Newsstand
price

SS

Friday, February 11, 1983

4,
ee
a

NON Aux ponces
FAISONS p

siONS.
aven Us

gt 1 ee -

Es

pies and their supporters march-
. to the regional Unemployment
Vases Commission offices
aay in the first major action
eee by the Vancouver and
istrict Labor Council’s
|  “Remployed committee.
€ demonstrators rallied on
:

)

f

|

is More than 300 of Vancouver’s
|

the Spacious plaza below, the com-
Mittee S unemployed action centre
©0-ordinator Kim Zander and
Others took the elevator to the com-
Mission’s fifth floor office in the
oval Tower to present UIC of-
Cials With a casebook full of com-
Plaints about delays in claims pro-
a.

Cting regi i -
Dav g regional director-general
‘mployment director Bill Gardiner
Were presented with three demands
a Changes: an end to delays, no
8Yoffs of commission staff and an
ae 10n of benefits to cover the
ull term of unemployment.

They told us they can’t do
rul — that they’re bound by
ch €S set by parliament. It just
; OWs that we’re caught up in a
ioc that won’t change by

lf,” Zander told reporters after

hour Meeting.
es We haven’t failed. This is only
ae nning. But it will take more
aN going to UIC offices. We're
80ing to have to lobby the govern-
Ment,” she said.
See MP page 12

—_—

€ Allison and commission _-

‘merging from the almost one- =

Front stand

UNEMPLOYED

AT UIC OFFICES . .

NATO
pressed
on peace

proposals
— page 10 —

~ pee

. tad
. with hard message for Ottawa, Victoria.

action

RING

TRIBUNE PHOTO—SEAN GRIFFIN

‘Cancel

tests’:
|churches

| cruise

~

The Liberal cabinet continued
to encounter a barrage of protest
over its proposed cruise missile
testing, as it moved closer to a
signing date — the umbrella
agreement — which may now in-
volve testing an even more
destabilizing version of the con-
troversial weapon.

Leaders of six Canadian
religious denominations have
called on prime minister Trudeau
to refuse permission to test the
cruise on Canadian soil and em-
phasized that such refusal would
be an “important symbol” of
Canada’s stand on disarmament.

The six churches — the
Lutheran Church, the Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops,
the Canadian Council of Chur-
ches, the United Church of
Canada, the Anglican Church of
Canada and the Presbyterian

Church — also called their
members across Canada to write
letters to their MPs voicing con-
cern over Canadian participation
in the nuclear arms buildup.

At its meeting Tuesday, the
B.C. .Peace Council sent an
emergency telegram to external
affairs minister Alan
MacEachen protesting his an-
nouncement, made Monday, that
he would proceed with the signing
of the cruise testing agreement
some time this month in
Washington.

“B.C. Peace Council members
are appalled at your intention to
sign umbrella agreement with the
USS. including testing of cruise
missiles in Alberta, which is in
direct contradiction to the prime
minister’s stated aim to work for
abolition of testing of new
weapons systems,’’ the telegram

stated.
For several days, Trudeau’s of-
fice has been inundated with

phone calls from opponents of

the cruise tests following the ac-
tion of the End the Arms coali-
tion in pressing its member
organizations to organize a
phone-in campaign.

In the Commons Monday,
MacEachen sought to deflect
opposition to the cruise tests with
his insistence that the federal
government would reserve the
right to refuse to test certain
weapons under the terms of the
umbrella agreement.

But the argument was clearly
nothing more than a ploy since
the agreement initiated in order to
provide a basis for the cruise tests
which MacEachen again defend-
ed in his speech. The

government’s refusal so far to put

the terms of the agreement before
parliament has also provoked
suspicion of the government’s in-
tentions.

Renewed alarm over the cruise
tests. was also raised Monday
when the U.S. defence depart-
ment revealed plans to proceed
with development of a more ad-
vanced and dangerous version of
the cruise missile which has
“‘stealth’’ technology assisting it
in virtually avoiding detection.

The defence department con-
firmed that it would be seeking
permission from the federal
government to test the new missile
in Canada.

The newer weapon is an even
more destabilizing development
in the arms race by virtue of its
ability to avoid detection and its
increased range, the result of
greater fuel efficiency.

SSS SS ss pe nent