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| Pickets target U.S. trade representative

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A lunchtime demonstration outside the Hotel Vancouver Friday saw some 50 representatives of trade unions and
community groups express their opposition to the Mulroney-Reagan trade deal as inside the hotel, the Vancouver Board of
__ Trade and the World Trade Centre hosted a $40 a plate lunch for Ambassador Clayton Yeutter, U.S. trade representative. —
_ Yeutter, a member of U.S. president Reagan's cabinet, is responsible for the development of American trade policy.

Public rally

Supporters of a group of Turkish refu-
gees who have been seeking to remain in
Canada were horrified April 13 when
immigration officers arrested and deported
six of the men. The arrests came within 36
hours of a rally on Parliament Hill urging
the government to accept the claimants on
humanitarian grounds.

The 800 protesters urged immigration
minister Barbara McDougall to exercise her
special powers under the immigration act to
allow the approximately 1,600 remaining
Turks to stay in Canada. McDougall
rejected the pleas and warned that those
served with deportation orders would be
arrested.

Used as political pawns in the govern-
ment’s immigration scheme, the “Turk
Affair” could backfire on the Tories, par-
ticularly in Quebec — a province Mulro-
ney is actively wooing in his re-election bid.

Between July, 1986 and January, 1987,
2,000 men, women and children from Tur-
key’s south-west were lured to.Canada by
unscrupulous travel agents claiming job
openings and easy entrance requirements.

Then immigration minister Benoit Bou-
chard was fully informed of the situation,
but failed to inform Turkish authorities.
Immigration officers were made aware of
the travellers’ intentions but were instructed
to admit them. The Turks have since used
by the minister as evidence of ‘‘abuses” of
Canadian refugee policy, and the justifica-
tion for Bill C-55, his new repressive immi-
gration law.

But in its cruel ploy, the government

underestimated public compassion. When
100 of the immigrants spontaneously set out
on a week-long walk from Montreal to
Ottawa, with only the clothes on their back,
the welcome they received was nothing
short of overwhelming. 3

Churches, schools and community halls
were opened up. Residents responded with
bedding, first aid supplies and more food
than the trekkers could eat. Among the
Francophone press and population the
immigrants are now affectionately referred
to as “our Turks.”

The 800 who met them on Parliament

We,

Part of the delegation of 100 Turkish immigrants who walked to Ottawa from

es

ing behind Tu rks

Montreal seeking a stay of deportation orders. They were joined by 700 supporters
who urged immigration Minister Barbara McDougall to allow the 1,600 refugees to

remain in Canada.

Hill made up one of the largest public dem-
onstrations yet protesting government
immigration policy. As representatives
appealed in vain to the minister, Gordon
Fairweather, head of the Canadian Human
Rights Commission, was appearing before
the Senate Committee on Legal and Consti-
tution Affairs urging a general amnesty for
the Turks.

Outside, Shirley Carr, head of the 2.5-
million Canadian Labour Congress, called
on the government to declare a general
amnesty for all claimants. Both the opposi-
tion Liberals and New Democrats offered
their support to the refugees.

From Toronto, Communist leader Wil-

liam Kashtan wired McDougall urging the
deportation orders be stopped. The tele-
gram contrasted the government’s policy on
the Turkish refugees to its open door policy
on Nicaraguan contras and cabinet resist-
ance to act against accused nazi war crimi-
nals.

The government’s double standard for
claimants was also questioned by suppor-
ters at the rally. “Why (is McDougall) invit-
ing rich businessmen?” asked Tayyar
Ozturk of Montreal. He noted that the
immigrants all had jobs, many in skilled
trades. “After one and a half years of hope.
it is all being taken away. Why not let them
stay?”

- Sask. bill
panders to

anti-French
sentiment

Special to the Tribune

Under severe pressure to correct
historical injustices against Saskat-
chewan’s French-speaking popula-
tion, the Devine government continues
to drag its heels. On April 4, the pro-
vincial Tories introduced legislation
voiding French-language rights in
existence since the province was
founded in 1885.

Under the legislation, provisions in
the Northwest Territories Act, includ-
ing the right to a French trial, French
translation of laws and the right to
speak French in the legislature, are to
be repealed.

In practice, those rights had always
been denied to the “Fransaskois” but
were upheld by recent Supreme Court
decisions. However, generations of
English-only government have re-
duced the numbers of Francophones
in Saskatchewan to about 23,000,

concentrated in a few, mainly north-~

ern, communities.

Calling the move an outrage,
Rupert Baudais, president of the
Association Culturelle des Franco-
Canadiens de la Saskatchewan, said
“this bill abolishes all the rights we
have had since the establishment of
the province. It is a slap in the face to
the Francophone.”

Devine’s new legislation allows the
government to decide which old bills
to translate, and which new ones to
present in both languages. French

“may be used in the courts, but there is
no provision for French-speaking
judges or juries. Nor is there any plan
to provide simultaneous French
translations in the legislature.

Premier Devine has cited the cost
of expanding rights for Francophones
as the reason for his position. Clearly
the Tories are relying on redneck reac-
tion to strengthen their position. Let-
ters to the editor ranting about
French “gobbledygook” have already
become common.

But there has also been powerful
opposition to the bill. Both the New
Democrat and Liberal opposition
parties have joined Francophones in
condemning it. And Devine’s arm is
being twisted by his Ottawa cousins
who fear losing seats in Quebec.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
and powerful cabinet ministers have

_ offered cash to the Saskatchewan

government to make its bill less objec-
tionable.

However, Devine’s only move has
been to announce plans for a special
office of French services, and to
renege on his idea of a language insti-
tute to teach French to civil servants.

He remains vague on a timetable
for any translation of existing laws. If
the Tories are re-elected in 1990 they
could postpone real progress on the
issue, claiming their hands are tied by
negative public opinion.

Nor has the government given any
signs of its intention to encourage the
use of aboriginal languages in the
legislature. When government repre-
sentatives announced that there were
no functionally bilingual MLAs. they
ignored the member from Cumber-
land, Keith Goulet. who is fluent in
both Cree and English.

Pacific Tribune. April 20. 1988 « 7

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