LOWER MAINLAND Prostitution is society's problem Ron Sostad, Vancouver, writes: The prostitu- tion that keeps residents in the West End of Vancouver up at night because of the noise and other disruption that goes along with the trade, is a social problem. Instead of questioning the morality of the prostitutes, and hearing argument froma legal point of view, or the police and city council, we have to ask: why are they there in the first place? First of all, jobs, careers and incomes are almost non-existent at the present time. Governments at all levels, especially the pro- vincial government, seem either unwilling or unable to provide them. The young weekend prostitute is probably among the eocnomically destitute who is sick of relying on charitable organizations and spends her time on the streets and finds, while the streets seemed excit- ing in the first place, that she is trapped by her Own circumstances. : _ Women, teenagers and children are forced into prostitution by economic necessity and, often, by the sexual brutalization to which many of them were subjected in early life. There is also coercion — economic, physi- cal and psychological. Believe it or not, loneliness also causes some to enter prostitution. Most of these women, teenagers and children are severly depressed individuals with major psychological problems in the first place. They see prostitution as the only way of making money because of low self esteem and believe that they can make the most money in that way. The characterization of prostitution as “‘the oldest profession” is both historically inaccu- rate and defeatist. Prostitution, which always implies the exchange of sex for money, deve- loped alongside of slavery and the sexual exploitation of women slaves by their owners in the early periods of “civilization.” What should be decided and discussed are ways to decriminalize prostitution. This depends on all levels of government, especially the federal, by making bylaws, laws and regu- lations leading to that. Various schemes could be discussed by organizations like the Concerned Residents of the West End (CROWE); the Alliance for the Safety of Prostitutes (ASP); Downtown East-. side Residents Association (DERA); city council’s community services committee; the police; city council; social workers and the trade union movement to put pressure on senior levels of government. Unity held vital Ivor Mills, Vancouver, writes: There are those who feel elated because of the recent feud between the IWA and the pulp unions. Their elation will grow — those tycoons of govern- ment, big business and industry — if the feud become a most dangerous state of affairs and should be checked now. It was precisely a split in the ranks of labor in Germany that helped open its door to Hitler’s fascism. That split between the Communists and the Social Democrats gave the sign for the Nazi movement to gain its inroads. It lost no time in doing so, and immediately attacked the whole labor movement as its first priority. The point is that in this particular time of social development, working people must learn to work, to live, to act and to keep them- selves informed in unison; in a solid united front against all forms of big-business reaction, whether they are at the polls, during election time or at the work-place. This is why the Solidarity Coalition is so important at this time. 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 28, 1984 Hackneyed ideas from a Socred hack | Some time ago the provincial government appointed Dan Campbell, former Social Credit minister of munic- ipal affairs, to head a study team to make a “province-wide’ overview of regional districts following nearly 20 years of existence.” His report on the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) has now been submitted to the current Minister of Municipal - Affairs, William Ritchie. The report is a superficial document that tells us nothing we do not already know. Even more important, it fails to even mention two of the most impor- tant problems that have faced the GVRD (regional planning and the ALRT line) and fails utterly to offer any solution to the third —labor relations. Last fall, the provincial government railroaded Bill 9 through the legisla- ture, taking away all the planning pow- ers of the GVRD and placing them in the hands of the provincial cabinet. The reason? So that its developer friends (Dawn Development) could develop the Spetifore lands which the GVRD opposed. Planning on a regional basis is absolutely essential to regional government; without it the GVRD is emasculated. Yet Dan Campbell had nothing to say on this issue which is so _ Vital to the functioning of the GVRD. For several years now the GVRD has been in a running battle with the provincial cabinet over light rapid tran- sit, the ALRT line. The GVRD wanted a conventional surface line; the cabinet pushed through a decision to build an can be kindled. But, for we the people, this may elevated line that costs hundreds of mil- lions of dollars more. Control of the ALRT should logically be in the hands of the regional government, or at least a regional transit authority (the GVRD also pays a big share of the costs), but the cabinet took over. All control now rests in the hands of the cabinet and the GVRD is reduced to a rubber stamp. Dan Campbell had nothing to say about the fight that took place over this issue either. What Dan Campbell did say was the: following: “Some reservations with respect to relationships with senior levels of Harry Rankin government were expressed...but the survey team reached the conclusion that the high level of maturity at the policy-making level exhibited by the board should eliminate any such reservations.” Can anybody tell me what the hell that means? ; If there is any meaning in this obfus- cation at all, it probably is that Camp- bell is patting the GVRD board on the back for caving in to pressure from the provincial government whenever ‘it finds itself in disagreement. One of the most contentious prob- _ get an A-minus. lems facing the GVRD throughout the years has been labor relations. The GVRD appointed a labor relations department that based its policies and actions not on what was good for the municipalities but on what the Employers Council of B.C. and the provincial government wanted. Long — before Premier Bennett embarked on his public-employee union bashing | course, the Labor Relations Depart ment of the GVRD followed such 4 course, provoking one needless con- — frontation, strike and lockout, after another. All Dan Campbell had to say about this was that it would-be advisable if Port Coquitlam and Surrey (which withdrew from the Labor Relations Department and now sign their own agreements with their municipal | employees) would be brought back in so that “a common front” could be forged to prevent “whip-sawing” and- “piggy-backing” by the unions. 4 The only message I get from this whole report is an admonition to the GVRD. “Be good little boys and girls, continue to do what the government tells you to do, and we’ll allow you to exist.” | fae And for this Dan Campbell gets $200 a day plus expenses! There is another word for it — political patronage by the Socreds for a former cabinet minister’s services to the — party and government. We have been given a B-plus for our efforts — who knows, if we behave ourselves, we may Welfare cut appeals launched At least some of the Lower Main- land’s 77 welfare offices will be visited by members of the newly formed Welfare Action Coalition Wednesday, who have launched a campaign to appeal the pro- vincial government’s wholesale slashing of GAIN rates. The cuts, which cut up to $80 from the monthly rate the Ministry of Human - Resources pays to a growing number of welfare recipients, were enacted by cabinet and can be appealed under the Welfare Act, organizers of the campaign say. “The object is to file as many appeals as possible, to demonstrate that people really need that money,” said coalition spokesman Peter Royce at a press con- ference in Vancouver’s Unemployed Action Centre Mar. 20. “These cuts are a direct attack on a . growing segment of the unemployed,” charged coalition member Tom Lalonde, “The poor peopie of B.C. are being taxed - in order to finance Socred megaprojects.” Cuts to the welfare budget, brought down with the provincial budget Feb. 20, aim first and foremost at the province’s young unemployed. Unmarried persons 25-years of age and under receive a $50 cut in the first month of collecting the regular monthly rate of $375 and a $25 reduction for the following seven months, effective Wednesday. For those 26 and over, the rate will be reduced $25, to $350, in the first month. Recipients classified “unemployable” now have an eight-month, instead of a four-month, wait before they’re eligible to receive the full $430. During that period they collect $375, after the first month’s payment of $350. 7 -A $50 cut has also been applied to young couples deemed employable for the first month of assistance, while the four-month waiting period before the full assistance of $620 kicks in has also been extended to eight months. For unemployable young couples, a $50 cut affects the first month, and eight months wait is now required before the full rate of $675 applies. Perhaps one of the more striking fea- tures of the Socreds’ round of cuts is the elimination of GAIN rates for the mainly young members of the workforce await- ing unemployment insurance benefits. They are eligible only for emergency assistance. The cuts also affect “earnings exemp- tion,” by which recipients can receive wages without reduction in benefits. An eight-month wait now faces recipients before the monthly exemption of $50 for singles and $100 for families is allowed. Taking into account an 8.2-per cent ’ hike in the cost of living since the last increase in welfare rate since March, 1982, the reductions constitute a 37-per cent loss of income for the under-26 recipients in the first month, and 26 per © cent for the following seven month, the Welfare Coalition stated. The ministry is well aware of the hard- ship its cuts are causing, since the estima- tions come from an MHR analysis leaked to the coalition, said Royce. According to thse figures, the number of applications for welfare increased 80 per cent between March, 1982 and March, 1983, and of the various classifi- cations, the rate for under-26 was the highest at 110 per cent. And of that increase, 170 per cent were young people considered employable, according to the ministry figures. “Tt is blatantly obvious why the Minis- try of Human Resources has targeted young people to bear the brunt of these cuts — it is these people who experience the highest rates of increase in unem- . ployment,” said Lalonde. : But anyone can appeal the cuts, said Royce. “The new regulations were introduced by order-in-council; and the Act super- sedes those regulations,” he explained. Those who appeal — a process which” ‘takes place before a tribunal of a ministry appointee, a client appointee and 4 chairman — stay on the old rate until the decision is rendered, he added. Recip- ients have 30 days following changes i rates in which to launch an appeal. Disarmament vote for Canada urged The federal government should hold a : national referendum on disarmament during the next federal election, Van- couver city council agreed Mar. 13. The resolution, which will be for- warded to the upcoming Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention in June, is not out of the ordinary for Van- couver’s council, which has adopted at — least 15 resolutions relating to nuclear disarmament. ¢ The difference here is that the resolu- tion for a national vote came from the "city of Port Moody, which adopted the’ motion in January and agreed last month to place it on FCM agenda. The motion, carried unanimously by the Port Moody council, reads: “That the federal government be requested to seek the Canadian electorate’s opinion by. holding a national nuclear disarma- ment referendum at the next federal elec- tion similar to those that have been held in many Canadian municipalities.” Vancouver council agreed, endorsing the motion “with the exception of (Ald. Warnett) Kennedy, as.usual,” said Ald. - ‘Bruce Yorke. For its part, Vancouver council will’ have “several more resolutions” on peace for the FCM conference, he added.