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Canada

Child poverty
on increase

Parental unemployment is the funda-
mental cause of rising child poverty, but
even working families are not free from
risk, says the Child Poverty Action
Group.

Newly-released figures indicate the
number of children living in poverty in
Canada rose by more than 23 per cent
between 1980 and 1985, the group, which
does research and advocacy work on child
poverty, found.

It attributed the increase to the low
wages of women who are often the sole
Supporter of children, and the rising
number of Canadians who rely on part-
time and seasonal work.

In a campaign calling for a national
income program for children, the organi-
zation calls on the federal government to
take over responsibility for meeting the
needs of families with children.

The poverty action group says this
would involve “‘a serious commitment to
full and suitable employment for parents,
a major re-structuring of the tax system to
recognize the special needs and responsi-
bilities of parents, and a significant exten-
sion of public education, housing and
child development programs.”

The group envisions the national
income program providing a “social
floor” of income for families with child-
ren.

According to the National Council of
Welfare, 1.1 million, or one in five, Cana-
dian children are being raised in poverty.

Vander Zalm hit
for ‘callousness’

Premier Bill Vander Zalm got rapped
in the House of Commons for “‘his ignor-
ance and insensitivity” concerning remarks
he made about hungry children being the
victims of family neglect.

Vander Zalm caused a national scandal
earlier this month when he refused fund-
ing to the Vancouver school board for a
lunch program for,hungry children. The
premier said children came to school
without lunches because “their parents lay
in bed, not really caring.”

B.C. MP Jim Manly said the premier’s
remarks would cause despair and anguish
to “thousands of British Columbia par-

ents who live in poverty and have to watch *

”

their children grow up in poverty.
Instead of blaming parents, the premier
“should look to himself,” said Manly.
“Premier Vander Zalm’s heart must be
very small and very cold. It seems there is
no room in his heart for hungry children,”
Manly told the House.

Nuclear reactors
in the Arctic

The government's decision to purchase
10-12 nuclear-powered submarines con-
tinues to be a hot item in Parliament.

Toronto MP Charles Caccia recently
quoted the Canadian Environment Net-
work in pointing out that ‘nuclear
powered submarines are floating nuclear
reactors in the fragile Arctic environ-
ment.”

Caccia called on the government to
launch a public environmental assessment
of the submarine plan. :

The MP said there were more impor-
tant priorities than submarines, citing “a
real, national, first-class day care program
for the next generation, -and the badly
needed sewage and water treatment pro-
gram proposed by the Federation of Can-
adian Municipalities.”

6 « Pacific Tribune, May 25, 1988

NAC looks to unity, after debate on structure

By KERRY McCUAIG

Canada’s largest feminist organization
weathered some heavy political storms dur-
ing its annual meeting May 14-15. Acrim-
ony and accusations flowed throughout a
bitter debate, which began when one of the
two nominees for president withdrew from
the race.

Lorraine Greaves stunned delegates in a
prepared speech delivered from the plat-
form when she targeted a small “obstruc-
tionist” group with manipulating the
meeting. 3

She told the 600 delegates and observers
that the National Action Committee on the
Status of Women was on a “suicidal
course” because it failed to follow “feminist
principles.”

“My withdrawal-is a crisis for NAC,”
Greaves said. “NAC is not a happy and
healthy place to be now.”

But the community college teacher from
London, Ont., overestimated the effect of
her resignation. By the time the meeting
adjourned the organization elected a repre-
sentative executive, passed resolutions on a
wide range of issues from abortion to world
peace, prepared to make women’s issues

' prominent in the coming federal election

and presented a vocal and united stand to
the three parties in Parliament.

The issue behind the controversy was an
organizational review conducted by NAC
over the past year. No one disagreed that
changes are needed. The committee’s con-
stitution was drawn up 16 years ago when
NAC encompassed 32 women’s organiza-
tions, most based in Ontario.

Today it is the largest mass organization
in the country, comprising 576 groups from
coast to coast with a combined membership
of three million. It takes under its wing just
about every conceivable interest, from col-
lectives handling battered women and rape
crisis centres to immigrant women net-
works, labour unions and the YWCA. And
it hosts a range of ideologies from Conser-
vative to Communist and radical feminist.

With this mix, it shouldn’t surprise
anyone that a structural revamp would
soon reveal considerable differences within
the caucus. Only days before, the floor of
the Canadian Labour Congress convention
became.a battle ground during a debate on

constitutional amendments, and the CLC
speaks to a much more defined audience,

While many press reports have tried to
get a handle on what took place at the
annual meeting by identifying a left-right
split, the organization defies this kind of
easy analysis.

As the delegates demonstrated at their
300-strong lobby of MPs, NAC is united on
policy. Its differences lie in priorities.

The more politically sophisticated in the
organization want restructuring so Cana-
dian women can be quickly mobilized

around issues. It is these women who have:

been the leaders in the fight against free
trade, the child care campaign, and mobiliz-
ing against the recriminalizing of abortion
and the Tory white paper on defence.

The other side hearkens back to the days
of “sisterhood”, to consensus, to women
offering each other support. It fails to
appreciate that Robert’s Rules of Order
were never intended for negotiation, but to
facilitate decision-making. That position
also suffers from a naivety which sees femi-
nism as monolithic, unaffected by the class,
ethnic and political background of the par-
ticipants.

Within these two polarities are various
opinions. Some feel the organization is
insensitive to working class, Native and
immigrant women. Others want more
“decentralization,” reflecting a common
complaint that NAC is top heavy and too
focused on central Canada.

But for all the “sisterhood” Greaves and
her supporters advocate, their conduct over
the weekend was less than exemplary.
When Greaves’ resignation failed to spark a
suspension of regular business to discuss
“the crisis” in NAC they staged a walkout,
but turned around to find less than 50 of the
delegates following them.

They had more success later in the meet-
ing when in a special presentation, all but
one of the group’s seven staff members
resigned. In a partisan address they
attacked the activists on the executive,
accusing them of blocking the unionization
of the office staff and fingering the newly-
acclaimed president, lawyer Lynn Kaye, as
fighting their certification at the Ontario
Labour Board.

It worked. Business was suspended and

LYNN KAYE... NAC’snewly acclaimed
president.
several “shocked and appalled” speeches
— some genuine, some planned — WEle
uttered before Trudi Richardson, a union
organizer from Alberta and an outgoimg
executive member, could set the record ~
straight. ;
The past executive had in fact unanim-
ously endorsed staff unionization, she
explained. The one hitch was the office
manager, who the executive, again unani-
mously, felt should remain outside the bar-
gaining unit because of her manage
functions, She pointed out that Lynn Kaye
was not the executive board’s legal counsel.
The meeting returned to order and
passed a number of emergency and policy
resolutions, including reaching a comprom-
ise position on Meech Lake — an issue
which nearly caused a walkout of Quebec
delegates last year. The delegates were then
in feisty form to confront federal politicians
at the annual lobby the following day.
Not that all is well. The bitter dispute
polarized the organization and provided
grist to those in the Conservative govern=
ment who want to cut off NAC’s funding.
Kaye recognizes the tough job that con-
fronts her and has used every opportunity
to push for reconciliation and unity.
NAC may be hurt, but it’s far from dead.

Flanked by international guests to the Communist Party’s 27th convention, CP leader William Kashtan, who stepped down
from his position of general secretary at the convention, was honoured along with his wife Della at a gala banquet in

‘Toronto May 20. Some 1,500 people packed the St. Lawrence Market where several people, including Young Communist
League leader Chris Frazer and B.C. CP leader Maurice Rush, paid tribute to his many years of leadership in the CP which he
served variously as organizer, labour secretary and leader. He was elected Sunday as chair of the CP.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN