oe Lt

I 6

Indian Act scored by CPC

The Communist Party of Can-
ada has condemned the propos-
als for a new Indian policy an-
nounced on June 25 by the
Indian Affairs Minister Chretien.

In a statement issued by the
Central Executive Committee,
the pary calls upon parliament
to reject out of hand Chretien’s
proposals claiming they repre-
sent a cynical betrayal by the
Federal Government of its moral
responsibility to right the grevi-
ous wrongs perpetrated upon
the Indian people by British
Colonial policy and continued
by successive Canadian govern-
ments. :

The proposal to abolish the
Indian Affairs Department in
five years is an attempt by the
Government “to dismiss its res-
ponsibility for over four hun-
dred years of robbery, rape, de-
cimation, humiliation, poverty
and trickery of Canada’s Native
Indians by greedy chauvinist
corporate rulers who have plun-
dered Canada and her peoples
since the days of discovery,”
the statement declares.

The Communist statement ac-
cuses the Federal government
of new trickery to eliminate the
Indian people as a destinct en-
tity in Canadian life. The federal
government “is following an
active policy of enforced assim-
ilation disguised as “integra-
tion.” Its object is to compel
the Indian People to abandon
their reserves, communities and
way of life, to “Anglicize” their
children through the educatio-
nal system instil shame of their
historic background discourage
their language and culture, and
compel them to enter our cor-
poration -controlled industrial-
ized society without adequate
training or education—a society
in which they suffer racist dis-
crimination, are denied jobs and
housing, condemned to shack
towns, and the slums and skid-
roads of the cities.”

The Communist statement
says the conditions of the In-
dian People can be changed for
the better within their historic
treaty rights. This will require
“militant struggles of the In-

dian people supported by all
democratic Canadians for the
winning of completely new poli-
cies based on principles of full
equality.”

The Communists call for com-
pensation for the natural wealth

taken from the Indian people; .

full recognition of their national
identity and development of
their native culture; full power
to decide their own affairs; full
equality before the law; a mas-
sive social program to bring
health, housing, educational
standards, training and job op-
portunities up to accepted Cana-
dian standards.”

The Communist statement
concludes by pledging “unselfish
support to the struggles of the
Indian People to win full and
equal rights in all spheres of
public activity in Canada. It
calls upon all democratic Cana-
dians and, above all, the organ-
ized labor movement to give
full support to the just cause
and rightful demands of the
Indian People.

WOMENS’ ROLE IN VIETNAM

By KAREN McFADDEN

The courageous women of
Vietnam were well represented
at a meeting sponsored by the
Voice of Women in the St.
Lawrence Centre of the Arts on
Sunday, July 6.

The three guests were Ma-
dame Vo Thi The, a professor
of literature at the University of
Hanoi, an activist in the Na-
tional Liberation struggle, Ma-
dame Nguyen Ngoc Dung from
the NLF, a student leader who
works with young women, and
Madame Le This Cao, a Catholic
teacher from Saigon and also
from the NLF. All three were
representatives of women’s or-
ganizations in Vietnam and all
were parents of young children.

A large number of American
visitors, including Mrs. Ben-
jamin Spock, were among the
capacity crowd which warmly
greeted the delegation. Madame
Dung spoke of the ways in
which the Canadian people can
help end the war in Vietnam by
putting pressure on the govern-
ment through demonstrations,
and by assisting American draft

ee

PACIFIC TRIBUNE —JULY 11, 1969 —Page 4

resisters. She also told of the
board composition ‘of the NLF
and the very active role of
women and children in it. Since
we have received such support
from the world’s people, she
said, the Vietnamese feel they

are fighting for civilization
everywhere.
Madame Thi described the

separation of parents and chil-
dren caused by the war. She
said she had little time with her
children at home, but that when
the prospect of her trip to Can-
ada was broached to them they
urged her to go and help bring
the war to an end.

Before the question period,
gifts were presented from the
audience, including gifts from
the Young Communist League
of Metro Toronto. The three de-
legates answered the
questions put to them with
great thoroughness. Madame
Thi said that women had been
humiliated and subordinated
under the feudal and French
colonial regimes, but that
through active participation in
the liberation struggle their un-
derstanding and capacity in-
creased rapidly until they
achieved real equality. She said
that 12 percent of the National

re

many .

Assembly of the Democratic
Republic of North Vietnam are
women, and that thousands of
women serve in positions of res-
ponsibility on village councils,
thousands are leaders of pro-
duction teams in the country,
and many are military com-
manders.

Madame Dung spoke of. the
efforts of the NLF to protect
the people from the Americans’
use of toxic chemicals. She said
that in spite of these efforts
last April in her province more
than 200 were killed and thous-
ands were seriously affected by
chemical warfare. She said that
the Provisional Revolutionary
Government was set up June
6-8 at a National Congress of
South Vietnam People’s Repre-
sentatives, which included del-
egates from 80 groups repre-
senting all walks of life in
South Vietnam.

The Provisiona] Revolution-
ary Government is assuming the
responsibility of the NLF to
step up the struggle, she said,
and described its action pro-
gram and structure as “better
than the NLF’. The PRG has
put forth the 10 point NLF
peace program at the Paris
talks.

Rabbi Feinberg then paid tri-
bute to the heroism of the Viet-
namese and said that like Stan-
ley Burke, Canadian Broadcast-
ing Corporation commentator
who had spoken briefly earlier
in: the meeting, he was there
primarily as a human being to
protest man’s inhumanity to
man.

As we respectfully said good-
bye to the delegation, we real-
ized more clearly that the Viet-
namese women, courageous, un-
assuming, disciplined and resol-
ute in their struggle, possess
those qualities-necessary for a
people in order to bring about
an important historical change.

' American government pursues this policy contrary to "I

VIETNAM APPEAL

Pa Peat

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MUP PAIX FRigDEN
PAZ PAIX Mup PAZ
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PAIX PEACE mup
PAZ FRIEDEN paz

» MMP PAIX Peace
PAZ MMP PAZ Paix
PAIX MMP FRIEDEN
PEACE PAZ PAIX MUP
FRIEDEN PAZ FRIEQEN
MHP FRIEDEN PAIX PEACE
PAZ MUP FRIEDEN PAIX PEACE
PEACE PAZ MMP FRIEDEN PAIX
PAIX PEACE PAZ MHP FRIEDEN

DEN

ce Assembly in Ber

FE ati : i ee se.
We, partiicpants in the World Pea

lin, state: a
e The government of the United States of Amel!

: f it iS
continues its policy of aggression. In South Vietnam it!

. escalating military operations, in the North it continues

violate the sovereignty and security of the Democrati¢ se
public of Vietnam. To implement its neocolonialist por
it supports the Thieu-Ky-Hyong administration, which by i
means represents the population of South Vietnam, a
opposes any peaceful settlement which is in keeping W!

the basic national rights of the Vietnamese people. The

creasingly pressing demands of millions upon millions ty
people all over the world who reaffirm and tireles

rs = 3 . 5
-strengthen their solidarity with the heroic and victorio’

struggle of the Vietnamese people, demand an end to i
war on the basis of respect for independence and s0V
reignty of Vietnam.

e Establishment of the Provisional Revolutiona
ernment of the Republic of South Vietnam is an even oni
exceptional importance. This government is an embodim' ell.
of the national unity and lawful aspiraticns of the peor
of South Vietnam. It declares its readiness to start cons
tations with other political forces with a view to creating ,
provisional revolutionary government. It comes out for HK
settlement of the South Vietnam problem on the bast th
the overall 10-point settlement, proposed by the So a
Vietnam National Liberation Front. This decision gua
tees the rights of the Vietnamese people to independene”

Got!
ry f ot

terests of the American people who constantly come ho
with demands to put an end to the war, and also t?
imperative demands of those who strive for world peor
The overall 10-point settlement, proposed by the ive)
tional Liberation Front, constitutes a realistic inition |
which must help the Paris meeting on Vietnam to ach
success in stopping the war, to strengthen peace in !™
china, South-East Asia and throughout the world. | of
We, participants of the World Peace Assembly, cal
all the governments, international and national organ iy
tions, public leaders, on all the peoples of the world, §
ing for peace, freedom and justice, to step up the supP 4
to the struggle of the Vietnamese people and to dem?
ever. more persistently that the American government $ a
stop this aggressive war.
May a broad campaign be organized in a
to oat
—demand fhe official recognition of the Provisi@t
Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South
nam; ote
—to demand from the government of the United St of
that it should start serious talks at the Paris meeting ig
the basis of the overall10-point settlement, proposed
South Vietnam National Liberation Front; > ov
—to exert a powerful pressure on the American Phe
ernment, demanding from it an early discontinuance ? 4
aggressive war in Vietnam, unconditional withdrawal ° is
American troops and the forces of all other U.S. allies: | 4.
continuance of the use of the Thieu-Ky-Hyong admin's 66
tion as a tool of this aggression, granting to the Vietnam”. |
people of an opportunity ‘to settle their affairs thems® he |)
without foreign interference and stopping of all encl®” 1)
ments upon the sovereignty and security of the Demo@: ~
Republic of Vietnam; ond
—to render the Vietnamese people moral, politic? tive
material support through different continuous and effee
actions timing them, in. particular, for July 20, 1969 at
15th anniversary of the 1954 Geneva agreements on
nam.

Il count