MRS. FREDA HICKIE

2,000 signatures for peace

.e

love my family’

Meet B.C.’s leading
Petitioner for peace

toe nN ‘the nations finally des-

all thei ; 5
Sen | r atomic and hydro
Frees (and the day is coming),
ot ickie will know sie play-

to do: Sky in compelling them
is Hickie, of Vancouver, is
j sup € outstanding canvassers
Againge ot of the World Appeal
i the Preparations for At-
Nore ist ar. She has collected
Deal &n 2,000 signatures to the
m A and is still going strong.
listered my feet doing it,’

She
. Says, aN i
ute of 4 ut I enjoyed every

4

Greek terror
Profested

A oe

sivg ve tition protesting the repres-
Sime “a tons of the Papagos re-
10) 2 Greece, signed by nearly
leag, {nadian labor and cultural
lpp > among them Tim Buck,
Saige; tonal leader, and J. B.
tag | former LPP MP in On-
Atha, Hes recently forwarded to

Tittee by the Canadian Slav Com-

to Petition demanded amnesty
and eal) Teek political prisoners
to tep €d on the Papagos regime
tio ae All laws enacted at U.S.
disgrace. 4. Vtich bring shame and
its People the Greek nation and
borne one ney of this appeal is
arrest. Weby reports of continuing
despite ed executions in Greece,
Clsaq he tight censorship exer-
to € Papagos government
them from the outside

Ung
bes the reds of Greek patriots, many

rstan €roes of the wartime Re-
See mare in prison under sen-
State death or serving long

doom ees Under conditions which
é Phew. to. death.
Prisons y Smuggled out of these
all ae ‘o this country call upon
Ration cratic Canadian organ-
he ay individuals to protest
thro gh ek government’s terror
Steg 9 solutions and letters dir-
Biigton pore embassy at

Mrs. Hickie has three children,
two sons and a daughter.

Her husband, Bob, is a Second
World ‘War navy veteran and a
former Golden Gloves boxing

champion.

Most of her two thousand sig-
naturesiwere collected door-to-door
in an area stretching over many
square miles. That’s how she got
the blisters. :

Even when she left Vancouver
for a two-week visit with relatives
in Saskatchewan, Mrs. Hickie kept
collecting signatures.

In North Battleford she en-
joyed a reunion with a former
school-mate of many years ago,
Mrs. Anne ‘Moysiuk, who, as
chance would have it, is Sas-
katchewan’s champion signature
collector with more than 3,000.
Of course, they went petition-
ing together. —

Born in Russia in 1909, Mrs.
Hickie was brought to Canada at
the age of three, her family set-

tling on a farm at Rabbit Lake,
Saskatchewan. ;

“Our family dnd. some 30 other
families from the old land pion-
eered the area,” she recalls.

A member of the Federation, of
Russian-Canadians since 1937, Mrs.
Hickie has for many years en-
gaged in various humanitarian
works. For instance, during the
Japanese invasion of China, she
worked with a local group rolling
bandages to ‘be sent to the stricken
Chinese people.

Canadian Doukhobors

seek Soviet contact

BLAINE LAKE, SASK.

Soviet Ambassador Dmitri Chu-
vahin told a gathering of 500
Doukhobors here Saturday last
week he would investigate the
question of communication be-
tween 13,000 Doukhobors in the
USSR and members ofethe sect
living in other countries, includ-
ing Canada.

Chuvahin made the comment
to the informal gathering in reply
to questions from northern Sas-
katchewan Doukhobor leaders,
who showed a keen interest in con-
ditions of living for Doukhobors
in the Soviet Union.

Sask. CCF calls for

nuclear weapons ban

SASKATOON

A strong demand upon the federal government to “‘intensify its efforts to achieve
world disarmament’ and a call for complete ‘‘abolition of the use, possession and manu-
facture’ of all nuclear and other mass destruction weapons was contained in a resolution
adopted by the 12th annual convention of the Saskatchewan CCF, held here recently.

The resolution expressed hope, that the new scientific inventions “made available

to man may be used for welfare
and not warfare and that peace
may be based on the surer foun-
dation of mutual understanding
and cooperation.”

The 496 delegates present ex-
pressed their unanimous commen-
dation of the Saskatchewan gov-
ernment for taking an identical
position on the question and urged

that “annually a similar statement
shall emanate from our govern-
ment to the federal government,
whereby ‘peace in our time’ shall
be effective.” — an
The convention also adopted
a resolution submitted by the
Biggar organization demanding
that further tests of hydrogen
and atomic weapons be restrict-
ed, and that the “public be given
more accurate information on
the results and destructive. ef-
fects of these tests on human,
animal and plant life.” 4

These proposals and others deal-
ing with extended trade and great-
power unity, indicated a growing
desire for peace among the mass
of CCF members in Saskatchewan.

Delegates called upon the gov-
ernment to extend its trade rela-
tions to all countries, without dis-
crimination. The resolution read:

“Resolved that this convention
request the federal government in
order to maintain full employment
of our people, enter into trade
treaties with all nations of the
world, without discrimination as
regards color, creed or political
ideology.”

Another resolution in similar
vein, also submitted by the Biggar
organization, requested that Can-
ada, as “one of the leading trading
nations of the world” should lower
trade barriers toward countries of
the British Commonwealth and

other European’ and Asian coun-|
tries, and should ‘seek the opening
up of trade with all countries will-
ing to trade with us and thereby
advance the cause of peace and
goodwill among the nations.” ©
The convention resolved that
the “CCF inside and outside par-
liament continue to demand Can-
adian recognition of the People’s
Republic of China and the seat-
ing of China... in the UN in

place of the government of
Chiang Kai-shek.”

On the question of Formosa,
however, the leadership watered
down a resolution submitted by
the Moose Jawsorganization to the
effect that Formosa and the off-
shore islands be restored to China,
and substituted an amendment
which called for the “neutraliza-

‘tion of Formosa under UN juris-

diction” and the restoration of the
off-shore islands to China.

A number of sharp resolutions
against German rearmament were
consolidated and the final version
of the one adopted read:

“Resolved that we reaffirm the

position taken by our provincial

and national conventions in con-
ection with the rearmament of

Germany and we urge our mem-

bers of parliament to resist such

rearmament in every legitimate
way.”

The panel leaders strongly op-
posed the attempt to pin-point
agreement of the convention with
the 12-CCF MPs who voted against
rearmament in the House of Com-
mons last January as against the
action of national leader M. J.
Coldwell, who approved it.

A number of important resolu-
tions affecting labor and farmers
in the province, under pressure of

the leadership and the Douglas
cabinet, were either entirely re-
jected or rewritten in a way as
not to “offend” the right wing and
the capitalist-minded farm sup-
porters of the CCF.

Thus Resources Minister Brock-
elbank raised strong misgivings
about a proposal that the Saskat-
chewan government “consider
starting a pulp mill of its own” as
a public enterprise. The minister
indicated tRat the government
would not favor this kind of pro-
posal.

Strong opposition also came
from cabinet benches to a reso-
lution demanding the 40-hour
work week and extended social
security. When delegates asked
for an increase in the supple-_
mental allowance to old-age pen-
sioners, Premier T. C. Douglas
himself opposed it.

Political observers saw strong in-
dications that the government was
readying itself to call a provincial
election in the near future.

Dr. Carlyle King of Saskatoon
was returned by acclamation as
president of the provincial CCF
organization, and Premier Douglas
was reaffirmed as political leader.

The premier took the occasion
to reassure the delegates about
his future political intentions. In

| his acceptance speech he said:

“There have been suggestions
that Mr. Coldwell is retiring and
that I have my bag packed and
ready to go to Ottawa.

“There is no question of Mr.
Coldwell retiring; we expect him
to lead our convention next year.
. . . I have no desire to go to
Ottawa. I intend to stay here and
do the’ job I was intended to do.
My duty is here in Saskatchewan.”

Plebiscite on public ownership
of transit asked by Effie Jones

Stating that “there is no solution to our transit problems within the framework of the
present private monopoly set-up,” Effie Jones this week called on Vancouver City Council
to held a plebiscite this December on ‘the city taking over the BCER transit system.

Appearing before the utilities and airport committee Monday, Mrs. Jones presented
a brief on the transit question drawn up by Civic’ Reform Association.

Hitting at recent curtailment of
service, the CRA brief said, in
part: ;

“The BCE answer to the transit
mess is, in effect, that the situation
is hopeless and incurable — that
all the difficulties are due to the
competition of the private auto-
mobile and this is a factor which
will get worse and not better.

“The company’s only answer to
such competition is to cut the
number of buses on a route each
time there is a fall in passengers,
and to raise fares when revenues
fall.

"The answer was worked out
several year's ago by the Gilman
Commission. In brief, the Gil-
man report recommended that
the generation of electricity be
taken over by the provincial
government with the municipali-
ties handling distribution of elec-
tricity and transportation.

“The capital required to finance
such a set-up could be obtained
economically through the medium
of government-backed, low inter-
est bonds.

“Implementation of these pro-
posals would give British Colum-
bia a public utilities set-up very
similar to that of Ontario, which

is widely known as a model sys-
tem. :

“The nucleus for such a system
already exists in the B.C. Power
Commission which now has a de-
cade of experience in the power
field, and which has demonstrated
its ability to provide excellent
service and to bring rates down
at a time when the B.C. Electric
is raising its rates. The Power
Commission should now be em-
poweredeto take over the BCE
generating stations serving the
lower mainland area.

“At the other end of the picture,
the opportunity now exists for the
municipalities to take the initiative.
Under the BCE transit franchise
agreement, the City of Vancouver
has the right to take over the
transit system next year, provided
that notice is given before the end
of 1955.

in Canada.

“This is a step which*has been

taken by every other large city
Ultimately, it will
have to be taken here.

“If we do not act on this matter
before the end of the year, the’
opportunity will be lost for an-
other five years, therefore the
Givic Reform Association proposes
that a plebiscite be placed before
the electorate this December on
the matter of the city taking over
the B.C. Electric transit system.”

Ald. George Miller asserted

that citizens weren’t fit to de-
cide the issue. “Sure, they would
vote against the B.C. Electric,”
he said, “but the man in the
street knows nothing about this
problem and doesn’t understand
the situation.”

Ald. J. W. Cornett: “All transit
systems face the same problems.
I wouldn’t be surprised that some-
day we will have to use the tax-
payers’ money to subsidize the
B.C. Electric.”

“That would be adding insult to
injury,” said Mrs. Jones.

Council members voted to
ceive” the CRA brief.

“re-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 12, 1955 — PAGE 3