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Either full equality
With English Canada

or SEPARATION

HE Temarkable political de-

Yélopments now taking

a mae in French Canada

Sion ie Subject of discus-

the Natio € recent meeting of

ommy nal committee of the
Rist Party,

es

Qucheg Possible to understand
} Standin Oday Without under-
the “8 and fully appreciating
anadig, nation of French
their 9 nS to be the masters of
The Wn destiny at long last.

Will eect Canadian nation
Pfu , 2 be recognized as a

i equal .

Within of English Canada

Sarat federation or it will
This
Canad; does not mean French
With 2S are concerned only
Wal, US Problem. As Sam
Tunis * airman of the Com-
&q ey. in Quebec, point-
i his report:

e :
Westig, olution of the national
the absorbs a great deal of
Massage ; 0 Of the progressive

be. °  Queb :
a ec. But it would
that pay

Very .. 2t€ in fact due to the
Noinjg sPid Changes in the eco-
Die “ee Social life of the peo-
nt thous are driving hundreds
is a, 2ds in French Canada
«nom; Solutions to pressing
8 Wel) and social problems
: ie to the ever-present

Veq @S!ng danger of being
Ma world nuclear

Wal

sles <" jeviewed these strug-
he ion, “ictorious strike of
FRaingt Wor Board employees
tation Yoffs as a result of au-
he Stor, “What a contrast to
#8) Y of the Toronto print-
sich oh Study sessions” of
Be ity he marches on Que-
's, ang Cf thousands of farm-
of students.

Quep
@
lhe Centre days far from being

tha of passivity and re-
8.4 €ven some progres-
English Canada still
aa be, is the scene
cy ve struggle for de-

€conomic progress

Canadians must recognize French Canada’s right
to self-determination and this recognition has to be
embodied in a new constitution, says NELSON
CLARKE, writer of this article. Clarke is the national
executive secretary of the Communist Party.

which could help greatly to
move all of Canada ahead.

But this possibility is not
guaranteed. In his report, Sam
Walsh says: “It is clearly in the
interests of the working people
of the two nations that the
highest degree of unity possible
be established. ‘Therefore, it
would be folly not to recognize
that there is very grave danger
of rupture of that unity because
the French Canadian nation is
becoming conscious of the fact
that it has been exploited and
denied the right of self-deter-
mination.”

What is essential to unite the

struggles of the French and

English Canadian people is the
understanding of the English
Canadian working class and de-
mocratic movements of the jus-
tice of the demand for self-
determination.

Walsh emphasizes that if the
French Canadians “become con-
vinced that the forces in Eng-
lish Canada which are prepared
to recognize that we need a ra-
dically new relationship be-
tween the two nations reflected
in a new constitution are too
weak and ineffective, there can
be no doubt that the idea of
separation will grow very fap-

idly, and our party in French
Canada will be in no position
to convince the masses that they
have a better choice — because
in fact they will not have one.”

Therefore, one of the main
conclusions of the national com-
mittee was the necessity for
stepping up the work of Com-
munists in’ English Canada in
fighting for a full understanding
of the need of recognizing the
right of French Canada to self-
determination, and of embody-
ing the recognition of that right
in a new constitution.

Without the development of
such understanding the unity of
the French Canadian and Eng-
lish Canadian democratic forces
will be ruptured, as Walsh puts
it, and the struggle for social
advancement will be seriously
set back — and not least in
English Canada.

To advance that struggle for
understanding a stage ahead,
the national committee decided
the time had come for the Com-
munist Party to work out in de-
tail our proposals for a new con-
stitution for Canada.

This decision is in line with
the national committee’s under-
standing of the responsibility of
the party to come forward with

How can a parliament be established for the

country as

a whole, in which the rights of both

nations will be fully protected, with guarantees
against the possibility of an English speaking
majorty deciding questions against the will of

a French minority?

What authority, what powers will be assigned
to this confederal parliament?

What powers will be assigned to the two

nations?

How will a government be set up in English

: : ts 5
l ; ine provinces:
Canada, with its setup of nine p

to be
not only the critic of things as
they are, but the foremost ad-
vocate of the changes that need
to be made.

constructive proposals,

In approaching the problem
of a new constitution the Com-:
munist Party will be guided by
the principal that it must be
above all a thoroughly demo-
cratic document, which will
guarantee the people of both
nations their fundamental rights
to freedom of speech, assembly,
organization, and the practice
of religious beliefs.

It will have to spell out the
rights of both nations to carry
through, if the people so de-
cide, far-reaching measures to
nationalize the great monopo-
lies and to bring back under
Canadian. control the rich na-
tural resources handed over to
the United States by one gov-
ernment after another.

There will be many compli-
cated problems. How can a par-
liament be established for the
country as a whole, in which
the rights of both nations will
be fully protected, in which
there will be built-in guarantees
against the possibility of the
English speaking majority de-
ciding questions against the will
of the French minority? —

What authority, what powers
will be assigned to this confe-
deral parliament? What powers
will be assigned to the two na-
tions? How will government be
organized? It is quite clear that
the government of the present
province of Quebec can be
transformed into the national
government of French Canada.
But how is this to be done in
English Canada, with its setup
of nine provinces?

These may sound like ques-

‘tions to be left to constitutional

lawyers. Yet they cannot be,
for unless answers are found to
them based on democratic prin-
ciples, based on the principle of
self-determination for both na-
tions, every movement for pro-

gress and for a better life for
the Canadian people will be
gravely handicapped.

And this applies to English
Canada just as much as to
French Canada. Sam Walsh
makes a strong point of this in
his report. He says a new con-
stitution based on these prin-
ciples “would make it possible
for the people of English Cana-
ada to attack social, economic
and political problems as a unit
—problems of education, social
security, economic development
—without constantly being con-
fronted with the necessity to
consider the right of French
Canada to self-determination, as
though this were the obstacle to
united action.

“As long as Quebec is treated
like one of 10 provinces, the
others being English Canadian,
it will not be possible to con-
sider solutions to the kind of
problems outlined in a centraliz- _
ed or even coordinated way un-
less the solution also meets the
national requirements and agree-
ment of the French Canadian
nation.

“Thus, the present basis of
Confederation both denies
French Canada its basic require-
ment as a nation—the right to
self-determination— and denies
English Canada the possibility
of uniting to solve problems
collectively which cannot be
solved by the less economically
developed provinces individu-
ally.”

Over the next few months
the Communist Party will strive
to develop far-reaching propo-
sals on changes that have to be
made in the structure of our
country to fully recognize its
bi-national character.

The Communist Party is also
drawing conclusions about the
significance of our bi-national
country to our own _ party’s
structure and organization. This
is the subject of a future ar-
ticle.

May 21, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5