ay 6 - Wednesday, April 24, 1991 7 S o af ATA & Avs — North Shore News Pe 8 4 wae “ii SRI ay VIEWPOINT “uturttVlelw sobering spring ARM weather increases both focal sociai activity and alcohol use. As the police and other local agencies gear up for the annual spring CounterAt- tack program aimed at high schocl stu- dents attending grad parties, the North Shore’s adult population should also be re-evaluating the role of alcohol in their celebrations. A recent ‘‘Mocktail Challenge,’’ spon- sored in part by ICBC to encourage the hospitality industry to create appealing non-alcoholic drinks, illustrates an increas- ingly responsible attitude toward alcohol in our society. But we have far to go before we can claim to be providing young people with a good role model. Some parents who de- mand that their children abstain from alcohol themselves have drinks after work, OF THE DAY during dinner and before bed. The lesson taught in such cases is not how to treat alcohol with respect, but that there is a double standard separating the world of adults from the worid of pre- adults. It is a lesson that teaches children that they only have to wait until they’re old enough before they, too, can be regular drinkers. But the misery inflicted by alcohol use and abuse is just too staggering for society to allow those lessons to take hold: ac- cording to iaw enforcement figures, alcoho! is involved in 66% of fatal acci- dents, 70% of murders; 60% of child abuse and 56% of assaults in the home. Actions speak louder than our words. If we want our children to be abstainers or responsible drinkers, we must provide the example. Woman’s ‘right’ to breastfeed in public Dear Editor: Regarding Eileen Brock’s April 17 letter to the editor, I feel ! must reply to her comments that “A public place is no area for nursing’? — or did I use one of the few washrooms on the aircraft at my leisure? No, I did not retreat to the washroom to breastfeed my daughter. When a mother discretely breastfeeds her child there is certainly no reason to ‘‘go Publisher ...Peter Speck — Disptay Advertising into hiding.”’ I have breastfed my children in many public places and until now never received any negative com- ments, if in fact anyone noticed at all. In a country where the Cana- dian Pediatric Association advises that ail babies should be exclusive- ly breastfed for the first six months and should continue to receive some breastmilk for the remainder of the first year, our culture is not supportive enough 980-0514 Distribution of the needs of breastfeeding mothers. By breastfeeding my child | am giving her the very best nutrition and comfort, and 1 will not be forced behind washroom doors to mother my child in this way. lt is my right to discretely breastfeed my daughter in public, and I hope that by doing so I can empower other women to feel and do the same. Mary-Anne Taylor North Vancouver 986-1337 au North Shore Managing Editor . Timothy Renshaw Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Associate Editor Advertising Director Comptroiier North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and quahfied under Schedute 111, Paragraph it ot tne Excise Linda Stewart Newsroom Doug Foot Noel Wright Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-2131 Died YORCE OF MONI AD WELT VANCOUVER Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and 5 @ Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd and H disinbuted to every door on the North Snore Second Class Mai Regisitation Number 2885 Subsenptions North and Wes! Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rales avaiable on request Submissions are weicome but we cannot accept fesponsibility for unsclicited material including V7M 2H4 manuscripts and pictures which shouid be accompanied by 3 stampec. addressed envelope SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER SOA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation. Wednesaay, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd All tights reserved please stand! IN TUNE with the new social philesophy being touted for the 1990s, a “kinder, gentler’” Bill Wilson has suddenly emerged. Smarter, too, one might add. Wilson, you may recall, is the indian leader who grabbed the headlines not too long ago for ex- plaining where his forefathers went wrong. ‘‘We should have killed you all,’’ he said, referring to the white settlers of the last century. Last weekend the chairman of the First Nations Congress — ad- ding Hemas, his native name, to his signature — grabbed a headline again. This time much more politely. Possibly because, this time, he was paying for it. You probably saw the big, striking ad ‘‘Growing Up Indian,”* with the winsome faces of young Indian children at the bottom, in the weekend dailies. Obviously prepared by an ad agency that knew its business, the layout and copy were the work of professionals. But that doesn’t alter the fact that Bill Wilson — last year’s ‘‘white-killer’’? — is now happy to sign such a calm, rational bid for the white man’s cooperation. In clear, simple, non-emotional language it outlines the basic reasons for Indian land claims. It talks about the wide social distress caused by the reserve system, due to the divorcing of native children from ‘‘mainstream life.”’ There are no sweeping de- mands. Merely a plea for mutual understanding and respect — and the offer of a free booklet tracing the history of land claims from 1840 onward. **It tells a story —- one which, we hope, you will find infor- mative, One which, we hope, will have a happy ending,’’ the ad concludes. This refreshingly civilized ap- proach to winning white support could still, of course, turn cut to be a Trojan Horse when the B.C. ied é. BILL WILSON... forget “sovereignty’’. Ta t KENNETH Dye... taxpayer’s ex-watchdog. ya ee HITHER AND YON government finally gets to the bargaining table. A major stumbl- ing block to date has been the lack of a clear definition of exact- ly what Indians do want. White (and basically sym- pathetic) British Columbians have been confused by too many ver- sions of native goals from dif- ferent native spokesmen. They range all the way from ending the welfare treadmill of the reserve and getting Indians into the Ca- nadian mainstream to Indian ‘sovereignty’ over 85% of B.C. If this latter aim is concealed in the ad message, it should be quickly forgotten as a non-starter. Sovereignty belongs to Canada alone, period. But almost everything else is negotiable — in- cluding municipal-type self- government on the Sechelt model as appropriate. The new advertising could tap a big reservoir of positive white goodwill. But only if the rea/ Bill Wilson will now please stand up. POSTSCRIPTS: Yes, the New Democrats ARE alive (and ap- parently well) west of the Capilano. West Van-Garibaldi candidate Brian Giles waxed hot on environmental policies at the recent a.g.m. of the West Van- Bowen Island NDP Club — which elected Dr. Enid Pine 1991-92 president, together with veepee Bertha Mzhood, treasurer Jocelyn Stanford and membership director Doris McNab. Numbers are 921- 7173, 921-7905 ... For 10 years jusi-retired auditor general Ken Dye tracked the ways Ottawa spends — and misspends — our hard-earned tax dollars. On Tues- day, April 30, he teils it all ata lunch sponsored by the Fraser In- stitute in the Hyatt Regency. Cali Lorena Baran, 688-0221 soonest to reserve ... Vancouver’s venerable Lord Strathcona Elementary promises a fun-filled June 1 for ali former students and staff at its 100th reunion — call 253-4321 if you belong ... And today, April 24, wish happy bir- thday to North Van’s Jeff Adams. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Little things mean a lot. What use is a bathtub with no plug? .