22 — Sunday, September 2, 1990 - North Shore News Bravo Canada! fills no real purpose THE P.N.E. hasn’: figured large in my schedule for a year or two. Time was, days were allotted for careful scrutiny of all available displays, the kitchens for my sake and the animals for the child’s. Then, the child having graduated from rab- bits to ferris wheels, there were the days just for ex- haustive fun, and extraor- dinary food, in the com- pany of at least one other lively kid. Phew! So the invitation to visit “Bravo Canada!’*, under the auspices of the Secretary of State, threatened no undesirable features whatsoever. | was not going to have to ride the Loop-the-Loop, nor eat a foot-long hotdog, nor trudge about the crowded grounds. This was an_ exhibit focusing on seniors and their con- cerns, they said, to help us old folks assess our place in the scheme. Ic°s a huge display, housed in the old Rollerland building, ciose to the Coliseum. On entering, one is greeted by one of several alert young people prepared to set one off on the right foot with the right instructions and a chance to win a handsome bicycle. First, the role of the Depart- ment of the Secretary of State — if you thought it had to do with statesmanship, you’d be as wrong as I. Mind, it is responsible for all state ceremonies such as royal visits, that sounds reasonable, and Canada Day celebrations, and the government's participation in fairs. Big fairs, of course, not your May Queen do in Yellow Grass, Sask., but the three that usually show up this time of the year in Vancouver, Toronto and Quebec City. The department’s job also is to promote the use of English and French in Canadian society. Every inch of this display is ‘‘bilingue.’’ It also has a responsibility to support and further post-secon- dary education, by means of fi- nancial assistance to seats of learning, as well as to the students who will occupy those seats. And lastly, it has a mandate to foster a sense of belonging to Canada. It goes to special lengths to include all the disadvantaged in this sense of belcnging, these be- ing described in particular as native peoples, disabled people and women. It is a given that men, obvious- ly, already have a satisfactory sense of place. The display is in sections which explain the increasing presence of Canadian seniors in society we’re the old boomers, repre- senting the fastest-growing seg- ment in the population. Then there’s the work place, where more and more women are being Eleanor THE VINTAGE YEARS accommodated, and where the el- derly have a choice now to go oF stay. And finally, the third section depicts a very-changed family, in which the once customary four or five or six children has become 1.7 kids. Few children now can be termed “the middle child’’, that struggler for identity against the first-born and the baby of the family. And the once-cherished spot as **baby’’ has perforce also disappeared. What do all these shifts and changes signify? What is our future, with a declining birth-rate and a steadily mounting layer of aging citizens? What will happen to our levels of productivity as more and more retire and fewer and fewer come on stream to take up the slack? Whither the family, with all these modern pressures? Nobody has a clue, apparently. There are nowhere either exhorta- tions to multiply, nor suggestions as to how to fade away, leaving the field to the young, nor how to employ the machinery or techno- logy that will support our skewed population. Most of the information in the show is in huge blow-ups of isplay photos, augmented by com- puterized button-games — colored lights flash on to illustrate correct responses to choices offered. A computerized gypsy will tell you when you will die, predicated on your birthdate and fifestyle. A true-false series exposes to the button-pusher the validity of his/her views of what it means to grow) old. There’s a simulated steering-wheel and dashboard one can use to check one’s driving eyesight and reflexes. Changes in transport are pic- tured — the bus with the lift for wheelchairs, and for women some of the new gear they can be found in these days, overalls and police uniforms rather than aprons. And a couple of large cases contain ac- tual examples of advances in help- ing seniors stay both mobile and independent. A clock that speaks the time, for instance, a dress that is assembled with Velcro, shoes that give secure foundations, tele- Phones with huge numbers and thermostats that work like the top of a pill-bottle. But nowhere are there any an- swers, let alone tentative solu- tions. This show will be struck and returned to Ouawa, as will the two currently in) Toronto and Quebec, and cach of the shows will be reduced to its best seg- ments in order to be trailered to small and remote communtiies. I cannot for the life of me think that as it is now, or in its reduced state, it can possibly serve any real purpose. How much better to make a big pile of the money it is costing to truck it, assemble it, hire for it, and distribute some to the native people, disabled people and women all under the ‘‘disadvan- taged’’ umbrella. The native peo- ple could use it for education, the disabled could use it for in- numerable tools of assistance, the women could use it to upgrade skills. ».» ToYour Ears The Avison Seri¢s 1990 Ralfi Armenian. September 16 , September 30 October 28 $20 $10 3 concert pass Single tickets P yi *y 863 cBc Radio 3 concerts for $20 featuring the CBC Vancouver Orchestra with conductors Mario Bernardi and Orpheum Theatre 2 PM An all-Mozart program with soloists Steven Dann Cvieks) and Maleotm Lowe (¥ietin ) Works by Mendelssohn, Respighi. Honegger and Borsyth with mezzo-soprano Linda Maguire. Works by Weill, R. Strauss, McoCauley, Haydn and Mozart with violin soloist Gwen Thompson Call 662-6607 2 "FINAL REGISTRATION. __ BOYS AGES 6—18 For those boys who have never before played Lynn Valley Soccer SATURDAY SEPT. 8, 1990 10 a.m. - 3p.m. LYNN VALLEY CENTRE MALL “FREE REGISTRATION FOR 6 YEAR OLDS” (born in 1984) For more information call: Bill Gilmore 988-0159 ANORCO BUSH PILOT Reg. 359.95 Ny SALE 319.95 BIG FOOT Reg. 469.95 mad % 429.95 = Mya “> VETA MICROSHELL HELMET with each promotional bicycle sold. Offer ends Sept. 12 A 3026 Mtn. Hwy. (Across trom 7-Eleven) 988-1800 GORDON STURTRIDGE FOOTBALL REGISTRATION WEEK Football on the North Shore for over 30 years. Flag and Full Contact Divisions: Boys and Girls aged 6-16 TUES., SEPT. 4 WED., SEPT. 5 THURS., SEPT. 6 ~— FRI., SEPT. 7. | WHERE: Norgate Park behind International Plaza Hotel ~ Registration will 9:30 a.m: and 3'p.n “Lynn Valley Centre” i Registration for Fall Season for anyone interested in playing football on the North Shore this fall. § Equipment issued for registrants. Bring a friend! | For further information call: i Peter Lancaster 988-6000 Mac Campbell 980-9740