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"(00SEN GraDUALLY ? OR ONE BIG SWOOSH -.. AN' THEN RUN FOR COVER ? a ~ChatterBox- Nobody likes a Know-It-All, but there are those people I'd like to get a hold of right now, and shake a heavy finger rapidly under their nose and say those' immortal words: "See, I told you so." They are the people I used to argue with about the wonderful, innate humanitarian nature of the average Canadian citizen, his open-mindedness and moderacy. Justification for our own superiority used to be the pointing of an accusing finger south of the border. "Those bad old Yanks," the enlightened attitude" went. "Bombing ijlliterate peasants and making, blacks sit at the back of the bus." "But look," I used to say. "We may be worse off if we don't face the fact that people are prejudice by their very nature. Give us any U.S. big city ghetto in" most any Canadian community, and watch the bigots Z "crawl out of the woodwork." 2 "No way," the answer F always went. Canada: % WY rie So now, just a few years Tater, we have Paki-busting, a curious new past-time by the same generation that only a few years ago gave us the Peace sign and slogans like: Make Love, not War. It's a sad fact but a true one, I think, that the anti-war, anti-violence sentiment of the late sixties and early seventies was a fad like the hula hoop. Like in the United States, there's a lot of talk in Canada about the problems of growing racial intoler- ance, but very little action. What action there is seems to be a half-hearted effort by government. There has been very little action from where it really counts: The so-called "concerned" public. There is, after all, only so much the government can do. You cannot simply legislate descrimination out of existance. Nevertheless, legislation was passed in the mid- sixties in an effort to curb hate literature that was...by *today's standards....relatively tame in both message and numbers. With section 281 to the criminal code on the books, however, the government was faced with the problem of enforcing the legislation. The legislation created a number of offences, including the advocation of genocide and the public incitement of hatred. : A prosecution under the Genocide section will almost certainly fail, since even the most extreme racist propaganda in this country stops short of advocating genocide. We seem to be too "civilized" for that, and prefer euphamism like 'repatriation' or "separation" as alternatives. Public incitement of hatred seems to Offer the Ths] is by John Gast greatest probability of successful prosection, but the Crown must prove only that the statements communi- cated in the public place did incite hatred against an identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lean to a break of the peace. The crown must prove the statements were "communicated" and in a public place. Another section deals with the communications of statements wilfully promoting hatred. But in addit- ion to definitional vagaries, a number of statutory defences are provided. 'The likelihood of obtaining a conviction under the section is very remote. Perhaps the greatest problem with this kind of legislation is that it may be doing more harm than good by engendering a smug feeling of self-satisfact- ion and false security that the problem has been legislated against...and in the view of some people... "solved. Problem with the legislation is that it can only - deal with the "wilfully" prejudiced. But "wilfully" is hardly the way to describe bigotry. Causing the most problem is the person who feels absolute disgust at calling another human being a "nigger" yet will insist in all sincerity that black people "do tend to be a bit lazy or dirty". No legislation inathe world would "provide a solution for this type of attitude. Yet criminal law isn't wholly ineffective in dealing with the problem. If imaginatively employed and prosecuted with vigour, it could assist in curbing some of the disruptive practices of the organizated bodies, such as the Western Guard and other racist ps. But criminal law ultimately depends efficacy on the moral consensus of a society. If racism and intolerance has made substantial inroads in our society, then haphazard prosecutions won't cure it. © If, on the other hand, the majority cared deeply about minority rights and are prepared in a concrete manner to derhonstrate that concern, the resort to criminal law as a protection would be infrequent, And if we can't Jearn out of respect for minority rights, perhaps we should consider the American example and its future implications here. The American black failed, for over 100 years, to make meaningful progress toward civil rights, The acceler- ated progress over the past few years was a direct result of... whether we like to admit it or not...violence. It took violence in the streets, murder and the razing of cities before society took notice and actually did: something. The question is: Will we learn from the example e, 'Lest we don't forget If there's a group left today that can talk with some authority of the horrors of war, the human degradation and pain/that stems from soclety's insistance on settling in opposite armed 'camps, itis the Legions. ' The very existence of the Legion reminds us of our own inability to find peaceful alternatives to many of our problems. Many Legionnaires have, like so few of the rest of us, experienced the real thing. The loss of friends, - family in past hostilities gives the Legion an unique authoritative voice in forming society's attitudes toward war, prejudice, and apathy. Yet it's sad that the Legion is often seen as a group-of red-necked flag wavers who glorify war. The American Legion, for example, is totally opposed to the American amnesty movement. And sad to say, there were very few Legionnaires who spoke up against the Viet Nam war, even when the _ morality of the conflict was in serious and wide- spread doubt. This writer recalls hearing of one branch of the American Legion that kept out a group of Viet Nam veterans when they discovered they belonged to a Veterans-against-the-war group. It Is with some dismay that we view the recent 'move of the Oshawa branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to keep out a German immigrant because 35 years ago he had spent six years of the war on the opposite side. The wounds of hostility should be healed or healing. The Legion, knowing the horrible conse- quences of hostility and hatred, should be the first to lead the way. Not the last to follow. Support needed For some time now, we've been plugging away at community participation in an effort to rejuvinate some of our institutions and to give others a boost. ~We commiserate with Prince Albert Community Centre board member Mrs. Roy Hope, who felt strongly enough to voice her disappointment. Per- haps when more people speak out, we'll be well on our way to a solution. The Prince Albert Community Centre held their annual board meeting February 4th. It was dis 'appointing to see few of the village people present. This Community Hall is at the disposal of all the people of the village at a reasonable rate, for such things .as family gatherings, club meetings, wedding receptions, etc. It Is also available to anyone wishing to rent a hall for the above activities. Our community has grown a great deal since we have had this hall at our disposal, so it would be gratifying to see more people, both young and old, take an interest in keeping this hall opened. EN So, come on folks! Let's have more community _support. 'Watch the Port - Perry Star for further announcements. Will to survive Man has an unbreakable will to survive. This is shown once again by the recent reports of strong gains in the family planning field from around the world.' 'Despite man' Ss. ingenuity, nothing is more detri- mental to humanity over the long-term than overpopulation. We live on a finite planet which simply cannot support infinite increases in the human population. Now one researcher claims that previous fore- casts of a doubling of the world population by the end of the century may never happen. Lester R. Brown, president of World-Watch Institute, says a new survey Indicates that falling birthrates and rising death rates in some areas of the world have caused a breaking in the global population growth: The United Nations Fund for- Population Activ- ities also concedes that there are signs of hope. Yet the Fund Insists that today's world population of more than 4 billion will have doubled by the year 2015. What has caused this new and _encouraging picture in population control? The. leaders of many. countries. with serious population. problems have spoken out clearly, and firmly in support of family planning. Indians have realized the urgency of the problem, and thousands have gone along with voluntary sterilization. ' In the villages of Indonesia and South Korea, wives' clubs have been formed where young women exchange birth control information. 'Ac¢ross Asia and Latin America, paramedics are being trained to {continued on Ppage22) -