The Rural Voice, 1996-04, Page 21caused by my lack of English and thc
bed -bugs in the bunkhouse got to
me." So early the next spring he took
his few savings and bought a train
ticket to Timmins where he knew
several fellow immigrants were
working in the gold mines.
"Funny thing was when I got there
I found that I could speak better
English than they could." He had
been teaching himself English by
translating newspaper articles with
the aid of a • German/English
dictionary. "Pronunciation, now that
was another matter," he says.
Jn
1953 Karl gave up underground
work and returned to Alberta with
a harvest excursion for a few
months before coming to Toronto
where he held two labour jobs at once
until he had saved enough money to
attend Radio College. Eventually he
applied to work in the Toronto police
radio shop. He was turned down
because he was not a Canadian, but it
was suggested that they were looking
for policemen.
Braeker did two things: he applied
for Canadian citizenship and applied
to join the Toronto Police Force. In
1957, after passing the aptitude tcst,
which consisted of listing all the
colours of a parking lot full of cars,
and a cursory examination from the
police doctor, Karl Brackcr became
Constable Braeker 3rd class — salary
$3200 per annum.
Karl and Victoria James, a
Toronto area girl, were married in
1967. Victoria is no slouch as an
activist herself. Becoming concerned
at the amount of family problems
among their friends on the police
force, she set about organizing the
Metropolitan Toronto Police Wives
Association and lobbying for working
conditions that placed less stress on
home life.
"I think her activities got in the
way of some of my promotions,"
Karl said, as he smiled proudly.
Karl and Victoria have three
children, two live in Grcy County and
one is completing a mechanic's
apprenticeship in Windsor.
One night while chasing a robbcry
suspect, Braeker jumped from a fire
escape, fracturing the cartilage in
both knees. Complications from this
injury caused him to leave police
work in 1984.
He had been commuting to work
from the farm they had purchased in
Egrcmont Township in 1978.
Retirement from the police force
allowed Karl to assist his son Paul
with the dairy herd that he had started
when he was in high school. In 1989,
Paul decided to take off -farm
employment and he sold the dairy
hcrd. Karl replaced the dairy cows
with Simmentals—to lessen the
workload. Now, because of
complications from the old injuries
that makcs it dangerous for him to
work among the cattle, most of the
beef animals have gone too.
Whcn Bill Hodges, a fellow
Egrcmont farmer and outspokcn farm
leader came to Bracker with concerns
about a 300 -acre industrial park that
was being proposed by Charles
Watson of Wat-Cha farms, for an
arca of farmland north of Mount
Forest, Brackcr agreed to become
involved.
approved with restrictions. "I believe
that we may have lost the battle in
this case, but the concerns that we
raised publicly may be reason to
believe that we won the war."
Brackcr says
While preparing for the Wat-
Cha OMB hearings
Braeker discovered that the
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
(OFA) did not have a land -use policy.
"I was a member of OFA and I
dccidcd that it was time that they did
have a land -use policy that will
protect the stock -in -trade of
agriculture. We need good
farmland—you cannot just destroy it
and expect to feed the people." So in
1989 he was elected to represent the
farmers of south Grey on the OFA
board.
"I had my say down there for six
or seven years," he said, "A lot of the
rank and file agreed with me, hut the
In 1993 Braeker (right) shared the Tommy Cooper Award with Jack C.uunnun.r, .
presented by Claudia Staines of CFOS Radio, co-sponsor of the award.
A ratepayers group was formed
that became known as C.P.E.F. (Cit-
izens for the Preservation of the
Environment and Foodland).
Eventually the proposal went before
an Ontario Municipal Board Hearing
(OMB). At first Bracker says their
group's position appeared to have
broad support. The agriculture and
environment ministries were on side,
even early drafts of a report by
county planners seemed, on balance,
to find much fault with the proposal.
However, officials began to back
away from their original positions.
The development was eventually
executive seemed to have a different
agenda. The OFA policy hook is so
contradictory on land use that it is
ridiculous." Recently Grcy County
Federation of Agriculture had a
resolution accepted at the 1995
convention, instructing the OFA
Land Use Committee to develop a
land -use policy. "And," he threatens,
"if that turns out to he another
document that really docs not mean
anything 1 will run for regional
director again and start screaming
blue murder down there!"
Brackcr is not a one -issue man. He
has served thc Federation of
APRIL 1996 17