Occupation for redress

of long-standing claims

By JACKIE GREATBATCH

TORONTO — “We're talking
about a violation that goes be-
yond treaty violations. It’s a
human rights violation.” Speak-
ing to a crowd of few. hundred
people at University of Toron-
to’s Convocation Hall, Louis
Cameron of the Ojibway War-
rior’s Society expressed in a
nutshell the reasons for that
group’s occupation of Anicin-
abe Park.

Cameron, who led the occu-
pation, came to Toronto on

Aug. 21 in an attempt to clari-.

fy the Warrior’s Society’s de-
mands.

Anicinabe Park has a long
history with the Indians of the
Rat Portage Band reserve near
the town of Kenora. In 1919 the
Band, after strong government
pressure, surrendered a portion
of their land for lease to the

town for use as a golf course.

It was leased for 99 years at
$10 a year.:The land was later
requested by the Band for use
as a campground for Indians
who came to Kenora from the
23 local reserves. In 1929 the
government, using Indian
money,, purchased the 18-acre
site which is now Anicinabe
Park, in order that the town
could retain its golf course. But
_ in 1956 the site was declared by
the government as surplus land,
and sold to Kenora for $1,800.
The Band never got their land
and Indians still have no ac-
comodation facilities.

The Ojibway Warrior’s So-
ciety, which encompasses In-
dians from the reserves in
Northwestern, Ontario, occupied
the park in an attempt to have
the land returned to its rightful
owners. Cameron says they do
not want a cash settlement, em-
phasizing that retention of the
park is not of vital importance
to the town and that govern-
ment forces were fighting for

‘CARACUS (APN) — The
Third UN Conference on the
Law of the Sea — a bulky ship
with an international crew—is
slowly forcing its way through
the stormy seas of judicial, poli-
tical and economic problems.

The Soviet Union, on whose
initiative the 25th Session of
the General Assembly adopted
Resolution 2750 on the convo-
cation of this conference, is of
.the opinion that the use of the
rich resources of the world’s
oceans calls for comprehensive,
sincere and businesslike coope-
ration of governments, repre-
sentatives of economic and
scientific circles and, of course,
political, professional and cul-
tural organizations.

In an interview with a Novos-
ti correspondent, ambassador
Igor Kolosovsky, head of the
Soviet delegation, said that
problems facing the Conference
are very difficult. However, he
stressed that they are not in-
surmountable. The Conference
is searching for compromise and
mutually acceptable decisions
which would be based on the
Objective realities of present-
day international life and ‘could
be approved by all regional
groups of states.

Ambassador Kolosovsky is of

the principle of private pro-
perty. :

While the issue of treaty vio-
lations is of major importance
Cameron feels that there are
other issues at stake,

“We're talking about a move-
ment of people trying to sur-
vive.” The reserves near Keno-
ra are plagued with the prob-
lems caused by government
policy and racism which affect
all reservations across. the

country. The standard of living .

on the reservations causes 100
unnatural deaths per year out
of the total population of 7,000.
Average life expectancy is 35
years, about half that of the
national average. Police, both
RCMP and Kenora police, make
4,000 arrests each’ year on
charges concerning alcohol, vag-
rancy and traffic violations. The
hunting and fishing rights of
the Native people are in jeopar-
dy due, among other factors, to
river pollution from private in-
dustry. The statistics go on and
on.

In his very loose speech,

‘Cameron emphasized his desire

to gain the understanding of
the Canadian people on the real
issues surrounding the récent
events. He feels that the. gov-
ernment is trying to make a ra-
cial issue out of the occupation
and attempting to get a news
blackout in order to further
cloud the issue. A major block
against understanding, Cameron
says, is the racism perpetuated
by the news media and the edu-
cational] institutions.

The Ojibway Warrior’s Socie-
ty will continue to fight for Na-
tive people’s rights through
militant activity, but Cameron
Says a major change is needed
in our system ‘of government
before Indians will win their
demands for observance of
Treaty Rights and the right of
Indians for self-determination.

the Sea conference faces

the opinion that the problem of
establishing a 12-mile limit of
territorial waters is a major
problem for a wide range of
states. Of no less importance
are problems of freedom of na-

vigation, freedom of the pas- ~ Touching on the problem of |

sage of ships through straits
used for international naviga-
tion, fishing regulations, and
freedom of research of the
world’s oceans. The Conference
is to discuss the principles of
determining the outer borders of
the continental shelf, protection
of the sea-bed and prevention of
pollution.

The Soviet Union attaches
great importance to the prob-
lem of economic zones and en-
suring access to the sea and its
resources for continental and
other countries which are in an
unfavorable geographical posi-
tion.

However, taking into ‘account
the interests of the developing
countries, the USSR agrees to
the establishment by coastal
states of economic zones in the
open sea up to a 200-mile limit.
In these zones the developing
countries could enjoy all rights
to biological and mineral re-
sources. This move is designed
to meet the interests of the
Third World and is made in the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1974—PAGE 10

Exiles reject offer

Ford's amn

TORONTO — The announce-
ment by U.S. president Gerald
Ford that he is considering a
conditional and case by case

.amnesty for war resisters in ex-
ile, brought a quick and total

rejection by many of the organ-
izations representing the exiles
in Canada.

Gerry Condon, a former Green
Beret who left the U.S. Army
becauses he opposed the war in
Vietnam, called the’ Ford pro-
posal
Condon who is now one of the

editors of AMEX/Canada, a pub- ~

lication that has addressed itself
to American exiles in Canada
for more than five years, said,
“Ford has rejected the basis of
amnesty and now wants one
more pound of flesh of the peo-
ple who opposed and resisted an
illegal and immoral war.”

‘Less than honorable discharges’

In a point by point analysis of
Ford’s proposals, Condon ex-
plained that. the proposal doesn’t
“deal with the largest category
of war resisters — the half mil-
lion vietnam era veterans: with
less than honorable discharges.
The less than: honorable dis-
charges condemn those veterans
to being second and third class
citizens. They find it difficult to
get jobs or continue their edu-

cations because of the status of -

their discharges in the U.S.
Most of the veterans who got
the less than honorable dis-
charges arid who are now living
in the U.S. received them as a
result of organized and spon-
taneous opposition to. the war
in Vietnam while they were in
the Army. These resisters need
to be exonerated and the Ford
proposals will do nothing for
them.

“The idea of alternate service
is also unacceptable,” Condon
said, ‘We were correct in resist-
ing the American aggression in
Indochina. We want to continue
resisting the war and the U.S.
involvement and. we want to

interests of peace and coopera-
tion’ by a country which has
built a large ocean-going fishing
fleet whose ships are deprived
of the opportunity of fishing in
coastal regions.

the limit of territorial waters,
Kolosovsky noted that some
100 countries favored a 12-mile
limit. These countries defend
their stand by the fact that over
the last 30 years the volume of
sea transportation has increased
six times and has reached about
3,000-million tons. The share of
export and import cargoes of
the developing nations has risen
to an especially great extent.

Straits are key sections of
world sea routes. Each year hun-
dreds of thousands of transit
ships pass through them. The
expansion of international con-
tacts, whose scale constantly
rises, calls for the guaranteeing
of the freedom of passage of all
ships through straits. Without
such freedom the world’s econ-.
omy would find itself in a
mouse-trap.

The freedom of straits is
needed by all countries, even
those which have no fleet of
their own today but. tomorrow
will have. Straits free to navi-
gation are needed not only by

“totally unacceptable.” -

> the

Soldier Organization (VVAW/WSO) demonstrated at the U. a
of Military Appeals in Washington last July 1-4. Their'd ‘at

of the Paris Agreements on Vietnam, an end to all aid to
Lon Nol, a single-type discharge for all vets and Kick

included universal and unconditional amnesty, the imple and
Nixon rH
The last demand was recently won; the struggle. continues '°

others.

_make the point that all Amer-

icans have the right and the re-
sponsibility to actively resist all
similar wars.

Lives Disrupted

“From the practical side of
the issue, those who wish to re-
turn have already been punished
for something they did which
wasn’t wrong. They have alrea-
dy had their lives disrupted and
alternate service would be a
further disruption.”

“When Ford talked about
penalties equal to the measure
of a person’s mistake and that
this would be decided in a case
by case review, his proposals
would further the injustice done
to war éxiles,” Condon said.
“First there should be no penal-
ty attached to the resistance of
the Vietnam war and secondly,
a case by case review. would be
discriminatory, especially to de-
serters. Many of the deserters

are of working class background

and have less education than
those who dodged the draft.
While they woud probably be

able to admirably explain. their

Opposition to the war, they

countries having fleets, but also
by countries whose cargoes are
carried by these fleets: by main
exporters and importers. .

Does freedom. of the straits
threaten the security of states
situated on their shores? Does it
harm them? The Soviet Union
has proved that the only answer
can be “no”. During the entire
existence of the Soviet Union, it
has not had a single conflict
with countries situated on the
shores of straits.

Some countries recommend
that instead of the freedom of
transit passage of ships through
Straits, rules of a “peaceful pas-
age’? should be established. This
means that the passage of any
ship through a strait will be at
descretion of individual
countries situated, on its shores.
The ship will have to obey the
laws established by these coun-
tries. As a result, a narrow
range of countries could control
the navigation of an_ over-
whelming majority of states.
Each strait would turn into a
boiler of seething passions,
frictions, disputes and confiicts
since navigation would _ inevit-
ably be affected by such tran-
Sient factors as, for instance,
the state of relations between
the country situated on the

esty ‘unacceptable

Members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and

be sentencing to the St” ny

-should be tied in to a0 4™ joy

actions were correct in ae

problems _

0 ofl
“ they have an outlet © sod ue

winll
s. On|

: ai
would probably do it in ua
that would not be accept wil |
the review boards wi fi
probably be made up oA ef {Uh
nessmen, The result WOUN io¢

and then a less than hon"
discharge.” :
No Amnesty for NEG the de
Condon also referred oe A
recent editorials in news? that |S
in the U.S. that suggest” is |
the amnesty for the wa!

for Nixon and his aides: f ith

in
to be a part of the War ain
china,” Condon said. we ini!
tain that Nixon is :
not just for Waterg@ ig
a war criminal of m ne i !
proportions. We reje put Thay
that our anne ator a pis
on a par with his. © oi.
aides are the real crimin@
are not. ! ‘
“We at AMEX ons
that all of the war oe
Canada will continue : and
and fight for a complet © 9i
conditional amnesty ia all
strings attached,” Com

we ho |
ister d

ee eT ge a ee eae a ome

; d-
shores of the strait, ais the
cquntry under whose 10 i

ship asks for permissio?

through the strait. rep

The USSR’s position or colt
lation of the sea-be 0
cides with the interes’ int |
developing nations a? d ba
interests of all mankin 4
sador Kolosovsky ®

a

t ’
the benefit of all COV phi
respective of theif geo8 of Y
position and whe

ef al
Nn

The sea-bed should bé All s4
for peaceful purpose to
should have the righ
of sea-bed resources:

When will
ship, with 150
aboard reach th 9 The
agreed-upon decisions | evel,
nese delegation is Oits aly
thing to prevent this- m the
to reduce to a minim¥ the Vi
portunities of bring!” count
of different groups ° The wee ia
closer to each othel. 7 it ae
ists don’t Mes, ye ‘you! :
ty on standa |
the sea, but chaos wh peti |
favor the intentions | gsh¥ 4 |
who, while setting my 50 .
always prefer a St’
troubled waters.

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