~ Veteran, immigrant |

speak to children

On Friday, Nov. 10, com-

_munity representatives stood up

before students in every school
in the Terrace area to describe
the merits of democrary and the

horrors of war. Two of these’

were Peter Crompton of the

Royal Canadian Legion, who-

spoke to Caledonia Senior Sec-.

ondary students, and Sylvia
Morales, representing the Ter-
race and District Multicultural
Association, who told Skeena
Junior Secondary students of a
lost democracy in Chile.

These are their stories. |

Sylvia Morales

Most Canadians, if asked to
visualize a Canada where
democracy ceased to exist, could
only answer with an uncompre-
hending stare. Sylvia Morales,
though, is a new Canadian, a
Chilean immigrant who ex-
perienced the loss of democratic
rights in her home country, and

she answered this question for

Skeena Junior Secondary stu-
dents last Friday in a way they
won’t easily forget.

Morales grew up in Chile

when times were good. There -

was a democratic government
and the same freedom Canadian
children experience today: ‘As a
child in a Chilean community,
she recalls California-like
weather where you-could plan-a
picnic three months in advande
and be sure of a sunny day and
the freedom to go wherever and
do whatever you pleased.

“*I was born to democracy and
freedom,”’? Morales told the
Skeena teenagers. She described
how they were encouraged to
participate in democratically
elected committees in elemen-
tary: and junior high school.
How adults addressed the needs
of poverty stricken neighbors by
exercising their right to par-

ticipate in community affairs.

‘**We were proud of our coun-
try,’ says Morales. ‘““We had
nothing to worry about.’’ But
this sense of pride and the belief
their rights were guaranteed
caused everyone to take their
rights and freedoms for granted,
she told the students. In Chile,
where democracy had been
growing for 150 years, there was
a sense that, “‘It was there. it

would be.’’ This, however, was -

a false sense of security.

“In 1973, we woke up to find -
a general had declared war~*
_ against his own country,”

says
Morales, ‘‘and everything was
lost.”? Simple things like the
freedom of movement were
gone. Government and labor
leaders were put in jail without
being charged. They were tor-
tured and denied any legal
defense. A curfew was imposed.
It was illegal to be on the street
without a special permit between
seven: at night and six in the
morning. ‘‘The whole country
became a jail,’’ she remembers.
Even holding a school dance re-
quired special government per-
mission. And you could talk to
no one. .
Nobody could be trusted.
Everyone was the enemy.
Morales described a very per-
soiial experience of those times.

Late one night, sheand her hus-

band were watching TV. The
‘changing images on the screen
cast a strobe-like shadow of light

on the windows and suspicious
neighbors phoned the police.
“They checked every single
piece of paper... every docu-
ment,’’ says Morales. And they
found a list of names and ad-

‘dresses. Her husband was de-
tained in jail for two days before:

it was accepted that he was a
music teacher and the names‘and

addresses were those of his stu-

dents.
But school teachers: weren’t

- necessarily exempt from im-

prisonment and torture. Morales
was also a teacher in Chile and
she explains that her profession
had to be ‘‘very careful’? about
what they said to their students.
An unfortunate: statement
before students could be
repeated to parents. The penalty
could be imprisonment. Con-
versely, parents“ had to exercise
the same precaution. Anything
said at home could be told to
others by their children. Con-
sequently, children were -being
taught fear by everyone. Parents
and teachers alike were con-
veying this message: ‘‘Be
careful. Don’t trust anyone, and
don’t,, repeat anything you
hear.”’

“This is the reason Pm here,”’ |

Morales told her captivated au-
dience of teens. ‘‘] have had a
second chance at_freedgm and
this is my contribution to main-
taining our freedom.”’ She ex-
plains that we Canadians, like
her Chilean neighbors almost 20
years ago, tend to take our liber-
ty, our democracy, for granted.
‘“‘We have to enjoy our
freedom,”’ she says, ‘‘But at the
same time we have to be aware
that we can lose it.”

An appreciation of our free-
dom, and an awareness of the
fact we can lose it, is how we can
best honor those who lost their
lives defending our democracy,
says Morales. ‘‘We- have -to
understand that we have to work
to keep our democracy and
make it stronger.’’

With this thought in mind,
Morales then offered this advice
to students: ‘‘Work to the best

always had been and it always Of your capability and skill so

that when the time comes you
are ready to participate in this
country.’’ Because, says

-Morales with the wisdom of
first-hand: experience, participa-

tion is the key. ‘‘That’s ‘what

kkeeps:a democracy alive,” she

explains. ‘‘You have to par-
ticipate and exercise your
rights... because no one else is
going to do it for you.”’

Peter Crompton

It’s been a long time since we

went to war. ‘Canada at war is
beyond the memories of all of
you, and is a distant memory for
our senior citizens,’’ Peter
Crompton told Caledonia Sen-
ior Secondary students last Fri-
day. But despite this fact, ‘“The
impact of those dark days has
profoundly influenced the pride
we all feel in Canada.”’

With this, Crompton § de-
scribed the theme of his presen-

-  ¢ontinued on page 24

cane

As our veterans grow older, there are youth in the background prepared to take up the
cause. Not as soldiers or airmen, but as messengers to keep the message of the poppy
alive: the acceptance of personal responsibilities towards our country, understanding the
nature and dignity of all mankind, and carrying on the quest for an everlasting peace.

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Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 15 , 1989. 3.

SS ee