| Doug Collins

w@ get this straight @

IN THE never-ending fuss over how much dough the
Japanese-Canadians should have for being interned and
losing their property nigh on 50 years ago, it’s hard to
select a winner for the Collins Contempt Award: the politi-
cians, the media, or Art Miki and Co. But on balance |

would give it to the media.

The other day the Vancouver
Evening Wimp produced what
must have been its 999th story on
the matter, headlined Valley of
Shame, no less, and written by the
resident sob-sister. In previous
stories, indeed, the Wimp has
talked about concentration
camps, just as if the Slocan area
to which the Japanese were sent
‘| had been staffed with guards who

ate babies-for breakfast.

_ A laugh, that, considering that

when there was a prospect’ of
| Japanese battleships dropping an-
f chor off Victoria, the Wimp stir-

red the pot. At that time it was

“get those Japs out, of here’’.

Long after the danger was over, in

fact, the newspaper was still howl-

ing for blood.
On August 1,

} editorial read:
“What British Columbians

1945, its lead

| want to know is whether the Japs .

can’t be sent out of the country
for good.”’

With the: Wimps of the world,
it’s a:case of which’ ‘way the wind
is Blowing, , ‘of .course. But how
good. it would: be if some politi-

’ p .in ‘the House of

Commons and shouted:
“Enough! What’s done is done.
And you can forget it, Mr. Miki

of the National Association of ,

Japanese Canadians, if you think
you’re going to screw us for $443
million.

“If it’s money you're after, ask
Tokyo. They’ve got plenty and it
was they or their daddies who
started the argument back in °41.

“As for apologies, get lost.
What do you think we are? Even-
ing Wimp feature writers? Or
scribblers for the National Wimp,
otherwise known as the Globe and
Mail? Get lost, I say!’’

Alas, we shall never hear a
speech like that. Instead, we have
that little twit David Crombie, the
current Mr. Multicult, shedding a
tear and raising the ante on what
his predecessor offered.

Oh, he knows he wouldn’t dare
to hand over the $443 millicn,
calculated by some tame accoun-
tants. But the $6 million that was
offered for some stupid memorial
fund has now become $12 million,
and if he has his way the Com-
mons will ‘‘express its regrets’’ for
our big war crime.

The biggest foo! of all is Brian
Baloney. He it was who said in the
1984 election campaign that the
Japanese would be compensated,
their rights having been ‘‘trampl-
ed upon’. Not that he gave a
damn about ‘“‘rights’’. To him,
throwing money in the Mikis’
direction is just another bit of
political patronage.

If he had kept his silly mouth
shut the issue would have died a
natural death, Pierre Trudeau
having stated previously that com-
pensation was a no-no. But what
Baloney gains on the Japanese sw-
ing he will lose on the public roun-
dabout. Most people over 60 will
be bitter as hell about both the
money -- any money -- and the
apologies.

Forgotten in all this is that com-.
pensation has already been paid
once and that there was an inquiry
into the prices paid for Japanese
property.

In 1947, Mr. Justice Ffenry Ir-
vine Bird headed a royal commis-
sion. Advertisements were placed
in newspapers instructing the
Japanese how to complain if they
thought they hadn’t been paid
enough, and many awards were

~made. Ask Mr. Glenn McPherson

of West Van. He still has those
ads and represented the govern-
ment at the hearings. So why go
into all that again now? And why
pay twice?

Last year, the CBC’s Fifth
Estate interviewed Mr. McPher-
son on the Japanese story. The
cameras rolled for two-and-a-half
hours. But he was seen on air for
only one minute and 20 seconds.
What he had to say didn’t fit into
the CBC’s story line, you see.

“I will never be interviewed by
the CBC again unless it’s done
live,’’ he told me:

That’s another reason for
choosing the media for the Collins
Contempt Award.

it

oe 00s eh

Coltingwond, School

10 am -3 pm

Country Hair
Saturday, May 30, 1987

9 —. Friday, May 29, 1987 --North Shore News

Mailbox

WV reader backs
outdoor burning

Dear Editor:

I find it hard to believe that
more than a small, though vocal,
minority of householders in this
garden municipality would support
any change to our reasonable
bylaws governing outdoor burning.

After all, a maximum of 16
(usually less because of rain) burn-
ing days out of 365 cannot be such
a great hardship. The alternative
of shipping to the dump i$ incon-
venient and expensive, and will

result in earlier filling of that
limited space.

“SI should add that I myself suffer
from asthma and allergies. These
include, for example, laurel
blossom. But I do not suggest that
laurels should be eradicated, nor
that dump trucks should be bann-
ed for their emissions, which are
far from pleasant.

F. Dennis
West Vancouver

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