Nho delayed the appeal?

i :
Y BRUCE MAGNUSON

. ARCH 27, 1964, the
; Cay Globe and Mail
iealed aN pws item which
m e Ontario At-
wae’, General's ntario At

ikebreny..-: McRuer against
lileg oe Who aa and
ty in a Striking bushwork-
Weer vary 1963, a few

en .
€Ws item reported that

| lleren'®, Court. of “Appeal,
ign by v8. refused an applic-
; Dartmen® Attorney-General’s
“yet for | Or extension of
“fog, The “© to appeal the
4 that three-member court
1 fileg the notice of appeal
about 10 days too late.

Xk +

On
berg Of ill 1963, three mem-
Me Lumec#! Union #2995 of
2 in re Sawmill Work-
{din @ Sturn Ontario, engag-
i tike with the Spruce
Mt, at Kad Paper Co.,
bye’ Shot @puskasing, Ontario,
olan, ent killed by strike-
Cre at R € shootings took
ne ee Siding on the
ane View 0, Kapuskasing in
qed ve of hundreds of un-
nitig eee and scores of
Doli, 2Cial policemen.
breakers knew the strike-
*Othing Were armed but did
Insteag isarm them.
"Unded eA strikers were
Wey] Nd charged with
4 thir sembly. One hundred
ed ts eught of the 254
th Promptly convict-
“ch, “* Charges and fined $200

WU
eeny 20. strikebreak-
Tested and charged

ag : dig ee our Their
tah ake plac til
ba Brang ths ] place unti

: ater. At that time
oy ftur
tina

4 Saw fit to refuse
ty a a true bill on the
Wy. 7 €s laid by the
wate ae Plea for this rather
oyttient <Uétence was lack of
hey three sdence. Still later,
Korg origin ie 20 strike-
a —

es ' y charged

Ree tc ep

; Moca results |
7 of S8din of these court

to Maries Shocked the people
: rity, mand throughout the
; Chieece Mediately after the
teat Justi as Proclaimed by
ye ast 6, McRuer at Co-
Bay, “al Uni Ct. 7, the President
7} yf to y, 0" #2995, in a tele-.
Ong hic ‘<- Newman, director
Prosecutions for the
°rney-General’s De-

: n
ha ected that the re-
i &@ mocker t of
In ‘ out 0
More, Ontario.» m :

er
ater the union leader
&. Strikep, at charges against
oe €rs be maintain-
apn: Pecial investigat-
teSsaepPPinted to gather the
*Yidence for convic-

i} ‘

then, ® Se
n Aton’ telegram to the
Ney-General, Frede-

St of Kapuskasing, Ont..

R. FORTIER

“When you shoot a moose out of season yo
loss of all equipment. When you shoot a human

J. FORTIER

F. DROUIN

u are subject to a fine of $500 and
being the fine is $100.”

EWEN

rick M. Cass, Mr. Laforce charg-
ed that the results of the grand
jury hearing “clearly indicate
that the Ontario Provincal Po-
lice, by not gathering sufficient
evidence, were not up-holding
the laws of the province.” The
union leader demanded a Royal
Commission inquiry into the
situation immediately.

Clearly some form of judical
and public inquiry is long over-
due in this case. Where was
the Ontario Police Commission
we now hear so much about, in
this case? Why a fine of $200
each, for unarmed striking
workers who were shot at, suf-
fering, killed and wounded, but
only a fine of $100 imposed on
those who did the killing?

As the Local Union president
stated when these fines were
announced: “When you shoot a
moose out of season you are
subject to a fine of $500 and
loss of all equipment. When you
shoot a human being the fine is
$100.”

This is class justice with a
vengeance.

* * *

In November of 1963, the
Ontario Council of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, parent body
of the Lumber and Sawmill
Workers’ Union, presented a
brief to Premier Robarts at
Queen’s Park demanding a full
investigation into the deaths of
the three striking members of
the union. At that time Attor-
ney-General Frederick M. Cass
announced his intention to ap-
peal the verdict in this case.

However, as we have seen
above, on March 26, 1964, the
Ontario Court of Appeal refused
an application by the Ontario
Attorney - General’s Department
for leave to appeal the ludi-
crous fines imposed upon the
murderers of the striking bush-
workers. The appeal court ruled
that the appeal was filed about
10 days too late.

It took nearly eight months
to secure a trial of three scabs
after the killing of three strik-
ing workers and the wounding
of nine others in full view of
hundreds of witnesses, includ-

ing scores of policemen on duty?
Nothing could be more ob-
vious than that this whole pro-
cedure, once under way, reeked
with an unbearable odor in the
nostrils “of every honest and
decent citizen throughout the
country.

Now, to top it all, there is

‘the sloppiness, or was it cri-

minal premeditated neglect, in
the Attorney-General’s Depart-
ment?

The Ontario government was
well informed on the strike and
what led up to it. It was warn-
ed about the provocative ac-
tions of company strikebreakers.

Why was there no action
taken before violence and death

(lass justice and legal murder

erupted on the scene? What was
the role of the Department of
Labor in the strike? Did the De-
partment of Lands and Forests~
of Ontario handle the issuance
of timber-cutting permits to
settlers in a proper manner?
What was the role of the Spruce
Falls Power and Paper Co., Ltd.
and its parent body, the U.S.-
owned Kimberley-Clark Corpor-
ation of Neenah, Wisconsin?

At the time of the strike, the
company’s biggest newsprint
customer, the New York Times,
was shut down by a printers
strike. Was this moment chosen
as the opportune one of the at-
tempt to break the union?

The time has come for an-.
swers to these questions. Only
a full public inquiry can pro-
vide these answers.

» *Every MPP must féel public

wrath in the form of requests
for such an inquiry.

The Canadian Labor Congress
ought to launch into a country-
wide campaign to expose this
case and to force a full judiciary
and public investigation into the
role of the police, the company,
and the Ontario Attorney-Gen-
eral’s Department.

Mother's Day—day of peace

—Woodcut by Andrea Gomez, Mexico

ACCURSED WAR!

The idea of an annual Mother's Day was first proposed by the famed American
writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe, soon after the American Civil War as a day on
which all mothers could pray that their sons would never again have to go to war.
Later, at the turn of this century it was revived as a holiday of sentiment, which
became increasingly more commercialized as the years went by. In recent years,
more and more women have been rededicating it to peace. A few weeks ago,
following representations by the Voice of Women, the Toronto board of control
has instructed the mayor to officially declare Mother's Day “a day dedicated to
peace.” Similar representations have been made by the VOW in other cities.

May 15, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5