Cie we te

Not all are
GST equal

IT MUST make you feel
good to know that when
you pzy GST on your kham-
burger in a Park Royal
South restaurant, the
pampered Red Brother sit-
ting next to you is having a
good laugh at your expense
— literally, he not having to
pay the tax.

It's the same with almost
everything else in the mall. You
pay, the Red Brothers don’t, the
place being on Indian land. The
only exception — so far — is li-
quor. I asked the staff at the li-
quor store whether the Indians
have to pay GST on booze. They
do, but it’s ‘tin dispute’? — you
bet — and a ruling is expected
soon.

All of which is just another ex-
ample of how the feds favor the
Indians, who allegedly belong to
the nation’s downtrodden. Al-
ready, they are costing us $4
billion a year and contribute prac-
tically nothing to the federal
treasury.

Something might be said for
this latest example of federal fain-
theartedness if the Squamish band
were actually living on the site,
since Indians on reservations don’t
pay taxes — thanks to the ridicu-
lous Indian Act. But that, ob-
viously, is not the case. They have
rented the land out.

Could aryone else expect to
have such a tax privilege? If you
know of anyone, speak, for a fot
of other people would like to get
into the act.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Fi-
nance Minister Michael Wilson,
the GST guru, didn’t exempt the
Indians from GST on booze, too.
A spy has sent me a copy of the
letter Wilson wrote to George
Erasmus, national chief of the
so-called Assembly of First Na-
tions.

In that letter, dated Nov. 23 of
last year, Wilson goes on bended
knee.

He telis Erasmus that as far as
Indians are concerned, Ottawa has
adopted ‘‘a fairly broad approach
... in this new area of sales taxa-
tion.

“On reserve purchases of goods

* by Indian individuals and Indian

bands will not be subject to
GST,” he continues. And “this
treatment will be extended to off-
reserve purchases of goods which
are delivered to the reserve by the
vendor or his agent.”

If that means what it says, In-
Gians can buy a suit or anything
else, have it delivered, and pay no

2,

Doug
Collins

ON THE OTHER HAND

GST on it.

The same goes for off-reserve
purchases of services purchased
for band management and real
property. And if they hire a
lawyer or an accountant to do
work related to residential proper-
ty, they pay no GST on that, ei-
ther.

Erasmus <cust have done a lot
of whingeing and whining,
because the Red Tory tells his Red
Brother that he is prepared to
grant even more goodies.

“‘Band-empowered’’ schools
and hospitals will also be exempt
from the tax, and to cap that,
“Indians will also be eligible for
the GST credits of up to $290a
year.’?

As Wilson put it, he wants
Erasmus’s assistance in making
sure that Indians get the full
benefits of the GST credit, and
hopes that he and his friend can
“come to a mutual understanding
on a tax regime that is efficient
and fair to the Indian communi-
ty.”

Last October, I listed some of
the things the Indians get at public
expense: free dental treatment,
free medicare, free university
education, subsidized housing,
and no *on-reserve’ property tax.

And now this Park Royal
business.

If we had any influence on whai
goes on in this country, I would
say we are a bunch of damned
fools. But we don’t. And until we
get a referendum system of gov-
ernment, we never will. The polit-
ical parties will simply compete
with one another for the votes of
the minorities, and damn the ma-
jority.

16th & Lonsdale, NORTH VANCOUVER 985-9161

Wednesday, February 6, 1991 — North Shore News - 9

To all parents,

“Ve are sure you are aware that contract negotiations are taking place between the North Vancouver Teachers’ Associa-
tion and the School Board. The NVTA has encountered a number of serious difficulties during this bargaining process
which have forced us into a series of escalating job actions.

Our concern has built into extreme frustration because two problems, evident since the onset of negotiations on May
10, 1990, have not been resolved.

Our first concern is the pace of the negotiations. in May last year, the NVTA tabled one hundred ten clauses and the
School Board tabled ninety-one. in over seventy days and five hundred hours of bargaining we still have 35 clauses
to go. We have been without a contract since July 1, 1990. All other school districts in the Lower Mainland have settled
with the exception of Richmond and Vancouver, which only began negotiations in November. There is no other teacher
local in the province that has spent so long, so patiently, at the bargaining table with so little to show for it.

tt is now too late to implement clauses such as class size and special needs resources for this schoo! year. The time
and energy involved in the bargaining process is draining on teachers who are already dealing with the responsibility
and workload of teaching. The costs are very high to you as a taxpayer, since the Board pays a full time bargaining
chairperson and releases other Schoo! Board employees for each session.

In addition to the slow pace of bargaining, we are also disturbed by the attitude of the Schoo! Board during this process.
The NVTA has frequently adjusted clause language in an attempt to reach compromise. This flexibility has not been
reciprocated and the Schooi Board team has shown a marked intransigence throughout the negotiations.

Our negoiiating team, until very recently, has spent many days struggling to sign off clauses which incur no financial
casts to the Board, but which are essential to teachers’ dignity, automony, job protection and working conditions. Wages
irave never yet been an issue during the current sound of negotiations.

Our segotiating team is spending long days at the bargaining table preventing reduction of North Vancouver School
District education services which we consider essential ta both our working conditions and learning conditions for children.
For example, it took many hours to convince the Board that Special Needs and Learning Assistance resources, counsellors
and librarians, must be maintained at least at the current level and number. These services and personnel are essential
to the well-being of students in this District. Teachers are also trying to secure some guarantee that resources willl be
available to implement the Year 2000 Primary Program and to respond to the new Intermediate and Graduate Programs.

In terms of cost items, four days were spent trying to establish reasonable class size limits on a par with numbers already
agreed to in the contract language of other school districts. Our team met so much resistance from the Board team
that this language has now been tabled until a later date. Class size is probably the most single most important condi-
tion in your child’s learning environment. We have been hoping to engage in trusting and productive dialogue at the
bargaining table. With this in mind, teachers have worked very hard on an information campaign since last November
50 parents and Trustees could be made aware of our concerns (no Trustees had attended negotiations from September
28 to the end of November, 1990). We have written to and spoken with the Schoo! Board, individual Trustees, and
Parent Councils. We were optimistic that if enough people expressed their concern, clauses would be signed off more
quickly and the Board would demonstrate more flexibility and organization, and a more positive and respectful attitude
toward teachers at the bargaining table.

Our patience has not been rewarded.

North Vancouver teachers have been in a legal position to strike since December 10, 1990. We have historically placed
our trust in the elected Board of School Trustees to exercise their responsibility in ensuring an amenable, fair and ex-
peditious conclusion to contract negotiations. However, due to the continued slow pace of present negotiations, we
have been forced to implement a series of escalating job actions to stress the need for prompt resolution of issues still
outstanding. Teachers are currently in their schools between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and are not leading extracur-
ricular (voluntary) activities outside these hours. We are limiting our administrative paperwork to that which is necessary
to ensure the safety of children, and we are not attending staff meetings.

We realize that these steps are disruptive on a short term basis, but we believe that the temporary hardship is necessary
to prevent the long term erosion of learning conditions for the children of North Vancouver. The conditions we seek
are on an economic par with those in the rest of the province.

Our working conditions are your child’s learning conditions. We also want to keep the talented, dedicated and hard-

working people currently teaching in this District, and to attract that same skill and talent into the teaching profession
in future years as a shortage of teachers looms.

We need your support. Please call or write your School Trustees and the School Board to urge a speedy resolution
to this Collective Agreement. Talk to the Chief Staff Representative at your child’s school for more information, and
share this letter with other parents and community members.

We thank you for your sustained interest in our efforts to ensure the best possible education for your child and all the

children of North Vancouver. aw
as
T=

ROQTH VACOUVER
TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION.

Yours sincerely,
Linda Watson, President NVTA
On behalf of the teachers of North Vancouver School District