Drawing the THE high tide of the December celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was marked by a whole lot of Canada bashing. Up tor reerimination was Canada’s so-called poor human rights performance. First to admonish Canada for her lack of a high fevel of respect for the basic rights set our in the covenant,” w the UN bureaucrats. Hard on their heels came the home-grown activists, who svized en the occasion of the anniversary to release into the ether their own skewed doom and gloom indictments. From so called poverty to a shortage of affordable hous- ing, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gor invoked at every turr. as the basis tor ara F scussion of human ‘anada must, surely, d trom the understand- ing that this is one of the most generous and benevo- lent countries in the world and that immigrants refugees, the world ov knocking on the door to get in because it is se very good. And that’s why the cele- brations of the vaunted decla- ration, in Edmonton, were soured by the whinging about Canada’s “less than stellar record with Aboriginal rights.” This is a bit of a sidebar, but I find it rather disi ous for Archbishop Desmond Tutu to have added his voice to the choir while back in South Africa the archbishop’s llana Mercer fair comnrent own countrymen are being routinely denied the basic right te lite and personal security, In South Africa 67 people killed every day (ina pop ulation roughly the size of Canada’s), and 688 homes burgled nightly. Last vear 13,000 drivers were hijac! and there is precious little justice to be had. Half the population is anemploved, there is no social security and in a good y employed African friends earn no mo than $1,000 annually. Having lived in South Africa tor some years Fean tell vou that the mayhem hits close to home. Two of my husband's former-colleagues are dead: mardered. And my mother has lost two 80-year- old friends — murdered, one bludgeoned with her own woodchopper. None of these people made the dailies. So I think it would have been better had Tutu taken off his human- rights-expert har and simply commended Canadians for wanting to improve on such a great country. True to form, the report card prepared by chief justice from Mauritius, an economist from Nigeria, a history professor from Australia and a Filipino anthropologist,” led with a bald attack on Canada’s “general lack of public aw. ness about human rights treaty obligations.” The CN committee was briefed, among others, by hon-governmental Canadian OFEAN ZATIONS. helps to evplain the agree ment beaveen the UN's mis intormed salvos the home-based activists. Hovd Axworthy, clearly distracted trom beavering to secure the human rights of exported Canadian convicts, protested only weakly. Mind vou, suspending Canadians in a perpetual state of guilt keeps government and special iiterest groups trom having to shrink, not to mention priming the Canadian taxpayer for little or But according toa federal Reform Party report, total aboriginal bene tits for 1995-96 came to $8.7 billion. During the same vear, Canadian taxpayers’ largesse enabled Ottawa to apportion $19,903 in programs and tax cemptions for every native living on reserves, plus free post secondary education and extended med r well as access to regular social programs. Some human rights viola- tion, Meanwhile, cued by the UN's grumbles about pover in Canada, the Vancouver Sun ng a rich staple 4 poverty figures. “One in five children in Canada lived in poverty in 1996”, or it costs $160,000 a wke in Canada, or that 30% of all Vancouver children lived in poverty in 1996. Sun columnist, Ian Mulgrew, went so far as to imply a shortage of affordable housing was somehow an affront to the UDHR. More gripes about grammar Dear Editor: I was so hoping that the new columnist to your Paper, Hana Mercer, might have good sentenee structure, grammar and punctuation. Alas, P was disappointed. In her Jan. 22 article enti- tled “Misplaced power in our na land,” T noticed in the fourth paragraph from the beginning, that it was not a sentence. She, too, has fallen for this trap which Noel Wri ight and Leo Knight are so often guilty of. If there is no active verb in the main clause of the sentence, itis not a sente The reader ps hurriedly reading on to, hopetillly, find the verb which makes the whole sentence make sense —— and alas, there isn’t one! All she needed to do s start off with, “This is... a what can happen, ¢ instead of just launching in with, SA taste of what can h pen...” As for punctuation, it ws abysmal. ‘This again is for the benefit of the reader, to make perfect sense of the written word. After “In fact(,)” there should be a comma, there was- we — in her article. Another comma was needed to make the proper meaning come out after “You've lost faith in the courts{,) and Indian Affairs only takes care of Indians.” Again, a comma was mi ing. | had to read it over three times to get at what she meant. Finally, Ms. Mercer, it is “more importantly,” not “more important.” You may think Tam being petty, but believe me, the stan- dard of English in this newspa- per is shocking, and I cannot bear the thought of yet anoth- er weiter who simply ignores good grammatical sentence structure, and sloppy grammar and punctation. The content of what you write is very good. So please hear me out and try better (ed: harder). N. Brimacombe West Vancouver imagine...Shopping at Home Draperies » Bedding ¢ Valances ¢ Upholstery » Blinds Specializing in: Only the look is expensive! | J#ABOT Creative Window Coverings & Home Decorating Ideas 2413 Marine Dr., West Van 922-4668 Such was the qurry or embarrassing numbers that Statsties Canada got a lide nervous and hastened to dis- tance itself formally from the misleading science, exphining that it has never measured poverty in Canada. Al it offers sa Low Encome Cut Off race (LICO). The advocacy group “Campaign 2000 uses Statisties Canada’s LICO asa poverty line,” I Institute's Chris Sarlo, “despite Statscan’s frequent caution that the LICO v never intended as a poverty line.” What it is, is a relative measure, set rather high at thar. And here com semantic rub, For Canada the LICO is a relative measure to denote those who are worse than most, For the advocates the same Cut OFF Rate is a measure of absolute poverty. Its worth noting that people who fall under che LICO fines typically spend 35% of their income on tood, shelter and clothing leaving 45% of income lett for non- essentials, A tough balancing act maybe, but most certainly NOL poverty. Ifanything it’s the kind of ‘lite after which ray African friends would hanker. Real poverty, savs Prot. Sarlo, is the inabiliry to “acquire all af life’s b which is Canada. It goes without saying that fo prono Canada an tually in declir Lay: Friday, February 5, 1999 — North Shore News - 7 endemte sielator of human rights is to flaunt an obscene hick of judginent and readin tesung. Its inportant for Canadians te reject such: sill ness. Bat what's equally importante is thar we have a discussion about what human rights are. Is eerting “freely chosen” desirable work a human right? Is being ensured ade- quate “rest and feisure™ a human right? Or how about Ine on human rights “COnTNUOUS Hap ron eMment in inang conditions.” Asthe various UN covenants to which Canada ts a signatory stand right row, the answer isa resounding ves. If we carry on with such an expansive view of human rights, pretty soon any human need will have been turned inte an inalicnable right. And any unfultited need a violation of human rights. anome@aticanada net All services tuly warranty approved ee bee 99 Oil, Lube 2 Filter 21 pt Saiety check, Includes up to 5 Itres of 1OW30 Quakerstate 15 rrunutes - FAST! 1362 Marine Drive 980-9115 Mon-Sat 8.00am-600pm, Sun. 9:00am-5.00pm Expires Feb. 1799 J : Marin Alpine Teal’ réa hae ‘Sale sees” ‘98 | Marin Palisades Trai i . Yellow Pages . ETIME WARRANTY WITH even BIKE. ‘Sq! rad in thy LC DEEP COVE BIKE SHOP. In BEAUTIFUL. C DOWNTOWN DEEP-COVE. WHER 319 attant Aye. North. Vani: = Wedl 9ain-7pm huis & Bri gam-9pm. ate ok wy