| [=e =n For the first time in Vancouver, Minority groups were invited to Sve their views on improving race Telations in Vancouver’s schools, and that they turned out in numbers to a special public meeting €s. was a clear measure of their 8towing concern. They responded positively, and warmly to the initiative taken by the COPE-led school board, and let the board’s newly-created race Ttelations committee know they Were anxious to be part of further Actions to help defuse the racial ten- sions that have been felt in the Schools ag well as the community. The setting up of a race relations Committee, made up of educators, ees and members of the com- Munity, was lauded at the meeting as the first positive act taken by an lected body in B.C. in dealing with the problem. Many speakers criti- cized other levels of government for their non-action, and called on aa to take their cue from the Significantly, though not sur- Prsingly, all five of the COPE School trustees attended’ the Meeting, as did independent trustee Tom Alsbury, while all three Non- Partisan Association trustees failed to show. One of COPE’s election pledges been to develop a working committee on race relations. After winning a majority to school board last November, COPE trustees moved swiftly towards making the committee a reality, first by ballot- date is $41,000 — still target of $75,000. ‘ As if to underscore the July 1, by June 20. and VSB, minorities and then by working hard to get it off the ground. The committee currently com- prises nine members, including VSB chairman Pauline Weinstein, Gary Puder, a secondary vice- principal and committee chairman, two teachers, one secondary, the other elementary, two multi- - cultural workers and various school board officials. Over 20 people presented formal briefs as well as informal, frank remarks to the committee members and the over 200 people who came to listen. The cumulative picture was of an educational system currently ill- equipped to deal with racism, but with the potential to do a tremen- dous job in promoting racial and ethnic understanding, and keeping the Canadian ‘‘mosaic’’ intact. Gardial Singh Neel, a Sikh, criticized the school’s ‘“‘biased and obsolete’? curriculum materials, and the absence :of multi-cultural programming in a city where 40 _ percent of the school population have English as a second language. Kee Lam, vice-chairman of SUCCESS, said that minority children, many of them im- ‘ migrants, experience “‘stereotyping and prejudice from both their teachers and their classmates’’. He added that the special status of ESL children is ‘‘often the source of racial tension’’ in the schools. Lam felt that tensions arising around ESL student who attended special classes could be turned | ing it $20,000 in the 1981 budget, around by incorporating them into URGENT The financial campaign to keep this news- Paper publishing for another year has reached a decisive stage. The drive ends June 20 at - -our Victory Banquet and the total raised to $35,000 short of our urgency of the situa- tion we received this week notice of a further 10 percent increase in printing costs effective Our drive is in your hands. Please do what you can to help us raise the $35,000 we need We have just two weeks still $35,000 yet to raise Here.is | Belogiannis 950 466 Bill Bennett~ 1,200 460, Building Trades 3,200 1,462 Burnaby 4,500 2,249 Coquitlam 2,400 1,307 Kingsway 5,700 ~:. 2,983 Niilo Makela 1,200 711 North Van 3,700 2,454 Nigel Morgan: 800 532 Olgin — 474 “Richmond 1,200 1,270 Seamen 400 798 Van. East = 7,500_~—s 6,386 N. Westminster 1,400 935 West Side 2,500 — 1,159 Correspondence 1,200 831 Creston 300 400 Powell River 500 260 Sointula 150 _ Trail 800 223 Terrace = 148 Prince George _ 240 SOUTH FRASER Delta 1,100 20 Fort Langley 600 450 Surrey 4,500 2,844 White Rock 1,000 394 EAST FRASER Fraser Valley 350 394 Maple Ridge 2,650 1,423 OKANAGAN — Kamloops 1,000 230 Notch Hill - 400 189 Penticton . 500 313 Vernon 1,100 951. VANCOUVER ISLAND Campbell River 1,300 1,083 Comox Valley 1,300 1,111 Nanaimo 1,900 880 Port Alberni 1,500 665 Victoria 1,800 1,675 Miscellaneous — 3,242 VANCGUVER join in attack on racism the mainstream of school activities such as sports, arts and music. He also called for a review of the school board’s personnel policy, as did COPE representative Dave . Schreck. Both Lam and Schreck agreed that the number of minority race teachers should be increased. Schreck suggested that the VSB provide ‘‘teacher-awareness workshops so they could learn to deal with their own racist attitudes as well as how to be more percep- tive about student interaction and socialization problems. nee “Racism is not just headline grabbing stories like the Ku Klux Klan cross-burning in Mission, But is much more subtle,’’ he said. In that vein, Nick Nicolopolous, a member of the Greek communi- ty, reminded the meeting that ‘‘for the great majority, racism is buried deep in their consciousnesses, and that, under certain stressful condi- tions, such as high unemployment and inflation, it comes to the sur- face.”’ Chin Banerjee, speaking on behalf of the B.C: Organization to Fight Racism, said that the first time the school. board had to tackle was the denial on the part of some educators that the problem of racism exists in the schools. Healso called for an end to the cutbacks in education by the provincial govern- ment, and a renewed financial _ committment to race relations pro- Mark Fornataro from the Greater Vancouver Renters Association proposed a concept where we stand GREATER VANCOUVER N. COAST/INTERIOR N ~ TOTAL: $41,612 which would have ‘‘students teaching parents about racism. **Students from different schools could get together and ex- amine TV programs and com- mercials for racial stereotyping. “Then, they would present their findings to the school board, and — together, launch a public campaign to have the program or programs changed or taken off the air.’ Fornataro also said he had proof on tape of the discriminatory prac- tices of the commercial rental agen- cies, REntex and Rent-A-Home. Those agencies, when asked by rac- ist landlords not to show their total rental housing listings to Chinese and East Indians — even though they have paid their registration fee like other clients —comply without a second thought, he charged. Some of the changes in school curriculum and programming sought by the various speakers in- cluded integrating other languages besides English and French into the classrooms, and eliminating racist comments in school texts. Whole texts have to be rewritten because current books either leave out, misrepresent or treat as *‘museum items’, the history of . Minority, ethnic and idigenous cultures. Among the many practical con- tributions members of ethnic com- munities indicated they could make to promoting racial and ethnic har- mony among students, were pro- posals to take students on field trips to visit with them in their own com- munities, and for ethnic com- munities to go to schools to par- ticipate in multi-cultural days. ‘‘The elimination of racism is a high political decision, and it is the specific business of those in the field of education, including parents, to do everything they can to make the federal and provincial governments put money into cuur- riculum changes and program ad- ditions,’’ said one speaker, summ- ing up well the consensus of the meeting. (CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ) COMING EVENTS JUNE 7 — Vancouver City pre- sents in concert, singers, musicians and dancers from Odessa. Also: F.R.C. Choir, Kobzar Dancers and Leo Aquino, Accordionist, Sun., June 7 at 2 p.m. Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets $3 plus advance _booking fee at Vancouver Ticket Centre, all Eaton’s stores and Co- op Bookstore; 353 W. Pender St., or at the Q.E. Theatre door from 1 p.m. Produced by the Canada- USSR Association. ae JUNE 9 — The B.C. Peace Council presents The Last Epidemic, a videotape of the San Francisco conference of Physicians for Social Responsibility on the medical con- sequences of nuclear war. Hear Helen Caldicott, Dr. Bernard Feld and other eminent speakers. Room 307, Vancouver Public Library, cor- ner of Burrard & Robson Streets, Van. Admission by donation. JUNE 14 — 4th Annual Barbecued Steak Dinner for $6, from 4 p.m. on, at Pat & Wendy's, 13969-113 Ave., Surrey. For directions phone 581-4870. All welcome. Proceeds to the Tribune. JUNE 14 — 8 p.m. LABOUR JOURNAL — a television show for - working people on Vancouver Cable 10. Hosts: Fred Wilson, Mar- garet Pawluk. JUNE 18 Canadian Cuban Friendship Association meets third - Thursday of each month, 8 p.m., Rm. L4, Britannia Centre, Van. All welcome. JUNE 20 — Tribune Victory Ban- quet, at the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan St., Van. Starts at 6:30 p.m. Banquet, musical program, speakers and dance. Tickets: $8 each; $6.50 for old age pensioners. Available at Co-op Books and the Tribune office. JUNE 21 — Surrey Alternative Movement (SAM) First Annual Music Festival at Gidora’s, 12715 - 66th Ave., Surrey. Bring your own meat for barbecue. Adm. $4. Kids - 12 and under $2. Watch for more details. JULY 12 — Keep this date open for COPE Garden Party at the Rankin’s. COMMERCIAL CONDOR’S PAINTING & build- "ing maintenance. Free estimate. Phone 433-1145. A progressive firm owned: and operated by Chilean Canadians. Reasonable rates. ELECTRICAL, plumbing; appli- ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287. ROOF REPAIRS — Reasonable. New roofs and alum. gutters, 277-1364 or 277-3352. GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS. Complete printing services. Brochures, menus, leaflets, etc. Special rates for the progressive movement. A union shop. 1595 W. 3rd Ave., Van. 733-6822. USSR TOUR. Leave Vancouver Sept. 5. Visit Moscow then Black Sea resort cities of Odessa and Yalta, on to the Central Asian cities of Tbilisi, Yerevan and Ashkabad, then Sochi and Volgograd and leave via. Moscow, Oct. 5. For info. contact William Mozdir, 324-1490, weekday mornings, or Globe Tours, 2679 Hastings St., Van. V5K 1Z5, 253-1221. READERS IN SURREY with ar- ticles of value to donate to Tribune for garage sale, should phone Tony at 596-1355 or Dave at 581-7995. Yellow cedar lawn chairs, con- toured & folding, $25. Crafted by Harry Bird. For orders, phone 590-1248. Proceeds to Tribune. Cedar net floats, 15c a piece, or - 13c ea. per 100. Phone 526-5226. a FOR SALE. Low mileage 1978 Dodge Aspen.-Four door, 318 V8. Good condition. Phone Jack, 327-3140, 5:30 to 6:30 eves. LEGAL SERVICES RANKIN, STONE, McMURRAY & BOND, Barristers and Solici- tors. 500 Ford Building, 193 East Hastings St., Vancouver 682-7471. HALLS FOR RENT RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for rentals. For reserva- tions phone 254-3430. WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL — Available for banquets, meetings, etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or 685-5836. UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL- TURAL CENTRE 805 East Pender St., Vancouver. Available for banquets, weddings, meetings. Ph. 254-3436. : PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 5, 1981—Page 11.