4 - Sunday, January 17, 1988 - North Shore News THE ENDING of the seal hunt left me feeling quite sad about how the whole thing went. Back in 1975, when I first heard about the annual slaughter of Harp seal pups off Canada’s East Coast, the issue seemed definitely to be the threat of extinction, Cer- tainly, that was how the people I was working with at Greenpeace took it. The organization until that point The federal fisheries department had different statistics, of course, but they were based on computer projections, in turn based on data fed by the sealing boat owners. You don't leave the wolves in charge cf the data base. Thus — to make a long story short — in the spring of 1976, along with a rather large pack of eco-freaks, I found myself face- to-face with an angry mob of Newfoundlanders, who were pro- testing our protest against their hunt. The Indians, Eskimos, Inuits and Landsmen could all still be doing what they had been doing Jor ages, except for the pig-headedness of East Coast politicians like John Crosbie, who put all his federal resources into backing the large-scale deep- sea hunt, instead of chopping it the moment it became an international issue.” ! did not consider itself an animal rights group. Its raison d'etre had been anti-nukes and, incidentally, whales, because of their extreme plight. There was plenty of resistance from within, | can tell you, to the idea of getting involved with an issue like the seal hunt, which was already being tackled by other organizations. Why wade into the field at all? And, first of all, was it legitimate to complain that the seals were threatened with extinction? A rep"ttable scientist had just done a study, backed up by high- tech aerial photography, which was published as a cover story in National Geographic, arguing strongly that the Atlantic Harp seals were indeed declining at an appalling rate because of overhun- ting. The theory of seal extinction had veracity. BURRA RD VIEW The media went a bit ape fora while, and thus the sealing issue was catapulted into actual world headlines. Which have now culmi- nated, a dozen years later, in the formal announcement that Canada has surrendered. The seal hunt is finito. It will not be started up again, at least for a generation. All of this should make me ver; happy, but I couldn't bring myself to do any jigs, even though some- body over at the Greenpeace office said they'd got ‘everything we wanted.”* Not quite, I think. * ‘Jn the process of the hunt being shut down compleisly, the wrong guys got clobbered. Iam thinking not just of the In- uit and other native people whose Arctic and Labrador communities have been wrecked economically because their one product can no longer be sold, but also of the outport people of Newfoundland, who used to be able to go out on the ice and get a few ‘“‘beaters’* to supplement their meagre incomes. Upon arriving in Newfoundland many years ago, J quickly learned to distinguish between the ‘‘Land- smen*’ who went out in their own tiny boats in the spring and the big outfits owned by Martin Karlsen and others, mostly foreigners, which sent icebreakers out to the birthing grounds far at sea. These were the culprits, not the Landsmen or the Indians. Except for the massive intrusions by mechanized fleets out on the ice floes, the small-scale offshore seal hunt could have gone on forever without upsetting the natural balance. The Indians, Eskimos, Inuits and Landsmen could all stil! be do- ing what they had been doing for ages, except for the pig-headedness of East Coast politicians like John Crosbic, who put all his federal resources into backing the large- scale deep-sea hunt, instead of chopping it the moment it became an international issue. But no, he took the side of the big companies, which wanted to keep up the big kill, come hell or high water. As a result, today, it is the little guys on the shore who are left ut- terly unemployed, while the likes of Martin Karlsen shifts his money into other portfolios, and the ex- swilers collect the dole anyway. The suicide rate among Enuit kids has shot up, 1 am distressed to hear, It could have been avoided, | believe, if the mass slaughter of pups out at sea had been closed down in time to avoid a backlash against even the small-scale off- shore hunter, whom ecologists never set out to altack in the first place. It was only the animal- rightists who were on that case. But the government didn’t pull back until too late. { wish their advisers would give them good ad- vice sometimes. They should have got out of that one early, That way, the people who least deserved to get hurt wouldn’t have gotten hurt, © oney the issue for school A REPRESENTATIVE of the Burrard View Parent Teach- , ers Association says the province has set back the group’s attempt to have a replacement school for the Burrard View school built by September. 1989. Association representative Sue Geddes said the group had asked Education Minister Tony Brummet for $20,000 worth of planning money to be released by Dec. 31. The money would allow for an * update of seven-year- -old plans for . the construction of a-replacement school at. Cove Cliff, a school board-owned piece of property at Banbury Road and Raeburn Street in Deep Cove. But North’ Vancouver-Seymour MLA Jack Davis said budgeting for the replacement school hinges on a North Vancouver School Board and District of North Van- “‘couver agreement on zoning and additional land acquisition to ex- pand the Cove Cliff school site, The planning moncy has’ not been released. “Getting the rezoning started is dependent on current and updated plans. The $20,000 is the cor- nerstone for pulling together a new rezoning package,’’ said Geddes. She said the school board needs approximately $150,000 to acquire two pieces of district-owned prop- erty adjacent to the Cove Cliff site to accommodate a new school. Test lung capacity LUNG CAPACITY will be put to the test novn, Jan. 20 at Robson Square in Vencouver at the second annual Cold Turkey Day Blow-up. Twelve teams of five, fielded by groups including the B.C. Medical Association, B.C. Tel and St. Paul’s Hospital, will blow-up 35- inch balloons and race to a finish line to highlight the fact that Jan. 20 is Cold Turkey Day. The event is sponsored by the Association of B.C., Canadian Cancer Society and the Adventist Health Network. The focus for this year's Cold Turkey Day is women and smok- ing. Dr. Mark Cousins Naturopathic Physician #405-1124 Lonsdaie Ave. For appointment call; B.C. Heart Foundation, B.C. Lung Association, B.C. Phar- macists’ Society, Registered Nurses EUROPEAN FACIAL Tach treatment is designed specially for you, using only the finest $ 1999 and the purest Ingredients. SCULPTURED NAILS , 2999 So thin, and natural looking. $9999 984-0040 ° 984-8863 SUNTANNING 10 Suntan sessions. : | Chez Elle estHetics SES THE CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER TENDER OF i HIGH DENSITY RESIDENTIAL SITE (ZONED RH 1) f OSTLER COURT, INDIAN RIVER, SEYMOUR 0.8 ha (199 ac) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF UNITS — 72 Offers to purchase the freehold may be made to the Land Agent unti! 11:00 a.m. on February 23, 1988. A brochure providing full details of the site, the conditions of sale and tendering procedures is available from the Land Department, District of North Vancouver, 355 West Queens Road, North Van- couver, B.C., V7N 2K6, Please contact Hazel Baxter, telephone 987-7131 local 264. vance era ission No gtio ot GOING SOUTH? 4 The wind blows cold EVEN iN MAUI!- on the summit of Mount Haleakala. 4 We were glad we just happened to have our Tilley i] Cotton hooded shirts with us! Did you know that these warm weather Tilley | 4 Cottons are untque in Canada? Why? Because they y won't shrink at all, and they'r@ nodron, No kidding! In the winter, you can wear the hooded shirt as a Jacket to keep you warm to and from the airport when you're going south. A few hours later, it becomes a shirt again, to protect you from the sun. Boauititul, comfortable short sleeve shirts, hooded shirts, drawstring pants (expectant mothers love them), drawstring shorts, plus skirts and blouses in a variety olf § colours, Sue and Alex Tittey, high. — j For the curlous: the sign on this. maorincent cratet says, DANGER, toase rock... “EASY TO PACK, AND WONDERFUL TO WEAR" “I'S GREAT TO BE SO COMFORTABLE, YET SO WELL DRESSED.” * We have it made in Canada Ales Tilley Drop in, Phone or Write Barbara Tilley Hours wee brea A Mon-Sat. 10-5 ncoaver onan 980-2631 or visit the North Vancouver Recreation Commission facility nearest you. (also the North Shore Meighbourhood House} -