IN THIS present full in the
rhetoric over Quebec
separatism, I have been
tinkering with an idea: Why
don’t we prepare a referen-
dum on the francophone
dilemma along the lines of
the recent Canadian census?

By Brian Swarbrick
Contributing Writer

Frankly I think whatever we do
is too late, that English Canada
has lost the battle to keep the
Quebec francophone element
within Confederation. But as a
means of at least getting all the
cards on the table, a census-type
referendum might work.

What I liked about the census
was that it was textured; it gave us
a three-dimensional picture of
ourseives.

A referendum on Quebec could
be similarly textured, in the form
of a series of questions, very
carefully phrased, so there'd be
some room for nuance.

The questions would give all
Canadians an opportunity to ex-
press themselves as to exactly how
they feel about the ‘‘speciainess’’
of Quebec and Quebecers and
francophones generally.

And it would send the clearest
signal to all Canadians whether
there is any point in pursuing an
answer within the Constitution to
the Quebec problem.

If we can’t find a solution
within Canada, then, as bitter a
pill as that may be, we would be
forced to set up the machinery to
allow the province of Quebec to
place itself outside Canada.

My reason for turning this

debate over to the public is that I
think it is dangerous to leave it in
the hands of the politicians.

Like most British Columbians, I
can manage to get through a day
without giving a thought to the

Friday, June 28, 1991 - North Shore News - 7

ITS STILL
BREATHING!

AORTHSHOCEV ERS [easing DAK GY

prospect of the citizens of Quebec
going it alone as something other
than Canadians.

I can get through the tedium of
a series of premiers’ conferences
on that subject. I can even suffer
yet another Sunday morning of
Pamela Wallin poking through the
debris of Meech Lake.

But what I cannot take is what
I suppose I should have realized
would be inevitable: a run of
public affairs specials on The Oka
Incident: Whose Fault Was It?

What’s that have to do with
Quebec, you say? Everything.

You see, | know whose fault
Oka was. It was the politicians’
fault, for failing to resolve, not
the Mohawk problem, but the

francophone problem. The very
concept of the ‘‘specialness’’? of
one group of Canadians over the
rest of Canada was bound to pro-
duce an Oka.

There are hotheads in all the
minority groups that make up this
country. Give them an opportuni-
ty, and they’re going to go for
their moment in the sun. All it
then takes is a little mismanage-
ment on both sides, and the next
things you know, guns.

I need no more help from poli-
ticians in solving the francophone
dilemma. Personally, I find it
pointlessly demeaning to listen to
any further demands for conces-
sions that provide special status
for Quebec.

Name honors Linn family

Open letter to Premier Rita
Johnston, John Parks and Lands
and Parks Minister Dave Parker:

Keep your hands off! Leave it
alone! Don’t change the name of
Lynn Canyon Park.

John Parks has suggested that
the mame be changed to Jack
Davis Provincial Park. Premier
Rita Johnston has given her bless-
ing to this. I find it very intriguing

that no one has asked the popula-
tion of North Vancouver.

The name for Lynn Canyon
Park comes from the Linn family
who were pioneers in the early
1900s and lived on the lower por-
tion of Lynn Creek. If we are ever
to have any history in Canada, we
have to stop re-naming things with
more ‘‘up-to-date’’ names.

Jack Davis was indeed a force

to be reckoned with in North
Vancouver, and his name does
deserve to be remembered. How-
ever, why not name a new place
after him, such as the wave pool,
new shopping area on Mt.
Seymour Parkway. or even a road
within a new sub-division?

J. Hills

North Vancouver

Find better way to remember

Dear Editor:

I was very concerned to see, in
your June 8 issue, the proposal to
rename Lynn Canyon Park “Jack
Davis Provincial Park.’’

I had the honor to know Jack
Davis, and I respected him as a
very fine person who in my opi-
nion had more brains and in-
telligence than all the rest of the
Social Credit MLAs put together.

He was also the most gentlemanly
sportsman 1 had ever met. How-
ever, | do not approve of long-
standing geographical identifica-
tion names being replaced by the
names of politicians no matter
how worthy they were.

This proposed politicization of
Lynn Canyon Park being left to
the whim of Dave Parker,
Minister of Lands and Parks is a

sick joke, keeping in mind his past

performance as Minister of
Forests.
Will Dave Parker categorize

Lynn Canyon Park as a Class B
Provincial Park and then allow
selective logging?

Let us find some other suitable
way to honor Jack Davis.
J.U. Murray
North Vancouver

Premier Bourassa, for my
money, is a greedy boy. I think he
probably thinks he is in a win-win
situation, too, because the rest of
Canada will give in rather than
risk separation. And | suspect he
has misread us.

1 think we owe the French-
speaking people of Canada the
right that they were born with: to
communicate with their govern-
ment in the French fanguage.

But I think they deserve no
other concessions.

For my money, the preservation
of the French language has al-
ready doomed the 10-province
Confederation as we presently
know it.

Consider this:

The  separatist-leaning urban
sophisticates control the culture of
French Canada. Incredibly, in 2
single generation, they have suc-
ceeded in weaning away the
Quebecois from the mainstream of
Canadian culture.

Successive Canadian govern-
ments have leaned back and wat-
ched it happen. While we were
listening to Anne Murray and
watching the Grey Cup, the peo-
ple of French Canada developed a

culture that draws on nothing
from English Canada.
Today, they have their own

print and electronic journalism;
their own drama, literature, popu-
lar music and television; their own
performing stars and TV
celebrities; their own sporls and
sports celebrities. The Grey Cup is
history; they are now courting the
World feague.

If the French-speaking Cana-
dian continues to be cut off or
weaned away from the
mainstream of Canadian pre-
occupations, how long will it be
until, in any useful sense, he will
not be Canadian any more?

He will not have the gut instinct
that tells him he is a part of
whatever it is that the rest of us
are part of — because he is not
part of it.

These one-time Canadians will
have become simply Quebecers,
and their focus will be totally on
whatever it is they tell themselves
that Quebec is.

Is this really happening? Judge
for yourself. Note, for instance,
that French Canadians as far
removed from la belle province as
Super Natural B.C. are provided
only Expo games on the CBC
French TV station here. The only
NHL games broadcast in their
language involve Quebec teams.

At sign-off, the station broad-
casts a continuous overnight time
signal that displays for the
sleepless B.C. francophone what
hour and minute and second it is
in — where? Why, Montreal, of
course.

Other parks could
use the attention

but
also did not know when to
leave gracefully and for that he
will also be remembered.

Dear Editor:
So John Parks, former
Social Credit candidate for

North Van-Seymour, wishes to
see Lynn Canyon Park renam-
ed Jack Davis Provincial Park.

Lynn Canyon Park serves
the community very well the
way it is. Local citizens fought
hard to preserve it and it
should be left the way it is
both in name and stature. 1 do
not recall Mr. Davis being very
vocal in this fight to save the
park.

Jack Davis served in gov-
ernment at various Jevels for
many years. He did some fine

things, unfortunately he

In this time of budget
restraint, where are the funds
coming from to acquire and
operate this park as a Class A
provincial park? If the present
government wishes to buy vutes
by buying park land, how
about the Upper Carmanah,
the Tsitika Valley or the Tat-
shenshini Wilderness on the
B.C., Yukon and Alaska
border?

Viire Daniels
North Vancouver

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