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Cracking Open The Music Scene In Cape Breton Entrepreneurs At Work. There is no lack of entrepreneurial spirit in Nova Scotia. But in the music business, that spirit can often turn into frustration when bands believe they have to leave their home area to "make it big" and go to music industry centres like Toronto or Vancouver. A group of three entrepreneurs in Sydney is trying to turn frustration into fame for six young alternative music bands, giving the bands a chance at Canada-wide exposure and their own CD. Former radio station manager Rod Gale joined up with Michael Vernon and Chrisanna Doyle in January to form CRACK! Industries. The group, as their promotional material says, is "committed to the continued development and promotion of young musicians in the Industrial Cape Breton area, and the provision of quality entertainment for the region's youth." Vernon said there seems to be a lot of support, government and private, for bands offering traditional or country music. Music genres outside the Top 40 sphere weren't getting that same support. So the trio got together when they realized some of the incredibly talented groups in their area might not get the exposure they need, if someone didn't take the lead in active promotion. A compilation CD entitled "Remnants" has been produced with the proceeds from a number of entertainment events, like midnight movie screenings, organized during the summer by CRACK! Industries, and with the bands featured on the disc funding their own original recordings. The group has ordered 300 CDs, 250 of which will be sold and the remaining 50 to be distributed to radio stations and recording labels and distributors across the country. As well, two music videos are being produced from tracks off the CD. The sale of the CDs will help offset production and distribution costs. Vernon said they are spending as much to promote the CD as it cost to produce about $1200. Marketing will be aggressive, as the competition is stiff. Sometimes, said Vernon, just frequent reminders to a radio station manager can be enough to get your song on the radio. And that is the essence of CRACK! Industries exposure. "We're not looking to be a record label," he explained. "We want to be more of an incubator to help bands get recognition off the island and be able to market their product. The level of frustration in (these bands) not being recognized as valid artists is what is driving us to do what we are doing." CRACK! Industries is also providing entertainment free whenever possible to young people through a series of concerts. These events give young alternative music bands the chance to perform on stage often for the first time in front of an appreciative audience. The band Q, which Gale, Doyle and Vernon have helped promote, has had some success, with video airplay on MuchMusic and a feature spot on ASN's Breakfast Television in January. And while Vernon said he would love someday to see the artists he is promoting make it big in the music world, "We're being realistic, we'd like to break even on this project," he said. back to top A Way Of Life In Afton Emphasizing Tradition And Community Independence. The First Nations community of Afton - located about 13 km east of Antigonish along the Northumberland Strait - is working hard to ensure that its young people are left a legacy of traditional values and lasting resources to help them live off the land. Native communities like Afton are struggling to become self-sufficient through access to, and self-regulation of, natural resources like fish, wildlife and forests. Government officials fearful of over-harvesting of these resources are reluctant to allow native people commercial access and regulatory power. But Afton Band Chief Kerry Prosper says what government doesn't understand is that the Mi'kmaq people look at a fish in the water or a moose in the forest as a living thing, to be respected. That is the driving force behind the First Nations people struggling towards community co-management of the resources. "We would never want to sacrifice the fish in the water for money. As a community, we feel we are in a good position to care for the health of the stocks," says Prosper. The Mi'kmaq believe co-management with the government is the best way to manage resources, because while the people who actually go out to fish are in a good position to analyse the state of stocks, it is difficult for them to step back and look objectively at the overall scenario. By working closely, Band governments and other levels of government together can make the best decisions. First Nations communities are also working closely together across the province. The Mi'kmaq Fish and Wildlife Commission has been established between the 13 bands in Nova Scotia, to promote the development and management of fisheries, forestry and wildlife resources. Young people in First Nations communities are cross- trained, through band council programs, in a variety of skills, such as fishing, hunting and forestry. That way, explains Prosper, if one of the resources is on a downturn, people have other skills and resources to turn to. Traditionally, when a man entered the fishery, that was the only job he knew. And if the fishery took a downturn and quotas and seasons were cut, he was left with nothing. The Mi'kmaq try to avoid this dilemma. Unemployment in native communities is at a crisis level. In Afton, with a population of 450, the rate is about 75 per cent, and is as high as 85 per cent in some communities. Afton has a development committee in place, working on finding ways to create employment for its residents and bring down that rate to a manageable level. Whenever possible, tradespeople are encouraged to set up shop in Afton, so that money spent by the residents comes back to the community. That idea of community self-perpetuation is also the basis for Afton's fishery. John Prosper is the co-director of the MFWC, based at Afton. He says when a native from Afton goes commercially fishing, it is with a community-owned boat under a community license. Therefore, he is paid a wage, and profits are returned to the Band Council for social programs, such as health and education. Until recently, natives were prohibited from fishing commercially. When Canada extended its 200-mile limit in the 1970s, natives were excluded by law from the fishery, and had the right only to fish for their own consumption. Mi'kmaq now have limited access to the fishery, but it has been an uphill struggle, because with commercial fishing such a competitive industry, newcomers are not generally welcome to share in quotas. Now Afton holds a number of community licenses, for lobster, snow crab, urchins and herring. Their boats fish out of several communities, such as Pictou and Cheticamp. Chris Milley, the other co-director of the MFWC, says the spirit of community in Afton is unique to native areas, and believes non-natives could learn from them. "It's nothing you can see driving through here," he says. "It's a communal sense, everyone takes what they need and shares the rest. They look out for each other." Chief Prosper says the well-being of individuals affects the well-being of the community. "Everyone knows everyone. They are all involved in whatever is going on. If we launch a new boat, everyone drives down in their cars to watch. It's a community event. And when they see us going out fishing, they know that, whether it's in terms of money or employment, it is for the community." Tradition plays a large part in everyday life. The Mi'kmaq are trying to get back to the way things were 500 years ago, when they were able to hunt and fish freely, and lived off the land. This tradition, and the sense of community members working together and sharing what they have with each other, is what adults are trying to pass on to the younger generation. "The emphasis to youth is on not wasting what is caught. Their training makes sure what is hunted is utilized," says Milley. "That's the nice thing about a small community, that it is easier to teach these values to our children." And being appreciative for what nature has provided goes hand in hand with respecting resources. The band holds several traditional feasts and celebrations each year, including the annual fall Maoiomi feast celebration. All who hunted and fished contribute to the feast. The Mi'kmaq believe treating their resources with respect will serve them well in the future, making the management and regulation these resources easier, and more sustainable for the next generation of First Nations people. M.F.W.C. Paving Way For Self-Regulation Mi'kmaq communities across the province are working together to come up with management agreements with both levels of government over resources such as fishing and wildlife. The Mi'kmaq Fish and Wildlife Commission was established, through funding from DFO, by the Nova Scotia Assembly of Chiefs with a mandate to develop and manage all Mi'kmaq natural activities in Nova Scotia. The commission, based at Afton, Antigonish County, works closely with all 13 bands to promote the development and management of fisheries, forestry and wildlife resources. Co-director of the MFWC, John Prosper, says the commission is functioning well, having established advisory committees within each band in the province. The committees will exchange information and advice with the commission, and the commission will provide technical support to the committees. Annual resource management plans are established at MFWC meetings. Chris Milley, the other co-director, says the government is regarding their relationship on a "government to government" basis, and the DFO calls it a joint management of stocks of mutual importance. The commission is currently working out a memorandum of understanding with the federal government to ensure that the recommendations they put forth are the basis for management. Mi'kmaq believe that natural resources must be respected, says Prosper. When they discuss, for example, the moose hunt, they are talking about their food supply, not a sporting event. Therefore, says Milley, when the DFO deals with the commission, it is looking at all aspects of the resource, rather than one specific problem at a time. When the Mi'kmaq work on managing a resource, he explains, they look at the whole picture. If they are discussing management of the moose hunt, for example, factors such as the environment, habitat and forestry management are also involved. Prosper says he would like to see more staff hired at the MFWC head office, but he believes that the commission was established and got to work so quickly, the DFO hasn't had time to catch up. The MFWC is also negotiating with the province for funding of conservation officers and a beefed-up policing system for the resources, but the province seems reluctant to take any steps in that direction. The commission is modeled after a similar body in the US in the Great Lakes area. Prosper says the American government seems more willing to promote self-regulation than its Canadian counterpart. But he feels the MFWC could be a good model for other communities looking into co-management of resources. While some problems are being worked out - sometimes all 13 bands don't agree or have differing priorities - Prosper says the system is working well, and hopes it will pave the way for future progress. "We have some good ideas for programs, and we hope their gives us the venue to implement these programs." back to top New Glasgow Development Bringing The People Back To The Waterfront. Communities In Action When most Nova Scotia communities were originally settled by our ancestors, life centered around the waterfront - indeed access to water was often the main reason for choosing a community's location. Industry and transportation were heavily reliant on the water, and the waterfront was usually the focal point of the community. Over the years, that emphasis has evolved away from the water, as industries like fishing and boat building have declined, and transportation progressed to Trans-Canada highways and air express. But now things are evolving again. A growing number of communities are rediscovering the importance of their waterfront location, and are undertaking massive development projects. The town of New Glasgow is situated on the East River, near its mouth onto the Northumberland Strait at Pictou Harbour. The town was founded on shipbuilding, and supported by the steel making and coal mining industries in neighbouring communities. The river was the key mode of transportation for these industries. Gradually, as populations increased, the river became polluted with untreated waste being pumped directly from the many communities lining the river and its tributaries. The river was no longer used for transportation, and was largely an eyesore along its undeveloped banks. New Glasgow, and neighbour Stellarton, flourished along both sides of the river, but the waterfront had no use or specific purpose. In 1974 a sewage treatment facility was built to treat waste from New Glasgow, Stellarton, Trenton and nearby communities. More areas have been added to the sewage treatment system over the years, greatly cleaning up the river, and paving the way for future use and development. In 1991, under Mayor Ann MacLean, a committee was struck to commission a study on how best to utilize the waterfront. MacLean says she always believed the river was "a valuable resource, economically, environmentally and recreationally," and felt with the clean-up of the river well underway, it was time for more development. MacLean says she insisted on strong community input, and was rewarded when over 100 interested citizens volunteered to attend workshops and participate in developing ideas for the project. The result of community and expert consultation was a long- term development plan, designed to bring the people back to the waterfront, and create a resurgence of the downtown economic area. "This development was defined by the people, designed by the people, and used by the people," says MacLean proudly. Now the project is administrated under the Riverfront Development Corporation. Of the 15 member board that oversees development, only two members are town councillors. The rest are interested citizens, a point MacLean says is key to the success of the project. "This development was defined by the people, designed by the people, and used by the people," she says proudly. "The river area is so restful. You see grandparents and parents with their children, friends of all ages walking there, it's very gratifying." The waterfront area is attractive now, with a public wharf, a marina for boats, and areas for special events, like August's Riverfront Music Jubilee, which attracts thousands of visitors for four days of some of Atlantic Canada's best musical talent. The Samson Trail is across the river from the marina, with hundreds of people walking its wide, well-lit paths daily. People picnic along the water's edge or on grassy hills overlooking the river. A water taxi system between New Glasgow and Pictou has been tremendously popular this summer, meaning enjoyment of the water system is not limited to those who can afford boats. As a matter of fact, it costs less to take the water taxi than a car cab. Downtown businesses are happy about the rebirth of the waterfront area. Economic spinoffs are good for many, if only because of the increase in traffic through the area. MacLean emphasizes the project is truly a product of community input and participation. Residents with property along the Samson Trail, for example, tend flowers planted there by the town, to keep the area looking pretty. And while infrastructure funding came from the province, many local groups and businesses are contributing to the development. For example, the local Royal Canadian Legion is partnering with the town in refurbishing the war memorial at Carmichael park, situated along the west side of the river. The Kinsmen have committed $29,000 for an extension of the Samson Trail under the George St. Bridge. The Lions Club is involved, as is the downtown business association. Although there is a development plan for the future, MacLean says projects are undertaken on the basis of "what makes good, reasonable sense" at that time. "We want to be able to assess the impact of each step so we can do it right," she says. Close cooperation with other sectors, such as public works and the traffic authority mean that potential problems, like traffic flow and parking, are addressed before they come up. When asked what advice she would give to a community wanting to initiate such a development project, MacLean says the input of citizens is invaluable. "The first step is to get council and the citizens together," she says. "We had people who knew the historical value of the river, its cultural importance, the role the river played in people's lives, and how it got separated from the people. That led us to how to get it back to the people," she explains. She advises setting up a separate corporation to implement the project, which will bring access to a wider base of funding opportunities. "Those are the keys to success," she says. Arichat : Community Takes Action. It's not just the major urban centres that are poised on the cutting edge of health care technology. Take the community of Arichat, for example. The 6,000 people served by the St. Ann's Community and Nursing Care Centre will soon have the benefit of a unique new helicopter landing pad to be used by the province's air ambulance program. Since the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society - STARS Nova Scotia - was formed last year, staff have been touring the province promoting their service. When the helicopter and several of its crew visited Arichat last February, people were inspired in this Cape Breton community. The decision was made to build a helicopter landing pad to enable the community to take full advantage of the STARS program, so that if a patient at St. Ann's needed to be airlifted to a larger hospital, there would be nothing to prevent the helicopter from landing safely. Wayne Boudreau, Chairman of the Board of Directors at St. Ann's, said "The service was there, we decided to use it." Boudreau said the idea of being able to get critically ill patients to a major medical facility within minutes - 16 minutes by helicopter to Antigonish, for example - was very appealing. And like many small communities throughout the province, Arichat has experienced a shortage of doctors. "We didn't want our one available doctor to be in an ambulance accompanying a patient to Halifax, leaving the rest of the community without a doctor," said Boudreau. The STARS team flies in their own medical staff, freeing up local physicians to stay in the community while patient treatment can begin immediately during the flight to hospital. After the information presentation by the STARS team last winter, the community sprang into action, deciding a helicopter pad near St. Ann's would be a major benefit. A location adjacent the centre was leased from the local parish, and specifications from the Department of Transportation were obtained through STARS. As soon as they heard about the project, the Ladies Auxiliary of St. Ann's Centre agreed to fund the project, estimated at $15,000. Work on the site started this spring and was due to be completed by the end of August. Corinne Boudreau, Vice President of the Ladies Auxiliary, said fund-raising for the project is going well, and they shouldn't have any problem reaching their goal. Bake sales, a bazaar, luncheons, and ticket sales were all supported by the community. "It is quite an asset to have the facility for an air ambulance in the community," said Corinne Boudreau. "Everyone is enthused about it; we have had lots of support." This isn't the first time Arichat has risen to the challenge of providing good health care to its community. When the province was cutting back on health care dollars and many small facilities were closing or downsizing, St. Ann's revamped its services, and has actually added beds and hired more staff. Wayne Boudreau said the Board looked at what the 12-bed facility was offering the community, and decided the best way to serve the needs of the people with shrinking health care dollars was to provide an emergency out-patient service and long-term care beds. Five new beds were opened in June in the Centre's veteran's wing, which Boudreau proudly says is the result of a community working together to make the best of what they have. The centre also provides mobile health clinics that visit nearby communities on a weekly basis. "This is what the province has wanted communities to do for a long time," said Boudreau. "We are meeting the needs of our people - they are our biggest asset." STARS public relations person Tammy MacLean said they are delighted and proud of the initiative shown by the people of Arichat. She doesn't know of any other similar projects in the province right now, but the team is on tour letting communities know about the air ambulance service and how they can get involved. MacLean said the helicopter can land at other open sites near a community hospital, such as a parking lot, but the people of Arichat believe that the St. Ann's Ladies Auxiliary Helipad is one more thing they can do to ensure the best possible health care for their community. Project Brings Technology To Rural Communities. Today, computer technology has become an integral part of life, especially in the world of economics and business. Helping communities and small business keep up with, and take advantage of, what technology has to offer, is the focus of a project underway by the Centre for Community and Enterprise Networking (C\CEN) at the University College of Cape Breton in Sydney. The project, under UCCB instructor Dr. Michael Gurstein, is called Wire Nova Scotia, or WiNS for short, and provides students assistants at community access sites in largely rural areas to help people learn and utilize the internet. Community access sites are established through a federal program, in locations such as schools and public libraries. WiNS provides the training and support for summer students within communities where service groups, small businesses, local government, or anyone with an interest can learn how to use the internet at a community access site. Gurstein says the program will give rural areas access to technology they never had before. He developed the idea while he was looking at ways to use technology to support community economic development. The materials and approach used in this project, now a year old, have become a national model, says Gurstein, the basis on which similar student projects are founded in other areas. The response to the project has been very positive, says Gurstein. One hundred and forty person years of work have been created, with 60 per cent of that in the Cape Breton area. Under the WiNS program, explains Gurstein, a lobster pound operator can learn how to gain access to new markets or advertise his product more widely using the internet. Or a bed and breakfast owner might want to learn how to create a website to let people know about his service. The project may be developed so that services can be sold, for example, to tourists wanting to check their e-mail while on vacation. The program does not work in commercial applications of actually developing homepages for clients, says Gurstein, because that could take work away from local businesses who specialize in that skill. But people are taught how to use the technology themselves. Gurstein expected to hear by early September if provincial funding has been approved to make WiNS a year-round project. Gurstein has met personally with Premier Russell MacLellan about the proposal, and says he is optimistic the funding will receive a green light. "Summit Of The Sea" Out Of Reach For Many Oceans Conference. At the end of August, between 600 and 1,000 people with interest in the fishing industry were expected to converge on St. John's, Newfoundland, to take part in discussions on the ocean and its contents. Summit of the Sea was touted by organizers as attracting the "policy makers and policy shakers" of the fishing industry. There is just one problem - many of the "makers and shakers" from Nova Scotia can't attend because of the prohibitive cost of the event. Jim Legge, with the Greater Chebucto Community Development group, says many fishers and association people he knows would be interested in attending, but can't justify spending the hundreds of dollars it would cost for airfare, hotels and meals, not to mention the $545 registration fee. "Most people I know interested in going say why bother, except that they want some say in the policy-making aspect." says Legge. Conference organizer Dave Finn says the event was designed specifically with little government subsidization for people wanting to attend. He says it gives the three-week summit the credibility of being able to say no one group has been subsidized to pack the conference with a particular viewpoint. Legge says the opposite effect has been achieved. Because only the larger, generally offshore, interests can afford to attend in great numbers, small inshore interests have been shut out. The conference was organized through the Newfoundland Department of Tourism, in conjunction with the Cabot 500 celebrations ongoing this year. The summit is made up of a core kickoff conference, reviewing oceans policy, its history, and how to proceed with ocean management in a sustainable manner; as well as plenary sessions, and a series of 18 specialized workshops. Finn says those expected at attend are people and groups who influence and make policy - including senior government, non- government organizations, unions and associations, and industry representatives. Sam Ellsworth, co-owner of Sambro Fisheries, was invited to attend the summit. He says time restrictions and the cost factor mean he likely wouldn't attend. But he also downplays the impact the summit will have on actual policy. "This is going to be an important conference - I wish I had the time to attend," he says. "But I believe most of the issues will be discussed again at other venues. The summit of the Sea may be policy-influencing, but I doubt it will be policy-making." Ellsworth says it is a shame many fishing representatives from Nova Scotia won't be able to attend, because it will be a missed opportunity for exposure to a wealth of information from the conference sessions and through international contact. Summit organizers expected to attract a large international contingent, up to 50 per cent of the pre-registered participants as of early July were from countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, the U.S., India, Algeria, Israel, and Yemen. As well, an international youth program had been initiated by the Canadian Association of Principals, sponsored by Petrocan, to bring youth from all over the world to the conference. As for the impact this summit will have, a CD rom will be produced, containing oceans policy information, texts and histories of agreements, information on fisheries, science and technology, and environmental issues of the ocean, as well as information generated by the summit. A Charter of the Ocean is expected to be signed by United Nations representatives, along with My Ocean Charter that will originate at the summit and be signed by millions of school children around the world, ending up at Expo '98. Summit organizers have also planned a Summit Declaration, designed to be guidelines for discussions throughout 1998 - the Year of the Ocean. back to top Ottawa Should Surrender A Fishery It Doesn't Care About By Eric Enno Tamm Despite the war of words on the West Coast, Pacific salmon just don't matter. With the commercial catch averaging about $400 million annually, the salmon fishery is barely a fraction of 1 per cent of Canada's GDP. Whether Americans are stealing our fish is of little con-sequence to the country as a whole, and Canada shouldn't risk its good relations with its southern neighbour because of a few fish. At least that's the view from Ottawa. In fact, as American fishermen were catching the first of Canada's Fraser River sockeye, Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy was pressuring B.C. Premier Glen Clark not to cancel a lease for a U.S. naval torpedo-testing range on Vancouver Island. Canada and British Columbia shouldn't link the fisheries issue with other bilateral accords, Axworthy says. Ottawa's commitment to fisheries is not only lacking in the international arena, but also on the domestic front. Fisheries are such a low federal priority that the proposed new Fisheries Act has died on the order paper twice in Parliament. Ottawa also plans to slash the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) budget by $325 million over five years--a 40 per cent cut. By most accounts, Ottawa has done an abysmal job managing fisheries resources. On the West Coast, the department is at war with fisheries stakeholders--and that's the official view. This month, 36 prominent scientists called for the end of suppression and political manipulation of fisheries science by department bureaucrats. After the collapse of the Atlantic cod stocks and continued decline of certain Pacific salmon stocks, Ottawa seems intent not on rebuilding fisheries, but simply downsizing and privatizing both the department and what it perceives to be a sunset industry. But salmon do matter to British Columbians. They are part of the province's culture and history. Thousands of people in fishing dependent communities and First Nations up and down the B.C. coast rely on the resource for their survival. An Environics poll commissioned by the B.C. government showed that 97 percent of British Columbians think the province should be given primary or equal responsibility over the fishery. The province is setting up a ministry solely responsible for fisheries and has developed a B.C. Fisheries Strategy to rebuild the resource. Despite Ottawa's intransigence to devolve major powers, there has been a piecemeal delegation of authority to the provinces. In 1912, B.C. gained administrative control over its oyster fishery. In 1922, Quebec wrested control from Ottawa for its fisheries, including those in tidal waters. By 1926, Ontario had secured control over its inland fisheries, and the Natural Resources Transfer Act of 1930 gave Prairie provinces ownership and control over inland fisheries. British Columbia finally got shared responsibility with the signing of the B.C.-Canada Fisheries Agreement just before June's federal election,after a year of conflict between governments over a controversial federal fisheries plan. With this new agreement, the West Coast fishery is now at a crossroads. There is an opportunity to take the path toward a decentralized, community-based approach to fisheries. The approach rests on the belief that the adversarial groups in the fishery work most cooperatively at the local level and that those communities most dependent on the resource will ensure its protection, enhancement and sustainable harvest. It's an approach that has proved successful around the world. In the wake of the cod collapse, Nova Scotia fishermen have set up community-based management boards in their ground-fishery. A similar initiative is being pushed by communities on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. The other path, of course, is continued centralized fisheries management run by an Ottawa bureaucracy unwilling to defend the stocks against American over-fishing, set on slashing budgets and unconcerned about the socio-economic effects of its policies on coastal communities and First Nations. And that's the view from the West Coast. Former salmon fisherman Eric Enno Tamm is executive director of the Coastal Community Network, an association of B.C. coastal settlements. back to top Directing An Army Of Volunteers - All In A Day's Work. Shrinking health care dollars and a society that no longer seems to have the time to look after its senior citizens are just two of the reasons Kay Batherson does what she does. As the director of the New Dawn Volunteer Resource Centre in Sydney, and the only permanent paid employee, she juggles schedules, organizes armies of volunteers and makes sure the needs of countless people are met. Batherson has been director of the centre for three years, and in that time she has seen what she believes is the essence of goodness in people. "Until I came here, I didn't know what volunteering was all about," she says. She speaks with obvious admiration when she talks about how the volunteers she works with give tirelessly of their time to make sure others are taken care of. It pains her to see how isolated and lonely many seniors are today, and she gets tremendous satisfaction out of coordination the major project of the centre - Meals On Wheels. The program uses volunteers to deliver nutritious, low-cost meals to people who for various reasons can't cook for themselves. The meals are prepared at the Nova Scotia Drug Dependency Centre, the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, and two seniors guest homes, and delivered by 120 drivers to clients, for about $4 each. Ten years ago, the program delivered about 1000 meals a year. That number has skyrocketed to to about 700 meals each month. Batherson says there are even more people in the Sydney area who need this kind of assistance - seniors unable to cook because of poor health make up the majority of clients - and she is striving to make the public more aware of the program so that some day, everyone who needs this kind of help will receive it. She is also hoping to start a program of meal sponsorship, where local businesses would donate the price of meals to be given to needy clients. Batherson didn't plan a career in this line of work. She is a Mt. St. Vincent University graduate of secretarial science, and worked at a series of jobs in that field - including the family lumber yard in North Sydney - while raising five children and teaching highland dancing on the side. Then one day about five years ago she saw an advertisement for an assistant director at the New Dawn Guest Home, and decided she would like to get into that kind of work. She successfully applied for the position, and two years later moved into her present job. Along with co-ordinating the Meals On Wheels program, Batherson also heads the Each One Teach One Laubach literacy program, and a Friendly Visiting Program where seniors visit other seniors. It disturbs Batherson that for many of her clients, the volunteer delivering a hot meal, or the person who comes once a week for the companionship program, is the only contact they may have with other people. Families live far away, or don't have the time to look after elder family members. And with cutbacks in health care, many seniors are being sent home from the hospital before they are really capable of caring for themselves. But Batherson is working hard at ensuring that the Volunteer Resource Centre's programs are able to meet the growing needs of the community. Whenever she puts out a public call for new volunteers, the number of people wanting to help is gratifying. And she is always coming up with new ideas to try, like highland dancing lessons for seniors, and having more young people involved in visitation programs. "After all," she says, "if you can't see a friendly face once in a while, what else is there?" Recycling News New Ways Of Coping With Disposables. Across the province, municipalities are dealing with the growing problem of how to cope with dwindling capacity in landfill sites. Restrictions are increasing as to what is acceptable material at landfills, and people are trying to come up with with new ways of dealing with what was once known as garbage. Recycling is the buzzword of the nineties, when everything old is new again. So it is with paint. In the past if you had old, leftover paint in the basement, it was thrown out with all the other garbage each year during spring cleaning. But no more. On April 1 of this year, as part of a strategy to reduce solid waste, the province introduced a disposal ban on waste paint. Since it can’t be left at landfills, new ways of disposing old paint are being sought. One very successful program is the paint swap. Regions around the province are sponsoring these events, with terrific success. Last May, the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) in Cape Breton hosted a paint swap at the Coxheath Arena. Robert Dauphinee, Regional Waste Reduction Co-ordinator for Cape Breton, said the idea came from similar events held in Halifax and Saint John. The event was advertised, and people were made aware of what material was acceptable for the swap - paints, varnishes, lacquers, and so on. Items were identified and labelled as people came to the swap. Paint considered spoiled and unusable was handed over to a hazardous waste contractor who was on site for the day. Dauphinee said the response to the event was tremendous, with over 500 cars at the site throughout the day. An estimated 1400 litres of waste paint was dealt with, and at the end of the event, no good paint was left unclaimed. “When you consider this material could have ended up at the landfill or dumped in the woods somewhere, this has had quite a positive impact,” said Dauphinee. A 50-page report on how the paint swap was organized was circulated to the other regional co-ordinators throughout the province. “The more we exchange the information on this program, the more people can take advantage of it,” said Dauphinee. More paint swaps are being planned for Cape Breton.In Pictou County, three paint swaps have taken place in the past two years, with a total of 21,000 litres of paint being traded. Lonnie Ferguson, supervisor of the county’s Solid Waste Management program, said community participation was tremendous. “People came in droves - I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “People came in the morning and left at the end of the day with enough paint to do every room in their house. They just waited until the right colour came in.” Even a large quantity of fluorescent pink paint was snatched up - by forestry workers wanting to mark boundary lines in the woods. There are certain costs associated with hosting such an event. At the Coxheath paint swap, costs were kept down by a team of about 60 volunteers from the community who donated their time to organize and set up the event. But arena rentals, advertising and paying for a hazardous waste contractor to be on site are costs that will be incurred. In Pictou County, Ferguson estimated the paint swap held last year cost the Solid Waste Management Program about $4900, which included paid staff, advertising and rink rental. Local businesses helped out with donations of drop cloths and other items, and Tibbets Paints, located in Trenton, supplied a chemist to analyse paint. That event was so successful, the amount of paint left over was so small it was dried out and sent to the landfill. Ferguson’s department also generated a report from their paint swaps, which includes feedback from participants on how to make the event better. Information on this and other waste reduction programs can be obtained by calling Clean Nova Scotia’s hotline at 1-800-665-LESS (5377). back to top Fisheries Agreements Canada - B.C. Agreement A Good Thing? Wait And See. The newly-signed Canada-BC fisheries management agreement is being looked at warily, but with some optimism. Fisher's groups on the west coast are hoping the deal means they will have an actual voice in policy-making, as the agreement was designed to do. In Atlantic Canada, the industry is watching and learning, to see if a similar agreement might be implemented here in the future. Eric Enno Tamm, Executive Director of the BC Coastal Communities Network, says the new management agreement brings the west coast fishery to a crossroads, with the opportunity at hand to finally move the fishery towards a community-based approach, away from an Ottawa-based bureaucracy. Whether the agreement will work as it is designed is a matter of wait-and-see. Daniel Bernier, Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters, says "bits and pieces" of the agreement are moving along - for example, a society has been set up to handle human resources and community development projects under the agreement - but there is a lot of work yet to be done. Bernier says some BC government officials and fisher groups are calling the agreement a chance to "get a good crack" at transferring some jurisdiction to the province. But he also cautions he has heard other senior government people saying fisheries management will continue as before - "business as usual." He says the deal gives the province a say in policy-making, and that at least theoretically, situations like having Ottawa impose license fee increases and quota reductions, such as happened in southwest Nova, can't happen in British Columbia without say from the province and fishers. As for whether a similar agreement can happen here in Atlantic Canada, Bernier says it is possible, but on the west coast, Ottawa had to negotiate with just one province. "It's a lot more complex on the east coast. It's not clear where each province would stand" in resolving fishery disputes, he says. An Atlantic agreement is "not out of the cards," he says, because the DFO is searching for alternatives to fishery management as a way of cutting costs. FRCC Report - An Overview Conservation, Capacity Reduction, Major Points Of Emphasis. The Fisheries Resource Council of Canada presented its Groundfish Conservation Framework for Atlantic Canada July 29, calling it a blueprint for rebuilding stocks and maintaining fisheries at sustainable levels. Federal fisheries minister David Anderson says the FRCC report "reinforces the emphasis that must be placed in conservation. Over recent years, the DFO has been pursuing measures and initiatives aimed at conservation and sustainability of the resource. I am confident (the) report from the FRCC will help us meet those objectives." Fred Woodman, chair of the FRCC, said the report will set a course of action for fishers and their organizations, governments, fisheries management, and for science. "We must change the way we think about prosecuting the fishery, because conservation must come first," said Woodman. "The greatest resource in the world has been devastated, the need for change has never been greater, and the window of opportunity to make that change real and lasting is closing." The FRCC report says that conservation must be seen as the driving force for the areas of management decision-making, resource allocation, and licensing. The council stressed the need for the will to properly address capacity reduction, calling overcapacity "one of the most serious impediments to a sustainable fishery." "The conservation regime of the 80s failed to maintain groundfish stocks at productive levels," said Woodman. "This failure was not due to a lack of suitable goals and principles, but rather a failure in execution, in a context of difficult environmental conditions. If conservation is to be achieved, all components of the system must work together effectively - goals must be appropriate - policies and regulations must be able to attain the goals - government programs must be effective - and the practice of fishermen must be consistent with the conservation regime." The report recommends an open and fair decision-making process based on a long-term vision of a sustainable fishery, and the establishment of systems for sharing information among scientists, managers and fishers. The report says an education system which includes new technologies must be designed and put in place through a cooperative effort by all stakeholders. Other recommendations from the report include: taking the precautionary approach to stock harvesting, closing fisheries when reasonable evidence points to the need for conservation; not to "chase quotas down to the last fish." promote consistency through Conservation Harvesting plans for all fleet sectors, setting out measures such as small fish protocols, observer coverage, test fishing, seasons, and gear restrictions. develop a code of responsible harvesting practices, placing the onus for responsible fishing practices on each harvester. specific measures be implemented to protect the ecosystem and critical habitats. increase research on the resource, and ensure stakeholders receive pertinent scientific data. managers must avoid political interference in the decision-making process. fishers' groups must improve conservation awareness among harvesters, and develop conservation harvesting plans. immediate action must be taken to reduce fishing capacity, and avoid the expansion of technology until its impact on the resource and environment is researched. The FRCC was formed in 1993 to create a partnership between scientific and academic expertise and all sectors of the fishing industry. The council makes recommendations to the federal minister regarding issues such as TACs and other conservation measures. The council consists of scientists from universities and representatives from the fishing industry. The ITQ Debate Continues Community Management Versus ITQ's , A North Atlantic Fishery Divided. By Ralph Surette In Iceland, some communities have been shut out entirely from their traditional access to the fishery - no one there has a license to fish. For the first time even people from fishing communities that have been stable for a thousand years are showing up on welfare in Reykjavik. This is not the result of a fishery collapse. It is the result of a management scheme put into place as the stocks recovered, one that makes the fishery "modern" and "efficient" - that is, that centralizes it in the hands of a few. And Iceland is no special case. It's just a couple of years ahead of everybody else. It's happening everywhere in the developed world - New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, British Columbia...and particularly Western Nova Scotia where the groundfishery is still open. And it begs the question as the groundfish return elsewhere in Atlantic Canada: who will catch it? The centrepiece of all this is a management device called the Individual Transferable Quota. ITQs are personal quotas for individual fishers which they can sell, as opposed to the standard collective quotas for entire fleets. Although attractive to governments wishing to hand over management to the private sector, and a bonanza to the individuals who get them, ITQs also amount to the privatization of the fish resource, lead quickly to concentration in the fishery, and leave coastal communities out in the cold. But now resistance is growing - again, starting in Iceland, where the head of the Icelandic Association of Small Boat Owners, Arthur Bogason, is trying to organize small fishers throughout the entire North Atlantic, from Norway to New England. Bogason is appalled by what has been happening in Iceland, and by the slowness of communities and fishers themselves to realize what is happening. "There are very few fishermen in the whole North Atlantic area who realize their governments have signed away the rights of entire communities," he says. In Nova Scotia, the southwest-area Scotia dragger fleet went to ITQs in 1989. Buyouts have already reduced the number of boats by a third to about 60. The entire fleet is now considered to be controlled by a half dozen or fewer of the larger players. The longliners over 65 feet have gone to ITQs and those between 45 and 65 feet are going. There's pressure for the many boats under 45 feet to go as well. There are company quotas - another version of the same thing - in the scallop and herring fleets. "My fear is that fishermen who are privileged already will end up with everything and the others will be annihilated, says Sara Huskilson, head of the Eastern Shelburne Fishermen's Association. "We'll have a fleet of processors out there and there won't be a small community." The argument sharpened last year when Les Burke, head of economics for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans's (DFO) Maritime region, and a fellow economist, wrote a provocative article for the Dalhousie Law Journal describing the fishery in the frank terms of the neo-conservative right. The fishery was a hopelessly over subsidized "false economy based on fish" and they compared its collapse to that of the Soviet Union. The answer was "individual property rights" such as ITQs. Burke insisted that this was a private opinion, not DFO policy, but critics who have been accusing DFO of a big business bias for years thought this was a frank confession. Government policy, Burke states, is to do "whatever the fishermen want" but that with a few exceptions the demand for community management is weak. ITQs came about because the general quotas that existed after the 200-mile limit weren't restricting overfishing, he says. Fleets were cut up and given separate quotas, then companies, and now individuals. Further, ITQs are advantageous, he says, because individuals catch their quota whenever they want - whenever market or other factors are favourable - instead of having to rush out and catch it before everybody else does. Critics like Tony Charles, professor of management science at Saint Mary's University, accuse DFO of promoting ITQs heavily and of dividing fleets and fisher groups to manipulate the process toward ITQs. Charles says it's misleading to claim, as DFO does, that ITQs are the end-point of a sort of natural progression. Community management is the natural way, he says , and there are examples of it even now in the lobster and other fisheries. "It worked for thousands of years. What happened in the last 30?" Besides, "How would you know if it doesn't work if you haven't tried?" he asks. DFO says that fishers are naturally fractious and don't cooperate. Charles says authoritarian management by DFO has create an "us-versus-them" mentality that encouraged fishers to "beat the system." The story might have been different, he says, had fishermen had a real chance to participate in making fishery policy. As for ITQs, Arthur Bull, head of the Fundy Fixed Gear Council (FFGC), calls them "bizarre." Far from a free enterprise model, they constitute a "great state intrusion on behalf of the people who overfished in the first place." A contentious point about ITQs is that they are based on the "catch history" of an individual over the past six years, essentially giving such individuals a windfall. "It's as though you had a hotel and did well for the past six years and the government turned around and guaranteed you that market share in perpetuity," says Bull. Bull's group is in fact the most advanced community management experiment around. The "community" includes the entire Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy, and there have been meetings to include the entire New Brunswick side as well, including Grand Manan. Fixed gear fishers have all signed a contract with the FFGC, in which fishers set their own quotas week by week (within the larger quota set by DFO). The preferred method of community management is "days of fishing" - in which boats bring in everything they catch. This is considered to be the only management approach that does not encourage discarding of fish at sea (throwing out the small ones, or less valuable species, in order to keep fishing for a pure load of big, valuable ones). There is also a disciplinary committee, and a broad advisory committee that includes environmentalists, scientists, community economic development workers and other community members, as well as fishers. The approach goes beyond fisheries into economic development, and coastal zone management. The hope is to manage the Bay on a total ecology basis, and the group has received funds from several quarters, including the World Wildlife Fund, for studies. However, if the Bay of Fundy group is pressing ahead, it's not necessarily the case in the rest of Nova Scotia. There are others who want community management, but the question of "what is a community?" and "how can it be extended as lines at sea?" tend to intrude. The Bay of Fundy is a self-contained area and gives itself more easily to such an approach. In fact, Shelburne County, where some 70 per cent of the groundfish in Nova Scotia is landed, is the worst case. There is no common ground. In fact, nine associations, usually bickering, represent small boat fishers. Indeed, Arthur Bogason, who has been in Nova Scotia several times over the past year, has been dismayed by the lack of unity among Nova Scotia fishers, counting 70 different associations representing them in Nova Scotia alone. "I truly regret this situation. I know the only people who hurt from it are the fishermen," he says. As a result, he says, he may have to leave Nova Scotia out of his North Atlantic Alliance, being unable to deal with this fractiousness. The founding meeting, he says, should be this fall - maybe in Newfoundland, where fishers are in fact organized into one union. (Reprinted with permission from The Atlantic Cooperator) See: Co-Management back to top back to top Coastal Communities News Acknowledgements Coastal Communities News is published bi-monthly by the Coastal Communities Network, a non-profit society registered in the province of Nova Scotia. Coastal Communities News is made possible by the generous efforts of many volunteers, and by financial contributions from Human Resources Development Canada, and by donations and in-kind contributions from the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Culture, as well as from member groups and organizations. We welcome all articles and submissions, from individuals and groups, with content in keeping with the role and nature of this magazine. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. Except where additional credit has been given, all articles are prepared by the Editor and Editorial Board. Join the Coastal Communities Network Our Mission Statement The Coastal Communities Network is a volunteer association of organizations whose mission is to provide a forum to encourage dialogue, share information, and create strategies and actions that promote the survival and development of Nova Scotia's coastal and rural communities. "A Large Voice for Small Communities" CCN is made up of organizations rooted in Nova Scotia's coastal and rural communities, and it is the diversity of its membership that gives it strength. Your organization, and your community, can help CCN determine its direction and strengthen its voice still further. Join the Coastal Communities Network today. How to Become Involved in the Coastal Communities Network CCN's strength lies in its membership, which is made up of organizations rooted in Nova Scotia's coastal communities. The range of member organizations is very broad, including churches, fish harvester groups, municipalities, community and regional economic development agencies, unions, universities, and local community groups. CCN welcomes the participation of any organization that represents the interests of a coastal community or issue and is interested in working together with similar groups across the province. Your organization can become involved in a number of ways: — by participating in regular monthly meetings of the CCN membership. These are held in Truro (usually on the first Tuesday of each month), and allow representatives from member organizations to review what is happening in coastal communities across the province, plan actions on issues of common concern, and review progress on CCN-sponsored projects; — by getting on our mailing list to receive regular copies of Coastal Communities News. Send us your name and address by mail or fax, or call us directly; — by contributing written articles to Coastal Communities News, and so letting everyone know what's happening in your community; — by taking part in CCN workshops and information sessions. Special events like this are held on topics of importance to coastal communities (for example, community economic development, co- management in the fishery, etc); — by inquiring about CCN's resource library, which includes information, reports, and studies on topics that affect the future and sustainability of coastal communities. You may contact us at: CCN Coordinator: PO Box 1613 Pictou, N.S. B0K 1H0 Phone:(902)485-4754 Fax:(902)445-7134 e-mail:coastalnet@ns.sympatico.ca CCN Communications Office: Phone: (902) 445-7168 Fax: (902) 445-7134 e-mail:ccnews@ns.sympatico.ca back to top

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