British Columbia

Don’t buy war toys, ‘Santa’ urges

Santa, otherwise known
as Mark Beeching, produ-
ces the required ho-ho-hos
to mark the New West-
minster Peace Council's
third annual anti-war-toys
campaign, outside thé
Royal City’s Woodwards
store Dec. 9. Beeching and
other supporters say this
was the most successful
ever, with volunteers from
several municipalities pitch-
ing in to help sell ‘Santa
doesn’t like war toys” but-
tons and getting dozens of
pledges from shoppers that
no toys promoting arms or
militarism will wind up
under their Christmas
trees.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON

To all unionized workers and families

BEST WISHES
| AND
SEASOWN’S GREETINGS
from the members and families of

LOCAL #4, PPWC
PRINCE RUPERT, B.C.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
to our members and friends

United Food & Commercial
Workers Union of

British Columbia

Local 1518

Brooke Sundin — President
Jack Allard — Secretary-Treasurer

Season's
Greetings

from the officers representing employees of: City of Vancouver,

Board of Parks and Recreation, Downtown

Eastside Residents Association, Downtown
and members astside Residents Association, Downtown

Parking Corporation, Pacific National Exhibition.

Canadian Union of Public ee ovpes.
Local 1004

Inquiry into
corporate
dumping

demanded

Continued from page 1

The closure from dioxin pollution one
year ago of the Howe Sound shell fishery
and of various shellfishing grounds on Van-
couver Island last month are a part of the
“catalyst” for the new coalition, which —
represents “almost a quarter of a million
voters,” Thomlinson says.

But its formation was also sparked by the
leak of a Department of Fisheries and
Oceans memo to the Vancouver Sun
recently, which charged that the department
was allowing large corporations to exceed
toxin dumping limits while charging “the
little guy” with infractions.

The memo, from Otto Langer of the
DFO’s Fraser River, B.C. and Yukon habi-
tat management to his superior, Fred
Fraser, named nine corporations and six
incidents which constituted “obvious and

very serious violations” of the Fisheries Act.

Siddon ordered an RCMP investigation
into the leak. But it is the allegations in the
memo, not the leak, that should be investi-
gated, Thomlinson asserts.

(An Environment Canada report leaked
last March said that 83 of Canada’s 122
pulp mills exceed toxin dumping limits.)

In a statement, the coalition demanded
that the government “take immediate
action to enforce existing laws and develop
new legislation to protect the environment,
the fishery and workers’ health and safety.”

The group, which includes two pre-
viously established coalitions each repres-
enting some 40 organizations, demanded a
deadline for forest industry corporations to
comply to with a “zero release” toxin pro-
gram, with monitoring done by an inde-
pendent group.

The coalition demanded full compensa-
tion for fishing industry workers affected by
the closures and legal aid to fight for com-
pensation from the offending corporations,
and “a genuine program to rehabilitate the
environment due to the cumulative effects
of past environmental damage.”

And it called for a full public inquiry into
the leaked memo’s allegations, and “‘whistle
blower” protection for government officials
or industry employees who make such
information public.

The statement was endorsed by the
UFAWU, the Pacific Trollers Association,
Save Howe Sound Society, Greenpeace, the
B.C. Federation of Labour and seven other
groups.

Native representation had been absent
since the death of an elder from the Squam-
ish Band who had been involved in the
Howe Sound group, Thomlinson says.
However, representatives of the Kitimat

* Band, concerned over dumping by three
_ major corporations in their area, were

“delighted to find a ready-made coalition”
when they paid a visit to the UFA WU office
recently, he relates.

And links can be forged with the Mus-
queam Band which is angry over the fact
that fisheries officials failed to notify them
on time of a spill last August of TCMTB, a
wood preservative, into the Fraser River
during a‘major sockeye run, he notes.

The Native Brotherhood of B.C., the
UFAWU and the Pacific Gillnetters Asso-
ciation have launched a lawsuit against sev-
eral corporations over the spill of the
chemical, a cosmetic anti-stain substance,
from the Fraser Surrey docks.

Union officials say the intent of the suit,
which names Fletcher Challenge, some
chemical firms, the Fraser Surrey Docks
and Johnston Terminals, is to make it
“uneconomical” to pollute.

Pacific Tribune, December 18; 1989 » 3