CANADA

Racist nature of the death

penalty revealed in study

By PAUL OGRESKO
A decade has passed since
Parliament officially abolished the
death penalty in 1976. The last
execution in Canada took place in
1962. But all that may change this
fall when a free vote on capital
punishment takes place in the
House of Commons. While the
right has played upon ignorance
and media sensationalism to de-
mand ‘‘their pound of flesh’’ the
actual statistics behind the noose

remain conveniently hidden.

The abolition of capital punish-
ment in Canada has not coincided
with an increase in the murder
rate. In fact Canada’s murder rate
has decreased since its abolish-
ment. In 1975 there were 3.09
homicides per 100,000. By 1986
that number was down to 2.19 per
100,000. The other favorite hue
and cry of the right, the so-called
leniency of the parole board send-
ing convicted murderers onto our
streets, also flies in the face of
reality.

According to figures released by

the Solicitor General’ s Office, bet-
ween 1970 and 1984 only 23 of 382
murder parolees were ever sent
back to prison. In the whole his-
tory of the criminal justice system
in Canada only: four paroled mur-
derers have ever repeated their
crime.

“But there is an even uglier side
to the whole capital punishment
debate. The links between racism
and the use of the death penalty
have been brushed aside by those
calling for a return to law and or-
der. Recent studies have revealed
how strong those bonds are.

A study released by Prof. Ken-
neth Avio, of the Univ. of. Vic-
toria, disclosed the true face of
capital punishment in Canada.
Using computers to take into ac-
count hundreds of variable cir-
cumstances, Avio’s study took
into consideration every capital
murder case in Canada from 1926
to 1957 —a total of 440 cases.

Avio spent five years poring
over files in the National Archives
in Ottawa. What his research re-
vealed is. startling. Uncovered

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were memos from the then Minis-
try of Indian Affairs recommend-
ing that Native offenders be exe-
cuted because Native people ‘‘re-
quire special deterrence.”

Avio’s study also uncovered
statistics showing that after Na-
tives, Ukrainian immigrants and
those of Eastern European back-
ground stood the next bestchance
of being executed. According to
the computer data there was a 21
per cent chance of execution for an
English Canadian facing the death
penalty. Fora Native inmate the
likelihood of execution jumped to
96 per cent.

The drive by the right to re-in-
state the death penalty in Canada
takes on chilling implications
when one looks at the situation
south of the border.

On April 21-22 the Supreme
Court of the U.S., by a 5-4 mar-
gin, dismissed the last legal chal-
lenges to the death penalty and
gave the go-ahead for executions
across the country. The most sig-
nificant challenge to the U.S. law
on capital punishment was the

McClesky appeal.

McClesky was convicted for the
murder of a policeman in Atlanta,
Georgia during a hold-up. But
what distinguished the McClesky
sentence from 14 other cases of
police murder in Atlanta was that
McClesky was Black while the
policeman killed was white.
McClesky’s lawyers argued that
the death sentence McClesky re-
ceived violated both the 14th
amendment of the United States
constitution guaranteeing equal
protection and the 8th amendment
prohibiting cruel and unusual
punishment.

McClesky’s appeal had vol-
umes of evidence to back it up. A
study by Prof. David Baldus of the
Univ. of Iowa found evidence of
racism within the justice system of
the U.S. remarkably similar to the
Avio study in Canada. !

Using data from 2,484 cases
Baldus revealed that 11 per cent of
those accused of killing whites
were executed compared with one
per cent of those found guilty of
killing Blacks. The statistics went

on to disclose that Blacks were
twice as likely to be sent to their
death than white inmates on death
row. As well Hispanic and
American Indians made up a dis-
proportionate percentage of in-
mates receiving the death sen-
tence.

In spite of pages of documented
evidence backing up the
McClesky case the Supreme
Court of the U.S. ruled that
McClesky’s sentence did not sig-
nify any violation of the constitu-
tion or of human rights. The recent

‘appointments of neo-right judges

by the Reagan administration to
the Supreme Court was. in-
strumental in swinging the balance
in favor of the death penalty. The
right in the United States ap-
plauded the victory and called for
an even more committed return to
‘‘law and order’.

Given the attempts by the pro-
capital. punishment forces in
Canada to stir up public hysteria
we should remind ourselves that
cold winds do not always come
from the North.

Congress pushing peace pledge

TORONTO — Ensuring a nu-
clear weapons-free future is the
theme which the Canadian Peace
Congress will be bringing home to
millions of people across the
country over the coming ex-
tended period.

Meeting here on May 23 and 24,
the national board of the Congress,
which brought together represen-
tatives from local affiliates across
the country, decided on several
programs. The B.C. Peace Council
is affiliated to the Congress.

Within the main themes — a
nuclear weapons-free future —
the Congress will be focussing on a
nuclear weapons-free Canada, a
nuclear-weapons-free Europe, and
a nuclear weapons-free world.

Two reports were presented,
one on the overall Canadian situa-

tion by Congress executive secre-
tary Gordon Flowers, and an
organizational report by chairper-
son Lari Prokop. Based on them,
the board decided that as an
immediate priority, the Congress
and its members concentrate on
moving the government to put
pressure on its NATO allies,
especially the United States, to
accept the Soviet proposals on
eliminating medium-range mis-
siles (INF) in Europe.

As part of this campaign, over
the next several weeks the Con-
gress and its affiliates across Eng-
lish-Canada will be holding press
conferences, writing letters to
MPs, and sponsoring meetings
and other events to bring the
message home.

It was also decided that be-

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JUNE 3, 1987

tween now and the federal elec-
tion, the Congress and its af-
filiates support and work to make
the Canadian Peace Alliance’s
voter pledge campaign a major
success. Within this context, the
Congress will emphasize the need
to demilitarize the Arctic and en-
sure genuine Canadian sovereign-
ty over our North.

A feature of the board meeting
was the presence of Robert Pr-
ince, secretary of the Helsinki-
based World Peace Council, of
which the Canadian Peace Con-
gress is a member. :

Speaking on the proposal to
eliminate medium-range missiles
from Europe, Prince told the
board that if signed, ratified and
implemented by the USSR and
USA, it would constitute a ‘‘his-

toric agreement’’ that could
‘‘serve as a model for further
agreements to reduce the nuclear
arms race, especially in the area
of verification and control. ..””
Prince made the point that an
agreement to eliminate INF from
Europe will be effective only if the
weapons are eliminated, and not
simply transferred, as American
officials seem to want. He called
on Canadian public opinion “‘to
make itself felt’’ so that a real dis-
armament agreement can_ be
achieved. An INF agreement,
Prince said, ‘will enhance the
world’s security at no one’s ex-

pense, it will give people hope and ~

an appetite for further steps to-
wards the complete elimination of
nuclear weapons from the face of
this earth’’.

‘to intolerable working cond!

Shelters

may close

MONTREAL — Shelters
for women and children are if!
danger of closing if the Quebet
government doesn’t give them
more money, says the directo!
of the provincial associatiol
for abused women.

The $3-million allotted to thé)
19 women’s services organiZ®

tions in the province is “pea
nuts”’, “‘says Nicole Maille, a!
least $14-million is required. ~

Maille said shelter staff aft
overworked, underpaid and i!
many cases are suffering from
burnout and planning to quit.

The provincial health dé
partment should commit them
selves to funding women»
shelters properly she said, if
stead of leaving the burden #
fundraising up to staff ane
volunteers.

“Tt really is an emergency
situation’™, said Maille. “We
don’t want to hold abuset
women hostage by closilé
shelters, but neither do we
want to subject other wome

tions.”

Union hits

comp snoops

WINNIPEG — Local 5,
Canadian Union of Publi
Employees, representing 6,9 Wd
city workers promised las
week to challenge the city’s al!
thority to spy on workeP
who’ve filed compensatiol
claims. C

Local president E@
Blackman said, May 11, thé
the union would take legal a€
tion, if necessary, to stop tht
city from continuing the pra”
tice. q

Nick Diakiw, the city’s chié
commissioner has admitte
that the municipality has us
‘‘outside resources”’ to spy %
compensation. claimants 1!
cluding the taking of surrep!”
tious photographs. :

If the legal route proves fruit
less, Blackman said, CUP!
will grieve these invasions “
privacy as a form of haras*
ment. The union thinks the cil)
hired private detectives 0”
cause of its own mistakes, 4%
February in payment clais
that cost the municipality hu”
dreds of thousands of dollat®

City officials deny this.

Quebeckers hit

Meech Accord ©

MONTREAL — Que
unions, cultural and national
groups met last week to forg®’
‘common front’’ against
Meech Lake Accord. 4

The Mouvement Queb@
Frangais has organized pub!
hearings here and in Quev¥
City to protest the agreeme™
in-principle on changes to #”
constitution. |

The accord, worked out 4
Prime Minister Mulroney
the 10 provincial premiers C4
Quebec a ‘‘distinct society
and gives the provinces greal®
powers at the expense of
federal government. a

The movement is protest?
the fact that it has been left ”
the list of groups to appear ”
fore legislative committ®
hearings on the proposals.

= © ee ee, eee.

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