Dn a Unemployment Insurance Nurhber 1 in a series of seven columns - By GORDON HARDY i With the jobless level in ’ Canada higher now than at any“:time since the bad recession of the Fifties, it’s more important than ever before to know - what unemployment insurance is, . and'how it works. Yet, the . Chidt Justice of the Federal Court of Aipeal has said - that’ our unemployment lawsare even more difficult to comprehend than most modern complicated statutes. In this series of seven columns, we want to look at the workings and rules of the unemployment insurance scheme. The idea of some kind of insurance against the loss of a job is an old one. In the riddle ages merchants and artisans banded together in. craft’. guilds against bad . times .(which In the rough and. tumble middle ages were, very bad indeed). Switzerland experimented with. a form of unem- ployment insurance over two.centuries ago. In, Britain, there was simple form of help in time of unemployment, based on contributions, as far back as 1907. This was algo the case in aig sudimentary syste bis rudiment system crumbled in the disastrous years of the Great Depression. Thousands of jobless Canadians were dricen into the public dole or into labour camps suffering hunger and humiliation. The labayr unions and some political groups began to demand that an effective scheme to protect jobless people be installed. Finally, in 1941, to ensure - ‘the ‘co-operation of the labour movement in the war evfort,. ihe wf aden... provisiamy Or ne the government: of King. pué a new unem- ployment insurance scheme nto. effect. This was revised in 1971 to include sickness and maternity benefits. It was also. changed to include people who earn more than $7000 a year, an obvious necessily in an inflationary era, It's a compulsory scheme, since the govern- ment wanted to spread coats over the largest possible number of people. “The scheme not only helps le through periods of essnegs but also keeps money circulating in the economy, according to UIC information officer Tony Strachan. This, he says, didn’t happen during the Depression. ' At present about 150,000 British Columbians are ‘daiming tnemployment insurance benefits. Unemployment insurance ig not welfare, not a guaranteed annual income, not a savings account. It is insurance. Like any other insurance you must pay your premiums, which are deduc from your pay (about thirteen dollars a month), But you must also follow the conditions of the policy, Allan MacLean,.a lawyer with the Vancouver Com- munity Legal Assistance Society,. handles ‘unem- joyment insurance cases. points out that, “It is just. you had fire insurance y! The mere on your house. fact that you paid the saf premiums for ten years does not automatically allow you to claim on the policy - one of the pre-conditions of the policy would be that you ve a fire first!” . “and,” adds UIC's Strachan, you can’t collect your fire insurance if vebeen negligent witha of matches.’ In other words, you must meet some quite specific conditions to. collect unemployment insurance aside from -having pai premiumb. On the other nd, if you do meet all the conditions. that’ money is yours by right. a So, bearing in mind that unemployment insurance is according to our & court justice, ‘‘almost completely obscured by bein ied in detailed on ‘ou ‘ i iil examine. the. basic rules and regulations of the scheme. Next: Eligibility . for benefits . For a copy of the booklet, Unemployment Insurance, contact the Vanccuver People’s Law school. T booklets cost fifty cents each, tage. Write to ee West Twelfth a Avenue, Vancouver, V6K 2N2, or phone 784-1126. he indicates OW VANCOUVER (CP) — The Federal Court of Canada ruled Tuesday that the Unemployment In- surance Act does not deprive women of equality ore the law on the basis of sex. * Justice. Louis Pratte allowed an appeal by the federal court of Canada against an umpire’s decision that a Vancouver woman, Stella Bliss, was diseriminated against by rehson of sex. -. The umpire said that as d result the right of equality of ail claimants in respect of Business spotlight — B.C. uranium mine delayed by studies. VANCOUVER (CP) — Plans to open British Columbia's first uranium mine at Clearwater, about €3 miles north of Kamloops in the province's Interior, seem becalmed in a sea of government committees and concern for worker ety. The 1,000-ton-a-day mine, which would employ 80 ple, is planned by onsolidated Rexspar Minerals and Chemicals Ltd., of which Denison Mines Ltd. of Toronto is a major shareholder. e company submitted a- prospects en the project te provincial governmen in November, and representatives of Denison, the provincial government and the federal Atomic Energy Control Board met in January to discuss the proposal. But C, D. Parmelee, Deni- son's public relations of- ficer, said in‘a recent in- terview that any further aaa oogte on nite oject’s progress ve come from the provincial government. deuiy 7. Eyles, rovincial mines t the government has hexrd not from Denison since recei the prospectus on the mine ‘The prospectus was ap- proved and now the cart: pany has to prepare a stage one: report which identifies all possible problems and these problems can be miti- ted,”’ Fyles said. “That stage one report will be reviewed by a government steering -. Free on day leave _ ‘prisoner pushed dope VANCOUVER (CP) — A prigon inmate was involved the drug trade while on leave’ from prison, a B.C. Supreme Court judge was told Tuesday. Patricia Toews, plaintiff in a suit against Agassiz correctional work camp warden John Stonoaki and prison inmate George Thomas Warren, Justice Henry Hutcheon she had accompanied Warren on a car ride involving 4 TRIO KILLED WELLS, B.C. (CP) — RCMP today Identified the three persons killed Tuesday when a light air- crait they were passengers in crashed and burned after hitting.a truck when taking off at a small airstip near | this ‘community about 75°. miles south of Prince George in central British Columbia. Dead are John Donavan Dresna, 26, of Prince George, Lorie Dean Elliott, 22, of Vancouver and Ernest Fay Sankey, 22, of Quesnel. The plane was piloted by Sankey’s brother Donald, 19, also of Quesnel, whois in satisfactory condition in Quesnel hospital with burns to both hands. ; Passengers in the truck, Robert Lang and James McCullough, both of Wells, were treated and released. from Quesnel hospital. told . number of stopa, at which time drugs were tran- sierred,.while Warren was on a day pass from camp. She testified that the ri took place four days before she ame quadra legic from injuries received as a passenger when Warren lost control at the wheel of a friend's car. Toews is also suing the owner of the car, Henry MacKenzie. She was 17 at the time.of -he accident, which occurred June 3, 1975, two miles north of Agassiz. - Toews testified that Warren had repeatedly breached conditions of his day passes by ' driving and returning to camp late. She said he had also ap- parently fooled prison authorities on the weekend of May 9-11 by checking his suitease at Hatfield House, a halfway houge in Van- couver, while actually stay- ing with her at the Nelson Place Hotel. Asked -by Warren’s lawyer, Scott Stewart, why she did not report the breaches to Stonoski or some other prison official, Toews replied, “I thought at tne Fait ot to say anything, e not to say an g. “Right from the dbeginni: I had been frightened to death of Warren, I had been threatened by hin.” ; Toews said she first met Warren on April 30. She said he came to visit a couple whom she had recently movéd in with and that he yas on a day pass at the ime, She recounted a fast- moving series of events in which she gave up her job, moved into a motel ‘‘so he would have a place for his friends to visit him” and began seeing Warren “almost every day. either through hia day passes or her visits to the camp. All of this happened against her will, she alleged. She sald that on “a number of previous oc- casions'’ she had told Warren, ‘That’s it’s I’m leaving."””' INCLUDES MT. LOGAN Kluane National Park should never be spoiled VANCOUVER (CP) — Kluane National Park in the Yukon Territories should be left in its natural state, a. Parks Panada committee stud the park's future was told Tues: a i Kluane, near the Yukon- Alaska border, is an 8,500- square-mile park containing Canada’s highest moun- tains, including Logan, and the world’s largeat non-polar glacier system. Harry Hunter, presenting a brief for the National anz Pravincial Parks Association of B.C., told a public meeting of about 100 people that the association . opposes any increase in access to the park, including the building of roads outside ‘it which would inevitably ter, said. Mount: Unemployment Insurance legislation was affected. However, Justice Pratte ruled that the‘ umpire's decision should be set aside and referred the matter back, to him for de- termination on the basis that Section 46 of the act does not contravene the Canadian Bill of Rights. Mrs. Bliss became unem- ployed ,by reason of pregnancy but had not been employ Jong enough to be entitled to pregnancy benefits. After the birth of her child committee which consists of representatives of the mines ministry, the Environment and Land Use Secretariat and the Atomic Energy Control Board,” he said. “At the same time, all interested government agencies will be given the company’s report and will . make comments on it for the steering committee.” He said it would be a very small open pit mine with a limited life and that mining. conditions would not be hard to control. “We will be very severe with. our restrictions because we don’t want to go down the same route as this company went in Ontario.” Fyles was apparently referring to uranium mining at Elliot Lake, Ont., where Denison ig one of the companies involved, A recent royal com- mission report found that 81 uranium miners had died of lung cancer by the end of 1974, United Steelworkers of America claim that at least 10 more have died since then, . The ore bodies at Elliot Lake have some of the nes in ’ -rio. highest silica content.of any _ FEDERAL CO Law Women are equal she .was capable of and available for work but could not find employment. However, when she ap- plied to the Unemployment insurance Commission for benefits she was told that the 14-week period in the pregnancy section had not expired. ie, She waa not claiming pregnancy benefits but only the orditiary benefits she would have been entitled to had it not been for her pregnancy. al ni6nz 04’zrejected by the board of referees and the com- mission until the expiry of Mean .Fe, the Yellowhei Ecological Association, an enyl- ronmental group in the Kamloops area, is co- ordinating opposition to the proposed uranium mine at Clearwater. Colleen Foster, an association spokesman, said there is much local concern about the mine but the association has not yet decided on its future tactics. A government statement earlier this year said the Rexspar deposit contains a variety of valuable minerals: in addition to the uranium. A reserve of 1.22 million tons of uranium is indicated and the-company says that operating at a capacity of 750 to 1,000 tons of ore a day would keep the mine operational for five to nine years. Denison is also in the multimillion-dollar coal development plan under study by the federal and provincial governments for northeast B.C. Parmelee said Denison hopes to bring both its coal ‘production. MAYORS SUPPORT | ALCAN PIPELINE WATSON LAKE, Yukon CP - The mayors of Fort St. John and Fort Nelson in British Columbia told the Ane eemiay that ihey uiry sday ey foresee little adverse effects on their communities from the proposed gas line. Mayor Patrick Walsh, of Fort St. John said the Peace River country of ‘nor- . theastern B.C, has already experienced the impact of construction of the Alaska Highway and “we suffered no il effect when it was ‘Walsh and Mayor Andrew ° Schuck of Fort Nelsoh said although,-there is little op- position to the proposed peline, both communities want the Alaska Highway paved as part of any agreement to build the pipeline. The community hearings of the enquiry headed by Dean Kenneth Lysyk of the | University of B.C. law school are one of the few opportunities for B.C. make the park more ac- cessible. It also opposes allowing any motor boats, lanes, or snowmobiles inside the park, Hunter said. ‘Rosemary Fox of the Sierra Club supported Hunter. Kluane should be designated a primeval wilderness park, she said, and its boundaries extended to include the whole range of animals protected by it, she said. Several species have ranges extending well out- side the park. ' Richard Stace-Smith, esenting a brief from the ‘ederation of B.C. Naturalists, also told the committee access roads to the park should be limited. — “It'g presently almost roadlesa state should be regidents to participate in the Yukon-based inquiry. Walsh said the United -States was faced with a crisis when the Alaska Highway was built during the second World War and now “The American people are facing a crisis again.” He said the U.S. paid the price of the highway in 1942 and now should ay the price of paving the highwa as part of the solution to its gas shortage. Schuck, representing both Fort Nelson and the Slavey Indian Band, said neither group objects tq the pipeline and he could “see little adverse economic ‘or social impact.” “But at the same time I see little long-term benefit to the community either,"’ said Schuck. ‘“The economic impact _—_is exaggerated when in fact there is not too much there. “But the people of the North are entitled to long'term development of some kind.” retalned,”’ Stace-Smith said. “Access to glacier and alpine areas should be by foot or'airs there should be no gondolas.”’ Jeff Green, a University of B.C, student who said he has done research in the park, agreed that access to the outer area of the park should be limited, but ad- ded: “The ice fields are a magnificent area with the glaciers and Mount Logan. “Now you can only f° there if you're very wealthy or very lucky. Other people should have an opportu ty to see the ice fields.” The study group has com: | pleted 10 public meetings in the Yukon and plans another in Alberta before writing its master plan. for the park. biel . + , OB and uranium, prospects into -