MONDAY
JANUARY 18, 2016
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Vol. 65, Issue 11
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Mitch Parnham, Libero for the College of the Rockies Avalanche, fields a serve from the Douglas Royals in PacWest volleyball action Friday night in Cranbrook. The season is back on for the new year, and it’s game on at COTR. See full results and PacWest standings later this week in the Townsman. Barry Coulter photo
Deer translocation project still on pace TREVOR CRAWLEY
With Animal Alliance decrying an apparent deer cull and the City of Cranbrook refusing to comment on the situation, a company conducting an upcoming urban deer translocation trial says the project is on pace to begin in mid-February. A letter released by Ian Adams, the senior wildlife biologist with the translocation trial, clarifies that his company — VAST Resource Solutions — had nothing to do with the recent deer cull in Cranbrook. “Any culling activity this winter is entirely peripheral to the translocation project …” wrote Adams. With the recent deer cull becoming public knowledge, Animal Alliance —
one of the funding partners — threatened to pull their funding support for the project, which Adams says is not entirely true. Adams says Animal Alliance has already contributed $10,000 to VAST Resource, which was used to purchase 10 GPS radio collars at a cost of just over $1,000 each that will be collared on deer captured in Kimberley and Elkford. Adams says that roughly 90 per cent of the cost for radio collars for deer captured in Cranbrook and Invermere have been covered with direct funding from the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
See TRANSLOCATION, Page 3
Teachers’ union applauds Supreme Court decision TREVOR CRAWLEY
The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear a case involving the B.C. government and the provincial teachers’ union dealing with collective bargaining rights. Canada’s highest court announced last week it would hear an appeal from the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), which is arguing a lower court decision that ruled in favour of the province in April 2015. At issue is the BCTF’s assertion that provincial legislation stripped the union of negotiating class sizes and composition,
which they argued is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Shelley Balfour, the president of the Cranbrook and District Teachers’ Association, says the SCOC decision is welcome news. “This has been a very long struggle for teachers in our province and it affects each and every teacher, support staff and student in our schools,” Balfour said. “Class size and composition issues are felt daily in the classrooms. While our District is consistent with keeping the class sizes to a maximum of 30 with the exception of Band and Drama
classes, the composition of those classroom has a great impact on student’s learning environment and the teachers’ ability to reach every child.” The SCOC decision is another step in a long-running battle between the two sides that began in 2002, when provincial legislation took away the right to bargain class size and composition. That legislation was struck down in 2011 by the B.C. Supreme Court and similar legislation was passed, however, that was also struck down in 2014.
See TEACHERS, Page 3