
     

The revised estimates made by Day were not surprising considering Canadian security agencies plan to use planes, tanks, ships, and about 13,000 military and police personnel to secure the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Despite the massive number, a security network will be working hard to keep a low profile in the midst of half a million visitors.
     

As an example, Canadian Forces personnel and equipment will be apparent only during ceremonial events. Nevertheless the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games will take place under  the largest security operation ever held in Canada. This massive security force will be managed using an array of surveillance technologies, with closed-circuit cameras, electronic sensors, and unmanned aerial vehicles aloft over Olympic venues in Vancouver and Whistler. 
     

Armed soldiers and helicopters will be present in Vancouver in the background and  overall security  will include RCMP, the military, and other security operatives. These games will feature surveillance  by hundreds of cameras throughout Olympic venues using face-recognition technology.
     

The planning and preparation of Olympic security has been extensive. A three-stage series of exercises occurred at the direction of the 2010 Olympic Integrated Exercise Program, and the last exercise took place from Nov. 2-6, 2009. The three stage program consisted of complementary exercises increasing in scope.
     

Exercise Bronze took place in Nov. 2008, and examined regional safety and security issues. Exercise Silver was held Feb. 2009  and tested safety and security plans, procedures, and coordination. Exercise Gold was a full-scale operational exercise designed to prove that federal, provincial, regional, and municipal organizations stand coordinated and ready to respond to any possible emergency.

     

The exercises provided a realistic environment with mock casualties, and  involved a response from  first responders including police and fire services. Exercise Gold took place in controlled areas and brought together 140 federal, provincial, municipal and private sector organizations to test communication and coordination between the organizations. Everything happened away from the public eye as organizations worked from operational centres.
    

 “As hosts of the 2010 Winter Games, we are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for athletes, visitors and Canadians,” said Hon. Peter Van Loan. “That is why Canada has taken a comprehensive approach to security planning.  We are on track to deliver a safe and secure Games so that what people remember is the celebration and excitement of the competition, not questions of security.”
    

 “In a few short months we will welcome the world to British Columbia as we play host to the 2010 Winter Games,” said Hon. Kash Heed, BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General to media at the beginning of November. “Working with our partners in the federal and local governments, we will ensure these Games are safe and secure for all.” 
      

Bud Mercer is Chief Operating Officer of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, who said, “Exercise Gold represented years of planning, integration and preparation with local, provincial, national and international safety and security partners. 2010 will be an historic year for British Columbia and Canada, but the safety and security inter-agency cooperation and relationships will remain in place for years to come."  
      

Police have identified several threats to Olympic security, including anti-globalization, anti-corporate, and First Nations activists, not to mention international extremist organizations like al-Qaida, which already laid down threats to the London 2012 Summer Games. Organized crime remains, however, the highest security risk to the 2010 Games.
      

The ISU identified a number of domestic and international threats, including the nation's engagement in Afghanistan, which has put a different light on Canada in the international community, causing al-Qaida to warn Canada to withdraw from Afghanistan or risk attacks similar to 9/11 and bombings in London and Madrid.
      

Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) linked vandalism against sponsors like Royal Bank Canada to protests against the Games. CSIS also noted a group called the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement has toured North America to stir protests against the Vancouver games.“I think you get a very definite sense that (Vancouver's Olympics are) a likely target,” said David Harris, a former CSIS officer who is director of international and terrorist intelligence programs at Insignis Strategic Research.
      

To buttress security options in October 2009, the provincial government gave host municipalities (Richmond, Vancouver, and Whistler) the power to enter residences between Feb. 1 and Mar. 31, 2010, to seize signs considered "anti-olympic." A further amendment gave Vancouver the power to fine up to $10,000 and imprisonment up to six months for sign and bylaw violations.
      

The reasons for opposition include security expenses to taxpayers (said in 2008 to be $580 million), and possible losses to be incurred including debt in the Olympic Village development, which was supposed to be profitable but is possibly running in the red to the tune of millions.
      

Opponents cite destruction of environment, loss of affordable housing, and use of the Olympics to force a $2 billion rapid transit link from Downtown Vancouver to the airport. Opposition to the Olympics is found amongst First Nations people and their supporters. 
     

The federal government will cover the cost of security at the border, at Vancouver International Airport,  and for international VIPs, while the B.C. government and federal government will split the cost of security for Olympic venues.
     

A First Nation security company called T’musta7 Aboriginal Protection Services will  provide security services to the Resort Municipality of Whistler and to other businesses, including Crown Corporations, during 2010 Winter Games. Owner Lyle Leo of Mt. Currie First Nation is focused on the Sea-to-Sky area. “We are looking at 100 pairs of boots on the ground within the next two or three months,” said Leo. 
     

“We are closer than ever to operational status since clarifying and renewing business relations. We had to rethink our plans after VANOC rejected our bid for services directly related to the 2010 Olympics,” he explained, but Leo remained firm in his resolve. “We were the only Aboriginal group prepared with troops on the ground,” he said, “and to be honest, it was quite disappointing to be rejected by VANOC.” 
      

T’Musta7 reassessed in order to create a sustainable long-term opportunity as a sub-contractor, and has recruited security personnel to  establish their preparedness by securing public events like music festivals in Whistler and a 4x4 rally at Pemberton. 
      

Leo  recruited First Nation personnel exclusively and was joined by Chief Don Harris of Douglas First Nation, who is, according to Leo, “making a lot of headway for Aboriginal community economic development since partnering in run-of-river projects. They want to take part with organizing opportunities for First Nations with the 2010 Winter Games.
    

 “Chief Harris is tuned in with changes in the Aboriginal community with his participation with the election of National Chief Shawn Atleo and the opening of the Osoyoos Business Centre, Leo has applied for security services contracts through Crown Corporation Procurement processes. 
     

Chief Harris said of T’Musta7, “We are recruiting in the Lower Mainland where Douglas First Nation has a lot of members. I am working onpolitical agreements with INAC to get people trained for employment. Lyle has contracts and we had 40-hour training program start with up to 20 more recruits.”\

Decadent forests in B.C. are failing to sequester carbon

Matt Mercer is a New Brunswick-born forestry professional who migrated to Vancouver Island where he works in forestry management consulting and raises a young family. Matt has been studying the forestry biomass file for the company he works for in Campbell River, B.C., Zimmfor Management Services Ltd., a consulting company of resource sector professionals that operates world-wide, including South America, Asia, USA, and Canada. 
     

Biomass has become a big file in on a world-wide scale and B.C. offers substantial opportunities in these emerging green-oriented (carbon neutral) forestry business practices. "We have quite a few clients in wood-products manufacturing and they are inquiring about regulatory changes from the B.C. government energy plan (of 2007)," says Mercer. 
     

"The plan outlines the energy strategies for the next few years with the goal of energy self-sufficiency by 2016," he says. Government policy has been undertaken to meet these energy goals, and institutional frameworks like the B.C. BioEnergy Network have been allocated funding to encourage development of research in nine basic streams of energy production from renewable or reusable resources. 
     

Canadians are behind parts of Europe where most facets of resource potential are exploited, including cities doing energy production from forest waste products found in Canadian sawmills and turned into wood pellets. Mercer says federal policies in Canada favour reduction of 'carbon intensities,' and part of B.C.'s energy policy reflects that strategy. 
     

"The federal government says that suppliers must reduce carbon intensities by 20 percent between 2010 and 2020." Suppliers with carbon-based energy output are looking at research into celulosic-based ethynol (alcohol fuel derived from wood waste), which, "emits smaller carbon intensity than other ethynols."  
     

And, he notes, "Co-generation is not uncommon in the forestry sector, with pulp mills recycling biomass into hog fuel to power their facilities. Mercer says the Zimmfor approach to biomass potential looks at both sides of the equation, from the points of view of both wood product manufacturer and fibre supplier. One informative source to follow is the BC Forestry Climate Change Working Group of pulp and paper, saw-milling, and forestry sectors.  
     

Decadent forests in B.C. are failing to sequester carbon due to mountain pine beetle devastation and other issues. These forests are under examination in Request For Power calls and Request For Qualification research proposals, and these forests stand to be harvested intensively for biomass, with high-priority silviculture operations to follow. 
     

"The forestry sector is looking at carbon-offset programs related to fertilization of forests, use of seed-stock to make better carbon-sequestering trees, and aforestation policies to plant new forests," says Mercer.

Security firm wants 10,000 boots on the job

Don Allen runs United Protection Services Inc. in Edmonton, Alberta,  where they have had a First Nation division for the past 12 years. "It's our fastest growing division and we have a partnership with United First Nations Corps., owned by Earl John," says Allen, "It's looking very good for United First Nations Corp. with their new contract to provide security services on oil sands construction sites north of Ft. McMurray. It's a 100 percent Aboriginal security service that will have 200 employees working in Alberta.
     

"In B.C. we bought North Star Patrol 4 1/2 years ago and Ken Robertson remained with United. It was Ken who put the deal together with Lyle Leo at T'Musta7 Aboriginal Security Services Inc.," Allen says, "Ken is our business development manager in B.C. and he's a specialist in short-term contracts. We do events in the Resort Municipality of Whistler and with businesses doing special events for everything from business conferences to beer gardens. We know that for the next few months there is a big push to work in security in the Lower Mainland. Our goal is continue procuring other long term contracts."
     

United Protection Services Inc. has employees in B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan, "and 20 percent of our workforce is First Nation and Aboriginal employees." Allen notes, "I am President of Security Officer Career College and Tom Hill is the General Manager. Tom delivers programs to communities that educate about crime to ensure a safe community. Some of these programs are employment oriented, and certificates of Completion issue from the Security Officer Career College.
     

SOCC is holding a national Aboriginal security services a conference at the River Cree Casino in Edmonton Feb. 10, 2010. "We intend to create empowerment for First Nation communities right across the country. We have a long term goal to help First Nation and Aboriginal groups to reshape the face of security services in Canada. The training services of the college are being promoted with all levels of government including INAC, and the course delivery is based entirely on reaching out to communities. We don't have a campus. We take the program all over Alberta, and we are expanding in B.C. and Saskatchewan."
     

The SOCC is working with various industries to provide the Aboriginal presence in security at places like First Nation owned and operated casinos in Canada. "River Cree Casino in Edmonton has 10 percent Aboriginal employment and we can improve it with trained personnel in security and other training like housekeeping services." Allen has been providing security services in one capacity or another for 33 years. He explains, "Initially I started the school and soon I branched into the security business itself. A couple of years later I was going out and providing security services with the people we trained." He instituted better training and built his human resources out places like Hobbema and other large First Nation communities in central and southern Alberta. "These jobs give people long term skills and good points on a resume for future employment." 
     

Earl John has spent 10 years building the United First Nation Corp. Presently, "We are trying to find partnerships that will work with us on the east coast, in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in particular. We have operations in B.C. and Alberta and we are expanding into Saskatchewan," says John. "We want to go further east, both in Manitoba and Northern Ontario as well as the east coast." He says the core of his all-Aboriginal security service has been recruited out of Alberta. "We've hired from all across Alberta as far south as Sun Child and Stoney Creek and we have recruited successfully from the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation, the Conklin Metis, others have been recruited from Big Horn, O'Chiese, Sampson, Louis Bull, Erminskin and Montana Bands at Hobbema."
     

John says, "We have 160 trained and we will have double that by next year," and he notes the size of the corp. has been doubled over the past year. "We benefit from Tom Hill's six week training course delivered into communities and we are putting it in B.C. with the BC Justice Institute for compliance with Olympic standards. We are looking at partnerships to fulfill long term commitments to provide security services to industries like wood, rail, oil and gas, pipeline, and other transport sectors. We want to run contracts to secure new construction projects. We are working with Douglas First Nation's Chief Don Harris to provide training and employment to Lower Mainland First Nation personnel."
    

 John is proud of the company's Ft. McMurray contracts, "They're our bread and butter in security operations and its a win-win-win situation for everybody when United First Nation Corp. Inc. obtained the contract. It brings training and employment dollars to First Nation families who live on reserves where they need the incomes; it brings joint venture opportunities to First Nation entrepreneurs, and the client gets security services that are trained well beyond industry standards." He says personnel receive the basic security guard training plus conflict resolution management, safety sessions, defensive driving lessons, and life skills. "Plus they receive one week of on-the-job training for the work experience."
     

These security jobs outside Ft. McMurray come with more than fringe benefits. "These oil camps are well done operations, supplying all the amenities like weight training rooms, satellite TV, internet service, individual rooms with bathrooms, these are PTI Group camps that run like permanent long-established operations through the construction cycle all the way into industrial operations. Having a First Nation presence in these 3,500 man camp operations is our goal." Ultimately United First Nation Corp. is working toward a national goal of 10,000 pairs of Aboriginal boots on the ground.