Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 7, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free november 1981 the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and the author s name will be used and letters Are subject to editing Indian rights widely abused Are indians being punished by the manipulation of Laws if a politician makes an honest it is co Vered up with paper shuffling and if a Lowe class citizen makes the same he is it is Okay for a politician or any upper class citizen to pass out under the or be stopped for impaired but if it is an he will be ridiculed and these Laws apply to regardless of color or then Why is it that the greatest Impact of these Laws Are directed at the Indian people Why is it that indians constitute a disproportionate number of any correctional institutes population in yet the indians Are approximately in number of the prov inces total population the political or that were supposed to take precedence Over provincial Laws Are no longer applicable in an example of this is the Federal provincial cos sharing provisional service dispute in the Eva Sion of responsibility tactics used against treaty indians who Are living off the these Laws Are designed in such a Way that treaty indians Are caught Between two separate the governments no longer desire to compensate us for the land they took away from yet the original agree ment was that they would provide for our As Long As the Sun shone and the Rivers has the Sun stopped and have the Rivers stopped flowing the foregone conclusion is that the Indian is generally a tax How this kind of thinking can Only have a detrimental effect on the indians relations with the rest of Cana Das citizens the greater percent age of Canadian indians do contribute tothe some trap and sell furs some do commercial fishing some Are artists and the Lucky few Are Public if an Indian becomes too educate with a University degree or in most the Only employment he can get is with the department of Indian if not he can become an Indian activist with no official if not he can stay on the Reserve and work with his own suppressed most educated indians Are held Back from reaching their goals because of the longstanding bad Indian if an Indian lives off the Reserve for a lengthy period of his privileges As an Indian Are you lose your right to any employment within the so you Are left with no real Security because with no Job you cannot find steady employ ment in the City or anywhere outside the indians Are systematically conditioned and bureaucratically bound to the with All of these factors in and the countdown narrowing its margin towards another provincial this letter is an attempt to awaken the thoughts of Many native people and their friends who will vote in the elec Tion the Indian Mother who is on welfare and barely getting by the Indian who is denied welfare and has to survive from Bac Kalley garbage cans the Indian children who run around abandoned and Are advertised for adoption the Indian student whose desire to get an because he comes under Federal the province does not have funds or pro Grams to assist i bring these concerns to Light be cause if there is no Effort on the indians part to present a Clear picture of How things Are How then can some semblance of Mutual under standing be achieved As another Indian put it the Eagle that flies High in the is not flying for the sheer enjoyment of merely it is fulfilling the Pur pose of its own Max Seenie treaty Indian Stony Mountain Inco disputes editorial claims your editorial false Dawn free october 27 makes inaccurate statements regarding incas recently announced plans for development of a new open pit mine in the decision to develop a new open pit was made by our Board of directors on october and not several months ago As claimed in your consultants were commissioned by the company More than a year ago to carry out a portion of the feasibility study on a potential open pit at that time we indicated that we must make a decision by autumn of 1981 to allow sufficient Lead time to develop a mine to replace production lost through depletion of mineable Ore at our exist ing open pit we did consider our underground standby mines As an alternative to a pit although the pit project de mands a higher initial capital it does offer greater production flexibility and increased capacity to take advantage of anticipated Market oppor Tun the decision to develop this new mine is a major turning Point for operations in Thompson for years to it is significant to our employ the Community of Thompson and the the preparation work will provide three years of dredging and construction activity at a value of Ken Cherney superintendent Public affairs Manitoba division Inco limited storm troopers with regard to the article Home wrecked in free october i am tired of hearing about the unnecessary action taken by our police Force in the course of its i have a Friend whose Home was torn apart in the same without anything being How is the Public expected to have any respect for the police Force when it shows Little if no respect for us what gives these arrogant storm troopers the right to Rifle through anyone belongings in this outrageous Man Ner Hewitt Winnipeg Home and the handicapped May i say How pleased i was to see Helen Steinkopff october 10 in which she deplored the governments plan to spend millions of dollars on a recreation Centre for the Manitoba school at Portage la such a plan would have horrifying twofold effect on people in Manitoba who Are mentally handicapped it would ensure the longevity of an outdated and costly institution and would deprive Community programs of desperately dedicated we could not agree More with the words of John Robertson when he suggested the various agencies work ing for the retarded should not get into a mudslinging for those familiar with the background of the Canadian association for the mentally both the Winnipeg Branch and the Manitoba were begun by three couples started the first auxiliary to the Manitoba from this Small sincere group there eventually sprang the Organiza Tion As we know it their Aims were to function Asah auxiliary to the school and to provide services for the retarded in the it would appear that the Only fun of the association now is for Community while this is a Good it is not an the school will be there Long after most of us Are in the Are we to allow it to go the parents of our auxiliary do not consider themselves to be experts or but rather to be dedicated people trying to upgrade the living conditions and make life More meaningful for the residents of the Manitoba we have no axe to grind with proponents of Community residences we Are in favor of we do not agree to let All other services to the retarded go Down Ttye we cannot tolerate the thought of doing nothing until the year when some believe the school will no longer be View not shared by a lot of people who Are in a much better position to judge than Doug Dorsey president Manitoba school for Retar dates outdated i support Helen Steinkopff state ment that the Quality of life for a person with a number of severe impairments can approach a Normal Way of i have been involved for the past three years with a Young woman who has a number of impair she uses a wheelchair and needs assistance in eating and getting she attends a special class in a regular High school and lives with her she has her own preferences in music and though she is unable to she can indicate her needs and the Opportunity to develop these abilities and interests Are possible because she has been Able to live in the recognized As an individual in her own Manitoban Are now spending a lot of Money in maintaining persons like my Friend in crowded and outdated Money spent in such a Way could be used to support persons with multiple impairments in the Zana Lutfiyya Winnipeg needed dollars for years to like i thought we were trying to get people out of not keep them another important Point Steinkopf made was that the Quality of life for even a severely retarded person with multiple handicaps can approach the Normal Way of living like the rest of she is of i know Many parents who have kept their severely handicapped sons and daughters at Home rather than institutionalize and have Given them As Normal an upbringing As they have managed this because they have had the Good for tune to be physically and financially Able to do and because some answers to their Peoples Community such As develop respite and recreational pro have slowly and with much Effort been other after giving their children a Rich and Happy family have been forced eventually to place them in most to drawing by Brian Jenkinson watch helplessly As they i need hardly add that parents who have managed to hang on to their sons and daughters so live in constant fear of what might happen should they themselves become incapacitated or they Are often Hurt and to think after saving the people of Manitoba hundreds of thousands of dollars Over the years by caring for their children at All that is available for those precious people at the end of it is inferior custodial some parents Are perfectly Happy with their Childs life in an that is but the fact remains that Many More Are and Many know that their Childs life would be the poorer in such a therefore it is essential that we put More dollars toward Community so that there is a i have met numerous children and adults across Canada who were once labelled impossible to or incapable of Progress but who have been brought out of institutions and Are developing at an astonishing rate now that they Are living in apartments or Small group i would ask your readers to consider a if they had a son or daughter whom they loved dearly but who had always or developed severe and incapacitating would they like to see that child eventually land up Miles away from receiving minimal care As what Helen Steinkopf succinctly called just a member of the Daffodil Ward or would they pre Fer to see their son or daughter living a relatively Normal and dignified life in a Homelike setting in their own neighbourhood the latter alternative is so lets try to dissuade the Manitoba government from perpetuating costly and dehumanizing institutions and encourage it instead to build on what has already been started that a better life in the Community for All however severe their Nicola Schaefer Winnipeg n a o a a a a a a a Aoa a a a a life in the Community Community programs i agree with Helen Steinkopff let Ter free october join which she decried the governments plan to spend a tremendous amount of Money recreation Centre at the Manitoba Portage la at first glance this plan might appear attractive to and might encourage them to think that their Money was going towards some thing Good for Manitoban who Are mentally 1 would ask them to think the trend in Canada and elsewhere is towards bringing All people who Are mentally handicapped of Large institutions to live interesting lives in the this applies even to those who have in the past been incorrectly thought of As too complicated or hopeless and unable to live anywhere except in special medically oriented the Canadian association for the mentally retarded supports this trend to the and is constantly pushing the government to put tax payers Money toward creating Community alternatives for citizens who Are severely mentally Handi capped not Only for those currently living in but also for those in danger of being institutions with this in mind does it not seem crazy to pour millions into a recreation or to enlarge in any Way our provinces major facilities for people who Are mentally Handi capped while it May be of Benefit to some residents of the school on a Short term the implications for the future Are frightening there of be that much less Money to spend on Community developmental respite ser and Many the ones most difficult to bring might in a few years time become the justification for the recreation centres existence and never get i am not saying that people currently living in institutions should not have opportunities for or for As decent a lifestyle As possible under difficult like i believe that it is mainly human interest and involvement that truly benefits Resi dents of not fancy Segre gated swimming pools and Why cant just As much Money be spent on an individual in the Community As in an institution Stein Kopf asked in her and added individuals could have a much improved lifestyle in communities throughout the province for the same How and How mad Dening that the government appears unable to Cope with this All taxpayers contribute to ser vices for mentally handicapped peo i believe that those of us who would like our Money to be spent on Community rather than on additions to should stand up and say Victor Kuzyk past president Council for exceptional children Winnipeg potential danger seen in Quebec isolation he was a Young acadian wearing a Quebec government badge because he was refused Delegate status by new Brunswick for irreconcilable you anglos should be he said youve got your Constitution youve got your everyone is Happy in Canada except for the the the the French in Quebec and the that he has sold out to the a passing conversation at the close of the fou Day constitutional pressure cooker which gave the nine English provinces and Ottawa half the Constitution they wanted and gave Quebec Premier Rene Levesque nothing and therefore possibly Federal conservative Leader Joe Clark correctly and eloquently called Quebec isolation a dark Shadow across the constitutional Levesque himself referred to que becs Solitude As one which would have incalculable consequences for Canada and his As the negotiations wended their tortuous Way through Daylong bargaining sessions and nigh Long it became obvious that the once would be left staring Canadas duality straight in the Levesque could not sign any agree ment on a Constitution and maintain his primary goal of Quebec Frances Russell the yearlong Alliance Between Leves que and the other seven provinces was an Alliance of expediency and Cove it came apart when Levesque himself was the first Premier to jump ship and briefly ally himself with Pierre Trudeau proposal for a refer referendums were anathema tothe English with their traditions of representative govern while they have Appeal to French concepts of the sovereignty of the Albertas Peter Lougheed called referendums offensive and the idea was also condemned by new Brunswick Richard Hatfield and Saskatchewan Allan before Levesque himself began the other reacting to his decided to abandon him and the logjam fearful of the the English premiers began to Ontario and Alberta had a hand in the final Compromise which was first sketched out by newfoundlands Brian the rest of the country May believe that Levesque could never be brought to sign but the real upon which Canadas survival May will be whether the people of Quebec will see it that in that the angry sarcasm of the acadian Delegate is French language schools in the rest of the he the English have always had their schools in que even they have More than the French have anywhere they have their own school it is the As who have Benefit Ted from this the Only time anything happens for the French any where else is when the English Are threatened in the Federal liberals know they have a fight on their hands that will Ana perhaps the Battle of the 1980 Quebec Levesque is fresh from a massive new electoral his party polls indicate he is Riding higher than Ever before in voter they show that if the parti quebecois chooses to Field Candi dates in the next Federal they could take up to 30 seats in a Federal Cabinet minister who at tended the final conference session looked he conceded that Leves que has if not of the ammunition he needs to fight an election or referendum on the straight Issue of Quebec it will be the fight of our the minister we think we can the senior Quebec ministers were summoned to 24 Sussex drive for a meeting with Trudeau the night before the final Accord was unveiled to the Public and Peckford initial proposal had called for minority Lan Guage education rights to be placed in the charter on a provincial option Trudeau rejected the and his ministers agreed with him that they could fight Levesque on his own ground and the next Trudeau offered to delay the language provisions application to the other nine provinces until Quebec but the other provinces did not want to be used to blackmail so the clause was placed in the the Federal government has pledged that it will delay implementation of the provision until Quebec can be brought Ottawa and the other provinces have ammunition they can use against Levesque on this the charter essentially reflects a Deal that Levesque himself proposed at the Andrews premiers conference in Leves que said Quebec would protect English education rights if the other provinces did the same for their French Minori ties and proposed reciprocal agree of Levesque can now argue that cherished provincial Juris diction Over education is being taken away by the but he will have trouble fighting the new Brunswick Hatfield has the most hopeful he said in an has destroyed the Many people in Quebec i have Contact with and have talked to will like this they dont want to be ghetto Zed into they want to be Able to move to the jobs in this country and the realization that they will have schools for their children will be tremendously important to doonesbury sir we be Are you 117 out or me i just got idea about your 6un sat its the acc Wing you shot up an entire f putting four a patients into Cam we West that Woulk i youve grown your ;