| CANADA:

Grenadian unionist fights extradition

Chester Humphrey, a 33-
year-old Grenadian trade unionist
and patriot, has been on a hunger

_ Strike for more than 50 days to

protest efforts to extradite him to

_ the USA over alleged offences

committed in 1979. He has spent

_ 19 of the past 23 months at Rich-

mond Hill Prison in the Grenadian

capital, St. Georges, under condi-
tions described as inhumane.

A widely representative cam-
paign for his release is in progress
in Grenada, among Grenadians
abroad and among a multitude of
supporters of Grenadian democ-

_Yacy. A petition addressed to

Prime Minister Herbert Blaize:

and Minister of Legal Affairs Ben

Jones calls for Humphrey’s free-
dom and the prevention of his
extradition.

Denied Legal Counsel

Since U.S. armed forces in-
vaded and occupied Grenada on
October 25, 1983, Humphrey has
been detained on several occa-
sions by U.S. authorities. On the
fourth such occasion, Nov. 16,
1983, he spent six and a half
months in prison without charge
or trial. He was released on May
25, 1984. But three months later
on Aug. 8, he was re-arrested on
orders of Governor-General Paul
Scoon. In September that year he
conducted a hunger strike to pro-

test his continued detention and
the denial of his right to see a
lawyer.

On Nov. 20 a magistrate ruled
in favor of Humphrey’s extra-
dition, a decision upheld in
January this year by the country’s
High Court. Humphrey’s appeal
is to be heard this month, Nov.
25, 1985.

The United States claims that
Humphrey and another Grena-
dian illegally exported arms from
the USA to Grenada in 1978 (se-
ven years ago) for use in the over-
throw of the Gairy dictatorship,
which fell in March 1979.

Those protesting Humphrey’s

Canadians urge world’s
women to halt Star Wars

TORONTO — A Canadian
_ women’s organization will pro-
pose at an international gathering
of women in Prague, later this
month, that women’s groups in-
crease mass pressure to prevent
their governments from _par-
ticipating in the Star Wars pro-
gram promoted by U.S. President
Reagan.

Appealing to the Women’s
International Democratic Federa-
tion, which meets in the Czecho-
Slovak capital from Nov. 28 to
Dec. 2, the Congress of Canadian

- Women is urging a discussion at
that time, which would involve

_ representatives from European

and North American countries.

A message addressed to Euro-
pean and American Women’s
organizations, signed by Virginia
Thomson, CCW president and
Costanza Allevato, secretary,
notes:

“History has placed before
humankind the necessity of pre-
venting a nuclear war and safe-
guarding peace. This has become

the fundamental condition for not’
only social progress but the very
existence of all peoples.”’

Calling the crucial problem of
war and peace a life and death
matter, the message places re-
sponsibility squarely on ‘‘U.S.
imperialism and its NATO allies
as a result of President Reagan’s
Star Wars (Strategic Defence In-
itiative) program. If this program
is not stopped it will result in an
uncontrolled arms race in space
and bring the threat of nuclear
war ever closer.”

The message refers to the direc-
tion taken by the now concluding
United Nations Decade for
Women under the slogan —
Equality, Development and
Peace — and points to the strong
stand taken by women at the
World Forum for Women, and the
Government Conference in
Nairobi, Kenya earlier this year.
Irrespective of outlook on other
questions, it says, women agreed
on the need to be ‘‘free of the
threat of nuclear war’’.

In Canada, the CCW reports,
“the anti-Star Wars struggle is at
the heart of the struggle for peace.

‘‘Mass pressure of the peace,
progressive and democratic
movements in our country have
forced the Mulroney Con-
servative government to state that
it will not take part directly, as a
government, in the Reagan ad-
ministration’s Star Wars pro-
gram,”’ it explains.

Star Wars at Heart

‘‘The demand of the overall
peace movement in our country is
for no Canadian participation in
Star Wars,’ the CCW notes.
“We stand for an independent
Canadian foreign policy, for a nu-
clear weapons-free Canada, for
peaceful co-existence.

The CCW expresses confide-
nce that the Canadian peace
movement will ‘“‘vastly extend its
mass protest against Star Wars,”’
and that the experience may
prove useful to others trying to
convince their governments to
stay out of Star Wars.

imprisonment and the extradition
attempts, point out that he lived in
Grenada, his home, for over four
years without any request for his
extradition. Further, they cannot
recall a case in Grenada’s entire
history when any government
ever extradited a Grenadian to the
USA.

bribes from the USA (whi
amounts to denying Ches
Humphrey justice.”’ 4
As a trade unionist, Humphrey
is widely known and appreciat
for his valuable contributions t
the welfare of Grenadian worki
men and women. Today, usi

recent
that

senior officials working in the
Ministry of Legal Affairs took

the only weapon he has — t
hunger strike — Humphrey
protesting the demands of t
U.S. invaders that he be hand
over to them; and the steady
cline in his health is of concern
democratic and human righ’
forces everywhere.

U.S. Offered Bribes

The same sources assert that a
“‘disclosure’’ indicates
‘“‘Grenada Government

’ company in its attacks on the union have alleged that the MFCW

-first-contract powers since the law came into effect.

News shorts

Eaton’s ‘scabs’ challenge union

BRANDON — T. Eaton Co. has chosen a couple of its
Brandon employees to ‘‘scab’’ on their union, the Manitoba |
Food and Commercial Workers, and ask for a court ruling to
decertify the MFCW local which the majority of workers voted
last year to have represent them.

The two workers who have been persuaded to front for the

used ‘‘misleading’’ material in signing up members to the |
Brandon Eaton’s local and they are asking for decertification.
As a kicker, Eaton’s also has them asking the court to rule that
the Manitoba Labor Board was out of line in imposing a first |
contract under a law passed by the Manitoba New Democratic
Party government several years ago.

The union had turned to the board and the first contract rule in
frustration after Eaton’s refused to negotiate seriously. It was
the most significant application of the labor board’s

Bethune brigade to Nicaragua

TORONTO — The second Canadian electrical brigade to
Nicaragua has named itself after Dr. Norman Bethune, the com-
munist doctor from Gravenhurst, Ont., who performed re-
nowned medical service during the Spanish Civil War and the
Chinese revolution. Organizers are feverishly procuring mate-
rials and tools for the February 1986 trip. Already, 30 electricians
and helpers have applied from across Canada.

The Norman Bethune Canada Electrical Brigade for Nicaragua
will work for the Ministry of Construction on two projects simul-
taneously. The brigadeers are paying their own airfare, food, and
lodging.

rc.

Uranium exports fuel U.S. arms race —

By DAVE MARTIN

New Democrat leader Ed Broadbent
Stirred up a storm of controversy when
he told the House of Commons in Sep-
tember that Canadian uranium wastes
are being used to fuel American nuclear
weapons. U.S. Ambassador Thomas
Niles denied Broadbent’s allegations,
Saying that the U.S. records track ‘‘re-

_ ceipts and shipments of natural, enriched
and depleted uranium by country of ori-
gin in order to ensure compliance”’ witha
Canada/U.S. treaty. Under the terms of
the Canada-United States Nuclear

_ Cooperation Agreement, most recently

- Signed in 1980, Canadian uranium or

spent fuel sent to the U.S. cannot be used
for military purposes.

Because of the rich deposits of
uranium in northern Saskatechewan,
Canada has recently become the world’s
leading producer and exporter of that
strategic commodity. About 75 per cent
of the uranium produced in Canada is
exported — mostly to the U.S. The prob-
lem is that the Americans treat Canadian
uranium as a fungible commodity — that
is, freely exchangeable with American
uranium stocks. In American uranium
bookkeeping, the amount of Canadian

. en entering the fuel stream is not

supposed to exceed the amount used for
non-military purposes. As a Canadian
official at external affairs put it, ‘‘That
does not mean that every atom going in
from Canada has a maple leaf on it and
those atoms come out in non-military
uranium.”’ In reality, Canadian uranium
may indeed be physically incorporated
into American nuclear weapons.

A particular controversy has also
raged about the fate of ‘‘depleted”’
Canadian uranium. Depleted uranium is
left over after yellowcake (the semi-pro-
cessed uranium ore) has been enriched to
increase the level of the fissionable iso-
tope U-235 for use in American light
water reactors. Officials at the U.S.
Department of Energy have stated that
depleted uranium is not tracked by coun-
try of origin. This flatly contradicts a
statement by Mark Moher of the nuclear
division of external affairs in Ottawa.
Moher claims that ‘‘no depleted
uranium of Canadian origin goes to
weapon production’’.

Concern has also been expressed that
spent fuel from Canadian reactors may
find its way into American nuclear
weapons. The fuel is mixed in with other
American fuel being reprocessed to ex-
tract plutonium for the weapons pro-

gram. Since 1966 over 300 kilograms of
spent fuel has been sent from Canada to
the U.S. Department of Energy’s plant in
Savannah River, South Carolina for re-
processing. Most of this waste comes
from the Atomic Energy of Canada
Ltd.’s (AECL) research reactors at
Chalk River, north of Ottawa. Smaller
shipments were also sent from AECL’s
Whiteshell reactor in Manitoba, and
from research reactors at University of
Toronto, McMaster University and the
University of Alberta in Edmonton. The
Americans claim that they have no: net
gain in their fuel trade with Canada, since
they ship back unused fuel to Canada for
use in these same reactors.
Tritium Exports

Another debate is heating up over On-
tario Hydro’s plans to export tritium to
the U.S. Tritium is another key radio-
active element used to boost the yield of
nuclear weapons. Tritium is accidentally
produced in the heavy water of Canada’s
CANDU reactors. Ontario Hydro is pre-
sently building a Tritium Recovery Facil-
ity at the site of the Darlington Nuclear
Generating Station 60 kilometers east of
Toronto. The facility will begin operation
late in 1986. Peace activists are con-
cerned that it may be treated as a fungible

commodity like uranium, and used di-
rectly in weapons or weapons-related re-
search. Even if used in so-called civilian
research, this research may have military
spin-offs. Fusion-laser research using
tritium as fuel may contribute to hydro-
gen bomb research as well as the Star
Wars laser program.

In any event, if Ontario Hydro’s
tritium exports take over the present civi-
lian market in the Western world, this
will allow the U.S. to devote their entire
production of this rare and expensive
element to the weapons program. On-
tario Hydro says that tritium is worth
about $15 million a kilogram. Present
demand for tritium in Western nations is
about one half kilogram per year. Ontario —
Hydro plans to produce 4 kilograms in
the first year alone, and about 50 kilo
grams over the next fifteen years.

The peace movement’s concerns
about nuclear exports received a big
boost when the founding meeting of the
Canadian Peace Alliance (November
8-11 in Toront) expanded its definition of
“Nuclear Weapons Free Zone’ to includ
“‘ending the export of nuclear technology
and radioactive fuels that may be used
for the production of nuclear weapons”’

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8e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 27, 1985

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