No need to promote use of video games Dear Editor: Iam a 12-year-old boy who lives in West Vancouver. I attend Rockridge middle school, and I live very close to. many new technologies that we are having the Opportunity to experiment with. I am writing to express my disappointment with what you published in your April 11 paper. While video games certainly have their place in life, they do not need a space in a paper (yes, I even enjoy these games myself). I. am_ referring to “Shaun Conlin’s Video Game Picks of the Week,” also pubjished under the flashy headline “WWE jerky but addictive.” While I believe in free- dom of the press, [ do not see the point to this article. The subject of video games, - being a. doubrful column subject in the first place, is even worse when it is written in sub-par language. In the first paragraph alone, | managed to find the words that I would rather tiot see in your paper, either for what they are, or for the way they were used. These included “jerky,” “censtipat- ed,” “barfs,” and “kicking the spit.” This latter quote was used in such a way that [ thought the author meant something even less news- worthy. | will not repeat what I think its meaning was here, Finally, Mr. Conlin’s bad taste is amazing in his game picks of the week. Video games are fun and the good ones are definitely addicting, but three of his five picks are extremely violent games. Doom 64, Command and Conquer, and Tomb Raider are all violent. All but Tomb Raider are now over two years old, and all of them are based on IBM computer counterparts. I spend upwards of an hour a day playing video games, and I realize how easy it is to become addicted to them. However, I do not think that they are a good influence on us, and they do not need further publicity. Word of mouth does more than cnough of chat. Deven pikkleGaxionet.com Compete Mechanicai Repairs & Service 183 Pemberton Ave. TALKING YELLOW PAGES 985-7195 zs ZO BLS. Get a break in Victoria! It’s a great time fora break, and Ocean Pointe Resort Hotel & Spa is the place to go — especially with this very attractive price break plus the $20 food & beverage credit. Located on the Inner Harbour, steps from attractions and shopping. Ask about our spa, golf & whale watching packages! Call your travel agent, or the hotel directly at: 1-800-667-4677 OCEAN POINTE RESORY, rae AMA ESO pee — On the Harbours at 45 Songhees Rd., Victoria, B.C. Canada V9A 6T3 (Gin Uhanend } Tel. (250) 360-2999 Fax (250) 360-1041 Website: wwwoprhetelcons CRS Access Code: 7H | Toll Free 1-800-667-4677 ae id Chemt * Price per room, based on per night occupancy. All taxes extra. Packages are offered subject to availability thrs Apr. 30/97. visgusted over Dear Editor: To the person who threw dog excrement in a plastic bag over my six-foot fence into my garden: Congratulations! You have managed with that gesture to be one ofa kind. I have lived at this address for over 16 years and never had that happen before. Seems that your dog is a smaller size and that ¥) ted white, m.p. dog dung dump you are new in the neighborhood. Why don’t you stop by next time for a cup of coffee and to see my beautifisl garden. 1 have a waterfall thar I built myself. Maybe you would change your mind from using my garden as a sewage dump. Jarmila Stroleny North Vancouver advertorial, April 16/97 © EQUALITY, DISCRIMINATION, COURT CHALLENGES On March 4, 1997 | received a letter from a North Vancouver resident who was very concerned about the Selt- Employment Assistance Program being run by El (or Ul a3 it was cafled until recently). Accompanying the letter was a copy of the Human Resources Canada brochure which explained how the Program could help entrepreneurial people start their own businesses while collecting El funempioyment insurance). However, it was not the business start-up propesal which was of concern — fa fact the writer thought it wes a good idea. The problem he identified was that the program specifically excludes white males under 45 years of age, one of the groups with the highest unemployment rates in the country, and one which would obviously benefit from ths program. The exact wording in the brochure states, “Candidates must belong to one of the five federally designated equity groups: Women/Men 45 years and older/Visible Minority/Aboriginal/People with Disabilities.” Despite making a few enquiries in Ottawa, t have been unable to determine why the SEA program is so discriminatory in natura. | even brought up the topic in Parliament on March 20th and 21st without receiving any answers from the Government side as to how they could justify supporting a program which excludes a large group of unemployed people from access to a program which could help them get back on their feet. As a result of the lack of response, | decided to investigate whether ihe program could be challenged as discriminatory with the assistance of the Court Challenges Program. COURT CHALLENGES Shortly after the Liberal Government took office in 1993, it re-introduced the Court Challenges program which had previously been scrapped by the PCs. The program vecelves $2.75 million per year from the Department of Canadian Heritage, and its principal mandate is “to provide financial assistance for test cases of national significance that wiil help encourage . the rights of official janguage minority communities and the equality rights of historically disadvantaged groups.” Unfortunately, when | read through the application form for funding for equality rights cases, | discovered that the mandate, as prinied above, is just as discriminatory as tho El program | had planned to challenge. Young white males cannot receive funding to fight cases of discrimination against them because the rules state “The Program is only allowed to give equality rights funding to people who are members of historically disadvantaged groups or fo non-profit organizations which represent historically disadvantaged groups and their members.” SOME SAMPLE CASES After discovering that a grant was not available to challenge what appeared to me to be a very discriminatory El program of the Federal Government, | decided to take a look at the 1995-1996 Court Challenges Annual Report in order to find out exactly what sort of cases are receiving support using your tax dollars. Here a few examples from that report: %* Funding was provided for two cases involving the equality rights of non- citizens, including recentiy arrived immigrants and refugees. The cases are chatlenging the recently impesed $975 landing fee and $500 processing fee, which all immigrants and refugees must pay prior to having their applications considered. * Funding was provided to litigants in Lavzie and Thanh Hien v. The Attorney General of Canada which involved a challenge to the Public Service Employment Act because it denies equal access to employment opportunities for permanent residents who are not citizens of Canada. The applicants lost at trial and have now received funding to- appeal. % Twa organizations representing federally sentenced prisuners at Stoney Mountain . Institution received a grant to challenge the Elections Act because it denied them the right to vote. They claimed that as inmates they are. disadvantaged in. society through marginalization, political vuinerability, stereotyping and social prejudice, so that removing their right to vote reinforced their social disadvantage. The Federal Court Judge who heard the case disagreed. *& Funding has been provided to a man who wants to develop a challenge to a section of the Bankruptcy Act dealing with discharge proceedings. He intends to argue that the Court, in considering discharge requests, has an obligation toe consider evidence of the historic disadvantage suffered by black persons in Canada and the effects of that disadvantaged position on the applicant's ability to meei discharge condittons. (If this case is successful, we can only assume that every isderal law would have to be aitered to. take into account the special claims of historically disadvantaged groups. Would this not mean different laws based on race, instead of equality under the law, and would this not be apartheid?) . UP TO $50,000 tf you think you have a case which could qualify under the Court Challenges Program, you may be eligible for a grant of up to $50,000 at the trial level and $35,000 for an appeal. tn addition, interveners may receive $15,000 to $35,000, while various other smaller amounts are given out for studies and case preparation. On the other hahd, if the whole idea of a Court Challenges Program’ annoys you, drop a line to the Minister of Heritage, Hon Sheila Copps, at The House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OA6. No postage stamp is required. It fs interesting to note that the Court Challenges Program provided funding for the Thibaudeau case which challenged the taxation of child support payments in the hands of the custodial paront, and to Egan and Nesbit who challenged provisions in the Old Age Security . Act which deny a spousal benefit to a same sex partner. The Thibaudeau case was Instrumental in leading to a change in the law regarding the taxation of child support, white the ruling In the Egan case was that the provisions contained in the Cid Age Security Act was justified and that the reeponsibility lay with the politicians as to when and whether the Act should be changed. Ted White, M.P.; #302-1200 Lynn Valley Road, North Mancouver, B.C. V7} zA2 jorm.ca/white-t/o-" ~ Tel.: 666-0585 : Fax: 666-0509, Internet: ht