BRITISH COLUMBIA =

The Labor government of New Zea-
land will be getting a message of support
from thousands of miles away for its stand
prohibiting any nuclear-powered or nuclear-
armed ships into its harbors.

Delegates to the 60,000-member Van-
couver and District Labor Council voted
Feb. 5 to senda letter to the government of
Prime Minister David Lange offering the
council’s congratulations for New Zea-
land’s action in refusing port entry to the
U.S. warship USS Buchanan.

And End the Arms Race last week
called on the Mulroney government to
follow New Zealand’s lead by refusing
entry for nuclear-armed or powered war-
ships to Canadian ports.

Copies of the telegram went to Lange as
well as Australian Prime Minister Bob
Hawke’s Labor government which EAR
praised for its action in withdrawing the
F use of Australian facilities to monitor U.S.
tests of the MX missile.

In the telegram to Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney, EAR president Frank Kennedy
again called on the government to cancel
the cruise tests, pointing to Australia as an
example of the course Canada could fol-
low.

And the Tory government has a man-
date to take that course, just as New Zea-
land and Australia have, Kennedy
asserted. :

“There is absolutely no excuse for our

_| New Zealand’s Labor govt
| backed on anti-nuclear stand

government not fulfilling the direction
given to it by the people of Canada,” he
said. Polls have shown that a majority of
Canadians opppose cruise testing and
support overwhelmingly a nuclear freeze.

In passing on the telegram to Mulroney
to Lange and Hawke, Kennedy also
commended the two Labor prime minis-
ters’ actions for showing “‘courage and
providing leadership to nations like Can-
daa which have a commitment to nuclear
disarmament and peace.”

Although it has never been considered a
major player in the nuclear stakes, New
Zealand’s action has had significant reper-
cussions internationally. Lange has twice
refused a request from the U.S: to allow
the warship USS Buchanan to dock in a
New Zealand port, insisting that the U.S.
declare whether the ship is carrying
nuclear weapons, something the Ameri-
can military adamantly refuses to do.

As a result of the refusal, the U.S.
announced it would withdraw from the
scheduled Sea Eagle naval exercises to be
held this month among Australia, New
Zealand and the U.S., the three signatories
to the ANZUS military treaty. Ironically,
the U.S. action will only draw cheers from
the sizable peace movement in New Zea-
land, although the U.S. clearly intends its
action as a prelude to further retaliatory
actions against the Lange government.

U.S. State Department spokesman

Bernard Kalb threatened Feb. 5: “Some
Western countries have anti-nuclear and
other movements which seek to diminish
defence co-operation among allied states.
We would hope that our response to New
Zealand would signal that the course these
movements advocate would not be cost-
free in terms of security relationships with
the U.S.”

Trade reprisals are likely be the U.S.’
next move against New Zealand.

The position of Australia, despite its
Labor government, was initially an echo
of the U.S. stand and at one point it retal-
iated with customs duties against New
Zealand in a declared rebuke of the latter’s
anti-nuclear policies. But the government
of Prime Minister Bob Hawke has faced a
drumfire of criticism from both the trade
union movement and Labor’s own ranks
for allowing the use of Australian facilities
to monitor tests of the U.S. first-strike MX
missile and has been forced to take its own
stand against U.S. demands.

Hawke said last week when he met with
U.S. President Ronald Reagan that Aus-
tralia would not provide the requested
logistic support for the controversial tests

of the MX missile in the South Pacific.

An earlier agreement to provide the
support for the tests was met with a revolt
from a number of Labor MPs who
emphasized that it was a breach of party
policy.

‘WA should side with us’

“Tf he understands the history of his own

Union, (International Woodworkers presi-
- dent) Jack Munro should be standing side

__ by side with Native people not with Mac-

Millan Bloedel,” George Watt, chairman of
the Nuu-Chah-Nulth tribal council and a
leader of the Indian bands asserting a land

_ Claim over Meares Island, said Feb. 5.

“The IWA was built on the same princi-
Ple we stand for as Native people — the
tight of every Canadian to a proper place in

_ this country and a right to share its wealth,”

he told delegates to the annual convention

. Of the United Fishermen and Allied

orkers Union.
Even more recently, 1WA workers have

: Voted in convention to support Native land
_ Claims “and Munro should be listening to

them,” he said.

Watt’s brief address to the convention
Was punctuated several times by applause as

- he affirmed native groups’ intention to fight
MacMillan Bloedel’s plans to log Meares

' Island and called for unity of Native organ-

Mon treaty and
‘pledged to begin a

fight final ratifica-

Fish treaty

Delegates to. the
United Fishermen
and Allied Workers
Union 40th annual
Convention unani-
Mously _ reaffirmed
the union’s position
of total rejection of
the Canada-U.S. sal-

uN

new ign to a
rs sie JACK NICHOL

tion of the pact.
The first part of that campaign will be

launched in Ottawa this Thursday when the

izations and the labor movement “against
the real enemy — the MacMillan Bloedels
and the 10 per cent of the population who
want to own this country.

“That 10 per cent controls 90 per cent of
the wealth of this country,” he said, “and
now that the economy is in trouble, they’re
blaming it on those at the bottom end of the
scale. :

“MacMillan Bloedel is saying how much
money they’ve lost — but you never see a
banker saying how much they’ve lost over
the last 10 years.

“But who owns the banks? They’re the
same people who own MacMillan Bloedel.

“The same people who are exploiting my
people are exploiting the labor movement
and ordinary citizens of this country,” he
said.

Watt, a 15-year leader of the tribal coun-
cil, told delegates that the fight over Meares
Island “is about people in this country hav-
ing the right to determine their future and
having control of the resources so they can
live like human beings.

“Ts it right that our people have only 400
acres out of 8,000 on Meares Island, and
that MacMillan Bloedel and another forest
company control the island?” he demanded.
“Ts it right that our people are unemployed
while MacMillan Bloedel can come and log
the trees and become wealthy?

“We may have put up with it in the past
but we’re not going to anymore. We're
going to fight for our rights,” he declared to
applause.

UFAWU delegates earlier endorsed a
resolution criticizing MacMillan Bloedel for
“holding an empty gun to loggers’ and mil-
lworkers’ heads” with the promise of jobs
from Meares Island logging.

The resolution noted that, in fact, “no
new jobs would be created” and called for
the preservation of Meares Island for all
people.

The union will also be sending a delega-
tion to Meares with the UFAWU flag to
demonstrate support for the Native groups.

called ‘massive sellout

union appears before the Commons Stand-
ing Committee of Fisheries and Forestry to
state its position.

The draft treaty, which the union charges
will give away Canadian fishing rights to the
USS. and will infringe on Canadian sover-

- eignty by giving the U.S. a say in manage-

ment of Canadian waters, was initialled last
month and later endorsed by the federal
cabinet. But formal signing is expected to
take place when U.S. president Ronald
Reagan makes a formal visit to Ottawa
Mar. 17.

In the convention vote, delegates con-
demned the treaty as a sellout of fishing
resource and of Canadian sovereignty.

“All of the people who supported it
should put their signatures on the treaty so
history will record who participated in the
most massive sellout in our history,” said
UFAWU president Jack Nichol.

A resolution adopted by the convention
instructed the union’s executive to:

© Publicize the position of the union,
including a brochure analyzing the impact
of the treaty;

@ Unite the broadest possible forces
within the fishing industry, the labor
movement and the general public in the
fight against the treaty.

@ Appoint a full-time co-ordinator to
head the campaign.

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COMING EVENTS

FEB. 16 — Vancouver Peace Assembly con-
ference and annual general meeting. 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. Cost:
$5. Vancouver Indian Centre, 1607 E. Hastings
St. Main speaker: Ray Stevenson. For more
information or to register please call: 685-9958
11a.m.to2p.m. or 872-4843, 254-8692 eves.

FEB. 17 — Celebrate Jose Marti, Sunday
afternoon from 2 p.m {LED stairs, Russian
Hail, 600 Campk- “ANCE! um, speakers, food,
refreshments. $4'+4 oap, unempl. Sponsored
by Canadian Cuban Friendship Association.

FEB. 22 — Wedding reception for George and
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FEB. 24 — Federation of Russian Canadians
presents variety concert featuring Ukrainian,
Russian, Yugoslav performing groups and
other guest artists. 2 p.m. Russian People’s
Home, 600 Campbell Ave. Dinner following for
info. phone 255-6488, 253-3032.

VICTORIA
FEB. 22 — “The International Peace Move-
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Room: D-E (Courtenay and Quadra). 7:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Victoria Peace Council.

COMMERCIAL

GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS. Complete print-
ing services. Brochures, menus, leaflets, etc. A
union shop. 1595 W. 3rd Ave., Vancouver.
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LEGAL SERVICES

RANKIN, BOND. McMURRAY. Barristers
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682-3621. ~

DIRECTORY

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA offices
located at 102, 2747 E. Hastings St. Vancouver.
Phone 254-9836. Office hours 9:30-12 noon; _
1-5 p.m. Mon. to Fri. For information on political
issues or assistance in political activity.

HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE'S HOME — Available for
rentals. For reservations phone 254-3430.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL
CENTRE — 805 East Pender St. Vancouver.
Available for banquets, weddings, meetings.
Phone 254-3436.

RANKIN
&
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Barristers & Solicitors

4th Floor, 195 Alexander St.
Vancouver, B.C. V6A IN8

682-2781

Offers a broad range of
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= Reception & banquet
for scholars from the
Soviet Ukraine

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2:30 p.m.
Dinner at 5 p.m.

avunaeeettt

Russian People’s Home
600 Campbell Avenue

Films
Tickets: $15
Tickets at Co-op Books

= Auspices:
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PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 13, 1985 e 11