THE COMPLETE / 4 TRAVEL SERVICE] ff

We will professionally look after all your travel needs. We specialize in tickets, tours, passports, permits and reservations. Call us today — for prompt personalized service.

GLOBE TOURS 2679 E. Hastings St., Vancouver, B.C.

253-1221

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Gelebrate With Us

The children of MARY and GEORGE LEGEBOKOFF cor- dially invite you to.a reception celebrating the 25th wedding an- niversary of their parents.

It will take place on Ajril 8, 1978 at the Russian People’s Home, 600 Campbell Ave. in Vancouver. Dinner will be at 6:30 p.m.

In lieu of a gift, we are charging a $10 admission to cover all expenses for the evening. Refreshments will be compliments of the family. Our parents have requested that all proceeds be donated to the B.C. Peace Council to aid that organization in its important work.

Tickets and reservations are available by phoning:

Lydia Bjarnason 874-4806 Larry Legebokoff 299-8172 Walter and Mary. Gawrycki 255-6488

We hope you will reserve early. Lydia Bjarnason Larry Legebokoff RSVP: Lydia Bjarnason 3316 Garden Drive Vancouver, B.C. V5N 4Y4

CP hits Cook bicentenary

Land claim

“The Captain Cook bicentenary has gone far enough,’’ Communist Party provincial leader Maurice Rush said in a statement this week, “This tourist gimmick is a disgrace to the province and an insult to the Native peoples, especially those at Friendly Cove who have washed their hands of the whole affair.

“Tf the government is interested in honoring our heritage,’ he added, ‘‘they should correct the historic injustice against the Native peoples by recognizing aboriginal rights and quickly settling the Nishga claim, for starters.

‘If Bennett and Williams refuse ¢

to co-operate in a settlement of the Nishga claim, clearly the federal government has a responsibility to proceed with negotiations.”

With his statement Rush released a position paper on Native land claims adopted by the party’s provincial executive last Monday. The paper, slightly abridged, follows:

The Captain Cook bicentenary now being whooped up by the provincial government may be good for the tourist industry, but it has an entirely different significance for the Indian people of B.C. For them, it marks the beginning of their period of colonialism.

The Indian population of B.C. in the 1780’s was estimated to be in excess of 80,000. By 1929, as a direct result of the policies of an

alien colonialism, it was reducted -

to 23,000. Even today it has not reached its former peak.

The 200 years since the arrival of Captain Cook on these shores has been marked by the seizure of Native lands, the decimation” of their population, sustained efforts to destroy their culture and con- demning most Native people to a life of poverty on small reserves. Discrimination against them reached the level of genocide.

But the Native people have survived all these attacks and today are fighting back more vigorously than ever in defence of their needs. They are today con- centrating their efforts on winning their aboriginal rights — or land claims. Divided into many dif- ferent organizations, they are endeavoring to reach a consensus on the specific nature of their land claims, as well as the best method

of achieving settlement of the.

claims.

Native Indian bands and tribes in B.C., with the exception of a few bands on: Vancouver Island in the middle of the last century, have

| Co-Bookstore's

annual store-wide sale 20% to 80% off

FEATURE SPECIALS:

@ Human Rights - U.S. Style

From colonial times through the New Deal

By Claude Lightfoot.

Reg. $5.25 Sale $3.15

@ Anti-Communist Myths in Left Disguise

By Robert Steigerwald.

Reg. $2.25 Sale $1.75

“@ The Education of Everett Richardson The Nova Scotia Fishermen's Strike 1970-71 By Silver Donald Cameron. Reg. $4.95. Sale $3.95

SALE RUNS MARCH 17 THROUGH APRIL 1 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily except Sunday

PEOPLE'S CO-OP BOOKSTORE

353 West Pender St. V6B 1T3 Ph. 685-5836

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Settle land claims starting with the Nishga claim, the Communist Party called this week.

never signed any treaties ex- tinguishing their rights to their land. The land was simply taken away from them.

The Social Credit government has stated categorically that it does not recognize aboriginal claims. Neither did the NDP government before it. The federal government pays lip service to land claims, but stalls on reaching agreements. :

Native land claims in Canada and B.C., to the extent that they have been specifically defined, included the following concepts:

e Ownership of land and resources to enable «an economically viable life. :

e Self government on reserves and on lands occupied by Natives.

e Control over their own education.

e Compensation for seized lands and resources.

Our party has always stood unequivocally for a just settlement of native land claims...We. are, the only political party that takes such a stand. Our approach to this problem is a class approach which recognizes that we live in a class divided and corporate dominated society and that class dif- ferentiations have also developed among Native people. Among them, a small group of business people and employers has emerged whose class interests come into conflict with the interests of the. majority of Native peoples. At the same time, it should be noted that many Indians have entered the working class and trade union movement.

Various land claims put forward by Indian organizations and bands reflect these class divisions within Indian society.

From this class standpoint we take the following position on Native land claims:

e Both the federal and provincial governments should sit down and negotiate Native land claims.

e Settlements must not be the type that benefit only a few of the Native people, and they should not be limited to a financial set- tlement. Settlements should substantially and fundamentally

outlined

alter the position of the Native people and provide them with economic and social equality. They should include adequate land and resources, assistance in developing industry and oc- cupations they desire, self- government, assistance in over- coming the appalling health and housing conditions that presently exist, and end to poverty and to all forms of discrimination, to reach full equality in Canadian society.

e Settlement must correspond to the interests of the working class of Canada, and not be in conflict with these interests. Where potential areas of conflict do exist, such as in the B.C. fishing industry, itis in the interests of the Indian people to discuss settlement proposals with the union concerned to arrive at an agreement that all fishermen, native and non-native can live with.

We are under no illusions that these conditions will be granted by the corporate interests that dominate Canadian society. The source of racism against the Native peoples stems from the big corporations which historically, and today, benefit from the many forms of discrimination, and who desire control of the resources the Native people want to share. Only be abolishing this corporate controlled society and replacing it with socialism, will the Native people of Canada and B.C. be guaranteed the full equality that socialism offers to all peoples.

In the meantime, the Communist Party pledges its efforts to help the Native peoples of Canada achieve a better life and to secure a just settlement of their land claims. We urge all other progressive Ganadians and’ particularly “the trade union movement to give the Native peoples the support they deserve.

BANQUET and DANCE

for the Tribune Financial Drive

SATURDAY, APRIL 22 Sapperton Pensioners Hall

318 Deary Street New Westminster

*

Supper 6:30 Admission: $6 (adults) Speaker, entertainment

Music by Harry Hoshowsky

*

Sponsored by North and South Fraser Regions, CPC

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

COMING EVENTS APRIL 8 — Everyone is welcome at the YCL Reunion Dance with Bargain Jam Band, Fishermen’s Hall, 138 E. Cordova at 8 p.m. Tickets are $3.00 available at the Tribune office, Co-op Books or ’ phone 879-5058.

BUSINESS PERSONALS

Ron Sostad Writer — Researcher 922-6980 926-9602 Call only during weekdays.

MOVING? CLEANUP — Wanted articles for resale. All proceeds to P.T. Phone 526-5226. “THE GOODIE BIN.”

CARPENTER 874-1814

HALLS FOR RENT

WEBSTER’S CORNERS HALL — Available for banquets, meetings, etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or 685-5836.

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for rentals. For reservations phone 254-3430.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL CENTRE — 805 East Pender St., Vancouver. Available for banquets, wed- dings, meetings. Ph. 254-3436.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 24, 1978—Page 11

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