Labour councils trace
history 100 years

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The grey clouds overhead let loose a few
drops of rain, but by the time an estimated
60,000 people had cleared the Burrard
Street bridge and marched through the
downtown core April 22, the sun had
broken through to shine once again on the
Walk for Peace in Vancouver.

As if blessed by some benign spirit, the
annual march for world disarmament
sponsored by the 230-group member coa-
lition, End the Arms Race; was rain-free as
it has been since the anti-nuclear march
focussed on the arms race back in 1982.

With a mainly youthful contingent once
again leading the march behind a broad
blue banner that stretched across the six-

yA ae

lane width of the bridge and the following
streets, the largest contingent in Canada of
trade unionists, church people, commun-
ity groups and virtually every other facet
of society publicly dedicated to peace
moved along the five-kilometre route to
the rally point in Sunset Beach park.
_ New features of this year’s walk
included a flotilla of some 50 craft bobbing
on the waters of English Bay bearing mes-
sages of peace. In front of the stage rested
four “peace trees” from the University of
B.C.’s botanical garden, to be planted
beside the peace flame in Seaforth Park.
From the stage, musicians, including

’ Bob Bossin, Ferron, and choral groups,

rhythmically saluted disarmament between

4

speakers who spoke on the four dedica-
tions of the eighth annual peace walk: to
peace and disarmament, to the preserva-
tion of nature, to the human spirit for
survival, and to life.

“With this dedication, we call upon all
the nations of the world to stop the was-
tage of the planet’s priceless resources for
tools of destruction and to utilize those
resources for looking after the needs of all
people and the needs of all life,” declared
EAR president Frank Kennedy from the
rally stage.

Reading the first dedication, Kennedy

see PEACE page 10

The budget and the fightback

— pages 12, 32

4

Organizers

onthe move
— page 8

May 1, 1989
50°

Vol. 52, No. 16

The federal government’s announcement
that it is abandoning regulations restricting
the export of unprocessed salmon and
herring is a “sellout of the Canadian
fishery” and a warning to Canadians of
how this country can expect to fare under
the free trade agreement, union, industry
and opposition spokespersons charged this
week.

And the United Fishermen and Allied
Workers has vowed to fight to prevent the
loss of some 4,000 shoreworkers’ jobs threa-
tened by new watered-down regulations
brought in Tuesday.

“Canada is knuckling under to U.S.
threats of trade retaliation,” representatives
of fishermen and fish companies declared in
a strongly-worded joint statement Monday.

Signing the statement were Jack Nichol,
president of the United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union; Cliff Atleo, presi-
dent of the Native Brotherhood of B.C.,
representing Native fishermen; and Mike
Hunter, president of the Fisheries Council
of B.C. which speaks for the major compan-
ies.

The charges came following the announce-
ment by Fisheries Minister Tom Siddon
Tuesday that new regulations had been
passed by government order-in-council
stipulating only that salmon and herring
would be landed at a Canadian port before
being exported.

“Under the new landing requirement,
American and Canadian buyers will have
equal access to purchase unprocessed fish
caught in Canadian waters,’ Siddon
declared in a release announcing the
change.

His announcement came in the wake of
statements by International Trade Minister
John Crosbie that the government was pre-
pared to sacrifice the west coast fishery
rather than risk U.S. retaliation against
Canadian fish exports, including eastern
cod. U.S. trade representative Carla Hills
had earlier threatened trade penalties
against a variety of fish exports from Can-
ada, covering Atlantic sardines to lobster.

The new regulations completely abandon
any requirement that fish be processed in
Canada or even eviscerated before export,
and industry workers are convinced the
change will result in the virtual demise of the
shore processing industry.

Previous regulations, in place for several
years, had required that Canadian herring
and most species of salmon be processed in
Canadian plants before export. But those
regulations were challenged by U.S. proces-
sors in a complaint brought before the Gen-
eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT).

A GATT panel ruled last year that the -

regulations were inconsistent with GATT
see FISH page 5