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Editorial

Framing a new pact

Continued from page 1

question and has consistently presented a real alternative to the ongoing constitutional crisis,
was also denied the right to appear.

In the wreckage of the accord, the constitutional culprits are trying to absolve themselves
of responsibility for the damage inflicted upon the country, and are seeking new ways to
impose their agenda on the people.

Now more than ever, the working people of Canada must seize the opportunity to help
frame a new relationship with one another. Clearly, neither the Tories and Brian Mulroney
nor the provincial premiers can be trusted with the future of the country.

The people’s movement must now link the constitutional future of Canada to the struggle
against neo-conservatism, continental integration and the extension of democracy.

Second, the any future constitutional relationship cannot ignore Quebec’s right to self-
determination. Native peoples, some trade unions, the women’s movement and important
components of the Pro-Canada Network have all demonstrated an understanding of the
national question, including the right to self-determination. That understanding must be
extended throughout the entire breadth of the people’s movement in Canada.

Developing a unified constitutional alternative linked to the people’s struggles means
challenging Anglo-bigotry. It also means exposing an ideology which prompts multicul-
turalism and bilingualism as a means to deny the national question.

Third, Canada’s first nations must be guaranteed a seat at all future negotiating tables with
the status of full partners. The exclusion of Native peoples throughout the constitutional talks
is an intemational disgrace, especially considering that the first nations of our country are
the most oppressed of any people in Canada. The list of demands by the people’s movement
must be extended to include the just demands of Native peoples.

Fourth, the recognition of the right of self-determination for Quebec does not have to
mean the fragmentation of English-speaking Canada. Recognition that English-speaking
Canada also constitutes a nation, enjoying the right to self-determination, means the people
of English-speaking Canada will have to develop an understanding of their own identity and
how they relate to one another and to others, especially Quebec. Here the problems of regional
underdevelopment, the rights of ethnic and national minorities, women and people of colour,
the rights of labour, of seniors and youth, among others, must be addressed.

Fifth, the links between popular organizations in Quebec and English-speaking Canada

‘will have to be forged on a new basis of equality, mutual respect and solidarity against

powerful corporate adversaries. The role of the working class, especially its organized
sections, will be decisive in the new chapter opening up in Canada. The working class of
both English Canada and Quebec has the most to lose by divisions and the most to gain by
unity.

The working class, and especially the trade union movement, has demonstrated its

' capacity to move to the front of popular struggles. Until now, there has been a reluctance by
"the trade unions to tackle the constitutional crisis. Here again there is an opportunity for a

fresh start, based on true equality, mutual respect and working class internationalism.

Working class and people’s unity, on a principled basis, is the key to withstanding the
neo-conservative, continentalist onslaught, the key to framing a new constitutional deal for
the country in the interests of the people.

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EDITOR
Sean Griffin

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Dan Keeton

BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER
Mike Proniuk

_ GRAPHICS
Angela Kenyon

_ Published weekly at
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Ox the past two months, if the in-
tense debate over the Meech Lake
Accord did nothing else, it highlighted for
the whole country the profoundly undem-
ocratic nature of constitutional reform in
this country. At the initial drafting of the

accord three years ago, and then again
when the new proposals were outlined, a
handful of provincial premiers attempted
to shape the future of the country as if
they spoke for 26 million Canadians
across the country.

Canada’s aboriginal people were left
out completely, their promises of constitu-
tional guarantees of self-government ig-
nored. But for all Canadians, the issue was
basic and fundamental: their views were
not sought nor were they involved in any
way in the process of changing the coun-
try’s constitution.

It was to challenge that approach that
the Winnipeg-based magazine Canadian
Dimension proposed earlier this month the
formation of a People’s Commission on
the Constitution that would tour the
country giving Canadians an opportunity
to speak out about their vision of Canada.
The proposal was sent to the Pro-Canada
Network, the Canadian Labour Congress,
National Action Committee on the Status
of Women and the Assembly of First Na-
tions.

This is the full text of the proposal,
signed by Jim Silver, chair of the CD edit-
orial collective:

“The Meech Lake deliberations have
inspired widespread revulsion directed at
both the content of the deal and the process
by which it was reached.

“What is desperately needed is a Peo-

ple’s Commission on the Constitution or a
series of such commissions in various jur-
isdictions, mandated to hold public hear-
ings from coast to coast, so that Canadians
can speak out publicly about the kind of
Canada they would like to build.

“We urge the Pro-Canada Network to
initiate such a commission. We recom-
mend that it be composed of five members,
including one each from the National Ac-
tion Committee on the Status of Women,
the Assembly of First Nations and the Can-
adian Labour Congress. We anticipate that
such a commission would define its man-
date to include economic rights, such as the
right to a job, the right to a decent standard
of living, and the right to a fair and progres-
sive rotation system, as well as the more
narrowly-defined issues traditionally ad-
dressed by constitutions.

“Canadian Dimension undertakes to
make all necessary arrangements for the
commission’s activities in Manitoba, in-
cluding facilities, publicity, the billeting of
commission members. We are confident
that similar organizations will step forward
to do likewise in other jurisdictions. We
anticipate that considerable funds can be
raised for such an undertaking as the com-
mission undertakes its activities in each
jurisdiction.”

* *

People and Issues

ince the election last December of

Chile’s unity candidate president
Patricio Aylwin, and the subsequent
decision by Chile solidarity groups in this
country to lift the boycott on Chilean
produce, grapes have been reappearing
on many people’s tables. But be wary:
most of the grapes now in the produce
bins in supermarkets are not from Chile
— and California grapes are still under
boycott.

We were reminded of that when we saw
the recent boycott letter from United
Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez
which details the union’s latest findings on
yet another town where the cancer rate is
astronomically high—the -direct result,
UFW health consultants believe, of pes-
ticide use on the grape fields.

Those who have seen the UFW video
The Wrath of Grapes will recall references
to the town of MacFarland in California
where the incidence of cancers among
children was 800 per cent of the normal
expectation. But last year, doctors working
with the union discovered another cancer
cluster in the town of Earlimart, dem-
onstrating an incidence of cancer in the
California town of 1,200 per cent the nor-
mal expectation.

The cases were all subsequently con-
firmed by California state epidemiologists.
The types of cancer include leukemia,

lymph cancer, kidney cancer and a rare soft
tissue cancer.

According to Dr. Marion Moses, health
consultant for the UFW, the evidence is
available linking the cancers to pesticide
use. And the only way to prevent further
such occurrences, she says, is to “stop the
use of all known and suspected carcin-
ogenic pesticides and to stop it now.”

The union is currently stepping its boy-
cott efforts, particularly at the Safeway
chain, calling on the multinational food
retailer to stop handling the pesticide-laden
grapes.

Says Chavez: “We must begin, imme-
diately to intensify our work on the grape
boycott. This is the only way the grape
growers will hear our voice ... that we as
consumers want pesticides out of our food,
out of the lives of workers who produce
that food and out of the lives of children.”

* Ok

he Centre for Socialist Education

tells us that applications are currently
being taken for the Dan Godfrey Mem-
orial Bursary which pays $500 to a stu-
dent on the university of college level.

The bursary, first paid out in 1988, is
given to the daughter, son or grandchild of
activists in the progressive movement. Per-
sonal involvement of the student in pro-
gressive activities is also taken into ac-
count.

Applications should be addressed, be-
fore Aug. 31, 1990, to the Bursary Fund,
Centre for Socialist Education, 100-1726
E. Hastings. St., Vancouver, V5L 189. For
further information, contact Jack Phillips
at the CSE offices, 254-1533.

4 Pacific Tribune, July 2, 1990