-culhane, =a iin Whee Rr Vietnam peasant farmers holding casing of ‘highly personalized’ U.S. ball-bomb by which the whole _ population of a Vietnam village can be wiped out. In one U.S. ball-bomb raid a small village suffered 96 killed and wounded, while surrounding peasant homes were blown to pieces with another type of U.S. bomb called a ‘thin-wall’. Tass Photo Vigil on the Hill Arms to U.S.— sympathy with In a.lone 10-day fast and vigil on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, ina courageous effort to persuade the Canadian government to cancel its ‘“‘defense’’ armament contracts with the U.S. which are being used to kill and destroy the people of Vietnam, Claire Montreal grandmother is living on orange juice and water, and sleeps at night under the portico of the East Block. Asked by an inquisitive press reporter if she was hungry, Mrs. Culhane replied, ‘‘sure I’m hungrey, but the Vietnamese people are a damn sight hungrier than I am’’. _ - During this 10-day fast Claire Culhane is not entirely alone. An _ anti-Vietnam wr group joins her every Wednesday noon in a . _ noon-hour protest on Parliament Hill. Many of Ottawa’s women ‘olk stop for a sympathetic chat with ‘Grannie’ Culhane. These include Madame. Therese Casgrain, chairman of the Quebec Branch of the Medical Aid to Vietnam movement, Mrs. John Diefenbaker and many others. Culhane are deeply interesting since she has just_returned from seven months of hospital service in Quang Ngai, South Vietnam, and has a first-hand vivid experience of war suffering and tragedy in that war-torn country. “We make $300-million dollars a year on war contracts with the U.S., allegedly for defense” states Mrs. Culhane, ‘‘then try to square our conscience by sending a ‘limited medical help — the cruellest hypocracy ever’’. Not only in Ottawa however has the vigil of Claire Culhane evoked sympathy and support, but all across Canada countless thousands of people, peace workers, anti-Vietnam war movements, medical aid to Such chats with Mrs. , Vietnam —‘the cruelest hypocracy’ Vietnam groups, churches, trade unions and others. They too think it is ‘‘the cruellest hypocracy ever’ to reap big profits from the sale of murder weapons, then pretend ‘‘sympathy” with the victims of those death-dealing weapons. A night wire forwarded to Prime Minister Trudeau by three Vancouver mothers, Mrs. J. Rankin, Mrs. C. Rush and and Mrs. L. Nedokin, adds further emphasis to the sentiments of the Canadian people. The letter asks the Prime Minister, — “Would you please, through your off/ce, convey to Mrs. Claire Culhane our solidarity with the parpose of her fast and vigil on parliamentary Hill. “We sincerely hope that this extreme effort on the part of Mrs. Culhane will bring to the attention of this government the Cont. on Pg. 12 see VIGIL ay a d emandend to freeze In an unprecedented move, B.C. school trustees in convention last Monday unanimously censured the provincial government for its continued ban on school construction. The action was taken despite a last minute announcement by education minister Brothers that his department would relax some of the restriction, that it would allow the construction of entire new schools, not only additions, but would maintain the ban on activity rooms and gymnasiums. While the education minister was speaking 200 students at Tsawwassen Junior Elementary School in Delta were staging a walkout demanding the construction of a gymnasium in their school and an end to outdoor classes in the rain. And only two weeks before 3000 parents and students in Coquitlam heard speakers roundly condemn the Socred government’s’ school construction freeze which has caused severe overcrowding and shift classes in the area. Coquitlam requires an additional 71 classrooms. Premier Bennett’s freeze on school construction may yet turn out to be the undoing of this government. No Socred policies, with the exception of its anti- labor legislation have caused such widespread anger and resentment. People are comparing the premier’s retrenchment on education with his lavish expenditures on power dams and highways and his grandiose plans for a superport at Robert’s Bank. Under mounting public pressure Premier Bennett has been compelled to back down and take ‘‘second looks’’ at some of his governing policies. But whatever concessions he is prepared to give are still granted as handouts, rather than firm policy commitments. In this education remains the ‘poor relative’ as far as the premier is concerned; its needs are attended to only if the public pressure becomes too hot, or if there is anything left over to ‘grant.’ A new approach to education in this province is urgently required if overcrowding in our schools and lack of facilities are to be corrected. Among measures immediately required are:— e—An immediate end to the freeze on school construction and school ground development. ®—A new provincial educational finance formula providing the municipal contributions to education costs shall not exceed 20 percent of the whole. ®—Federal responsibility for the financing of the costs of elementary educational grades from 1 to 7. e—The use of school facilities (libraries, gymnasiums, etc.) after school hours for community educational and recreational projects. -@—Provincial financial responsibility for 75 percent of the capital and operating costs of regional colleges. As advocated in the school program of the Committee of Progressive Electors (COPE), and in view of the growing crisis in school construction and facilities, Vancouver electors would be well advised to support the $15 million dollar plebescite in December to provide for necessary school expansion. Meantime in other areas of the province, encouraged by the School Trustee censure and pressures upon the Bennett government, a widespread mounting campaign may be expected, demanding that government school construction policies be geared to meet urgent and pressing requirements, rather than as _ parsimonious ‘handouts’.