INSIDE -

‘COMMUNITY
‘EVENTS B2_

wo oe

“JUST A THOUGHT.
_KATHY FLORITTO

Culturally
compromised?
Don’t bet on it.

t was a squeaker, but the map of
Canada is intact.
From sea to sea to polar bears,

Canadians were glued to their tele--

visions and radios as the votes were counted for
the Quebec Referendum, Will they? Won't
they? If they do, what will it mean?

If they don’t, what will it mean? What do they
want? What do we want? .

Who are they? Who are we?

Indeed. Who are we? If a few million Cana-
dians can be defined by their history, language,
culture and geography as ‘‘distinct,”’ what then,
defines the ROC (the Rest of Canada)?

Ifsome of us (like me) pay too much attention

. to our political system and how it works/doesn’t —

work, that’s o.k. We're balanced by those who
live bythe simple rule that if it doesn’t‘ affect
their daily lives, or if they think it doesn’t, they
don’t care, Their thinking may not be original,
but it works for them. I must admit that their at-
titude begins to make sense when our Prime
Minister so persuasively responds to cries of un-

_ certainty by throwing up his hands and seying

“Tf,-1f iff my giandmother had: wheels, she

could have been a bus.” That’s deep, real deep.

We don’t define ourselves by our ‘health care,
old age pension plan, unemployment insurance
or fiscal policies — although they ‘reflect our
national concern for protection against the
vagaries of cold reality,

No — despite our federal minister of multi-
culturalism’s assertion that ““Canada has no cul-
ture,’* we've not only got it - we've got the
icons to prove it

One of the greatest examples of Canadian

_ television drama, The Beackcombers, (before it

was cancelled by those Philistines in the Center
of the Universe — aka Toronto), had kids
across the country dreaming of becoming
Relic’s sidekick.

Older Canadians still remember being able to -

relate, sometimes all too well, to the everyday
concems of the Plouffe Family, Along with
Hockey Night in Canada, these programs speak
volumes about who we are.

We know most of the words to “Snowbird”,
“Seasons in the Sun”? and whatever version of
“O Canada’? we learned in school. A.Group of
Seven calendar hangs beside bookshelves boast-
ing the Espositos’ We Can Teach You to Play
Hockey crammed beside The Northern Magus,
Towers of Gold and a dog-cared collection of
Eric Nicol's best. , -

We've sung along with Chilliwack, Stompin’
Tom and the fabulous Rita.

If we can’t keep up with the alternative music
scene, we recognize that it's a vibrant and grow-
ing thinking person’s arena. We're thankful that

grunge is gone and inordinately pleased that the ;
internationally famous Prince George sports |

jacket has once again taken its rightful place in
the wardrobe of the All Canadian Hoser.

We've. laughed along with the Neilsen

brothers, Erik and Leslie, (although I don’t
think Erik meant to be funny) and we've
pretended to like Margaret Atwood. We
watched Voice of Fire and didn’t get it,
_ We're not sure if the ‘“‘most trusted man in
television’’ is Lloyd or Terry David Mulligan
and we chuckle at American film companies
Who shoot their projects in Canada, then pretend
the movies took place in the U.S. We know.

We've eaten perogles in Edmonton, lobster in
Halifax, pizza in Toronto, -tortieres in Montreal -
and the best french fries in the world at Kelekis’
restaurant in. Winnipeg’s north end, We've
watched the carp answer the gong in the Noodle

"Makers in Vancouver's Gastown while reading

our horoscope from the place mat beneath our
plate of chow mein.

We've waxed eloquent over curry with rotis
(chapatis) in St: Johns and we’ve washed these

gourmet delights down with that well-known -

example of Canadian sophistication - a “Blue,”
_ So who are we? We are Canadians, Oh, we
don’t know all the words to Bobby Gimby’s
““Ca-Na-Da’’ and there’s no flagpole in most of
our front yards, but we love where we live. and

where we live is a place called Canada.

aad

CHILDREN’S voices climb in
unison to an unwritten
melody. Their only direction
comes from a vigorous gray-
haired woman, arching her
body on tip-toes for high
notes, and swooping her arms
to the ground for lower notes,
The children are members of
Terrace Little Theatre’s youth
troupe, rehearsing for their up-
coming Christmas production.
The melody is part of the
kids’ warm up. Director

‘Tatiana Mackenzie leads them

through a variety of warm-up
exercises, hopping and march-
ing around the ground floor of
the McColl Playhouse.
Mackenzie and her co-
director Marilynn Nenninger
have set the children and
themselves an ambitious goal.

| They hope to have everyone

ready for opening night of the
splashy production A Wonder-
ful Worldful of Christmas on
December 15. -
“The kids are great,” says
Nenninger. ‘‘They’re ‘so
enthusiastic,’’
The play, written by James
Brochu, is about a young boy

and his older scroogish sister, —

who is soured on Christmas.
With the help of the post-
master - general of the north
pole, the boy and his sister
take a trip around the world,
discovering what Christmas
means to different cultures, .
They.:visit Austria, Mexico
nd ‘maake a special visit to the
Nass Valley ‘to visit, the

_ Niggatass\ os

The play features many
dance numbers and songs, in-
cluding Silent:.Night in four
languages, '

The actors range in ages
from seven to 14, There are 25
kids in total involved with the
play. .

Approximately double that
number showed: up for the
auditions.

**The hardest thing to do was
to call and say, ‘sorry, not this
time,” ”’ said Nenninger.

All the leads in the play have
been double cast to allow
more acting opportunities.
Other children are playing up

Hungry

AT KITI K’SHAN - Primary
school, six to twelve kids a day
On uverage come to school
without having eaten breakfast, or

brought a lunch. It’s:a problem

that’s always existed, says princi-

pal Brian Phillips, but one that’s .

getting easier to solve, thanks to a
recent donation of’ $1,000 by the
legion,

"We feed some kids as much as.

three times a day,’* says Phillips.

“I've been here 15 years and

we've always fed kids.”?
Sometimes a child has just

’ forgotten his or-her lunch on the

bus, Other times parents might be
having financial problems and
can’t afford enough food, Or
sometimes a parent’s priority
isn't feeding a child,
“We don’t ask why,’’ says
‘Phillips, “we just feed them.’*
Currently the school has a hot
lunch program it runs two days a
week, with the help of the parent
action. committee. Volunteers
help prepare food and distribute it
to the class; Parents-of a majority
of the students at Kiti K’Shan
will buy their children hot lun-
ches, and the children who might
otherwise go hungry are automat-
ically given. @ lunch, along with
everyoneclise..- ;
“Its done very discreetly,”
says Phillips,
With the donation from the

legion, he says the school will be.
» able to expand its Junch program

_to three days a week.
The hot lunch program has been

“in on a break-even basis with
the help of fundralsing activities 74

by: the "parent ‘action committee,

a and the ‘generosity: of local men

‘wor

Idful’ of Christmas

YOUNG ACTORS from an upcoming Christmas play practice singing Silent Night In sign lan

luages during the play.

SECTION B
CRIS LEYKAUF
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t
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guage, The song will be sung in four different lang

to three or four little parts.
“Sometimes ‘it’s hard for

them to remember who they

are in this particular scene,”
says Nenninger. ,

She and Mackenzie have

tried to involve the children in
whatever ways they can. Two

of the three of the musicians

accompanying the play are
teens, a teen is responsible for
lights, and another youth is
‘andmakeup, 7°

A. Wonderful Worldful_ of
| Christmas is the - first TLT

sTesponsible for the costumes...

Christmas production in many’
years to be put'on by. children ,

ronic pr

entire family: |<;

‘sion is $2...

for children, says Mackenzie. -
She’s looking forward to
opening night, and says.the
play will be suitable for the

“The. play riins Dec. 15-at
7:30 p.m, and Dee. 16-17 at 1.
and 3 p.m. both days. Admis:

oblem |

are automatically fed. A recent donation by the Roy.

kids ach

LUNCH volunteers Lisa Zorn,

TA

school to expand Its hot lunch program to three days a week,

Maurean Allen and Michelle Haslam help prepare lunches fo

al Canadian Legion Branch 13 will allow the

students at Kiti K'Shan. They help make sure that those kids who would go hungry atlunchtime = J.

chants, ; a
“Subway, A&W, Hiopoulos

Pizza, Wayside’ Grocery and
Overwailea all help out by selling.
food to us at really low prices,”
says ‘hot Junch volunteer Lisa ~

“to 1ét teachers“ know’
go. hungry, Tea the teachérj

lunches.. The fridge in the staff
room js stocked with muffins —

often baked by parents, apples, -

peanut butter sandwiches, home-
made jams and.more.

they’

Then ‘acher just gei
omething from thé fridge,’* Phil

We've encourage the children - vic

without 1