, ell Killing Day program was act of racism and bigotry By ALD. HARRY RANKIN Discrimination against women, the handicapped and ethnic groups has been standard practice at city hall; That’s why, in an effort to br- ing about some changes for the bet- ter, city council in February, 1977, appointed Shelagh Day as Equal Opportunity Employment Officer. For the record it should be stated that some Council members sup- ported the appointment with reluc- tance and only agreed because of widespread public pressure. During the 14 months that Shelagh Day held that position, she not only drew attention to the widespread discrimination that ex- isted but took action to correct it. With the cooperation of city staff, the city manager and some aldermen, she helped to create jobs for handicapped people, developed a training program that enabled women to advance up the job lad- der and took other positive measures. But this effort to remove discrimination also came up against opposition. NPA aldermen threw roadblocks in the way. The opposi- tion of the monied interests (who like racial discrimination because it enables them to keep labour divided while paying sub-standard wages), was expressed by the Vancouver Sun which allowed one of its colum- nists, notorious for his bigotry, to launch vicious personal attacks against Shelagh Day and her anti- discrimination program. Matters came to a head when she exposed discrimination in the fire department where jobs are depen- dent on height rather than ‘ability. This practice has long since been dropped in other Canadian cities which recognize that it wrongfully discriminates against ethnic groups that while small in stature, do not lack either the necessary ability or strength. The advocates of discrimination won that battle in the course of which they raised the completely false charge that open- ing up positions on the basis of merit meant the same thing as a quota system, that is, giving each ethnic group jobs according to their numbers. Of course, Shelagh Day and her staff never proposed any such thing. Steps to remove discriminatory practices at city hall are still in their initial stages. Shelagh Day and her staff had only one year to set in mo- tion processes that take a long time to remove. After all, this discrimination goes back to 1886 when Vancouver was first chartered. Yet city council on February 6, voted to abolish the position of Equal Employment Opportunity Officer, mayor Volrich and his NPA political bed fellows bulled it through by a 7-4 vote. There was no public demand for this action. In fact there were 17 delegations at this council meeting demanding that the program be re- tained. What became clear was that the mayor and his NPA dominated council were determined to carry out what their businessbackers demanded regardless of what the public wanted. They didn’t mind people speaking against discrimina- tion in the abstract, but once it reached the point where women and minority ethnic groups thought they should get equal pay for equal work and have an equal opportunity to get jobs, why that was just too much. After all, this would cut into profits and profits are sacred even if } they’re built on discrimination and the poverty and misery of under- paid people. Parks protest set Mar. 5 COPE’s parks board committee has called on individuals and com- munity organizations in Vancouver to join in demanding to be heard before the Vancouver Parks Board March 5 to protest increased rates for city swimming pools and ice rinks. : e Spokesperson Pat Wilson said that COPE would ask to be heard at that meeting, but if refused they would be there anyway to present their case. ‘‘The increases are way out of line,’’ she said,_‘*Although it is not large amounts of money we’re talking about, these increases range from 15 to 36 percent, and for low income people that is substantial.”’ _The parks board decisions were taken without any public discussion at all, Wilson said. Black Solidarity Association president Delecia Crump was refused permission to speak to Vancouver city council Tuesday by the NPA majority, but council did endorse restrictions on downtown night clubs accused of racist practices against blacks proposed by ald. Harry Rankin. Crump, Rankin and ald. Darlene Marzari have called for the revoking of the club's licenses. —Fred Wilson photo PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 16, 1979—Page 2 For mayor Volrich and NPA aldermen to profess that they are not really putting an end to this anti-discrimination program, they’re just giving a new depart- ment responsibility for it, is sheer hypocrisy. It’s like the shark saying to the sardine, ‘‘Don’t be alarmed that I’m going to do away with you, I’m just going to move you from the open water to the inside of my stomach where you'll be nice and warm and protected’’. The NPA aldermen and their ‘“independent’’ supporters on council can beat their breasts all they want and proclaim that they are all for democratic fair play. The fact is, however, that their action in abolishing the Equal Opportunity Program was an act of racism, bigotry and for continuing discrimination. Former equal opportunities officer Shelagh Day turned down an of- fer by the city for another job and has instead sued the city for breach of contract and improper dismissal. — Peter Menyasz photo NPA meets Socred edict with $1.17 million gift to business Property tax payers in Vancouver will pay over $2 million more in 1979, in spite of the provincial government’s five percent ceiling on the city’s budget which will force the city to reduce its income by $1.17 million. The reason for that is that the NPA dominated city council is prepared to give the entire $1.17 million to business through a reduc- ed business tax. The recommendation to reduce the city’s business tax from fiine and a half percent to nine percent is being pushed by finance committee chairman George Puil who has call- ed it ‘‘an act of good will to the business community.”’ The recommendation which will go to city council for approval February 27 was blasted this week by COPE president Bruce Yorke _ than business, who said that the reduced income should be a tax break for all tax- payers, and not just business. He said it would amount to roughly a $5 cut for the typical homeowner ‘‘who needs the relief much more so especially big business.”’ By cutting the business tax rate small business will benefit hardly at all, but big business with very large rental values will earn substantial savings. At the finance committee meeting “last Thursday, Puil shadow-boxed with COPE’s demand for a graduated business tax that would give an average $150 tax cut to 12,000 small businesses in the city and an increase to the top 10 per- cent of business in line with their ability to pay. Puil maintained that the graduated tax would be illegal since the city charter grants the right to apply a business tax ‘‘even- ly.”” Yorke said that COPE has — received different opinions, but the charter should not be a dodge from the principal issue of taxing on the ability to pay. COPE is advising the city to implement a graduated tax, and if challenged ask Victoria for a charter amendment. The city has to reduce its income because of the provincial govern- ment edict that it may not have a surplus in 1979. Originally, the city budget would have run at a $2.64 million deficit, but that changed when the Socreds imposed the five percent ceiling. The ceiling requires that the city reduce its total budget by $3.8. million and cuts totalling the $2.64 million deficit will balance the budget. The other $1.17 million in needed cuts will have to be mat- ched by reduced income in order to avoid a budget surplus. midst the sensationalized horror stories of refu- gees fleeing Vietnam and the reports of persecu- tion of supporters of the Saigon regime, there is one story that never made the pages of Time, Newsweek, the Vancouver Sun or the other news media that have persisted in depicting the Vietnamese as vengeful con- querors. It is the report by the delegation from the prestigeous U.S. National Lawyers Guild which visited Vietnam last December for a two week extensive tour of the country. Although we did not receive the report until just recently, its findings are as revealing now as they were two months ago. ‘*We have traversed the entire length of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang, Hanoi and Quang Ninh proVinces,”’ the five- member delegation stated. ‘‘And no restrictions have been placed on our ability to learn about the life of the people... “‘The Vietnamese government’s benevolent policies with regard to collaborators of that former regime in the South far surpass the requirements of international law and the respect for human rights experienced in previous revolutionary societies.”’ John Quigley, spokesman for the delegation and the vice-president of the National Lawyers Guild, stressed that the thirty years of resistance, first to French col- onialism and then against U.S. aggression ‘‘brought more human losses than can be understood without first hand observation. “In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,’’ Quigley concluded, ‘‘the policies of reconciliation and reunification have been so widely and wisely applied that they will serve as a model for the progressive peoples of the world who have yet to overthrow their oppressors.”” . PEOPLE AND ISSUES e’re able to Wea Karl Dalskog, a Tribune supporter and trade union activist from Merville, on Vancouver Island, is now on the road to recovery, although the serious car accident that saw him flown to Vancouver General Hospital in critical condition December 22 tragically claimed the life of his step brother Robert Croye. glad to be report Karl has been only semi-conscious for several weeks following the accident but this week he was up on his own, talking with parents Ernie and Marge Dalskog and friends, and taking his first steps down what is ex- pected will be a long road to full recovery. And as he heads towards that objective there are a whole number of fellow trade unionists and comrades in the Young Communist League who are doing everything to help him along. Ever since the accident, his brothers and sisters in the Ferry and Marine Workers Union have chipped in to make up any shortage in his wages and last week, - the provincial council of the Young Communist League made sure that the costs of a television in ‘his hospital room would be paid for the duration of his stay. : To all of that, we add our best wishes for a speedy recovery. Rees li was with some regret last issue that we had to follow the dictates of page makeup and leave this item until this week, but we hope that his many friends and his wife Rose won’t think our birth-' day greetings for former Tribune editor Tom McEwen are in any way diminished by our action. It was 88 years ago February 11 that Tom first came into the world and more than three-quarters of those years were given to the cause of working people and their struggle for socialism. We salute him in marking his 88th birthday.