Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 7, 1976, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press for people monday june 7, 1976 soviet hazards roused appetite for Freedom of West Arkady a. Is among a trickle of jewish refugees and immigrants to Canada from the soviet Union being diverted to Western Canada. He arrived in Winnipeg this year and now works As a labourer in a Winnipeg meat packing Plant by Esther Tennenhouse free press staff writer it was in october 1973, that a Friendly police official told Arkady a. To watch out Lor involuntary removal from the Plant at which he d had an administrative Job Lor 10 years. It was Clear one of these Days he might have to work in a far Oil place like is an interpreter trans lated during an interview with the 46-year-old veterinarian. Arkady s name won t be used in this Story because he and is wife a music teacher fear for relatives still in the soviet Union. They Are sorry they had to leave but it was such a s y s t e m the interpreter _ said translating a voluble Stream of russian. But the present regime is so free of rules you do not know what to expect in a wry and vivacious narrative Arkady said the seniority that gave my enough knowledge to become critical of the food Plant sys tem where he worked made him liable to be a Scapegoat for whatever ailed production. Anxious to leave the veterinarian s family unsuccessfully tried to get Permis Sion to emigrate so they could come to Canada under the sponsor ramp of a Mon Treal Cousin. But although the . Permits emigration for reunification of families officials told them the relation sep was t close enough. In the end their ticket to leave the soviet Union came from Israel which every year issues soviet jews with thousands invitations on behalf of israeli citizens either actual or alleged rela Tives who get the names of Widd be immigrants by mail or word of Mouth. Once in Possession of an invitation the family applied to the soviet government for an exit visa Wimch Cost 950 rubles per for Arkady it was a total of 10 months wages. Disc striation actually began before their applications were accepted. Both Arkady and his wife were unemployed for six months and sold their Home and pos sessions. Their experience was t unique says a recently arrived soviet Engineer from Kiev who says he lost his Job when he asked his supervisor for a character reference needed forms application. He said i insulted is feeling of patriotism but it was just a says the Kiev poly technical Institute graduate who was required to get permission from his father before he could leave the soviet Union with is divorced Mother. He waited four months and Arkady two months for per Mission to emigrate. But even then difficulties with bureaucracy weren t Over. Arkady still laughs when he tells of How he was required to take a Small Statuette he owned to the museum to get it stamped for a fee of 30 rubles about to prove it was t an antique. When the family arrived in Rome they saw the same statuettes Selling for first they had stopped in Vienna where families head ing for Israel departed. Choosing to go to Canada in Stead they went on to Rome where they waited a year supported by the hebrew immigration Aid service for admission to Canada. While Arkady s family re members the time in Rome As one of uneasy suspense for Victor Langer a 26-year old English speaking mechanical Engineer from Kiev it was an intoxicating first glimpse of the free world. The previous four months of waiting forms exit visa Are no longer Clear in is memory. It s difficult to recollect i just remember the time was very said the Engineer who was vague about the reasons that a led myself is Mother and teen age brother to pack their eight suitcases and Board the train for Vienna. You leave because friends he says. He does however speak of his sense of oppression be cause of Lack of Freedom of and press in the soviet Union. Felt a constant Lack of information i did t even know what was happening in my own town. For the last five years he had keenly followed bbl broadcasts and with other Young people admired the writing of Ernest Heming Way whose works were recently translated into rus Sian and f. Scott Fitzgerald. He and his friends listened to tape recordings of the beatles rolling stones and Tom Jones. Today the faces of native people on Winnipeg s streets seem terrifying to the Young Engineer whose Only experience of indians has been in the pages of James Feni More Cooper. He says he is disillusioned to find that the Freedom of the West does t produce Ideal men As he and his friends once supposed. But so far he has no regrets about coming. You have to live in the soviet Union to appreciate Victor is one of a Large number of younger refugees and immigrants who have Little knowledge of their jew ish heritage. All my culture is russian i consider myself rus Arkady too chooses to place his soviet identity first and refuses even to acknowledge that the Stream of immigrants from the . Are mostly jews. A Canad an immigration official said about 85 per cent of last year s soviet new Comers to Canada were jew ish while a Middle age jewish immigrant from Vilnius Lithuania a democratic capitalistic country until mourned the communist sup pression of jewish schools and synagogues and a Stu Dent from Odessa said jew ish students suffered from discrimination others indicated the Impact of anti semitism in their lives was More Subtle. One successful Moscow Engineer explained that this jewish blood presented Little threat to is position but he always Felt he was a second class citizen and had to Over come personal defects some How connected to his origins. Although Canada suits him. And most professionals who Are most sensitive to totalitarianism there Are others the old and less skilled who wish to return to the soviet Union he said. The number of soviet immigrants and refugees arriving in Winnipeg although still Small has increased noticeably in the past few months say local immigration officials. Until a year ago almost All soviet immigrants who began to arrive in Canada in noticeable numbers in 1973 were directed to Toronto or Montreal says Bob pud Dester chairman of the Man Power and immigration department s refugee policy Section in Ottawa. Social and political pres sure to distribute immigrant populations More evenly and lower unemployment rates in the West made officials de cide in mid-1975 to begin to Send More newcomers to the Prairies. Lately the jewish cold and family service which is funded by the private jewish immigrant Aid society has been receiving new refugees and immigrants in groups of five and six families every two weeks. Close to half have been refugees and subject to relaxed Entrance requirements but the Point system is still applied and some say the fact that private jewish Organiza t i o n s and volunteers Are helping with resettlement has probably improved their chances of getting into Canada. Winnipeg has received or Chestra soloists doctors and other professionals including about three dozen engineers. Most face the perennial immigrants frustrations o f being forced to work at Low skill jobs because they speak no English or their qualifications Aren t recognized in Manitoba. To Date All soviet arrivals in Winnipeg have been Mumy skilled in fact perhaps Over skilled says Gerry mos Covitch director of the jew ish child and family ser vice. He says some employ ers have hesitated to hire workers with unneeded qualifications. The manpower department has been unsuccessful in placing professionals he said. Predicting future immigration from the soviet Union to Canada is nearly impossible says or. Joseph Kage director of the jewish immigrant Aid society Wimch last year spent million on direct Aid to jewish soviet immigrants. The soviet Union seems to be clamping Down on emigration and International economics will deter mine what countries Emi Grants choose he says. Although the number of so Viet citizens permitted to leave has decreased in the past few years the number coming to Canada is increasing. Last year about 35 per cent of the who got exit visas chose to go to the most to the United states instead of Israel. Today 500 of the so Viet emigrants waiting in Rome wish to come to Canada or. Kage says. Local immigration officials say relatively favourable employment forecasts for West Ern Canada indicate More refugees and immigrants will be sent to the Prairies. The jewish child and family service expects to assist hundreds More eventually government must enter in co operative Effort with the private sector to Purchase services for these says or. Kage who maintains that in Tensive help provided to new immigrants in their first weeks in Canada is an in vestment rather than an expense because it prevents future social problems. Young Are avid for bbl Hemingway exit visas Cost couple 10 months wages and Long wait flow of immigrants to City increases Low calorie diet credited with longevity in Russia Belgrade a Low calorie diet May be part of the secret to Long life in soviet Georgia says a russian Geroulo Logist who surveyed georgians aged 80 to 138. Or. Grigoriu Zacharovich pit Clari gave these findings to the International Congress of the federation for Assis Tance to aged persons at its closing ses Sion Friday the elderly in Georgia the Southern most state of the soviet Union Are slim because their daily intake is below medi Cally recommended calorie Levels. They eat unleavened wheat or Corn cakes instead of bread prefer vegetables to meat and eat lots of cheese sour milk and Low fat milk. The Survey group included 574 persons said to be Between 100 and 138 years old and 86 per cent of those surveyed lived in the country at. Up to feet Altitude in a dry climate. Ninety per cent had been married and Many of the women had Given birth to Large numbers of children. Nearly 60 per cent were engaged in predominantly physical occupations which they continued with moderation in old age. Impoverished cities at risk Strong tells in conference United nations Reuter environmental disasters m a y occur in cities in poor coun tries if Early action is not taken the first Secretary general of the in Environ ment conference said Friday. The movement to protect the environment is facing a crisis so grave that All Progress made so far is threatened he said. Maurice chair Man of Ca Nadian government Energy Agency said countries seem to have Learned Little from past mistakes. They showed Little real awareness of the cons q u e n c e s of their present course on the environment he said. While most acknowledged the importance of the environment they gave it Low priority when it came to Deci Sions and action. Recipient of the Pali Avi International environment by Iran said he would give the award to a new Earth fund uni Terra which he and others Are launching to mobilize action in the private Sec Tor. Today is the fourth anniversary of the opening of the Stockholm conference on the first concerted Alta cd on the problems of pollution. At the ceremony at which Secretary general Kurt Wald him presented the prize to him Strong was critical o the approach of Many govern ments to environmental prob ices. Howdy Wilkie your Canadian Muchere truly Canadian since very mild than k on ;