a ABORTION BELIEFS BCTF to appeal IRC decision allowing NY teachers to withdraw from union THE B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the North Vancouver Teachers’ Association (NVTA) plan to appeal a recent Industrial Relations Council (IRC) ruling that allows two North Vancouver teachers to withdraw from the NVTA because of their disagreement on religious grounds with the union’s pro-choice abortion pclicy. BCTF first vice-presiiient Ray Worley said Wednesday the IRC decision ‘‘takes 14 years of prece- dent and throws it out the window. It could have wide-reaching im- plications for all unions, not just the BCTF.”’ Worley said the ruling was ‘‘a very radical departure’? from previous decisions because it allowed exemption from « union on religious grounds based on ob- jection to a specific union policy rather than to unions themselves. NVTA president Jack Stevens said in a BCTF statement that every aveaue of appeal would be explored. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW “| Neus Reporter In the 2-1 decision handed down Tuesday, IRC vice-chairmen Robert Arseneau and Heather McDonald muiled that Justin and Nancy Wasilifsky could, under Section 11 of the Industrial Rela- tions Act, be exempted from the union because of their strong religious beliefs against abortion and their consequent disagreement with the BCTF and its policy of “reproductive freedem.”” The Wasilifskys, who have been employed as teachers in North Day cares lose school space From page 1 school board that one of the two rooms she rents in Capilano Elementary School must be vacated in September. Unable to raise the $60,000 for portables, Proctor has been forced to notify parents of her under- threes’ program that the program will end Aug. 31. NORTH Vancouver District Mayor Maryn Baker ...day care is not ultimately municipal respon- sibility. “She has given her parents notice and these parents are in a panic,” said Huffman-Coe. ‘‘They have to continue to work and there is nowhere for these children to be looked after.”’ Ald. Craig Clark said three months did not seem to be a rea- sonable tength of termination. “! agree,’’ said Huffman-Coe, “the principal has not even madea decision on what that room is to be used for. Maybe a lunch room, maybe a band room. When | hear that it makes me feel that they could accommodate us by keeping that centre there another six months. Isn’t there somewhere else that the students cculd have their Junch?”” Canyon Heights Preschool, located in Canyon Heights Elementary Schoo} and in a similar situation to North Shore Children’s House, will cut its enrolment in half next September. Owner Catherine Hay, a single mother, will reszortgage her house to find the funds necessary to keep that half program functioning. The four centres look after a total of 242 children. And there are many more children on waiting lists. School rooms presently account for one-third of the licensed daycare, pre-school and out-of- school spaces. Huffman-Coe warned council that if centres continue to close because of a lack of space, “children will be looked after by unqualified, inexperienced people in their own homes while fees rise at the few licensed centres left, mak~ ing this care available only to the elite. More children will go home from school unattended until their parent returns from work.” Huffman-Coe urged council to: e request that the schoo} board accommodate North Shore Children’s House until it can find alternative space, and that the board itself make decisions on child-care facilities, not school principals; e provide space by purchasing and setting up portables on school or district property and renting them at an affordable rate to child-care facilities; © negotiate with the school board for longer term land leases for child-care facilities; © request that future elementary schools be allotted space for out- of-school care. Council passed a motion in July that will see a temporary research assistant hired to work with the district social planner te review the child-care needs and provisions in the district. Im response io Monday night’s delegation, it will direct that. the report include the specific concerns raised. Council will also ask school board trustees to meet and deal with the concerns facing North Shore Children’s House as soon as possible and that the matter be the subject of a meeting between council and the school board. Cautioned Payor Marilyn Baker, ‘‘l am extremely supportive of us looking ai the whole issue of childcare, but by the same token I don’t think that it is ultimately a municipal responsibility to go out and build buildings and lease them for a private enterprise to run.”” A worried and upset Beth Proc- tor later said, ‘‘It was very en- couraging, and we are certainly happy that covacil is following some of our recommendations. Vancouver’s School District 44 since 1974, are devout Roman Catholics. They testrfied that they were not opposed to unions and have active- ly supported the trade union movement during their teaching careers. But the husband and wife team could not reconcile their beliefs with the BCTF’s abortion policy. Local teachers’ unions such as the NYTA are chartered locals of the BCTF. Membership in the NVTA and the BCTF and payment of dues to both unions are condi- tions of employment as a teacher in District 44. In their decision the two IRC vice-chairmen stated that ‘‘the cir- cumstances of this case indicate a real need for the council to exercise its discretion and grant exemption from the collective agreement re- quirements of union member- ship....The Wasilifskys’ position 3 - Friday, August 18, 1989 - North Shore News on abortion is a profound personal religious concern which has been an important part of their lives....In their religious views, a positive act to join organizations which support a pro-choice abor- tion position will constitute an act that fundamentally and negatively alters their personal relationship with God, i.e., an act of instrinsic evil.” They stated that the IRC will not allow the exemption provision ‘‘to be used as a convenient vehicle for individuals whe are opposed to union membership....”’ But in her dissenting opinion IRC vice-chairman Nora Paton stated that exemption under Sec- tion 11 should only be granted for individuals ‘‘whose religious beliefs are irreconcilable with unionism as a general concept.” To go beyond that, she said, would be to bring the IRC ‘‘into the fray over controversial issues Howdy pardner'! THE DUNDARAVE community of West Vancouver celebrated summer in western style recently at its annual Hoe Down. The festivities gave residents a chance to don western garb, square dance and listen to country nd western music. Above, future sheriff Jonathan Snell, 5, chats with Sgt. Grant Churchill of the West Van- a couver Police Department. which in reality are internal union disputes. These are best left to the union membership to decide.”’ Justin Wasilifsky said Wednes- day the decision ‘‘meant everything to us. It would have meant an end to our career in B.C. (had their application been turned down).”” The fight, he said, was ‘‘long, hard and arduous, and the union opposed us every step of the way. They thought as long as they gave us the right to express how we felt that they would not be inhibiting our freedom, but, religion’s role in life, when they wanted part and parcel of that, it became impossi- ble to resolve. The medern day union movement has gone way beyond its original mandate.” The B.C. Federation of Labour has announced that it will support the BCTF in its appeal of the Wasilifsky decision. Cat killings may be coyote related COYOTES are suspected in the recent killings of three cats found in various states of decapitation or mutiiation in West Vancouver’s Sentinel Hill area. West Vancouver Police Const. Harry McNeil said Thursday the carcasses had already been dispos- ed of by the time the department was called, but that from the descriptions given, Ministry of Environment sources said the kill- ings may have been coyote-related. But there have been no recent sightings of coyotes in the area.