Communist Party of Canada supports

CENTRAL EXECUTIVE STATEMENT

Native Youth demand to be consulted

The 24 hour occupation of the Indian
Affairs Building in Ottawa served to
focus public attention on the just griev-
ances of Canada’s Native Peoples,
Particularly the growing demand of
Indian, Metis and Innuit peoples for a
Say on all matters bearing on their
affairs,

The demand for a voice was well
articulated by an official of the Native
‘Outh Association which organized the
sit-in. “We're tired,” he said, “of having
Indian Affairs ram programs down our
throat. We want to be consulted. We
know what program we need, and

Overnment help must be coordinated
With the aims of the Native Youth As-
SOciation.”

_The demand to be consulted was
Underlined by the disclosure that the
* A met with Minister of Indian Af-
airs Chrétien last June with the re-
Quest that he shelve a program, for-
Mulated without consultation with the

YA. Under this program the Depart-
Ment hired 33 persons at an annual
ny of $12,000 each to “help” NYA.
4 that time NYA asked that the kind

Programs to be adopted should be
4 matter of negotiation.
sare action of the Department bears
is the charge made by the Commun-
_ t Party in its 1969 policy statement
Be Bill of Rights” that the federal
ieee ement “strives to create a Native

Service to act as a buffer between
© Native Peoples and those of its
Evers who are subservient to the gov-
perent and the political parties of
& business,”
the i Communist Party supports fully

mand of the NYA to be consult-

» and commends the Native Youth

e

*

Association for its militant assertion of
this right. In their fight to win this
right the Native Youth deserve the
support of all democratic Canadians,
particularly the trade union movement.
For, this fight is part and parcel of the
mighty struggles that must be waged
for completely new policies, based on
the principles of full equality for Can-
ada’s Native Peoples.

The Indian, Metis and Innuit are
distinct peoples and their identity as

. Such must be recognized and respected

by the Canadian state. This being so,
the Native Peoples must have full
power to make their own decisions on
all questions pertaining to their affairs.

Native Youth Association rally at Parlia

ment following their 24-hour sit in.

The colonialist Indian Act should
be replaced with a Bill of Rights for
the Native Peoples, which codifies in
the laws of Canada the full and equal
rights of the Indian, Metis and Innuit
Peoples with all Canadians — equality
in. opportunity, full recognition and
protection of all historic and treaty
rights, recognition and just settlement
of Indian land claims by a public com-
mission on which Indians and Labor
are adequately represented.

In respect to just settlement of land
claims the Communist,Party greets the
historic decision by Mr. Justice Wil-
liam Morrow to grant permission to
the Indian Brotherhood of the North-

west Territories to file a claim of inter-
est in 400,000 square miles of the
Northwest Territories.

Indians must enjoy self-government
on the reserves, and full freedom to
move off the reserves without loss of
treaty rights.

All vestiges of racism and discrim-
ination must be rooted out. The Native
Peoples must have full equality in
society and before the law, the strug-
gle for which the Labor and Trade
Union Movement should stand in the
front ranks.

The Communist Party calls for a
massive social program to bring the
health, housing, educational standard,
training and job opportunities of the
Native Peoples up to accepted Cana-
dian standards. We demand adequate
financial and other government assist-
ance to develop Native cultures, re-
vamp the whole education system for
Native children, including instruction
in the Native languages, with courses
relevant to their cultures and job op-
portunities staffed by Native people
and operating with Native parent con-
sent; the removal of all church control
over Native education, and the revision
of all history texts and literature which
portray Natives as “savages”.

The Communist Party urges the or-
ganized labor movement to support

fully the just struggle of the Indian,

Metis and Innuit Peoples for their

social and legal rights. For our part we
will do all that lies within our power
to assist the Native Peoples to attain

their just demands.

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continue to pay today’s inflated
prices for food and other neces-
sary commodities for the period

By MARK SYDNEY
tp LTAWA—In a move geared 9
who Popular with consumers, ’
§ have geen the prices of : ahead.
i Piks In one area, the government

Shoot up in the last year,
iberal government an-

has made a gesture. Commun-
ists have called for the incorpor-
ation of a cost of living escal-
ator clause for pensions, family
allowances, mothers’ and veter-

Plans
wer
boost € also announced to

‘ family allowances
ws lta intoctoper. ser:
B new measures included:
NEAD — an increased subsidy
Omestie farmers on wheat used
Will ¢ Cally, that supposedly
"Pay fo, the price millers will
flour +s wheat that goes into
: MILK akeries,
Subsidy a five-cents-a-quart
tig) OM milk to the provin-
they ane boards, which
80 tha Pass along to dairies,
this = ened increase later
Dar consumer prices ap-
ey will not be nEEaeeard
indust — An appeal to the oil
Prices” to voluntary freeze
Use ae Petroleum products
th mestically,
heaginwenout the daily press,
Prova) have given instant ap-
iMflatio © these so-called “anti-
Port watY” moves. NDP sup-
ing th eee forthcoming, echo-
ine taken at the recent
ling -cCOuver convention
fo «eo (Or increased subsidies
oN inflation.

Ih Teases Ahead
Bec What these meas-
hea eened to do is to
yY further price in-
“ in the near tiie. and
‘ h | Eres at their present
Our o, -? at least for the next
the Way Ne months. After that,
“eases” ‘S Pen for further in-

In public, the industries con-
cerned, especially the bakeries
and dairies, seem to be satisfied.
The president of Dominion Dai-
ries, Frank Warnock, said that
the federal subsidies may per-
mit his company to absorb cost
increases over the next year.

However, a cautious note was
given by a representative of the
bakeries. Speaking last week
over CBC news, he warned that
not all costs involved in making
bread are found in wheat. Other
factors also come in. So, for the
consumer, the word is “watch
out.”

Clear Indication

Otto Lang, minister respon-
sible for the Canadian Wheat
Board said baking industry re-
presentatives left him “with a
clear indication” that the last
price increase of six cents a loaf,
coupled with the new subsidies,
will cover increased wheat and
other costs for millers for at
least six months.

The government measures
were announced the day after
the price of bread went up by
six cents a loaf in most parts of

’ Canada.

Regarding oil, the key word
in the government’s new “anti-
inflation” measures is ‘‘volunt-
ary.” And although many as-
sumed that gasoline prices were

to be frozen until the end of
January, gasoline prices were
hiked up the day after in many
service stations, sometimes by
as much as 10 cents a gallon.
It is clear that Trudeau’s
measures do not apply, as was
inferred by his government
when the measures were an-
nounced in Parliament, to the
refined products bought by con-
sumers. Nor are there any
measures to .control prices or
costs of oil used in Eastern Can-
ada, mostly imported from
Venezuela and the Middle East.
Trudeau’s “anti-inflationary”
measures, it is estimated, will
cost Canadian taxpayers in the
neighborhood of $300-million by
March 31, 1974. :

More Corporate Bonus

Much of this will go into the
pockets of the bread and dairy
giants who control most of the
market in both industries. Their
inflated profits will be guaran-
teed through government “wel-
fare,” i.e., subsidies, using tax
dollars extracted mainly from
the salaries of working people.
These same working people,

‘under ,the new government

measures, gain nothing, except
the promise of paying the pre-
sent outrageous prices for bread,
milk and petroleum products
(gasoline, fuel oil for heating,

e
nounced on Sept. 5 a series of
ed to asures ostensibly design-
and © check rising bread, milk
Petroleum prices. :

etc.) for probably another five
months. And after that, higher
prices.

Looking at these measures in
light of the proposals of the
Communist Party of Canada to
combat the inflationary price
spiral, the Trudeau government
is only to be condemned.

Key to the Communists’ pro-
posals are measures to control
and curb monopoly power. The
government has done just the
opposite.

Where Communists see cor-
porate profiteering as the chief
cause of price hikes, the gov-
ernment took measures to
guarantee corporate profits
through the institution of subsi-
dies to them.

Being Gouged

Where Communists demand
that corporations pay their fair
share of the tax load on the
profits they receive, the govern-
ment has guaranteed these pro-
fits through the use of tax dol-
lars extracted mainly from the
very people who are being goug~
ed, the workers.

Where the Communists see
the necessity of rolling back the
outrageously high food prices
through powers granted to the
Prices Review Board, the Libe-
ral government has told the
Canadian people that they will

ans’ allowances, etc., and that
these be adjusted every three
months in line with price rises.
The government has done this,
at least on old age pensions, but
in typical Liberal fashion. Pen-
sioners, we are told, will receive
a pitiful increase of about $10
next time around.

All in all, the “anti-inflation-
ary” measures announced by the
Trudeau government last week
will do nothing roll back the
high prices, or to ease the al-
ready heavy load borne by Cana-
dian workers.

Prices too steep?
Tighten your belt

The capitalist press in-
creasingly calls upon Cana-
dians to exercise self-discip-
line, as in these words in the
Regina Leader-Post: “The So-
lution—if we have the cour-
age to make it work —is to
tighten the belt.”

When President Nixon im-
posed the freeze on beef
prices until September 12, the
Leader-Post printed this re-
vealing. statement: “Canadian
packing houses were also
profiteering . . . because they
were buying U.S. beef at
prices lower than Canadian
producers were asking.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1973 — PAGE 9