WEL LIL A AEROBIE EL | Lod

CANADA

Women want Accord from Ontario parties

By KERRY McCUAIG
TORONTO — A powerful
Coalition of women’s groups
Wants Ontario’s future govern-
ment committed to a ‘“Women’s
Equality Accord.”
“We want written commit-

ments from the parties,” said |

Barbara Cameron of the National

Action Committee on the Status
of Women. ms

Cameron said women activists

are alarmed by the “‘vague

- generalities’ which have high-

lighted the Ontario campaign to

date. With the Sept. 10 vote fast

TORONTO — The federal
government ignored warnings
that Canada’s refugee system was
being abused and instead waited
until it could whip up public hys-
teria and bring in repressive legis-
lation, refugee rights groups
Charge.

Ottawa was well aware of the
large numbers of illegal refugees
and of immigration consultants
who were advising immigrants
how to misuse the system, says
Salome Lucas of Women Work-
ing with Immigrant Women.

“Tt waited until it could build a
case, scream backlog and then
close its doors;’’.says the.activist
who co-ordinates the work of the
self-help centre.

The Tories acted Aug. 11 recall-
ing Parliament in an emergency
session to introduce Bill C-58.

The stringent legislation allows
Ships suspected of carrying illegal
immigrants to be turned back,
with no hearings for passengers.
Persons suspected of being sec-
urity threats could be turned back
Without a hearing and anyone
found guilty of smuggling, assist-
Ing or harbouring illegal refugees
Would be liable for heavy fines
and imprisonment.

- The government’s action fol-
lows last month’s arrival by boat
of 174 East Indians.

While the groups recognize that
Some action must be taken to re-
Vamp Canada’s refugee laws the
Current legislation is ‘totally
Unacceptable,’ says Toronto
Immigration lawyer Terry Jack-
Man, °*

Jackman is coordinating a tele-
gram campaign to government
Protesting the Bill C-84. The Coal-
ition for a Just Immigration and

efugee Policy has also sched-
uled a demonstration outside

Coalition fights
‘unjust policy _

Conservative Party headquarters
on Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 1 p.m.

The coalition fears that legiti-
mate refugees will be endangered
in the government's attempts to
wipe out frauds.

The bill and its forerunner, Bill
C-55, introduced in February,
- discriminates against claimants
from third world countries who
do not have the money or access
to direct flights to Canada, says
Laurel Whitney, national co-
ordinator of the coalition which
numbers over 90 groups.

“There is bias,”’ says Whitney.
“Unlike East Europeans who

can_ fly directly to Canada, a
Guatemalan for example often

must work his way up through
Mexico and the states before
reaching Canada. These people
don’t have the time to apply for
visas or the money to hop on a
plane. When they leave, they
leave quickly and quietly in fear of
their lives.”

While action is needed on re-,
fugee policy, it is not the kind of
action the Tories have taken.
‘“There is abuse, it is a bad system
and it has broken down,” Whit-
ney explains. ‘‘Immigration
lawyers and others told the
government when the system was
first designed in the seventies that
it was not fair and it would not
work. It has since spent millions
on commissions and studies, but

chose to ignore the recom- |

mendations of everyone who told
them we need a fair and fast sys-
tem.”

What the coalition is proposing
is a process which would hear re-
fugee claims and appeals within
three months. ‘This would be the
best dissuasion for abuse, Says
Whitney. ““No one 1s going to
spend the money or effort tocome
to Canada for three months, if
they know their claim is unlikely
to be legitimated.”

potrTical
REFUGEE?

wueee's THE
PROOF

approaching they are anxious to
get ‘‘specific commitments”’ from
the parties.

“Tf we don’t have this before an
election, we will get nothing af-
ter,’’ she said.

The coalitions, representing
child care, employment equity,
abortion rights and visible minor-
ity groups, admit borrowing the
Accord idea from the agreement
which brought Premier David
Peterson’s Liberals to power two
years ago.

That agreement committed the
government to enacting certain
legislation, in return for legisla-
tive support from the New Demo-
cratic Party. :

But even with an Accord,
women made little progress the
groups say.

‘Pay Equity legislation is only
half a loaf,’’ charged Mary Cor-
nish, head of the Equal Pay Coali-

tion. Under the as-yet-unpro-

claimed legislation, “‘some
women will face delays up to 20
years, and these are women cov-
ered by the legislation — thou-
sands more aren’t. This is not
what women had in mind when
they voted for the parties in the
last election.” .

Barbara Isaac of the Alliance
for Employment Equity which
represents 50 visible minority and
disabled groups, was also angered

by the pay equity law. ‘“‘Every
government-sponsored report
over the past 20 years has called
for mandatory employment equi-
ty, but pay equity does not target
US< 7

Isaac criticized the government
for its voluntary approach, which
she says has accomplished *‘noth-
ing.’’ Needed she said, is legisla-
tion which would outline targets
and timetables for the hiring and
promotion of women and mi-
nority groups.

Abortion Access Declined

Access to abortion in the prov-
ince has declined during the Lib-
eral tenure, said Judy Rebick of
the Ontario Coalition for Abor-
tion Clinics. “In 1985 the gov-
ernment made a promise to im-
prove access to abortion. Health
Minister Murray Elston repeated
that promise again six months
ago. Nothing has happened, but
the continued prosecution of the’
doctors,’’ she said, referring to
Dr. Morgentaler and his co-
leagues Drs. Robert Scott and
Nikki Colodny who face charges
related to the operation of their
abortion clinics.

‘‘All three parties don’t want
abortion to be an issue, but for the
women who have faced harass-
ment outside the clinics, it is an
issue,’’ said Rebick, who is con-

testing Ontario’s Oriole riding for
the NDP.

The government was also criti-
cized for not fulfilling its promises
to improve child care. While there
are outstanding commitments for
new funding, the Liberals have
refused to give any guarantees
that commercial operators will be
excluded from public funding.

This becomes a critical ques-
tion within the new constitutional
framework brought about by the
Meech Lake Accord, said Laurel
Rothman of the Ontario Coalition

_for Better Day Care. Ontario will

be a powerful player in federal-
provincial negotiations for a new
national child care plan, and the
group wants government's assur-
ances that it will support a high
quality, non-profit system.

‘*‘This may be the first test of
federal spending power as out-
lined in the Meech Lake Accord.
We want to ensure ... child care
will not be sacrificed in an effort to
demonstrate the resilience of
Meech Lake,’ Rothman em-
phasized.

Cameron said the text of the
Equality Accord will be released
next week after consultation with
NAC’s 240 member groups in On-
tario. Party leaders and candi-
dates will be asked to sign the Ac-
cord and NAC’s findings will be
released prior to the elections.

Alan Blakeney’s long-awaited resignation has

NDP leadership race
— flash or substance?”

From

4as-4-87 fe

Pa

shifted attention in Saskatchewan from the be-
leaguered Tory government to the NDP’s Nov.
6-8 leadership convention. Several potential
candidates have been testing the waters, and
former New Democrat attorney-general Roy
Romanow is seen as a clear favourite, unless he

‘decides to run federally. But Romanow’s

right-wing history within the party raises many
questions.

In the aftermath of the Tory cabinet’s spring
budget-slashing, polls show the government
trailing 25 per cent behind the NDP, tempting
leadership candidates with the prospect of an
easy win over Devine. The latest embarrass-

\ment for the Premier came as he spoke during

the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies for the Western
Canada Summer Games, when many of the
athletes and cultural performers from Saskat-
chewan booed him loudly.

But an NDP election win should not be taken
for granted. An election could be more than
three years away, if the premier is able to pre-
vent half a dozen more backbenchers from fol-
lowing Saskatoon MLA Ray Martineau’s
example by resigning their seats (or crossing the
floor). And it remains to be seen whether the
NDP will adopt a set of policies based on work-
ing people’s needs before that election.

Other potential candidates who haven't ruled

themselves out include Regina North east MLA.

Ed Tchorzewski, a former finance minister
under Blakeney, and Saskatoon Nutana MLA
Pat Atkinson, an activist in labour and women’s
organizations, and the daughter for former NFU

leader Roy Atkinson. Tchorzewski has been an ~

aggressive figure in the Legislature since his

~ by-election victory late in Devine’s first term,

and presents himself as a centrist in NDP terms.
Atkinson may take a position further to the left,
staking out the ground for another leadership
run in the future.

Inthe absence of any well-organized *‘left” in
Saskatchewan’s NDP, and given his backing by
many top Blakeney people, Romanow will be
difficult to beat for the leadership. But his vic-
tory would be seen by many progressives as the

Kimball Cariou

poorest outcome. Under his leadership, the

_provincial NDP would likely continue its shift to

the right which took hold during Blakeney’s last
two terms in office, 1975-82. Romanow was
closely associated with the frequent anti-labour
positions taken by the government in those
years, and was an architect of the 1982 constitu-
tional agreement which left out the rights of the
seach Canadian nation and the aboriginal peo-
ples.

Tronically, since Romanow has often been
wooed to join the federal Liberals, his leader-
ship of the NDP here could possibly open the
door to the provincial Liberals gaining stronger
electoral positions. His strong identification
with the right wing of the NDP could allow
Liberal leader Ralph Goodale to project himself
as the ‘progressive’ alternative for Sas-
katchewan voters, cutting into traditional NDP
support.

The leadership picture will become clearer
soon as candidates make their intentions
known. But NDPers already have some impor-
tant questions to think over. Will they go for
Romanow, the suave, flashy media favourite, or
reject his style in search of a candidate with
more substance? Will the November conven-
tion be used as an excuse for hoopla, or will the
party’s lack of progressive policy alternatives,
which cost it so dearly in last October’s election,
be on the agenda? And will the NDP help build
the growing mass movement against the vicious,
right-wing Devine government, or confine itself
to the four walls of the Legislature in Regina?
The answers to these questions will definitely
have a bearing on the fight to stop the destruc-
tion of jobs and social policies and the sellout of
natural resources in Saskatchewan.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 19, 1987 e 3