BRITISH COLUMBIA Prostitution a by-product of our system Prostitution was on the agenda of Van- couver city council again on May 17. It wasn’t the first time nor will it be the last. It has become the subject of council discus- sion, debate and legislative action since Vancoyver became a city in 1886, and not much has changed since, as far as prostitu- tion is concerned. For the past century almost all mayors have tried to make political capital and garner votes by campaigns against so- called ‘“‘red-light”’ districts, vowing to wipe them out and protect the city’s morals and virtues. The victims were always the pro- Stitutes; their customers (the johns) who often included influential businessmen, leading politicians and professional people were rarely, if ever, exposed or prosecuted. Police officials were often on the take too, getting their rake-off for allowing brothels to operate. And we’ve had more than one'example in our city’s history of lawyers who pro- secuted prostitutes and judges who have sentenced them being regular customers of prostitutes themselves. These campaigns against prostitution were more often than not shameless exercises in hypocrisy. The immediate issue before city council on May 10 was whether or not council should endorse certain amendments to the Criminal Code dealing with prostitution recommended by the House of Commons standing committee on justice and legal af- fairs. The amendments affirmed that clients be liable to prosecution, that soliciting in a public place be banned (with fines of up to $500 and imprisonment of up to 14days and with an expanded definition © of what constitutes a public place), and that persons under the age of 18 engaging in prostitution or acting as clients also be liable to prosecution. Council invited community groups and individuals to present their views on these amendments and over 40 made speeches on the subject. They included West End citizen groups and many other concerned individuals and organizations. In their at- titude to the amendments they were split down the middle, with about half of them for and half against. Many from the West End saw the amendments as one means of relieving the situation where soliciting has severely disrupted their neighborhood life. Many of the women’s groups saw the proposed Harry EE Rankin legislation as a continuation of discrimina- tion against women prostitutes. And as is not unusual in such situations where highly charged emotions are involved, cause and effect tended to get mixed up. City council endorsed all of the propos- ed amendments, some unanimously, some by majority vote. But let’s be clear on one thing. Existing laws, even with the proposed amendments, will not stop prostitution or the sexual abuse of children in the west end, or any rehabilitation of the other prostitutes through education, retraining and job op- portunities, and then the whole problem of other place in Vancouver or Canada for that matter. Prostitution is a product of our ‘‘free enterprise’? society with its poverty and destitution, its commercial ex> ploitation of sex by business interests which use it to increase their profits, the continu- ing discrimination against the degrading of women, and many other causes. It’s an in- herent and built-in feature of the kind of society in which we live, just as is our boom and bust economy. That doesn’t mean, of course, that some steps that are being taken are aimed at shoving the issue under the rug, hiding it from sight, rather than solv- ing it. It is of more than passing interest that some of the most realistic proposals for dealing with the long term problem of pro- stitution came from thé prostitutes themselves, through their Alliance for the Safety of Prostitutes. They proposed pro- secution of men who purchase and abuse children, realistic welfare rates, job train- ing programs for women, more affordable day care centres, a higher minimum wage, affordable housing, equal pay for work of equal value, affordable education and training programs for women, adequately run facilities for juveniles and education0l| police officers and social workers to ov come their racist and sexist attitudes. a Most of the measures which would d@ with prostitution in any effective ¥ (education, economic opportunity: removal of discrimination against wom and so on) are beyond the power ally means of city council. About all we deal with are the symptoms, and of coul® reinforce existing laws. ‘ But even here judges have made the find decision — all our police force can dois@ rest people and lay charges. The laws thal we have today still tend to lay the blame! the victim — the prostitute. Furthermol in practice prostitutes are convicted a l0 more than the johns, even though un the law they are supposed to be equall) guilty. The people of the West End have a pi blem and this can and should be cleane, up. And soliciting in public to the point harassment can also be cleaned up. DY let’s not kid ourselves — all this will do® move the problem from one place ® another. It will not do away with or less prostitution in Vancouver. ‘ What needs to be tackled by alll levels of government is the rehabilitation of juveniles now engaged in prostitution, tH rehabilitation of the other prostitul@ through education, retraining and job OF portunities, and then the whole problem? removing the economic problems that a one of the basic causes of prostitution — the lack of jobs, decent and affordable housing, discrimination against wome and the exploitation of sex for profit bY business interests. MI Pi lant closures have become one of the cruel features of this economic system of late, as employers, many of | them multinational corporations, rationalize production or simply close plant doors and move their operations to low-wage areas in other countries. But the actions of the multinational paper manufacturer Kimberley-Clark in closing down its Winnipeg plant have been particularly galling. The company announced to the Manitoba government in January that it was closing the plant, claiming that ithad a low productive capacity and that the market could be served from other operations including those in the U.S. The Canadian Paperworkers Union challenged the com- pany’s plan but Kimberley-Clark disavowed any respon- sibility to the work force or the community and the opera- tion was permanently closed Mar. 31. ; But as the 132 workers left the plant for the last time, each was given some rolls of toilet paper and two boxes of Kleenex tissues. Whether it was supposed to be a parting gift or a twisted practical joke only company officials can say for sure. In response, the CPU has launched a western Canada boycott of Kimberley-Clark products. Don Holder, CPU representative for Ontario, called in a press release for legislation to curb plant closures but added that until such legislation is in place, ‘‘this boycott has to be our answer to the actions of this arrogant multinational.’’ The B.C. Federation of Labor has endorsed the boycott which covers Kleenex tissues and paper towels, Hi-Dri paper towels, Kotex sanitary napkins and Delsey toilet paper. Don’t buy them. * * * ose who recall our item in this column some weeks ago about Samantha Smith, the 10-year-old American girl who wrote to Soviet Communist Party leader Yuri Andropov expressing her concern about nuclear war, will be interested to know that Samantha will be going to the Soviet Union, her family having accepted Andropov’s invitation. *“T plan to go with my parents in July,”’ she told reporters in Augusta, Maine last month. ‘‘And I hope to meet with Mr. Andropov.” Her father, Art Smith, said that the Soviets had agreed to pay the costs of the trip and have so far indicated that Moscow and Leningrad will be among the stops for the trip. A virtual international celebrity since her letter was sent — and answered by Andropov — Smithalso spoke before the Maine House and Senate, prompting the comment from Senate president Gerard Conley, ‘‘She’s far more popular than the rest of us put together.’ PEOPLE AND ISSUES i was more than 18 months ago that former Tribune labor commentator and Communist Party labor secretary Jack Phillips left Vancouver to take up a post as the Canadian representative on the international journal World Marxist Review, based in Prague, Czechoslovakia. So it was a welcome visit home for Jack when he returned for a brief stay last week. After only a few hours back on home turf, he noted that there was “‘nothing wrong with Vancouver that socialism couldn’t change.” Jack took several hours out Friday night to address some 60 people on trade unions and socialism in Poland, reviewing some of the past events and current developments in that country. He also told the meeting that he expects to return to Vancouver some time around September, 1984. * * * Ww: had word last week from long time Tribune salesman Steve Nickyforuk that Charles Farthing, the man who often said he depended on the paper as his primary source for discussion among his fellow veterans, passed away in Shaughnessy Hospital May 11 at the age of 88. An immigrant from England, he came to this country as an apprentice tailor but he never found work in his trade, becoming instead a construction laborer. During World War I, he served in the Canadian infantry where he rose to rank of sergeant. Shrapnel wounds suffered during the war gave him a lifelong limp. He got his first lesson in government callousness when his veteran’ allowance was cut the moment he stepped out uniform — a decision which prompted him to write Ot- tawa pledging never to fight for the flag again. He had lived for the past ten years in the George Derby Hospital. : * * * W: had a note from Violet Dewhurst and her family voicing their thanks and acknowledgment from the many people who sent messages of condolences and tribute following Alf Dewhurst’s death May 1. The committee in this province for the Tim Buck- Norman Bethune Educational Centre also tells us that some $1,615 was sent to the centre in Alf’s memory. Numerous donations were also made to the Communist Party and the Tribune in his honor. - Alice and Port McNeil, said Drouin. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 27, 1983—Page 2 Islandareas _ nix n-weapons Four electoral areas in northern Vancouver Island net become the latest B.C. communities to declare the | nuclear-weapons-free zones. Representatives of Broughten, Quatsino, Rupert 4% Nimpkish voted in favor of the declaration following’ presentation by a coalition of community peace organizati” at the Mount Waddington Regional District board of dil@ tors meeting May 18. “We still can’t believe it,” declared an elated Julia Drouin, a peace activist in Sointula and one of some 20 peo?” who appeared before the board. : ‘ The motion adopted by the four areas — known otherW” as electoral areas, “A,” eB “C”’ and “D”’ — follows clos ly those passed by the city of Toronto and most recently, val couver. It bans the ‘manufacture, storage, transportation distribution”’ of nuclear weapons and components wi those communities’ boundaries. F Coalition spokesman Phil Imrie reminded the directots”, the overwhelming ‘‘Yes’? vote in nuclear di “ml referendums held in district communities and municipal i last fall, as well as those throughout B.C. and the province» Saskatchewan and Ontario. i Those representing the three municipalities off cold-war arguments against disarmament, and # combined weighted votes succeeded in defeating the mo”, moved by director Gilbert Popovich, also mayor of Ale Bay, and seconded by Nimpkish director George — But, following Lepore’s initiative, the directors repr@”, | : ting the four electoral areas on the district board were able? } vote for the motion — and they did so unanimously —® applied to their areas. | Lepore argued — and the regional planner concurred of that as the four areas contain communities with no muni@! d councils, their representatives should be allowed to vot? if such issues at the district board board level. The mové ft | hotly contested by the declaration’s opponents, who W” subsequently absented from the vote. 4 Popovich, who supported the declaration, promised a) would take the issue back to the Alert Bay municipal co for a vote.