Police shooting

enrages

TORONTO — More than 2,000
demonstrated here September i to
protest the killing of Albert
Johnson, a black immigrant, by
Metropolitan Police on August 26.

The shooting of Johnson, a
35-year-old Jamican, has enraged
Toronto’s large black community
which has charged that the shooting
was totally unnecessary and racially
motivated. Johnson was shot at his
home from a distance of four feet
after what has been described as
months of harassment by police. He
was the eighth person to die by
_ police hands in Toronto this year.

Numerous organizations
throughout Toronto have joined
with the black community in
demanding a public inquiry into the
death of Johnson and for charges to
be laid against the police officer
who fired the shots. Protests con-
tinue to mount and a sharp protest
-note has been sent to Ottawa by the
Jamaican government.

The protest movement in Toron-
to is focussing its attention on br-
inging the police force under
civilian control. The increased kill-
ings by police is due to the
unspoken encouragement of police
violence by chief officers and the
provincially appointed police com-
mission, protesters allege. a

Toronto’s police chief Harold
Adamson has invited black leaders
to meet with him, but his offer was

Toronto

likened to asking ‘‘the chickens to"

march to the colonel,’’ by black
leader -and civil rights lawyer
Charles Roach who told the rally,
“‘He wants us fried.”’

The legislation committee of
Toronto city council last week
voted non-confidence in the police
commission and is recommending
to the city that it take action to
secure sweeping changes in the
police force.

A series of motions from reform
alderman Allan Sparrow will ask
the city to have the provincial
government establish an indepen-
dent civilian review board to hear
complaints against the police. Spar-
row also wants a judicial inquiry in-
to the use of firearms by police and
the recruiting, training and ad-
vancement practices of the force.
Also called for is a study of the
force’s relations with minority com-
munities in the city.

At a Communist Party seminar in
Toronto August’29:a special resolu-
tion expressed ‘‘horror at the cold
blooded racist murder of Brother
Albert Johnson’’ and condemned
the ‘‘trigger happy”’ attitude of the
city police. The CP resolution also
demanded an independent board of
inquiry ‘‘composed of civilians
whose credentials are such that they
would enjoy the respect and con-
fidence of the many visible
minorities in Toronto.”’

Harris joins Tribune staff

The Tribune editorial board this
week announced the appointment
of 24-year-old Janice Harris to the
post of ‘staff writer, ~~ *

- Harris is known to many ‘Tribune
readers" fdr her many articles and
reviews contributed over the past
year, and for her role as con-

JANICE HARRIS

tributing editor of the youth
magazine New Horizons. She serv-
ed as assistant public relations

‘director for COPE’s 1978 civic elec-.

tion campaign, and most recently
was projéct director: for the
Downtown Eastside Residents’
Association publication of a hand-
book guide to rights and services De
Vancouver residents.

Harris will also be taking over
part of the responsibilities of
Eunice Parker who will be leaving
the Tribune after four years of ser-
vice managing the computer depart-
ment and. overseeing the weekly
mailing of the paper. Although she
stayed in the background of
Tribune operations, Eunice was an
integral part of the staff who
brought efficiency and stability to

the paper during years of substan--

tial change. The Tribune wishes her
well in her. work in Coquitlam,
municipal politics and in her new
responsibilities at the Trade Union
Research Bureau.

‘PEOPLE AND ISSUES =

Civil rights lawyer Charles Roach (1) leads march of 2,000 in Toronto last week in mounting protest

over death of Albert Johnson.

Shane Parkhill photo

Socreds ‘don't give a damn’
about chronic care elderly

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

The charge by Vancouver doctors
that . hospital beds intended for
acute care eases are being filled with
elderly, long term chronic care pa-
tients is quite true. I know this from
personal experience, after spending
a week recently on the tenth floor of
the Centennial Wing of the Van-
couver General Hospital.

From what I was able to see, it’s
not good for the elderly patients,
it’s not good for the hospital or its
staff, and it’s certainly not good for
the hundreds of people waiting for
operations that require acute care
beds.

The VGH staff is efficient, hard-
working and capable. But it is train-
ed and has the facilities for acute
care cases; it is not trained for nor
has the VGH facilities for chronic

-care of the elderly. . oe

-These_ elderly © people in
twilight.of their lives require special
care by a staff trained to handle
geriatric cases. They need special
diets, constant attention and help
and care to make their lives
bearable.

According to doctors, the VGH
now has some 214 elderly: patients’
in its acute care section, which is
about 15 percent of the hospital’s
1473 acute care beds. Furthermore
some 840 people are waiting for
operations that they can have only’
when these beds become free.

These elderly patients are in the
actue care beds because there is no
place else. for them to go. The
responsibility for this rests squarely

_on the provincial government which

callously refused to build extended
are units for them.

the

t’s significant how some news ceases to be news-

worthy when certain reporters or editors don’t get.

the desired answers to their questions. Professor Jim
Foulks, the vice-chairman of the Canadian Aid to

Vietnam Civilians notes that he was telephoned by a

researcher from a Vancouver television station inquir-
ing as to whether he had changed his view about Viet-
nam as a result of the refugee problem and whether he
agreed with external affairs minister Flora Mac-

Donald’s condemnation of Vietnam at the Geneva -

Conference. He replied no to both questions — and
SO, as it turns out did other members of the committee
who were also contacted by the station. But since the

answers weren’t what the media wanted, none were

reported.

What will be interesting is the attitude of the media
now that Foulks has returned from Vietnam where he
spent a week studying the situation firsthand as the of-
ficial representative of the CAVC, visiting various cen-
tres, including the Chinese district of Ho Chi Minh Ci-
ty (formerly Saigon) and a re-education camp, and in-
teviewing Vietnamese citizens.

For our part, although ill health on Foulks’ return to’

Canada precluded an immediate interview, we intend
to carry some material at the first possible opportunity
— which we hope will be next week.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— SEPTEMBER 14, 1979— Page 2

Roe may remember two weeks ago that we
commented — unfavorably — on the appearance
in the promotional material of the fisheries department

_ of one Oscar McFoisy, a cartoon character. Dressed in

slovenly outdoor clothes with three days growth. of
beard and a malevolent look, he was depicted as an en-
vironmental disaster in progress and was intended to
show everything that sports fishermen shouldn’t do.

But as we, among others, pointed out, McFoisy was
a slur against the ordinary person and the campaign
itself let industry — the main environmental hazard —
‘completely off the hook.

At least on this issue, the Tories had an ear for
public opinion. And last week, federal fisheries
minister James McGrath ordered him out of the
departmental material. He was declared to be ‘‘offen-
sive to the public’’ and his message was a ‘‘negative”’
one.

* * *

alestinian folklore, including arts and crafts,

‘drawings, paintings, books and posters, and a cou-

ple of films will combine to make an entertaining and
educational evening about this people without a

~ homeland, September 21 at the Ukrainian Hall in Van-

couver. Sponsored by the Canadian Arab Friendship
Association, it’s a deal at only $2.

Doctors say we need at least dou-
ble the number of chronic care beds
that we have today. Provincial
government spokesman say. this is

“‘silly’’, they say these patients
should be taken care of by their”

families.

Such statements are not only sil-
ly, they’re stupid. First of all, many
of these elderly people have no
family here. Secondly, our culture
is such that in many cases this
would not be safisfactory for either
the elderly or their families. Third,
many families just haven’t the
facilities to take care of their elderly
parents. This is just the govern-
ment’s way of copping out, of
avoiding its responsibilities.

We need more beds for long term
patients and we need them badly
And we also need some strict con

_trols over all private hospitals and
institutions that take care of the

elderly. To keep patients half drug-
ged so they will be passive and not
create any problems or extra costs is

simply inhuman. Our elderly
deserve better than that.
The provincial government

doesn’t lack the money or the |
know-how. The only problem is
that right now it doesn’t give a
damn, its list of priorities doesn’t
include the elderly who require
chronic care. It’s this attitude that
must be changed and that will only
be done by public pressure.

UBCM joins demand

for McMath formula

The Union of B.C. Municipalities
(UBCM) has joined with the B.C.
School Trustees Association and
the B.C. Teachers’ Federation in
calling on the provincial govern-
ment to implement the McMath
Report on taxation.

The UBCM voted overwhelming-
ly last Friday at its annual conven-

‘tion in Vancouver to support the

McMath Report recommendations
and to seek joint representation

with ‘the BCSTA to meet ‘with the’

Socreds to press the demand.

The 1975 McMath Report recom-
mended that the provincial govern-
ment pay 75 percent of education
costs, relieving a significant tax
burden from homes and family
farms. The Socreds have consistent-
ly reduced its portion of the educa-
tion budget, and this year will be
paying an average of 37 percent of
education costs. -

The UBCM also called for the
total removal of all property taxes
from bona fide farmland in B.C.,
and for a reduction in the assess-
ment rate on farmland not in use
but frozen in the Agricultural Land
Reserve. :

Socred municipal affairs minister
Bill Vander Zalm’s speech to the
UBCM showed the government
marching in a different direction on
key policy issues, however, as he
refused comment on tax breaks for
municipalities and instead warned

of new legislation to restrict the -

authority of municipal councils and
regional districts.

Vander Zalm indicated that he
has not given up his intention to
dismantle regional districts in B.C.,
and although deliberately vague,
suggested that legislation would be
forthcoming in the Spring of next
year which would be in line with the

demand for ‘‘less government.’”

Vander Zalrn also reitterated his
intention to bring in a new |
Municipal Planning Act which, he —

_said, would provide for ‘‘one stop |

shopping”’ for developers. The ef-
fect of such a change would be to
eliminate the ability of municipa!
planning departments to study.
plans by developers and insist of
changes to make them compatible
with existing communities before
granting development permits.

UTA deal
‘very close’

An agreement between thé
Greater Vancouver Regiona’
District and the provincial goverl
ment over the terms of an Urbal
Transit Authority financial formul@
for the Lower Mainland is ‘‘v
close,’? GVRD_ Transportatio®
committee chairman Ian You
told the Tribune this week.

Young declined to release the
details of the imminent settlement
but indicated that there had
some movement by the Socreds:
towards the GVRD position.
GVRD wanted an assurance th
property taxes would not be used t0-
finance transit and that it wou”
have a decisive input into m
transit decisions in the region.

Even with limited use of propett
taxes, however, a massive shift
taxation for transit purposes fro
‘the province to the i fornia vl
certain. The financial formula
also likely require substantially !
creased fares.

——
é

is