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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-01-18, Page 5Got a beef? The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number should we need to clarify any infor- mation. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1995. PAGE 5. Taking back what's theirs It hasn't made the headlines, but the fact is, even as you read this, works of art are being systematically destroyed. Tens of thousands of works of art. Priceless antiquities. Irreplaceable artifacts. The pieces include sculpture, painted art works and other historical treasures from the native cultures of North America — Cree, Comanche, Navajo and Haida to name a handful. So far, an estimated 40,000 cultural and artistic treasures have disappeared. American experts say if the plunder continues at this rate, more than 100,000 artifacts will be no more by 1996. But if the U.S. experts know so much about these grave robbers and site-spoilers why don't they just grab 'em by the scruffs of their scumbag necks and toss them in the slammer? Call in the Marines! Summon the National Guard — Hell, Canada would be glad to donate a couple of squads of mounties to bring these villains to justice. Well...heh, heh... that's where the situation gets a little complicated. You see, the perpetrators responsible for destroying this US native heritage...are natives. And it's all perfectly legal. Sanctioned by A chain reaction Most people have noticed that interest rates in this country have started to climb and there is every indication that there are more where the first ones came from. Not surprisingly fingers of accusation have started to be pointed at the governor of the Bank of Canada but, since he manages to keep a profile so low that it is difficult to even find him, not much of these accusations rub off on him. He is, without a doubt, the ultimate teflon man. If you are looking for someone to blame, you might try the head of the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington since he has undoubtedly had more to do with these increases than has our bank's governor. At first sight this may sound a bit strange but, if you recall the statement made a few years ago, when the United States sneezes, Canada catches cold, what we have is a beautiful example of that in action. Let's see how it works. When an economy comes out of a recession, the increased activity can generally be handled without any increase in inflationary pressures. However, as the economy comes closer and closer to using its total capacity, the pressures start to make themselves felt and, if something isn't done, the country can find itself in an inflationary spiral with all the inherent negative effects. The secret of all this is to do something to prevent this happening but, as in a number of other situations, there is an additional problem which arises. Most economic measures suffer from what is known as a time lag, which means that they do not have the desired effect until about 12 - 18 months after they have been implemented. This means that, if you want to prevent inflation from having such an undesirable effect on the U.S. government, as a matter of fact. Back in 1991, the U.S. Congress passed a bill called The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act — NAGPRA, for short. NAGPRA gives Indian tribes the right to claim possession of cultural artifacts presently sitting in museum display cases and university store rooms all over the United States. Well, fair enough. Ever since the White Man waded ashore on this continent he's treated the indigenous people like part of the real estate. We killed all their buffalo. We rendered the water undrinkable. We shunted them into reserves so they wouldn't be in the way of our shopping malls and highway cloverleafs. And we stole from their dead. Never thought twice about the indignity we were committing when we unleashed teams of university anthropology 'students to paw over old tombs and sacred burial sites. How would you feel if a platoon of Micmacs descended on your local cemetery and dug up the grave of your great- grandfather? Chipped off a few bone samples to send back to the lab for testing? Wrote learned papers about the cavities in his molars or the gold Mason's ring still dangling from his finger bone? Well, that's how many Indians have felt for the past three or four hundred years. So nobody of a charitable mind begrudges the return of Indian artifacts to the Indians the economy, you have to introduce the necessary measures about one to one and a half years in advance. This is done by making use of what are called leading indicators. In short, there are certain things which take place which indicate that, in about one to one and a half years down the line, something else will take place. Let me give you a simple example. If you see the amount of money in circulation rapidly increasing you can be just about 100 per cent certain that, within the above mentioned time period inflation will take place. These leading indicators are not always accurate, at least not as much as we would like them to be, but they are certainly better than nothing at all. Now back to the American central bank, the Federal Reserve. The Bank has come to the conclusion that economic activity in the U.S. is such that it will cause inflation in about one to one and a half years and for this reason the bank has, on several occasions, raised the bank rate in order to slow down the excessively high level of current activity. The problem is that the vast majority of people in the States do not see any inflation at all and are generally benefitting from the high level of activity. The last thing they want to do is to see it cut off and so there has been an increasing amount of complaints about what the Bank is doing. The complaints will get even stronger since there is every indication that the Bank will be raising the bank rate even higher in the early months of 1995. How does all this affect Canada? Unfortunately all the talk about government debt that you have heard lately is at the heart of the matter. We have had to borrow so much money either at the federal or provincial level that there is not enough in Canada to do the job. To a considerable degree, we must resort to foreign money markets for the required quantity of cash to themselves. Where the problem comes is — what the Indians are doing to those artifacts. They're re-burying some of them — destroying others by leaving them where they were originally found - exposed to wind and sun and rain and snow. It makes perfect sense to the Indians. They reason that the ancestors who created the works of art never intended them to end up in a glass case in the Smithsonian. On the other hand, it drives archaeologists nuts. They see unique physical evidence of past cultures being lost forever. And who's to say which side is right? I have an Indian artifact — a clay pipe head. Found it about 15 years ago in a foot of water on the sandy shores of Obonga Lake, north of Thunder Bay. An archaeologist from Lakehead University confirmed its authenticity and suggested I donate it to the University. I asked her why. "Well, we could catalogue it and add it to our collection." I decided the civilization would not be substantially advanced by the addition of my Indian pipe head to the university collection. And it's reasonable to think that the original owner of my pipe head wouldn't care much one way or the other. Besides, I like it. My Indian pipe head is a nice thing to hold in your hand and stroke while you ponder large questions like the good and the bad of a thing such as NAGPRA. cover our deficits. If the Americans raise their interest rates, we have to do the same just so this money continues to flow into Canada and does not get diverted into the U.S. It is something of a vicious circle. The higher the interest rates go, the more it costs our governments to cover their deficits and the harder it becomes to control the same deficit. Money that might normally go into reducing the shortfall has to be used to pay the higher rate of interest. This all goes back to what I said in the second paragraph. If you want to blame someone, try the head of the American Federal Reserve Bank. However, if you want to go back even further, try blaming the Canadian governments for allowing their debt load to get up so high. Government after government has told voters that they were going to come to grips with the deficit and then, once they were in power, have neglected it. What this adds up to is the head of the Federal Reserve Bank telling Canadians to get their own house in order before blaming him for high interest rates in is country. The Short of ►t By Bonnie Gropp Never too old to learn It's been awhile but I remember the boring old days when a school field trip meant not just a learning experience, but an educational one at that. Excursions to historical Casa Loma and the Ontario Science Centre would hopefully enrich our minds in a more entertaining way. But, I never recall a school trip that taught a skill not necessarily to test our mental powers. Also, in the schools today, many novel and interesting programs have been added to the classroom and during extra-curricular periods to increase the students' awareness and enhance their knowledge of the many wondrous and varied talents they might possess. For example even very young children are learning chess, debate and drama, all things virtually unheard of when I was a student. The concept of total education through life skills and hands-on learning provides students with activities they may not ever experience otherwise, along with the more rudimentary teachings. In recent weeks, for example, I have received information on, or have signed permission slips for a downhill ski trip and curling lessons. Both things that, at mid-life, I have yet to try, either for lack of opportunity or too much fear. I am not a particularly, adventurous spirit, I abhor failure on my part and dread drawing attention to myself by failing. Thus, there were many times as a young adult when I let the chance for a new experience pass me by because I lacked the courage to give it a try — and quite likely not do it well. But now, looking back, I see that while I probably would have failed at many, I may perhaps have discovered if not a hidden gift, then a secret passion. And I couldn't help wondering last week if I had had the chance to try some of these activities when I was a little younger, without fear and common sense, if I would be doing them now. Imagine me, as Lady Macbeth in an amateur production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy. Or picture me on a glorious day at Aspen shushing down the slopes — an image that has taken on even greater meaning since I heard the recent study which reports women who ski are considered sexier than other female athletes. It was with these fantasies in mind that I have decided to gradually throw caution and modesty to the wind and, not to be outdone by my children, try some new things. My new challenge began recently, and admittedly, rather tamely with chess, which I had tried to learn a decade or so ago. However, not wanting to appear like an idiot in front of my oldest son, who was teaching me, I gave it up after some pretty pathetic attempts. Perhaps it's the knowledge that the older I get the easier it is to be ridiculous looking and not mind, but for whatever reason this time chess isn't going so badly. As a matter of fact, though Bobby Fischer has nothing to worry about, I have even managed to win a few. Which, I might add, is nice ammunition to have when my many bad moves come under attack, usually by me. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? As my days for executing some of the more agile activities may soon be passing I figure the time as come to stop hiding and give as much of life as I can a try. Who knows? If I can build up to it gradually, maybe I'll even give skiing a crack. Come to think of it, I could kill two birds that way, because that would be my first time being sexy, too. Arthur Black International Scene