Verdict
erodes
morale

From page 7

savs and thinks she saw.

But there is a mountain
of evidence and witness tes-
timony that says she is
wrong.

Caprari herself is a tragic
figure.

She lost an eye ina durv-
related incident when she
was kicked by a prisoner.
She underwent considerable
therapy and, in my view,
should not have been put
back into a high-stress envi-
ronment, like patrol, again.
Her subsequent history has
been rather checkered and, I
believe, is directly related to
the loss of her eve.

Largely, it seems it is
because of her tragic history
that Miller supported her in
the way he did. He couldn’t
convict the “Roxy Three”
with all the evidence to the
contrary, So he took the
path of least resistance and
potted Brewer on the
Dowler incident.

Unfortunately the mes-
sage that sends is wrong and
dangerous. Every time a cop
makes an arrest and the sus-
pect resists, the officer will
have to decide whether to
react.

This indecision could
result in a police officer get-
ting needlessly hurt.

he “Roxy Three”
arrived home to find phone
messages from personnel
Sergeant Val Harrison,
offering them reinstatement
to any patrol position of
their choice.

She said she had been
authorized by the chief to
make the offer.

Interestingly enough,
sources tell me, all three
declined.

For them, in this poi-
soned political atmosphere,
it’s much safer flying a desk.

—— lknight@direct.ca

CORRECTION “NOTICE
in our. B1-3A: Whitd Sale fiyer.
SunbeanvOster breadmaker on page
418 will not be available for this promo-
tion-will be substitutac at the store.
Beaumark 6-programme washer on
page 21 should have read “Save $110
Beauimark 2-oregramme washer”.
Beaumark dishwasher #40561 on page
21 is @ portable dishwasher and not aj
built-in model.

Sorry for any inconvenience

is pay. have caused.

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SPECIAL EDITION
NISGA'A DEAL SUPPORTERS

Based cn the copies received at my office, a
lot of you decided to write to the contact fist on
the back of my recent "Householder" with
respect to the Nisga'a Treaty. Almost ail of those
letters expressed serious concerns about the
treaty process in general, and the Nisga‘a Deal
in particular, but {| also weicomed receiving
about a dozen communications from support-
ers of the Nisga'a deal, because their letters
challenged me to defend the stand ! have taken
in opposition. Here are some of the issues
raised by ardent Nisga‘a Treaty supporters, one
of whom was our local TV personality, David
Ingram.

REFERENDUMS AND RIGHTS

All but one of the Nisga’a Treaty support letters
contained strong opposition to the idea of a public
referendum, citing reasons such as, "We can't
have a referendum on minority rights" or
"We elect our MPs and MLAs to make these
decisions for us." in fact, the defeat of the
Nisga'a Treaty in a referendum would not eliminate
a single minority right, since minority rights are pro-
tected in our Constitution. The Nisga‘a Treaty is
really about the conferring of additionai,
special rights, based solely on race, not
about the elimination of existing rights. |
cannot think of one good reason why our govern-
ments should be permiited to confer additional
rights on a specific group of Canadians without the
express permission of the voters. Let those who
have agreed to such rights in closed door negotia-
tions convince the rest of us that they are even nec-
essary, let alone justified.

As tor the position that “we elect our MPs
and MLAs to make these decisions for us" |
find it hard to believe that some people stilt cling to
the mistaken and rather naive belief that MPs are
more qualilied than anyone else in the community to
predict the likely impact of new legislation. Frankly,
hoping you elect intelligent and thoughtful repre-
sentatives as MPs is not nearly enough to ensure
that it is so, and anyone visiting Ottawa for a few
days can certainly witness for themselves the dys-
functional nature of our Parliament. It is a place of
the PARTIES, not a piace of the people, with MPs
being {little more than trained seals, who for the most
part have not the faintest idea what they are voting
on. Most de not read the Bills because they do not
have to — the Party Whip instructs them how to vote,
so kncwing what is in a Bill, cr even what a vote is
about, is irrelevant to the process.

In addition, MPs know the outcome of almost
every vote before the debate begins because the
ruling Party, which has just 38% of the popular vote,
has 160% of the power. And to top it all off, THAT
POWER !S CONCENTRATED IN THE PRIME MIN-
ISTER'S OFFICE, WHICH MEANS THAT IT [IS
ENTIRELY POSSIBLE FOR JUST ONE PERSON
TO MAKE EVERY VOTING DECISION IN PARLIA-
MENT. Think about it, and ask yourself
whether you truly believe that this is a
preferabie system to letting the people of
Canada make important decisions in refer-
enda?

One tinal question for those who believe that the
MP is elected to make decisions for you: “Why
then did you bother to write to me in sup-
port of the Nisga‘a Deal? if you truly
believe that I am elected to make the deci-
sion for you, then you must assume that I
am smarter and betier informed than you
are, and you should simply accept my posi-
tion on the Nisga'a Deal without any fur-
ther discussion."

WE NEED CERTAINTY
Another major theme running through the letters
of support for the Nisga'a Treaty was the claim that
it will bring the certainty needed to improve the busi-
ness investment climate in our Province.
Urifortunately though, there is no evidence whatso-
ever that a template like the Nisga'a Deal will bring

such certainty. In fact, the Auditor General of
Canada, whose job it is to be impartial on
such issues, has made it clear that, based
on past Canadian experience, he considers
treaties like the Nisga'a Deal to be pre-
scriptions for ongoing costly litigation and
uncertainty. lf | have to choose between the spin
doctor assurances of the present Provincial
Government, and the carefully considered opinion
of the Auditor General of Canada, | know whom |
would rather believe.

Yes, we need certainty, but the Nisga’a Deal
has already attracted five separate lawsuits
before it has even passed through the
Provincial Legislature, and may even be found
to be unconstitutional because of its delegation
of Federal and Provincial powers to another
level of government. The reality is, certainty will
oniy come when there is widespread public
agreement as to the basic principles which can
be included in negotiated treaties.

THE REFERENDUM OPTION

Critics of Direct Democracy often state that
"Referendums can only be held on simple
issues with a yes or no answer,” yet all of the
evidence available worldwide suggests exactly the
opposite, and two recent examples in Canadian his-
tory were no exception — the Charlottetown Accord,
and the Quebec Referendum. Referendums are
actually ideally suited to bringing closure to very
complex issues, particularly those for which elect-
ed officials are unwilling or unable to make a deci-
sion. Proposition 13, the ending of affirmative action
programs, and the legalization of marijuaria for
medical use, are all recent examples from US
states, and virtually every decision of government in
Switzerland, at every level, is made by the people,
complex or not.

Of course, in the end EVERY issue comes down
to a choice between YES and NO. Wher an MP

stands in Parliament to cast a vote he/she can only |

vote YES or NO, not maybe, or parily. The final vote
on a Bill before the House, if there was such a thing
as free votes in Parliament, is always in the form of
a referendum, no matter how complex the issue or
the enacting legistation. Unlike the traditionalists, |
take the position that if the voters of North
Vancouver are smart enough to select me as their
MP then they are certainly smart enough to take
part in the decision-making process, provided they
want to, of course. | will therefore continue to argue
strenuously for your right to vote in a referendum on
the basic principles of treaty-making.

ADDITIONAL POINTS

Additional points made in the fetters from sup-
porters of the Nisga'a Treaty are summarized as fol-
lows, along with my responses:
%* The Householder "... is so racist as to pro-
mote hatred and resentment against an
identifiable group." and it "reads like a
piece of hate literature." (David Ingram).
This type of outburst contributes nothing to a logical
analysis of the Treaty, and in my experience usual-
ly comes from those who are unable to logically
defsnd their own position. Besides, the section
labelled as "racist" by Mr. Ingram contained statis-
tics from Statscan and was written by John Duncan,
a Reform MP who is married to a status Indian, and
who has children from that marriage. On the other
hand, the Nisga‘a template contemplates the setting
up of 50 or more apartheid-like governments in BC
— some with tewer than 50 members. If anything, it
is the Nisga'a Treaty itself which is racially
offensive, and government sanctioned raciem at
thet.
* The Nisga’a have been waiting for hun-
dreds of years for this deal. Just because
somebody has been working on a project for 100
years does not automatically make it right, nor is
this a justilication to enact the Nisga'a Treaty with-
out the people of BC being part of the process.

{continued on page 23)

Ted White; MLP. , #302-1200 Lynn Valley. Road, North Vancouved, B.C.ZVT
"els 666-0585. Fax: 666-0503, Internet: httpi/fwww.reform.cafwhite-t/.\

> Art, politics and history

lectures

The Koerner Lecture Series,
presented by The Capilano
Revwu: kicks off this Friday
at 8 p.m. in the Cedar
building, room 148.
Vancouver poet,

Michael Tumer (Hard Core
Logo, American Whiskey
Bar), will lecture on The
Tyranny of Gente, or Why
Listen to Peter Gzowski
When You Can Talk About
Contemporary Writing!
Inues of genre, modemism,
experimentation and recent
trends in Canadian
literature will be addressed. -
For tickets and information,
call 984-1712. Proceeds go
to The Capilano Review
Endowment Fund.

& Silent auction and

fundraiser

Join us tor an afternoon of
light-hearted entertainment
on Sunday, February 21 in
the Capilano College
Performing Arts Theatre.
The Comedy Company and
Capilano College jazz
ensemble, Nitecap, perform
ata silent auction and
fundraiser in support of
Eldercollegy. The silent
auction begins at 1:30 pun,
followed by entertainment
at 2:30 p.m. Admission is
$12. Please call 984-4906
for more information.

> Portfolio workshop

Leam how to put togethet a
portfolio that gets results. A
workshop will be held
Saturday, February 27 in the
Arbutus building, room (47.
This is also an excellent
opportunity to learn about
Capilano College's Graphic
Design and {Hustration
Program. Thive sessions will
be offered: 9:30 t0 11:30 am;
noon to 2 p.m, and 2:30 to
4:30 p.m. The cost is $15
per session. Call 990-7820
10 Teserve your seat.

j>- Career information

Meetings

Career information meetings
will be held on Thursday,
February 18 at 6:30 p.m. in
the Fir building for the
following programs: Office
Technology (room 502),

Legal Secretarial (room 242),
Medical Office Assistant
(room 215),

Call 984-4959 for more
information. A meeting will
be also be held for the Legal
Assistant program in the

Fir building, room 206 at the
same time. Call 983-7594
for more information.

CAPILANO
COLLEGE

2055 Purcelt Way
North Vancouver
986-1917