VANCOUVER ACTION CENTRE OPENS Tenants Action Centre coordina- tor David Lane has announced the opening of the new offices the centre is sharing with the B.C. Human Rights Coalition and the Lower Mainland Solidarity Coali- tion, at #203, 96 East Broadway St. in Vancouver. Ten- ants ‘hotline’ is now 879-9137. Stories on tenants action and human rights on page 3. TENANTS RIGHTS 7 ACTION | CENTRE Council delegation curb City council narrowly rejected a right- wing attempt to curb delegations to council when it turned down, in a 6-4 vote Jan. 17a recommendation to limit to one the number of speakers appealing decisions on the allo- cation of grants to community organizations. Mayor Mike Harcourt cast the deciding vote, joining Committee of Progressive Electors aldermen Libby Davies, Bruce Eriksen, Harry Rankin and Bruce Yorke and Ald. Bill Yee in rejecting the recom- mendation, one of 10 submitted by. the Social Planning and Finance directors to revamp the civic grants procedure. COPE aldermen and Harcourt made it clear they knew its source was right-wing aldermen who yearly try to axe the civic Volunteer worker takes on MHR A B.C. Supreme Court ruling expected soon may pave the way for hundreds of appeals to the Ministry of Human Resour- ces by former community volunteers under the terminated Community Involve- ment Program. Dennis Jensen, whose “‘door check” ser- vice is credited with saving 29 lives during a six-year period, hopes the court will rule he has the right to appeal the MHR decision not to renew his contract under which he received $50 a month for expenses related to the CIP-funded service. MHR axed the program following the provincial government’s “restraint” budget July 7, cutting 2,500 B.C. welfare recipients from the program and resulting in the for- mation of the CIP Fightback committee, a member of the Solidarity Coalition. © The ministry has denied appeals for the volunteers, who performed a variety of use- ful community services. Most contracts, - which normally were renewéd periodically, have expired, but 700 people are still on the _ program until their contracts expire in the next few months. Jensen’s lawyer, countering the minis- try’s claim that the CIP is a non-appealable “social services” item, argued in Supreme Court that the Human Resources Act allows the interpretation of the program as “income assistance,” which, like welfare payments, is appealable. An additional factor in the case is the presence of Section 15 of the Act. It governs the CIP program, and was not repealed when the ministry axed the program last summer. j “From our interpretation, that would mean the government has illegally disal- lowed contract renewals and new applica- tions,” said Sue Harris of CIP Fightback. Harris speculated the ministry may have kept the section on the books to facilitate an expected new — and greatly reduced in scope — program limited to physically handicapped people, and acknowledged the provincial cabinet could repeal Section 15 by order-in-council. But whatever the legalities surrounding the CIP cancellation, the government’s move has deprived thousands of unem- ployable welfare recipients from a small, but crucial extra income and robbed several communities of a necessary service, Harris said. For example, Jensen daily checked the mainly elderly or infirm residents of MacLean Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. If anyone failed to answer his knock on the door, he summoned medical help, a service which saved several lives. “If Dennis wins his right to appeal, we could see the restoration of his and several other valuable services,” said Harris. “But whatever the outcome, he’s shown that wel- fare people are willing to stand up to the arbitrary acts of the government.” If the Vancouver Province’s criteria for its political columnists is that they have the ability to gush forth with a diarrhoea of words completely devoid of substance, that substitute fictions generated in their own prejudiced minds for the facts, that blabber about issues without bothering to investigate and search out the facts, then Mike Tytherleigh fits the bill. Specifically I’m referring to his column of drivel in the Jan. 18 issue entitled, “Civic Boards Packed with Politics”, dealing with the appointment of civic boards by city council. Tytherleigh charges that COPE is “the power block at city hall,” inferring that it runs things and “can control the selection process at city hall.”” Somebody should tell Tytherleigh that COPE has only four members on an 1J-member council; the the others are three from the NPA, two from TEAM, and two NDP members. Since when has four become a majority of 11? His remark is not only totally untrue, it is an insult to the intelligence of all members of council who make up their own minds about issues. The Athletic Commission has one member who belongs to DERA; I don’t know whether or not he is a member of COPE. There are five members on the commission. The City Planning Commis- sion has 14 members. It has two COPE members, appointed by council'as public representatives; both are active in com- munity affairs and knowledgeable about community needs. Libby Davies is also a Column insults board member appointed to represent council on the board. That makes three out of 13. The Civic Theatres Board, which has seven members, has no COPE members. The Heritage Advisory Committee has 11 members, two of whom are ‘COPE members. The Family Court Committee, has 12 members, one of whom is from COPE. The Vancouver Public Library Board has 11 members. Two of those appointed as public representatives are COPE members. Libby Davies is a repre- sentative of council. The NPA dominated school board also appointed a member who happens to be COPE school trustee. Harry Rankin Tytherleigh makes a special point of attacking the Public Library Board, charg- ing that what it needs is “members with business and administrative experience.” It just so happens that Vancouver city council has unanimously agreed that the Library Board is an excellent board doing an efficient job. Tytherleigh’s remarks are an insult to its hard-working members. COPE’s policy with regard to board appointments is this: ©@ COPE has a right to be represented on municipal boards; ® No one political group on council should have a majority on boards —there members “boards, not just business groups; should be representatives of all groups on council. @ Citizens should be represented on ©@ Competent appointed, Tytherleigh makes false and unfounded charges against COPE, then goes on to make charges of political patronage against the Socreds and New Democrats in B.C. and the Liberals in Ottawa. It’s no accident that he leaves out the NPA and TEAM who, when they dominated city council, saw to it that only people of their political ideology were appointed to boards, with the odd exception here and there. . Tytherleigh charges that we’re getting “too many party hacks or defeated candi- dates,” who have “nothing to offer except their political ambitions.” While this may have been true while Tytherleigh’s NPA and TEAM friends dominated council, it is cetainly not true today. The committees are composed of hard-working, able peo- ple, competent in their professions and with a standing in their communities. Tytherleigh’s insulting remarks about these people, who are freely giving of their time because they are community-minded, are nothing less than shameful. He owes each and every one of them an apology. Tytherleigh says, “the selection process should be reformed.” It seems to me that what should be reformed is the Province assigning such an incompetent to write about civic affairs. people should be 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 25, 1984 _ attack in which Ford tried to use DERA’S” . Slopes area. The civic organization notes — rejects | grant for the Downtown Eastside Rest dent’s Association. DERA has regularly had to appeal coun: — cil decisions which, due to the requirement that grants must have eight affirmative votes to pass, have denied the militant community organization funding. Severa! times, including last year, it has lined up 40” impressive array of speakers from organiza-_ tions supporting DERA’s 10 years of fight ing for better living conditions for the Downtown Eastside’s residents. oa “There are those on council who are like k Pavlov’s dog ever time DERA’s name comes up for a grant — only they dont salivate, they become rabid,” Rankin charged, without naming DERA’s out” spoken opponents, aldermen Marguerite Ford, Warnett Kennedy and George Puil. — “As longas that exists, I can’t support the kind of muzzling that will make their job 4 little easier,” he said. Yorke said the recommendation showed © “the Social Planning Department is trying - to deal with a political problem rather than a simple procedure.” “i Harcourt agreed: “Unfortunately, we Me likely have to go through the whole DERA~ debate again (when the grants come up this” year),” he said, while noting that “‘a unique feature of Vancouver city council is that we’ve always been accessible.” ae Voting for the failed recommendation” were aldermen Puil, Ford, May Brown and Don Bellamy. Ee The recommendations were in response 7 to a council motion last June which ordered ; city staff to establish new criteria governing grants procedures. It followed a right-wing ¥ constitution as an excuse to refuse its grant. DERA’s constitution was in line with the B.C.. Societies Act, but the organization changed its rules to accommodate Ford’s~ objections, and agreed to other new proce- dures on the condition that these apply to all | groups receiving civic funding. The result was the recommendations submitted at the Jan. 17 council meeting, which, with the exception of the one limiting — speakers at appeals, passed. a Meeting to pick q COPE candidates Noting that this year’s Vancouver civic election “will be a decisive showdown between COPE and the NPA,” the Com- mittee of Progressive-Electors executive has — called a special conference on Sunday, Jan. — 29. i Chief on the agenda will be the nomina- — tion of candidates for city council, school — and park board slates, as well as sessions on ~ election strategy, canvassing, and fund- raising, among others. The conference, which may also serve as a prelude to a possible school board byelec- — tion next month, starts at 10:30 a.m. at the — Ukrainian Hall, 805 East Pender St. - ; COPE president Jim Quail said a “‘year- — long campaign” will involve a full-scale’ canvass of the electorate in the spring. ; COPE members are also urged to attend © the next city council hearing into the B.C. — Place development scheme for the Granville — council’s decision on the corporation’s high-density scheme could have a large impact on the entire development, and urges members and organizations to “speak out for livable B.C. Place densities.” j The hearing is set for 7:30 p.m., Jan. 26 at the John Oliver School, 530 East 41st Ave. — Also upcoming is the COPE annual gen- eral meeting Feb. 26, 1:30 p.m. at the © Ukrainian Hall. ;