1 on oo CANADA Protest wins big gains in welfare education MOOSE JAW — Welfare recipients enrolled in an education upgrading course here have won important improvements in their program after a ten-day walkout. Eleven students in the provincially-funded skills development program at Coteau Range Community College, which provides Grade 10 and 11 classes, began their protest July 2. The incident was sparked by the suspension of one of their teachers, who spoke out in a radio interview against inadequate rate and other problems faced by those on social assistance. The protest was not the first in Moose Jaw recently. This spring, about two dozen welfare recipients and supporters held a demonstration in the city’s down- town. While the welfare rates, far below the poverty line, are a continued hard- ship for over 60,000 on welfare in Sas- katchewan, that demonstration pointed to local problems as well. Some reci- pients in Moose Jaw, for example, have been told by welfare workers to turn to crime or prostitution to make ends meet. From Saskatchewan Kimbal Cariou | ' While camped out in front of the school during their protest, the students pointed out that their frustration with the course and the welfare system goes back many months. After the protest began, the college administration refused to meet them, then later suspended them. But with the support of the Saskatch- ewan Government Employees Union, which represents the suspended teacher, Gay Jackson, negotiations began. Besides a list of demands for improvements, the students also asked for Jackson’s re-instatement and for the resignation of the program’s director.. Jackson has now been transferred to programming rather than teaching, and the director remains in place, but protest spokesperson Bruce Robinson said vic- tories were won on the other demands. The program is to be expanded to in- clude Grade 12, and will now offer clas- ses such as chemistry, needed for admis- sion to technical institute programs. Stu- dents won the right to appeal administra- tion decisions and to attend some staff meetings. Other victories include a week off after completing grades, and a prom- ise to provide badly-needed child-care facilities for parents enrolled in the course. While the administration was reed to back down from its initial hard line, and provincial welfare officials had to with- draw threats to cut off assistancé to the protesters, the students say important is- sues remain. Robinson says they will continue to lobby the government to raise welfare rates, and to have the right to criticize government programs. The victory, following on the heels of the wide publicity given to the struggles of the 1930s with the recent commemora- tion of the On To Ottawa Trek, has sparked new interest in the province in organizing among the poor, unemploy- ed, and social assistance recipients. A new organization is being formed to fight for the rights and needs of people living in poverty in Saskatchewan. Those _ wishing to give financial assistance for organizing, or to contribute any other assistance, contact People Against Pov- erty, c/o Ruth Shaffer, 910 McCarthy Blvd,, Regina S4T 6S7. fo'S we ~ As S aye he AS wt = oO moma eee | Se Lestio ur “LIke tos Canadians aid revolution Brigade off to Nicaragua TORONTO — About ten Canadians, seven of them skilled elec- tricians, will be leaving for Nicaragua, August 14, to spend a month working voluntarily, and at their own expense, on projects ay to train Nicaraguan workers. The group, organized by the Canada Electric Brigade, won't be short of work; Brigade organizer Roy Peltz, an electrician with years of experience in Canada and the USA, told the Tribune that Nicaragua’s Ministry of Construction has over 70 projects where the Canadians’ help could be needed. Peltz said the group will probably be going to the town of San Miguelito to wire houses. “There each of our master electricians can work and help train three Nicaraguan apprentices. ‘But if we're split up, some of us might go to San Carlos, to work in a he said. Peltz said that one person originally scheduled to be on the brigade, a railway worker, won’t be going because of a possible strike at his work. instead, he donated $1,300 to sponsor a young Cree Indian from Yellowknife, Tom Ross, who is an electrician’s apprentice, to take the trip. “Getting Ross is a double bonus for us,” said Peltz. “As well as being an apprentice, he’s also a professional photographer, so we can expect some really great Ross's teacher in Yellowknife is also going with the brigade, and as well as his skills, is bringing along several first-class wiring textbooks which are being translated into Spanish here in Canada. Peltz said that the Brigade, which is also raising $35,000 for electrical materials for Nicaragua, is getting a great deal of — help from United Electrical Workers union locals across “We've had a fairly good response to our appeal from labor in many parts of Canada”, Peltz said, “but UE has really helped. money, and the president of our St. Catharines, Ont. support group is the business agent of the UE local out there. We hope other unions will follow their example”. The Canada Electric Brigade hopes to send another group to Nicaragua next February. machine shop. There it’s a one-to-one master/apprentice ratio,” — Many of their locals, not only in the Toronto area, have contributed’ 4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 24, 1985 By FRANK GOLDSPINK WINNIPEG — The first Na- tive person to be hired in this city as a school principal says she’s aiming to be a good example and an inspiration to other Native teachers and the Native commu- nity as a whole by her work in the next several years. **T know I'll be living in a real fishbowl,’’ said Donna Green after the Winnipeg School Board voted unanimously last month to make her the principal of Dufferin School, an inner-city school with about 80 per cent of its population made up of Native children. **My bottom line is quality edu- cation for kids, and that means all kids,’’ Green said in an interview. ‘‘A door has been opened, a chance has been given for a (Na- tive) person to prove themselves. ‘*By my being there and stand- ing up with the best of them, ... I hope I will convince other Native teachers I know to look at profes- sional development and training, to develop through the system and further the muvement.”’ Green graduated from the Win- nipeg Education Centre Project, a special adult education program, in 1976. She has been with the Winnipeg School Division for nearly 10 years, first working with inner-city children at two schools as a consulting teacher in Native awareness and, for the past six years, as the board’s consultant in native education. She also worked for two years at schools on the Island Lake and Garden Hill reserves, for the fed- eral Indian Affairs department. Labour Election Committee Trustee Mary Kardash says Green’s appointment is the cul- mination of many years of per- sistent work by the Native com- munity and supporters, including herself. ‘* As far back as the 1960s, I had proposed Native teacher aides for at aN ee he ae ee Rests kindergarten and nursery classes because that is where we have to start to make the school environ- ment conducive for Native chil- dren,’’ said Trustee Kardash in an interview. She said Native awareness programs are also very important to make all students, as well as teachers, aware of the cultural heritage of Native people. Trustee Kardash said the hiring of a Native person as a principal was ‘‘long overdue’’, saying she _has often pressed the board to pay more attention to professional development and promotion for Native teachers. “‘T’m very pleased this step was taken. I hope it’s just the begin- ning.” Green said that despite strong encouragement from the Native community, she was nervous about applying for the Dufferin job, feeling she didn’t have ‘‘the experience or the qualifications of a whole lot of other people’’ in the Winnipeg school system. “But I was finally convinced that I have to do it, that I have to take the chance. I’ve been here the longest and I have the exper- ience with the administration. “T realize the enormity of the ‘task and I appreciate the appointment.” Green said her leadership at Dufferin will reflect the school’s large Native population. ‘A lot of things I do will be very much with Native people and Native chil- dren in mind.” Board chairman Mario Santos said he believes the school system has failed Native people, espe- _ cially in the inner city with its highly mobile population and large number of single-parent families. He said this makes Green’s appointment all the more important and that the board is pleased to be able to hire a Native person who is highly qualified. The appointment was also applauded by various leaders in the Native community, including Native child welfare activists. Kids’ anti-war film bags prize at Moscow Festival MOSCOW — The Canadian fim The Dog Who Stopped a War, directed by Andre Melan- son, won a gold medal in the films for children and young people class at the 14th Moscow Inter- national Film Festival, June 28- July 12. The Canadian film, one of 47 entries from 28 countries, was the choice of both the official jury, comprised of some of the world’s leading filmmakers, and the spe- cial children’s jury of Moscow pupils. The Dog Who Stopped a War, about a group of youngsters play- ing war which become increas- ingly vicious day by day until a dog is killed in a mock assault, drew general acclaim for its por- trayal of an anti-war theme. Another Canadian entry, the animated cartoon The World is Flat, received an hors concours (non-official) diploma and prize from the USSR’s Novosti Press Agency as the film best express- ing the agency’s_ slogan “information for peace and friendship among nations’. | |