and _ determination up to, and includ-

Congress demands constitution with rights for Frenc

The 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Canada, Oct. 9-11, dealt in some detail with the need for a made-in-Canada Con- stitution based on our bi-national State. The following resolution, which sums up the Convention’s Conclusions on the issue was adopted unanimously.

The failure of the federal- Provincial conference of first Ministers at the beginning of Oc-

tober on the “‘patriation’’ of the

British North America Act, which serves as Canada’s Con- Stitution, was inevitable in condi- tions of deepening crisis of state Monopoly capitalism and Capitalist policy. € crisis of confederation is aggravated by the _ non- Tecognition of the French- nadians of Quebec as a nation, their right to self-

Ing, the right to secession if the Majority of them so desire. Trudeau’s policy of bilin- 8ualism denies the bi-national Character of Canada, and was in- tended as a substitute for a 8enuine solution to the problem of the relations between the two na- tions which exist since the British Conquest of Canada. While failing Completely to satisfy the national Tights of French-Canadians . in Quebec, Trudeau’s bilingualism Policy has been used by the big Monopolies and multi-nationals, as well as by diverse reactionary Political groupings to whip up Chauvinist and racist sentiments among English-Canadians to

drive politics to the right. This, in

turn, brings grist to the mills of the Separatists in Quebec, who wel- Come every such expression as

é:

proof,of the “‘impossibility”’ of the two nations living together in Canada.

The patriation of the BNA Act, even if an amending formula could eventually be found which would satisfy the first ministers, is another ploy to evade dealing with the basic roots of the crisis of Confederation. If Trudeau really carries through his threat to pat- riate the Constitution unilaterally this crisis will become very im- mediate and much sharper.

There is no way in which the patriation of the BNA Act or its amendment can correct its fun- damental flaw, its non-. recognition of the existence of the French-Canadian nation and its national democratic rights.

This 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Canada reit- erates its long-held position that the BNA Act should be scrapped and that a Constituent Assembly, composed of equal representation from the two nations of Canada, be convened to work out a new made- in-Canada Constitution which

should have as its base the follow- ;

ing fundamental propositions:

1. A bi-national state with-lan- guage and culture guaranteed to the English and French Canadian people;

2. Redistribution of national in- come in favor of the working people;

3. Resources to be under the sovereign control of the people through public ownership;

4. Fundamental human and democratic rights to be guaranteed to all Canadians, these to include the right to a job, health, educa- tion, the right to free ‘speech, to assembly, to organize, to collective

h Canada

bargaining, to strike, the right of national minority groups to ex- press themselves in their mother tongues and cultural forms;

.5. New relations to be estab- lished between the federal, provin- cial and municipal governments giving municipalities rights not presently enjoyed;

6. Full recognition of the na- tional rights of the Native people and development of their cultures;

7. Full equality and democratic rights for all Canadians.

This 23rd Convention notes that the working class of English and French Canada is uniting more and more in action in de- fending their common interests against their common enemy — monopoly and multi-national corporations. The enemy is doing its utmost to divide them by the encouragement of chauvinism, narrow nationalism and separa- tion.

We pledge to intensify our work to explain our position to the working people, to build mutual confidence and respect, to strengthen unity of action of the working class of the two nations —the only class that can lead the fight for a genuine solution of the crisis of Confederation, for a new made-in-Canada Constitution on the basis of equality and national self-determination. '

Convention backs student national day of protest

The National Student Day of Protest, November 9, received backing at the 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Canada..

A resolution adopted there pointed out that “‘an accessible and democratic post-secondary education system is an important issue for the working class,” but

fx that the “government represent-

Thousands.cf Greek-Cypriot women before the barbed-wire encircle-

Ment of the town of Famagusta, demanding that their relatives be allow-

€d to return to their villages.

Solidarity with Cyprus

A World Conference of Solidar- ity with Cyprus will be held in furt, FRG, from October 28

to 31 to seek ways of support for Cypriot sovereignty and indepen-

In solidarity with this confer- ence, the Communist Party passed the following resolution, at its con- Yention, Oct. 9-11.

This 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Canada ex- Presses its solidarity with the People of Cyprus and calls for the Implementation, without further delay of the United Nations re- Solutions on Cyprus.

These resolutions call for the

Tespect of the independence and .

Sovereignty, and territorial integ- ity of the non-aligned Republic of Cyprus, for the immediate and Unconditional withdrawal of all

foreign troops from Cyprus, the immediate return of all refugees to their homes under conditions of safety, and for the peaceful solu- tion of the Cyprus problem by meaningful and constructive negotiations between the two Cypriot communities under the

auspices of the United Nations, to ~

be conducted freely on an equal footing for a settlement, serving the interests of the two com- munities of Cyprus, Greeks and Turks. nak Re

This Convention solidarizes it- self fully with these U.N. resolu- tions — which have also been supported by the Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties of Europe for peace, security, co-operation and social progress in Europe, held in Berlin, GDR,

June 1976.

ing monopoly capital is currently

waging an attack on post-

secondary education by cutting back funds available for its de-

*. velopment and shifting the

financial burden onto the indi- vidual students.”” _

The resolution notes further that the National Union of Stu- dents is the legitimate representa- tive of Canadian post-secondary students outside Quebec, and... has called for a National Student Day on Nov. 9 to protest attacks on education.”’

The convention resolved ‘‘that the Communist Party of Canada endorse National Student Day, and ... that Communists partici- pate wherever possible to guaran- tee the greatest possible success of National Student Day.

Zukin Winnipeg council member

The resolution entitled, Celeb- rate 50 Years of Communist Rep- resentation in Winnipeg, adopted by the 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Canada, pub- lished in last week’s paper, suf- fered from a serious omission. In the process of getting the resolu- tion from the Convention floor to the pages of the paper the name of Alderman Joseph Zuken,’ pre- sently a member of Winnipeg City Council, was left out. We couldn’t claim that 50 years with- out him. We regret the omission.

The working peoples of French and English Canada are fighting in

unity to repeal Bill C-73. Anew Canadian constitution embodying in it the rights of the French Canadian nation would cement this unity.

Congress pledges full support to liberation of South Africa

“This 23rd Convention of the Communist Party of Canada re- affirms its total opposition to fas- cist apartheid in South Africa, and once again expresses its full sol- idarity with the vanguard organi- zations of the people of South Af- rica — the South African Com- munist Party and the African Na- tional Congress (South Africa).”’

So begins a resolution adopted unanimously at the CPC Conven- tion, Oct. 9-11. The remainder of the text follows:

We greet the ‘heroism of the workers, the peasants, the youth and the students whose militant resistance to fascist brutality and for a new humane order, has claimed thousands of dead, wounded and thousands of ar- rests.

We dip our banners in salute to those who have fallen to this bes- tiality.

As the final chapter of this vici- ous race oppression draws to a close in South Africa, world im- perialism still tries vainly to re- verse the course of history, to re- trieve its ill-gotten colonial plun- der. U.S. Secretary of. State

Henry Kissinger flits from capital to capital attempting to promote a shabby worn-out neo-colonial solution for Zimbabwe. However he cannot and will not succeed in

blunting the will of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa to be free.

For our part we will, in the spirit of proletarian ‘inter- nationalism and solidarity, as well as in the name of freedom and democracy, do everything in our power to aid the course of total victory in South Africa.

We will help to mobilize pres- sure on the Canadian Govern- ment to condemn the racist re- gime of South Africa, not only in words but in deeds. Government agencies should be the first to honor their commitments speci- fically by living up to the UN re- solutions calling for the total iso- lation of South Africa, politically, economically, militarily, dip- lomatically and _ culturally. Boycotts at a consumer level are not a sufficient response by the labor and democratic movement. All economic intercourse must be ended between South Africa and Canada. -

We will work to strengthen all genuine solidarity organizations in Canada, and where they do not exist co-operate to bring them into being, embracing churches, non-governmental agencies and all forward-looking individuals.

This is our duty and we can do no less.

Joining with progressive peoples around the world, the 23rd Congress of the CPC reaffirmed Its total opposition to apartheid and full support

for the peoples of South Africa.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 29, 1976—Page 5