Reviews

JUDGEMENT AT STONEY CREEK.
By Bridget Moran. Tillacum Library,
Vancouver. $12.95. Available at
People’s Co-op Bookstore.

It was July, 1976. Twenty-one-year-old
Coreen Thomas and a group of friends
were walking the nine-mile road back
home to the Stoney Creek reserve after
attending the July 1 festivities in Vander-
hoof, when Thomas was struck and killed
by a car driven by Richard Redekop. She
was nine months pregnant.

Witnesses said Redekop had been
drinking and was driving quite fast. It was
some time before the police arrived and
45-50 minutes before the ambulance came.
Thomas was taken directly to the morgue
without a doctor’s certificate of death.

The RCMP statement was to the effect
that Thomas had apparently darted in front
of the car. Coroner Eric Turner agreed with
the RCMP version and decided not to hold
an inquest.

Judgement at Stoney Creek, by Bridget

Moran, is a dramatic, step by step account
of this case which was finally brought to
an inquest two years later, the result of
anger and determination by Stoney Creek
residents.

They were shocked by the coroner’s
decision. Two years before, Thomas’
cousin, Larry Thomas, had been struck and
killed by a pickup truck driven by Stanley
Redekop, Richard Redekop’s brother. The
jury’s decision at that time was that no
negligence was involved.

Sophie Thomas, president of the Stoney
Creek branch of the Indian Homemakers
organization, and a relative of Coreen
Thomas, reasoned that had the victims
been white, the verdicts would have been
different. This time the reserve residents
were going to fight back and demand jus-
tice.

She contacted Rose Charlie, then presi-
dent of the B.C. branch of the homemakers
group. Kitty Bell, editor of the Native
Voice, put out a call for support and within

Elementary justice for Natives denied

at

a few days the B.C. Human Rights Com-
mission, chaired by Bishop Remi De Roo,
was requesting a meeting with the police
commission. “We must ask ourselves,” De
Roo declared at the time, “why there are
two systems of justice. Why many Natives
find themselves in jail on the same charges
that many whites are released on.”

The pressure led to an inquest in Sep-
tember 1976. Vancouver lawyer Harry
Rankin, prominent in many civil rights
Cases, represented the case launched by the
Homemakers. (Moran, however, fails to
mention that Rankin took no fees for this
case, as did he not for the Fred Quilt case
and many others which dealt with injustice
to Native people.) Moran writes: “News
that this man was to represent the B.C.
Homemakers at the upcoming inquest sent
ripples of excitement, and it must be added,
a few shudders through the community of
Vanderhoof.” ;

The inquest was held in the school gym
at Vanderhoof in 1978. Although it ul-

timately absolved Redekop of negligence,
the case itself drew national attention, with
reporters attending from as far away as
Toronto. Maclean’s magazine featured the
issue, because this inquest brought to light
the much deeper problems of racism than
the death of one woman. Even the ques-
tions of the inadequacy of Native housing,
roads schooling, water supply and so on in
the Native sections of the district were
discussed, and the media helped expose
shocking revelations of routine intimida-
tion of Natives by the RCMP. and local
police.

Ibelieve that events such as the Thomas
inquest have, because they drew attention
to the problems forced on Native people,
helped Natives join together and demand
their rights in- this country. This is a
wonderful, spell-binding book and would
make a timely Christmas present for rela-
tives and friends.

— Jonnie Rankin

CUPE LOCAL 561
Coquitlam School Board and
Municipal Library Employees

sends Season’s

Greetings to all

British Columbia trade unionists
SOLIDARITY FOREVER

PORT ALBERNI AND DISTRICT

LABOUR

COUNCIL

extends our Season’s Greetings to all

our affiliates and the

working people of B.C.

What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all.
In solidarity

Y
es
>

\\ Greetings

J to all organized labour

from the officers
and members

Canadian Paperworkers Union

Local 1123

22 + Pacific Tribune, December 17, 1990

Tunes of peace,
environment from
_Slocan songster

SLOCAN TO EARTH. Songs by Marion
Bergevin. Cassette. Co-produced by
Slim Evans Records and Tapes, Van-
couver. Available at People’s Co-op
Bookstore.

How do we deal with Slocan to Earth, a
collection of 11 songs written and performed
by Marion Bergevin, a rural B.C. resident
who is sending the world a message from the
Slocan Valley?

Perhaps by noting the obvious: New
Denver resident Marion Bergevin is an ama-
teur, albeit a musician of accomplishment,
and she sings about the environment, the
effects of imperialism on the Third World,
and alcoholism, among other topics. The
microscopic liner notes on the cassette pack-
age thanks friends and family members for
encouraging Bergevin “to DO something
with my music.” She has, with the assistance
of Vancouver’s informal studio of alterna-
tive vibes, Slim Evans Records and Tapes.

The studio, run by former bus driver and
long-time people’s rocker Julius Fisher, has
produced several recordings over the past
three years featuring mainly day-job artists
respected by the left community in Van-
couver and, to a lesser extent due to the
limitations imposed by geography and small
promotion budgets, the rest of B.C. Natural-
ly enough, the quality range has varied, from
folks who do a pretty good job for part-
timers, to last year’s tape by Aya, an a cap-
pella. group of women with exceptional
talent. Bergevin’s tape represents the
former.

Sweet-voiced Bergevin is backed by
several musicians, including many Slim
Evans regulars, and the result is a fair varia-
tion in styles, ranging from neo-reggae
through country to punchy-horn jazz rock.
The sound mix is first-rate.

But aesthetically, the results are mixed.
One of the best tunes opens the album.
“Only One Earth” has a pretty and mem-
orable melody, particularly on the refrain. In
a similar vein is “Kill for Money,” a minor-
key ballad with effective lyrics: “We would

kill for money, all the birds in the sea/
Drowned in black gold for our refineries ...
We would kill for money in a poor man’s
land/ Take their resources and cheap labour,
give ’em misery ....”

Other tunes are humourous. “Conference
Blues” will be painfully familiar to
caucused-out lefties, although Bergevin’s
gentle voice can’t quite match her own com-
position, which really calls out for a growlly
approach. “Wragge Mountain Rag,” a
catchy tune, acknowledges that even
paradise can breed cabin fever, and there’s a
need to hit the bright lights of town now and
then.

Aserious composition, “Central America
Cries,” is a sincere refutation of imperialism,
with lines like: “... the people of Nicaragua/
Forced to fight an unofficial war/ With
people who are bought and paid for/ By the
man next door.”

Slocan to Earth contains songs that are
melodically innovative and memorable. The
lyrics are less accomplished. It’s difficult to
respond to words like, “We think progress is
economic gain,” or, “We think we need
nuclear arms to defend,” other than with an
obligatory nod of agreement. More potent
statements give an aesthetic and spiritual
uplift, and even challenge the listener.

_ There’s nothing like a shock to get the
adrenaline and thought juices flowing.

One can sympathize. Lyrics can be the
hardest part -of songwriting. And what

. sounds good.on paper can be marginalized
when applied to music. :

Certainly there’s no shortage of issues to
provide fodder for further efforts. As Ber-
gevin comments in her liner notes, “Our
Earth is presently in crisis. Fortunately,
human capacity, creativity and unity seem to
function best under these circumstances.”
May her creative impulses continue and
prosper.

(Slocan to Earth was released as a fund-
raiser for environment, development and
peace organizations.)

—Dan Keeton