w,thewestern Canadian 34,000 copies printed in this issue lumber worker Publishedonce monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 3 Affiliated with AFL-CiO:CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-526) Editor—Patrick S. Kerr Business Manager—Wyman Trineer Forwarded to every member of the |WA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year EDITORIAL N February 18th of this year, the NDP realized historic gains: the largest-ever number of members in the Federal Parliament, and the largest-ever percentage of the popular vote. Results were disappointing in the Maritimes and in Northern Ontario, but only a very optimistic NDP’er (or a right-wing journalist searching desperately for a silver-lining) would allow those disappointments to over-shadow real triumphs in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Southern Ontario. The I.W.A. played its part in the rejection of far-right economics, and we can be proud of that — especially of the efforts of Brothers Lyle Kristiansen who won in Kootenay West, and Joe LeClaire, who with hard work secured substantial gains in Fraser Valley West. Elsewhere in this issue, we discuss the media clamour for a variety of ill-framed and ad hoc measures to “provide representation” in Ottawa for the West. As for the I.W.A., we worked damn hard to elect the twenty-seven New Democrats from our Region, and we believe our work had something to do with their success. They are our representatives. No Trudeau-appointed, non-elected, Liberal hack Senator will replace them. APPEAL COURT BACKS CARTOONIST by Don Swailes CPA Correspondent The British Columbia Court of Appeal, the highest provincial court recently unanimously ruled that a 1978 cartoon in the Victoria Times did not libel former Human Resources Minister Bill Vander Zalm. The decision of the five member Court headed by Justice Nathan Nemetz reversed a previous judgement by the B.C. Supreme Court that ruled the Bob Bierman cartoon libelous and awarded Vander Zalm $3,500 for damages. The cartoon depicting the Social Credit Minister pulling the wings off flies was prompted after Vander Zalm made a statement that young native Indians should remain on their reserves, away from the bright lights, crime and drugs of Van- couver. Vander Zalm who is now the Minister of Municipal Affairs was the centre of controversy while he was Minister of Human Resources. Besides commenting on young natives he publicly stated in 1975 that he would develop ways of dealing with welfare recipients who refused to “pick up their shovels.” In an interview, the Times former publisher Stuart Underhill said the court of appeal decision is a landmark judgement not only in Canada, but in the Common- wealth. “The press has to defend its freedom to make fair comments, and in this case, it was vindicated. I think the judgement goes a very long way toward establishing the parameters of press comment,” he said. Colin McCullough, the Times publisher said the case had attracted international attention. “The original judgement was phrased in such a way, that one of the 4/Lumber Worker/March, 1980 traditional freedoms of the press would have been threatened,” he said. Bierman said he feels a sense of relief, because the Supreme Court decision had created doubt about his ability as a cartoonist. “It seemed to state to a certain extent, that I didn’t know my trade, and that I didn’t know where to stop.” He said the decision will be welcomed by all cartoonists across the country. He said it won't give him and his colleagues any new privileges, but it will restore some of the freedom they had felt, before the cartoon was challenged. Vander Zalm said he and his lawyer will study the decision before deciding whether or not to appeal against it. IVEW WINS PREGNANCY CASE The International Union of Electrical Workers announced settlement of a preg- nancy discrimination suit against General Motors which could result in wage and benefit payments of thousands of dollars to female GM workers. IUE filed a class action suit in 1973 on behalf of the union, its five GM locals, nine individual IUE members and all similarly situated women. There are more than 90,000 women in the class, including union and non-union workers. The IUE locals are in Rochester, N.Y., New Brunswick, N.J., Warren, Ohio and two in Dayton, Ohio. The settlement provides relief for women who were willing and able to work, but who were forced to take maternity leave after December 20, 1971, and women who were disabled due to tibal ligation surgery, but were denied benefits after January 13, 1972. Women with claims must submit Proof of Claim forms by April 18. Congress enacted legislation in 1978 requiring employers to treat pregnancy related and other disabili- ties equally. DON'T GAMBLE WITH MALARIA Would you expose yourself or your family to diseases like small pox or cholera without first getting vaccinated? No. And yet over five million Canadians and Americans last year exposed themselves needlessly to death from malaria. Travellers visiting such countries as Mexico are not told by their travel agencies or the Mexican government that they could contact malaria. Very few people pay any attention in North America to this disease which kills each year in Africa alone over one million people. The rise in the number of cases reported in the United States last year was forty-six percent. In Canada the rise was a startling sixty percent. The average person believes that malaria is at most a troublesome disease causing chills and high temperature. This is not the case. Falciparum malaria prevalent to some degree in all malaria countries is a deadly killer, which if not treated immediately, results in death. Fortunately, there is now a non-profit organization — the International Associa- tion for Medical Assistance to Travellers (IAMAT) associated with the World Health Organization, which is taking positive action in the fight against this world-wide disease. This includes providing travel agencies throughout North America with general information on malaria plus charts showing the malaria risk areas. The organization has also prepared maps of twenty-four countries with the information on drinking water, milk, and preparation of food. The maps alsa provide information about the countries climates and tempera- tures throughout the year. The maps are obtainable for a small donation to IAMAT. Another benefit the organization provides is a small booklet containing the names, telephone numbers and street addresses of over fourteen hundred doctors throughout the world who meet the medical standards of IAMAT. These doctors have pledged to treat IAMAT members for fifteen dollars for an office visit, twenty dollars for a house call, and twenty-five dollars on holidays. Elsewhere in this issue is a detailed article on malaria which we believe should be of interest to our readers. UNION LEADERS CHARGED BY POLICE Ontairo Provincial Police have charged two leaders of the strikebound Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, local 2693, with counselling others to commit criminal offences, after tapping the phones of seven of the union’s members. “This is constant, ongoing harassment by the OPP,” said Fred Miron, vice-president of the Thunder Bay-based local, which has been on strike against Boise Cascade Can- ada Ltd. for 18 months. Miron and local president Tulio Mior were charged January iB, “No reasons were given at all to explain what we’ve done,” Miron said, adding that the OPP is “trying to smear the union and show we’ve been involved in criminal activities.”