Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 21, 1993, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press november editorials editor John 6977044 r Seq Haffty of civil theancy signs a Deal the interim Constitution agreed to by 21 political organizations in South Africa last week is a major accomplishment and a real sign of both the governing White National led by presi Dent de and the Black african National con led by Nelson were Able to agree to the terms of the new they Are the two major since they represent the interests of the largest factions of Blacks and Whites in South the other 19 both White and Are marginal players and although it is useful to have them on there was never any doubt that the crucial Point was always agreement Between the National party and the that having been and with full franchise elections set for april of next there Are Strong grounds for As South Africa has moved towards majority both Klerk and Mandela have demonstrated a Good Faith that no one would have believed possible Only a few years there still a Long Way to go and Many obstacles to there is some cause for con Cern in the wording of the interim Constitution particularly in the areas of individual rights and liberties and Freedom of but the document As a whole May be the Best that could have been hammered out under the difficult with Good will it will serve until another Constitution can be negotiated after the a More immediate cause for concern is the intense opposition to the arrangement by both Black and White sex their opposition shares a common which is to protect their own on the White Side is the conservative party and the extreme righting Volks f front and other fringe groups which oppose majority Rule and at the very an White Afri Kaner on the Black Side Are the inkatha Freedom a Zulu based group led by chief mangos thu but Elezi and the second largest Black political organization in the coun As Well As some of the Black homelands whose leaders do not want to lose their positions of Power and there is a lot of weaponry in South Africa on both As Well As a lot of hatred and fear that already shows itself in almost continual violence and which could explode at any there is also now a great Deal of Hope that has a genuine Chance of being realized and which Canada and other which have so involved themselves in South Africa affairs in recent should carefully help to running professions Manitoba should be far More careful about letting occupational groups regulate the work of their members in the Way doctors and lawyers the Manitoba Law Reform commission has self gov earning Powers should be granted Only where there is a Clear threat of substantial harm to the Public and where no simpler solution is the commission is inviting comment and is sure to receive much some of the 50odd self governing groups in the province now will feel a threat to their monopoly Sta Tus and others queueing up to ask for regulatory Powers will find an obstacle thrown in their they will be vociferous in showing that their monopoly positions should be the commission is less sure of hearing from the con suming whose interests Are at self policing occupational groups such As Interior Decora ophthalmic social speech therapists and a Long list of believe they Are protecting the Public from but sometimes they Are destroying Competition and driving up the Price for their at the the Way an occupational group wins self governing Powers in Manitoba is by political lobby ing in the no expert study is made of the advantages and disadvantages of letting a particular group police its members and put its competitors out of Busi members of the legislature hear Only from the wellor Gani Zed group that wants an act passed with perhaps some scattered voices in once self governing Powers Are they can be exercised in secret and with no accounting to the government or the All self policing bodies should be subjected to regular Public review to see whether they comply with standards such As the Law Reform commission More Good than harm to the Public interest and meeting Public needs in ways that cannot be met in less narrowly monopolistic the commission and the government should be encouraged to make self governing occupations serve the Public and not Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 187 Winnipeg Tribune Esi 1890 Maurice Switzer publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Craig Barnard circulation de Beli Dumeur r Luman resources Bill Brian Cottom finance Stephan Majorki production Winnipeg free 9 division of division of Thomson newspapers company unwed published seven Days a week at 1555 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977qqq a member of the press Council and for those tories who thought Jean Chretien would be As prime time for common sense complaining about a prob Lem is resolving the prob particularly when it involves Domestic is not for far too Little attention was paid to this although just As Many people were subjected to most victims were reluctant to Lay charges because the Legal process was too Long and with no guar Antee it would result in a even with a conviction there were no provisions to ensure future abuse would not meanwhile police could not proceed unless there was an official Over the last few changes have been introduced to Speed up the Legal process and make it less comply the first step involved setting up a family violence court which would centralize handling of All types of Domestic abuse and Deal with complaints in what was supposed to be a More expeditious then the government adopted a Zero tolerance requiring police to Lay charges and mandatory prosecution in All cases of partner abuse where evidence that was followed by Winnipeg police issuing their own get Tough policy on Domestic which required charges to be Laid Auto with or without a formal complaint from the the last two Steps at the legislature Ariene Billinkoff work against the initial goal of dealing with family violence matters in an expeditious in less than two the volume of cases involving abuse in Winnipeg has risen to from that number is expected to but the courts ability to Cope with that situation has not improved at the same while the Justice department has doubled support increased the number of Crown attorneys and judges for family violence cases and is consid ering a further there is still a phenomenal and it keeps growing Day by As of there was a 10month backlog for set Ting trial meanwhile it is estimated that 80 per cent of cases involving family violence do not make it through to verdict and about 20 per cent of spousal abuse cases collapse at trial when the abused person refuses to As a a growing number of those charged under the Zero tolerance policy have opted for knowing there is a Good Chance they will get off such activity seems to be a tremendous waste of time and Money just As lawyers have said for with so Many cases being they be Lieve it underlines the need for prosecutors to be More selective about which cases should go to in their the Zero tolerance approach casts too Broad a net and takes away the polices discretion to decide whether a complaint warrants an a acting chief judge Brian Giesbrecht underlined the dilemma in a letter to the Justice department in he noted that the Large number of cases in which there is no reasonable expectation of conviction makes it More difficult for More urgent cases that May result in conviction to pro the problem is so severe that the family courts existence is being he no one disputes the heavy Bur Den on the court but what is the solution while the government and others do not want the Zero tolerance policy to be Many victims believe it goes too rather than placing spouses in they want it sounds so but that area has not been adequately on the preventative the education department has a health studies program which stresses conflict Resolution and respect for but while that May help in the Long it has Little imme Diate meanwhile probation ser vices try to Deal with those referred for but counselling service is on the verge of being More help is needed today for both victims and one suggestion by Giesbrecht May reduce the court Burden and still assist those it Calls for cases with Little Chance of conviction to be referred to the women advocate to arrange counselling for the while the offender would go into a treatment the trial would be put on hold until after treatment and the charge would be stayed if the counsel Ling it sounds but there is no guarantee abuse will not occur again after the Case leaves the court so what is the answer on one More judges and lawyers May help Speed up the process while on the other More counselling and education May reduce the need for the court pro such action will Cost More but if it ensures Justice is done not merely in court but in the lives of those it would be Worth the above whatever the solution May it must be based on common readers award the ultimate prize 1am pleased to see that Winnipeg author Carol Shields is this years Winner of the governor generals award for i am sure the prize will come in Handy and the publicity will ensure that More peo ple will read her excellent which i made a Point of Reading even before it was nominated for the Booker a few weeks just after Stone diaries made the Short i listened to a radio program from Toronto that featured a panel discus Sion of the the nominees and those who had been it sounded like a conversation you might overhear at a cocktail party in the an Home to Many of Toronto Litera there was concern Over the fact that Peggy really wonderful novel might be and what about Joes masterpiece and the really original and groundbreaking work that Nancy had just published one of the conversationalist appeared to be deeply offended that Michael Ignatieff so called novel had made the when so Many real liter Ary artists have been after was Ignatieff really a Canadian author and what about teds Brilliant novel Why had it failed to make the list it should not be i sup to discover that there Are insiders and outsiders in canut and 1 suppose that the status of a writer might vary from place to one might for in insider in but an outsider in Toron and vice it was Ever thus in the world of quite apart from insiders and it must be difficult Nowa Days to select a Winner from All the novels published in a Given Yea the governor generals awards were established years i to encourage the creation of Canadian literature while there have always been Canadian there have been periods in our history when men and women of letters were not too Visi ble in Canadian National some of us can remember a time Christopher Dafoe years ago when so few novels were published in any Given year that the prize often went to one of three novels favourably reviewed that year by Robertson Davies in saturday it must have been easy enough in those Days for the prize when there Are Only two or three the Choice can be thirty years ago there were usually few surprises when the awards were handed i May be but it does seem that the production of Canadian novels has increased dramatically in recent just about everybody is writing these Days and just about everybody you run into is working on a has just published a novel or has a novel making the rounds of the publishing houses from Toronto to the Rise of the regional publishers has free press photo Carol Shields honoured for an excellent made it even More Likely that books will be read and nominated for various literary including the governor most canadians have realized by now that the governor general him self does not select the winners of the he is a Busy Man while he May find time to look at a newspaper Over breakfast or fall asleep Over the latest Howard Engel murder mystery at his duties really prevent him from keeping abreast of current trends in when you have spent most of the Day chatting with visiting cubs and brownies you might not be tempted to seek Solace in Timothy find Leys magnum the jury that selects the governor generals award for fiction these Days has my with so Many novels in Competition the task must be Herscu for the past few years i have served on the jury for an important Ca Nadian nonfiction Book on our jury we usually have to look at 3540 if you take away the two or three titles that were obviously submitted in error picture books for Chil a collection of animal photo graphs you still face a formidable Reading i am not sure How Many novels qual Ify for consideration in the com but i am told that the Long list runs to Well Over a imagine having to read them 1 suppose that answer is that a great Many of them Are not read at All or give at a cursory in any Given there May be three or four hot novels and i suspect that the at Tention of the jury is concentrated in the Vicinity of even there Are complaints every year that certain important novels have been ignored or the right in Many might be snubbed and this exclusion might have something to do with literary in As with other Many Are few Are but the choices Are not a ways juries and critics decide for today the readers decide for pos ;