4 ~ Wednesday, March 20, 1991 ~ North Shore News Bloodlines: Quebec stuck with historic reality I'M KIND of enjoying Canada’s mid-life crisis, if that’s what it is. I’ve been through my own mid-life crisis, so I feel as though ican relate. In fact, it is almost impossible to stifle the urge to give the national psyche advice. In the last few months, I made the monumental discovery (for me) that my great-great-grand- mother on my mother’s side was a Huron. This information came up in the course of research into a book I’ve finished called Occupied Canada, = history of this nation from the point of view of the native pecple. The book will be published in the spring by McClelland & Stewart, and my clever editor, Timothy Renshaw, is already planning to ask Doug Collins te review it. The review, I’m sure, will be a gas, Doug’s views on these matters being somewhat famous. Actually, the fact that I’ve got Indian blood in me should have come as no surprise, since my mother was French-Canadian, and it is a littie-mentioned but obvious fact of life that the entire race of Quebecois ought to be viewed as a mixed-blood people. There weren’t that many Fren- chmen who came across to the New World in the first place. Yet they managed to multiply tremen- dously. The original Monsieur Trudeau was typical. While his arrival is duly noted in Catholic records, there is no mention of any Madame Trudeau coming along with him. Plainly, he married a native woman. So did most of the origi- nal French arrivals, who were, after all, soldiers. Accordingly, the really old Quebec families almost all had native biood. My own is no exception. I was thrilled to bits to discover a smidgeon of native roots in my family. This means that rather than being entirely a product of immigrant breeding, I can claim in small part to have descended from a people who existed on this con- tinent for at least 12,000 years. This has given me an incentive to study Huron, as well as Scot- tish and French history. Tracing your family line is an occupation of us slightly older folks, I know, but I°H be 50 this year, so there’s no sense preten- ding I’m a teeny-bopper any longer. Being a product of Scottish, French and Huron bloodlines, 1 do believe I am absolutely a GVRD to hold public meetings on watershed management policy NORTH SHORE residents will get a chance to be heard on the issue of watershed management policy at two public meetings to be held in May. By Elizabeth Collings News Reporter The Greater Vancouver Regional District board of direc- tors has approved a public review process that includes meetings on May 2 and 3, running from 2-10 p.m. at the Robson Square Con- ference Centre. West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager, a member of the GVRD water committee, said that all aspects of the watershed manage- ment policy will be open to discussion — ‘‘but certainly the number one focus is logging.’’ Logging in the watershed has increasingly come under fire in the past few years as a factor affec- ting water quality. Led by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, logging opponents claim that logging ac- tivity in the watershed is largely responsible for the chronic tur- bidity, or cloudiness, in Lower Mainland drinking water. The WCWC recently called for a five-year moratorium on water- shed logging and road building. Last November, the water tur- bidity levels in North Shore reser- voirs were up io 40 times higher than those recommended under national drinking water standards. According to a GVRD water quality report released last September, the water system poses a number of potential health problems including the presence of giardia cysts, which cause beaver fever, and the presence of col- iform bacteria. The report calls for a $500- million overhaul to bring Lower Mainland drinking water quality up to national standards. The GVRD water committee, made up of municipal council members, will hear the public presentations. Those wishing to appear at the public meetings are encouraged to submit a written brief to the GVRD by April 3. If necessary, a third public meeting will be held May 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be an opportuni- ty to register at the meetings to make a brief presentation. For in- formation on submitting a brief, call the committee secretary at 432-6424, STRICTLY PERSONAL a inna tLocha classic definition of a true Cana- dian. If t could find a hint of Chinese blood in me as well, I'd be the perfect Western Canuck, but as it is I'll have to settle for thinking of myself as being a pan-Canadian creature. Having been born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, I can even claim to have come from the ac- tual physical heart of the country, rather than one of its flanks. So what does this do for me? Well, it allows me to reflect on the essential indivisibility of my nature. 1 don’t believe that Quebec can really ever leave the embrace of the rest of the coun- try. Oh, it could politically. But economically, culturally and psychologically, Quebecois are stuck with the historic reality of living in the northern section of North America. Just as no Canadian can help being a North A.merican, as well as a Canuck, neither can Quebecois escape being Canadian North Americans either. If you don’t believe this, go to any other continent — Europe, Asian, Africa, you name it — and you will observe that Americans, Canadians and French-Canadians have a certain bearing, style and attitude that is distinctively North American. It is a bit like all Europeans be- MERCHANTS along Deep Cove’s Gallant Avenue are upset over road construction delays that they claim have reduced business in the area by up to ‘50 per cent. By Jeremy Hainsworth Contributing Writer But a provincial highvays ministry spokesman said March 14 that a few days of good weather would end the year- long construction delays. “We're probably down 60 per cent since last March,” said Jack Crockett, owner of Deep Cove Gallery. ‘‘It’s been a long year. If you drive down Dollarton Highway, it’s like driving through a bombed-out area of Baghdad.”’ Ron Yen of Suburban Farms estimates his business is down by 30 per cent. Yen said customers have told him how inconvenient it is to get to Gallant Avenue. They have also complained to him about the lack of park- ing because of the many con- struction vehicles and the no- parking signs put up for the construction project. “Pm sure part of the loss of business is due to (the con- struction),"? Yen said, adding that he thinks the construction A 17th century galleon full of Spanish treasure has sailed into Birks ! ing Europeans, no matter whether they come from Germany or Italy or Sweden. It is a cumulative thing, almost a body language, certainly a shared psychology that grows out of their history. in the case of North Americans, it is the experience of the ‘‘fron- tier’’ lying so close to the surface of history. It goes without saying that the entire mind-set of the native people is shaped even more so by yesterday’s events. What these reflections lead me to is the conclusion that we are stuck with each other — English- and French-speaking Canadians as well as native people — whether we like it or not. Quebec can try all it likes to make itself into a gigantic Indian reserve, but that’s not going to change the reality of its location in the bosom of a larger nation, any more than Canada itself can ignore the reality of being sand- wiched between the world’s two largest superpowers. The neat and tidy political theories of the Parti Quebecois and the Bloc Quebecois do not come to terms with the other real- ity of political entities within the bosom of Quebec itself, namely the Indian reserves, which, as we have seen, can create an enormous ameunt of trouble. tf Oka was enough to create a storm last summer, wait for this Construction delays anger merchants could be finished if there were five days of dry weather. Leagh Martell, the project manager for the ministry of transportation and highways, confirmed Yen's statement. He said the curbs and side- walks are in and trees are being planted. He added that paving cannot go ahead if the ground is wet. “We want to get it done as soon as we,can,too and so does the contractor,’? Martell said. “‘We'’re just waiting for a cou- ple of good days of weather.”’ North Vancouver District Council decided on March 12, 1990 to praceed with the pro- ject to beautify Gallant Avenue. The project began over six years ago with the preparation of a_ beautification plan by landscape artists, but it was delayed by problems with funding formulas and public input. In order to speed up the work, council had decided to proceed with a scaled-down version of the plan. The district had agreed to foot the bill to a maximum outlay of $100,000. “We got word it would all be finished by late September,” Crockett said. ‘‘It's becoming an eyesore and a nightmare down there.’’ Public Lectures. 1622 Discover our spectacular $20 million collection of silver & gald coins, gold bars, chains, and jewellery ! On view and available for purchase for four days only. Meet Kim and Lee Fisher and their team - the people directly involved in this search odyssey and learn more abour this amazing ship and her treasure. Tuesday to Saturday: 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Additional presentations Thursday and Friday: 7:00 p.m. 710 Granville Street Only Tuesday to Saturday, March 19th - 23rd Great moments come out of the blue. BIRKS & | summer when the battle over Hydro Quebec's ambitious and ecologically-outrageous plans for the James Bay II power project collides head-on with the deter- mined resistance of the Cree, backed up not only by every en- vironmental organization in North America, but every other Indian band and tribe on the continent. The truth is that Quebec cannot have its independence without granting similar independence io the native people whose claims to the land pre-date those of the PQ by millenia. When it comes time for Quebec to attempt to deal with the rest of the modern world on its own terms, it will not find many friends in the international com- munity if it has its own equivalent of a Palestinian situation within its own borders. Bits of pre-European Canada are imbedded in the bones of Quebec, just as they are in the rest of the country. And I believe that in the end, it is the common In- dian ancestry that will keep the country glued together. Oh, Canada! The crisis will drag on, without doubt, and the form will change, as it has always kept changing (no political status quo has lasted for long), but the beast itself is unkillable,really. But Crockett said the district has responded to some direct challenges from merchants. Crockett’s gallery had plan- ned a showing to which 250 had been invited. Access to the gallery was bad and he called the district which had some asphalt put down to allow ac- cess for the guests. “It was the only thing that saved our ass in the 1990 season was having this show.” Margie Goodman, owner of Goodman Studios on Gallant Avenue, said there was not enough consultation with area residents and merchants before the decision to praceed with the plan was made. **We pay astronomical taxes and get no services,’? Goodman said. “I think (the council) re- ally believes we’re a bunch of hippies out here or in the Dark Ages. Why don’t we become u Lions Bay? Why don’t we in- corporate ourselves?”’ Goodman noted that mail delivery stopped for three days several weeks ago. According to Goodman, the Workers’ Compensation Board would not allow the letter car- riers to deliver in the area. **1 don’t blame them,’ she said. ‘‘They should have had hazardous duty pay on Gallant Avenue."’