Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 14, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Quebec City if Joe Clark were a Gardener what would his Garden grow would there be a glorious explosion of Colour and life a testament to his willingness to get Down and dirty to get the Job done or would his plants lie withering under the Prairie Sun choked by weeds and cobwebs we done to usually judge politicians on their Green thumbs but then again progressive conservative Leader Joe Clark is not an Ordinary politician. Most politicians do not deliberately downplay the significance of their party conventions As Clark did in an interview with the free press last week. In Clarks mind this was a weekend when most canadians would be out in their gardens not thinking about Federal politics. A but there will come a time when canadians priorities will not be their gardens it will be their government and at that time they will take a look at what policies what people what principles Are at stake and they will make a Choice a Clark told this reporter. It was almost As if the tory Leader did no to want voters to pay any attention to what a going on with the once great party he now leads a party seemingly knocking on the undertakers door As it Battles for Media attention with the upstart Canadian Alliance. So if the focus of the weekend for most canadians is gardening its Only fair to ask a they Joe How does your Garden grow a if the backdrop for the main stage at this policy convention is any indication his answer would clearly be not with Silver Bells and Cockle shells. His would be a the Maple Leaf As my backdrop is How my Garden grows although its looking much like my party a Little worn and still to be sure its a Little premature to write off Clark both As a Gardener and a party Leader. Applause yes he does get plenty of applause. He can still Muster a fairly Good speech. And with the help of others there is still a bold Defiance of those Nasty Alliance poachers. Quot the rumours of our death have been greatly exaggerated a read some of the to shirts delegates Are sporting. But the fact remains much of the party a vitality is More based on its legacy than in anything that could Challenge the Liberal government. A through the proud history of Canada this party has been in government 15 times a Clark reminded delegates. And its strength and Best Chance for electoral Success Clark repeats Over and Over is that his party unlike the Alliance has a National reach. But National reach is one thing. Winning seats is another. What Clark believes is a National party is really a regional Rump based in Atlantic Canada with a Trio of seats in Quebec one in the voter heartland of Ontario and Brandon a Rick Boro Tsik the Only tory voice for All of Western Canada not exactly the stuff of future government. Beyond these seats there is Little Fertile ground for Clarks tories. Its almost As if Clark has failed to realize that the party he once led is not the party he now leads. When he first took Over the tory Helm in 1976, the tories were clearly the Only National alternative. Today his party is Lucky to get a sound bite on parliament Hill where it is one of four opposition parties. Time Warp More dangerous for the tories is the impression its Leader is somehow stuck in a time Warp. Even though he Only led the country for nine Short months Clark continues to act More As a National statesman than As someone who desperately needs to make up lost ground. Clark As he is Quick to remind reporters is running ahead of his party in the polls. That May not be saying much when your party is at 11 per cent. Clark also says he does no to need to engage in rhetorical wrestling matches because everyone remembers How Well he can fight from past Battles. But do they should voters especially those who weren to even born when he lived in 24 Sussex drive Mark their ballot for the tories because of something Clark did to or 20 years ago yes Clark is right when he boasts of the proud history of the progressive conservative party. But he also needs to remember an old adage of newspaper reporters like me you re Only As Good As your last Story. That Means Joe had better put his history behind him where it belongs before it swallows him up. Paul a Arnin is the free fress a atonal reporter. His email address is Ltd Clark rests on laurels in Garden of the past Inwood couple strives to preserve worthy canine pulling for inuit sled dog by Martin Zelig in drawn in to warlords fight peacekeepers become Allied with Sierra Leone army by norimitsu onishi Freetown Sierra Leone a for years warlord ism has ruled Sierra Leone a state in name alone. With the authority of the government barely extending beyond Freetown warlords have been ensconced in different Corners of the country each with Access to enough Diamond mines to buy arms. The balance of Power shifted occasionally depending on the energies of a nigerian led intervention Force or mercenaries hired by the government. Now with the apparent collapse of a nine month old peace Accord Sierra Leone is on the verge of slipping Back into warlord ism. The nigerians whose departure less than two weeks ago led the top warlord foday Sankoh to Challenge the in Force Are on their Way Back. The big difference now is that in peacekeepers Are in the Middle of All this and an increasing number of British paratroopers Are under pressure to provide More muscle. While the peacekeepers arrived with the understanding that they would be a Neutral Force they have become Allied with the Sierra Leone army with the soldiers of another warlord a born again Christian named it. Col. Johnny Paul Koroma and with a militia controlled by Hinga Norman nominally a Deputy defence minister All against Sankoh. Having clambered Over the Back Wall of his House last week when in peacekeepers were not around Sankoh a potbellied 63-year-old with a reportedly bad heart is on the run. Many suspect he has somehow fled far from the capital perhaps As far As Liberia a redoubt from which he has often marshalled his forces during this country a nine year old civil War. In his absence two men who have Long commanded personal militias of their own have re emerged As Power brokers. Their troops helped repel an assault on Freetown by Sankoh a revolutionary United front known As the Ruf when it became Clear that the in Force was unable to do that by itself. Robe and slippers at ease inside his Home office wearing a Green Robe and slippers Koroma who has retired from the Sierra leonean army since he briefly held Power after a coup in 1997, smiled when he was asked the number of soldiers at his disposal. He declined to say. But the number was significant judging from the thousands of loyalists who surfaced on the streets armed with automatic rifles after he spoke on National radio. Across town Norman gave orders from his office inside the ministry of defence. He derives his Power from his Kama or militia the thousands of tribal Hunters who have traditionally sided with the government. Normans men gird themselves for Battle by applying Oil to their skin putting on wigs mirrors and horns and reciting verses from the Koran and the Bible a so that a they will be saved from Ruf bullets a Norman said. The re emergence of warlord ism in Sierra Leone has led experts to draw parallels with Somalia where the West had a traumatic experience with peace 4 keeping in Africa. The similarity is one reason that Washington seems ready to weather criticism rather than become directly engaged in Sierra Leone and that the British keep insisting they Are Here merely to evacuate europeans and offer technical assistance even As their presence at the front line becomes clearer Day by Day. A Sierra Leone is in serious danger of being mired in violence again with the looming possibility of turning into another Somalia a state now being run by bands of warlords a Roble Olaye the ambassador from Djibouti to the United nations said at the Security councils first Public debate on Sierra Leone on thursday. Olaye whose country Borders Somalia added a we cannot abandon Sierra clan warfare in Somalia the United nations also found itself trying to keep peace in a stateless territory riven by clan warfare alongside . Troops under direct . Command. There too they came to oppose one warlord Gen. Mohammed Farah aided. The operation came to a disastrous end when 18 american soldiers were killed during an attack on aided. Somalia traumatized the West especially the United states in such a Way that the in remained paralysed in the face of Large scale massacres in Rwanda in 1994. At least half a million Tutsi were killed in an event that directly led to the later War in Congo. If Sierra Leone is considered a test of the West a resolve in african peacekeeping it is because Congo presents the same problems a though on a grander scale. Congo where the United nations is considering sending a peacekeeping Force is the size of Western Europe. There too the governments authority is limited to the capital Kinshasa. During the cold War the late dictator Mobutu sese seko could count on the West to provide Money and arms. Now congolese warlords armies from five foreign countries and innumerable militias have carved up the Congo into various strongholds plundering its Mineral riches to buy arms. President Laurent Kabilka who was for decades a Small scale warlord in Congo a Northeast is the head of the country scentral government. Kabilka May not be a warlord technically. But in his persistent efforts to Block his country a peace negotiations he is surely one of the a National leaders who Are so insular whose vision is so narrow that in their concerns about their own Power and survival the interests of their people done to count a Asun Secretary general Kofi Annan said on Friday describing leaders who made peacekeeping a much More Complex operation than it was in the past. In Sierra Leone the warlords seem to be Back at War with one another. Even if the fighting is contained in the near future the warlords have gained legitimacy and Power As the government and the United nations had no Choice but to become Allied with them. Any. Times news service the haunting symphony of howls begins suddenly a somewhere off in the distance. Its a sound that seems to embody the spirit of the North. Some 15 or 20 seconds later the music stops just As if an invisible chorus master had Given a signal. Then again the wild Anthem climbs into another Crescendo before dying off abruptly. After trudging several Hundred metres More along the narrow deeply gouged Trail that has been Cut through the thick Aspen Woodland and Marsh one soon finds the source of this thrilling other worldly like song. There in Large Wood and wire pens Are the singers Cousteau Ang Ayuk Vercos Kun Vlasuk nor suck Ami of a Karidi Vanga Frison Anam in Intro Naner Tak Capi Thor Tek one and Ronsard. They re All Canadian inuit sled dogs. The healthy looking canines most of whom seem excited to see a stranger belong to Michael and Genevieve Monaco Broux. They All live on 256 hectares of secluded land near Inwood approximately 80 Kilometres Northwest of Winnipeg in Manitoba a ruggedly Beautiful Interlake Region. First fell in love while sitting around the table in their still unfinished self built Home Genevieve a former professional Ballet dancer and teacher explains that she first fell in love with inuit dogs As a school girl in Post War France after Reading the Book boreal by French Arctic adventurer Paul Emile Victor. A a it a hard to explain a she says. A sometimes you read something and you re moved by it. I said that i want to go there Northern Canada and live with those people inuit and be with those but dreams can take a Long time to materialize. She first went to great Britain in 1964 to improve her English. While studying and working As an editor for Pergamo press in Oxford Genevieve met her future husband. A i was a student and becoming a teacher. I was changing professions from the seed Grain business a adds Michael who a the coordinator for Campus Manitoba the distance education Arm for Manitoba a three universities. A when i finished my studies in 1968, we moved Here. Id grown up with the idea that Canada was the place to go. We went to Northern Saskatchewan. I took a teaching Job in a Small town Genevieve says she was kept Busy As a homemaker and raising their two Young children at the time. A few years later the couple moved up to fort Churchill now just Churchill on Hudson Bay where Michael worked As a teacher for three years. A a we be lived and worked from the Yukon to the Eastern Arctic a says Michael who credits his wife with being the expert on the dogs. Genevieve says during their time in the far North they saw inuit sled dogs in action on numerous Occa Monaco Broux Heads an International organization that provides information about inuit sled dogs. Sions. In 1988, adds Michael they finally purchased two of the increasingly scarce dogs from a breeder in Yellowknife . They had also purchased their Pristine property near Inwood by then. A we had seen up North How dog teams were being replaced by snowmobiles and we saw that when they stopped using these dogs they inuit and others who used the dogs for work no longer maintained the dogs in their pure form a says Michael who adds that a lot of inter Breeding with other Breeds of dogs began to happen at that time. Today Genevieve author of the Book the Canadian inuit dog Canadas heritage whippoorwill presses the head of inuit sled dog International an organization that provides information about the Breed. A it also acts As a network for the Exchange of dogs by serious breeders a a she says. A we want to preserve and maintain the inuit dog As a working that seems to be already happening. On May i the Nunavut legislative Assembly officially adopted the Canadian inuit dog As the mammal Emblem of Nunavut territory. A what is important is that the dogs have been essential to the survival of the inuit people for thousands of years and now they re being officially recognized a Genevieve says. Leon Decaire a Winnipeg police officer also recognizes the value of the dogs. He purchased his two inuit female dogs sing Arnak and Ping a suet from the Montrom Brouws nine years ago. He uses them for sledding skijoring a being pulled on Cross country skis a and backpacking in the summer. A Michael and Genevieve have done a lot to keep the dogs pure blooded a he says adding that inuit dogs with their wolfish muzzles their Long hair and varied colours Are Beautiful animals. They re also Loyal. A they make great pets and Are very intelligent and very affectionate a Decaire says. A but they can be a Little bit ;