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EDITORIAL Geo ADVERTISING Fax 9058534626 DISTRIBUTION Fax 250 Industrial It Aurora ON EDITORIAL Editor Aurora Bower jbowerOyrmgcom Editor Newmarket Editor Georrina Tracy Kibble Production Jackie Smart jsmanOyrmgcom Advertising Retail Sales Manager Dave Williams Classified Manager Bonnie Rondeau brondeauOyrmgcom Administration Office Manager White Distribution Distribution John MacKinnon jmackinnonOyrmgcom Circulation Manager MeganPike mplkeOyrmgxom THE ERA THE BANNER York Region Media Group community newspapers The EraThe Banner published every Tuesday Thursday and Sunday are ol the Media Group Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of Corporation The Metroiand family of newspapers is comprised of community publications across Ontario The York Region Media Group includes The Liberal serving Richmond Hill and Citizen Markham Economist Sun Stouffvitle SunTnbune Advocate North of the City com and York Region Pnntmg LETTERS POLICY All submissions must be less than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address The EraThe Banner reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space Write Letters to the Editor The EraThe Banner Box Newmarket NION Established 1853 THE ERATHE BANNER Steven Crt Newmarket ON L3Y Industrial N Aurora ON Publisher Ian Editor in Chief Kelly Business Manager Robert Lazurko Director Operations Barry Black Advertising Distribution GordPaolucci Director Sales Marketing Classified Todays Homes DebraWeller LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Transit points system necessary Re Mobility Transit draws fire Jan i 28 My husband my mother and I have been reading the letters and story about issues with York Region Mobility Plus My husband drove the mobility bus in Richmond Hill for many years and I mention my mother as she was the first mobility bus drivers hired when Markham started its service She drove for 11 years I drove the mobility bus for Vaughan and when transit in York Region amal gamated I joined York Region Transit I no longer work for York Region but feel strongly both sides of any issue should be represented I am sure Mobility Plus will agree it can always improve its service and is I open to suggestions Do some passengers forget there is a budget Even though they may only pay a minimum of 325 per trip that trip may actually cost a minimum of 93 per cent of the cost of a trip is covered by municipal taxes In reference to Tyler Barkers issues the cost of his trip from Aurora to Sene ca would be almost the same for Mobil ity Plus as the 65 he was charged by Dignity Transportation When he uses Mobility Plus he is charged 425 as per its website Since a large portion of Mobility Plus passengers are serviced by taxi contrac tors I think they forget these vehicles have scheduled dairy trips just as buses do If the driver has to wait for a late pas senger that will make him late for his next passenger someone who may be going for dialysis or to an appoint ment booked months in advance All Mobility Plus passengers have access 247 to book confirm and can cel their trips A large portion of Mobility Plus users are responsible but as in everything in life there is a small minority who wish the system only revolved around their needs To address the small number of passengers who forget to cancel their appointments or continually miss rides it is necessary to have some way to address this issue and hence the Mobility Plus points process was cre ated Conventional buses do not wait for late passengers so why should Mobil ity Plus NORAMAREK Traditional aboriginal knowledge critical to conservation The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity It would be great if the year could be simply a celebration of the Earths biological richness but biodi versity year is occurring while non- human life on our planet is in a more perilous state than ever before Experts believe the world is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis on par with earlier mass extinction events Some 17000 of the plant and ani mal species that weve identified and assessed are now in serious decline including many that are wellknown and wellloved by Canadians such as caribou polar bears and some salmon populations This perilous situation for plants and animals threatens not only the ecological health of ecosystems such as oldgrowth forests and arctic tundra but also the wellbeing and welfare of human communities that depend on the ecological goods and services that nature provides A report just released by the David Suzuki Foundation and its allies Con servation Value of the North American Boreal Forest from an Ethnobotani- cal Perspective considers the impor tance of Canadas boreal forest to aboriginal people as a storehouse of David Suzuki with Faisal Moola plant resources Boreal plants such as Labrador tea wild rice jack pine and countless other trees shrubs and herbs have always played a significant role in the culture of the people who inhabit this vast northern region that extends from Newfoundland to the Yukon Food and beverage plants such as wild chives and chokecherry provide essential nutrients to complement a predominately meatbased diet Medicinal plants such as lingonberry mountain alder and common juniper are at the core of a holistic approach to health care and have been used for millennia to treat a myriad of ailments from easing aches and pains and cur ing urinarytract infections to assisting in childbirth Before the introduction of modern technologies boreal plants also offered materials for transportation such as balsam fir timber used to make canoe frames and tamarack fibres used in snowshoes This range of benefits reflects a long tradition of botanical and ecological knowledge aboriginal people have acquired over thousands of years of using the boreal forest as grocery store pharmacy school and spiritual haven Traditional knowledge held by Can adas First Nations is not just a relic of the past It offers scientists policy makers resource companies environ mentalists and anyone else who cares about the boreal a vitally important information source to belter manage the regions land and resources University ofVictoria environmental studies professor Nancy Turner argues we must not overlook the close interre lationships between indigenous people and their lands Scientists must respect indigenous people as keepers of traditional eco logical knowledge Too often we undervalue the con tribution of aboriginal traditional eco logical knowledge in our debates about resource extraction wildlife manage ment and landuse planning We must remember aboriginal peo ple were actively involved in managing the boreal and other regions long before western science or industrial develop ment came along For example boreal people com monly used landscape burning to main tain soil productivity healthy wildlife populations and a diversity of habitats The practice has since been adopted by many forestry companies Indeed indigenous people have mapped the landscape and resources of the boreal forest to a much greater extent than scientists had previously understood For example the Gwichin in the Northwest Territories longago identified Black Currant Island in the Husky River area and The Dogrib call Mesa Lake in the Northwest Territories Gotsokati which translates as Cloudberry Lake We must ensure wilderness and wildlife conservation including creat ing new parks and protected areas rec ognizes indigenous rights to land and water and includes the involvement of indigenous peoples David Suzuki writes an occasional column AdvocateThe BannerThe Era Dr Faisal is the of science at the Dart Suzuki