Times Advocate, 1997-12-10, Page 4•
Page 4
Tittles -Advocate, December la-1997-
Publisher
0 1997 -
Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett
Business Manager: Pon Smith
Production Manager: Deb Lord
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News; Heather Mir, Kate Monk, Craig Bradford,
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• Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner
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EDIT()RIAI4S
u u o
Let there be profit
anada's reputation as a nation
that cares is taking a heating these days
- and not without good reason.:
It's taken four years, -"and a challenge
in the Supreme Court of Canada,to fi-
nally get the Krever report on the taint-
ed blood -scandal to the public. The .
findings of the report are even more .
devastating than anyone suspected. For
years the media has been -estimating the -
number of people who have contracted
hepatitis C from tainted blood as being
12,000. Mr. Justice Horace Krever
states this number is incorrect and un-
founded. His report puts the number of
Canadians infected by tainted blood in
a single decade at more than 60,000.
Judge Krever puts the number who
contracted hepatitis C at 28,600 be-
tween 1986 and 1990 (at a period when
the. United States was using a surrogate
test that detected the virus indirectly)
and an -even larger number between
1980 and 1986, during the period when
Canadian blood was not tested for ei-
ther hepatitis or AIDS viruses.
After years of fighting for compensa-
tion,. AIDS victims were finally given
support by the "former federal PC gov-
ernment and the provinces. The Federal,
governmentcame up with a lump pay- -
ment of $120;000over four years, and
the provinces are providing an ongoing
payment of $30;000 annually. To date
hepatitis C victims have received no fi-
nancial support' from any level of gov-.
ernment.. - , - ' .
And to date not a single person in a
position of responsibility for Canada's
6lood supply system has been held ac-
countable. This is a shame equal to the
callousness of our governments toward
the victims of this horrendous matter.
The, shame is even more evident given
what has happened in other democra-
cies around the world.which have expe-
rienced similar tainted blood scandals.
In both France and Japan government
health ministers and those directly in-
volved in the blood system, similar to
our Red Cross officials, have gone to jail
and have been made to publicly apologize
'to victims. -
Following the release of Judge Krever's
report, federal Health Minister Allan.
Rock was quick -to offer a public apology:
it is too little, too late. To have any cre-
dence, the Government of Canada should
have instructed its Ministry ofJustice and
Attorney General to immediately order- -
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to
begin an investigation, based on Judge
Krever's report. Provincial governments
should also be instructing -police services
to investigate the matter. The RCMP stat-
ed during the weekend it would be inves-
tigating Judge Krever's report to see if
criminal charges are warranted; however,
the RCMP is acting on its own because of.
the evidence -given by many of the vic-
tims. Surviving victims and their families
are also considering laying charges. That
survivors should even have to consider
such an action is a national disgrace. •
Compounding this entire tainted blood
scandal - and it is a scandal of the first
magnitude - is the fact that government
and Red Cross officials made decisions
based on profits rather thansafety and the
well being ot•persons depending
blood supply. for their very lives. -
On Monday, December 1, the report of
the Westray Mine disaster was made pub-
lic - a report that has taken Live years fol-
lowing the death of 26 men. In this case
-too, government officials as well -as mine •
officials put profits ahead'of safety and.
lives.: •
The. Chretien government is one that
• Will go down in history as placing profits.
and the interests of big -business ahead of
all other concerns. It is an emphasis which
will -tarnish the otherwise good job this
government has done in curbing the deli-
cit and taking a whack at the national
debt.•
When it comes to matters of public safe-
ty. the profit margin should not"be a con-
sideration.
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Letters to the Editor
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O.S.T. #R105210835
I ALREADY HAVE A
LA?roI A MODEM, A CELL
Pilo$E, A FAX MACHINE,
M1UAL FuNDS AND
A BEEPER. ACTUALLY,
I WAS KIND OF 4OPING
FORA DOLLY
That's my opinion
By Char:tall. Van Raay
Big family memories
Who wants to know What u i IUs► vein old. A creek flows dust a. 1th. I might add. Shawn still fight -
like growing up in a big family.' little ways down the long and wind int, wildly with, the covers, and his
Well. I'm going to tell you anyway. ing road where we lived. sanity.
• 1 am the youngest of.five brothers - The inevitability of this meant /Paul gpt the unforgettable hat
and two sisters. -and there is a hook there were hats - living in the attic.. racket, swooshed it our and, well, •
:.ufanec:dotex. frnm_our-famiiv--paii.t For--y4ars-•inparents tried-to-fid-ef—ite-hat-soon-hecame"t:ompost.
Shawn has never been the same.
1 have umpteen !more stories -1
could relate to' you about growing'
up in our ,house. Since J was the
youngest. many stories do not sit in
my favor"•
i was picked :on.' pushed around
and told toget coffee. -
A game•miy hritiheis liked to play
was the "tie up" game. They would
tie me to a chair in the kitchen and _
say when 1 got loose I would have
to come and find them. At least an ./
hour later I would finish untieing
sailor knots and triple knots and
twenty -foot • long pieces of rope. I ..
would he so happy that i accom
•plished this that i would run into the
living room to .find them. .all three •
of .them. sitting hack on the. coach
watching the hockey game.
A game we all wanted to play
when i was growing up was called •
"ghost". It was like hide-and-seek.
but it was much more eerie. Every=
One would. hide and my dad would •
put a sheet over his head and make
ghoulish ghostly whining sounds
while hunting us down: When we
were caught we .would be brought
to-ihe ghost chambers.
We played this game a few years
ago after "everyone had moved out
oldie house.
It brought hack so many memo-
-
nes of being a kid and playing with
my brothers and sisters again. Allot -
us. Though Over twenty. felt as if we
were kids again,all living under the
same roof.
Sotne arc vindictive. • some are -in-
ane and some deal with blatant sib-
ling rivalry. Everyone who has sib-
-
lings has experienced it: It becomes
dramatic if you held onto sibling
valry when you ger older, hilt he -
lore the age of eighteen. it almost
.necessary..
• One night my four oldest siblings
gathered around the rays to watch a
horror movie. Alter the .movie. Cu-
rinne decided to give her younger
-
brother Dave a little scare- So, Co-.
rinne went into his room, got under
his lied and waited • for Dave :19
come in -and fall asleep._ , -
About -len minutes. later: Dave
was nestled in his hcd and suddenly
began -to feel the bed move., slowly •
up and down.
He screamed in horror. ran out of
the room and straight into my. par-
ent's bedroom.
Corinne' realized if she were to
. get caught. with this she would get
into a lot of trouble. So. she snuck
into her room and didn't say a thing
about what just happened.
"The hed moved.'' Dave said to
my parents. '
Well. they knew that, couldn't
happen and told Dave he prohably
just imagined it. But Dave was con-
vinced.
• He never slept in that room again.
and for many years. helicvcd his
lied had moved. that untuargettable'.
night. Ten years later, Corinne told.
him what' really happened.
Our house was large and over
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i
A View from Queen's Park
•TORONTO -- Ontario's Progressive Conser-
vatives have long said unequivocally that cops
are tops. and some police are taking this as a li-
cence to get tough with those who dissent.
in the latest example. seven female students
who demonstrated against Education Minister
Dave Johnson outside a fund-raiser at Guelph
were arrested. taken to a regional detention cen-
tre and forced to undress and bend over so
women officers could check whether they had
concealed drugs or weapons.
The policesaid this was necessary and that
they do it with all women prisoners. but others
will conclude that police need not have gone so
far and wanted to humiliate those who protest.
sending a message that they may be strip-
searched by police and thus deterring them
from doing it.
Demonstrators have been hauled into police
cars and wound up paying $65 tines for tres-
passing, notwithstanding Premier Mike Harris
saying he doesn't care because he doesn't listen
to what they say anyway. One of 21 envi-
ronmentalists arrested trying to block logging
By Eric Dowd
the critters. -hut since they ,are so
tiny they can squeeze ,through a pin
hole. ridding the house of hats was
impossible without putting on. a ,
new roof. -
\Itogether .there were probably
IAt) hats living in the.attic. To some
that might seem unbelievably dis-
gusting. but ui us. we lived with it.
They ate the inisyuitoes' and hal-
anced the ecosystem in some way i
truly, never understood.
•l hated hats.. l still do" I. feet like
Dave when I say i can't sleep in
- that room anymore because •once
and a whale a hat ,will get, into the
'louse -and swoop wildly above our
heads.
i'nt convinced it happens Only
when I'm. there. because mv. par-
ent- say there is hardly ever. a hat
in thc.house.
. Which there isn't. But 1 have ex-
perienced waking up to the "Sgec.
Sgec" sound of a hat late at night
and seeing_ Dracula.; kissing cousin
Ilvingsw•iItly above. me. ,
I remember one time •in parucu-
lar"
In the summer.' my two older '
brothers and I would sleep in :the
porch" One night a hat got in there. •
"Sqee. Sgecf'
Paul and I could hear the thing
Int couldn't •see it, until we looked
at Shawn throwing his covers every
which way. A hat was caught 'under
his covers and he. couldn't get it
out. • It was bouncing up and down
looking for any, possible escape.
and charged with mischief -and intimidation was
ordered to stay- away from the demonstrator's'
camp. the equivalent of being warned "get out of.
town." .
The most serious use of police force outside
the legislature in history. occurred when a riot
squad clubbed a path with batons -through pick-
ets, supporting a public servants,' strike and
blocking government MPPs from entering, and,
even' a moderately worded" public inquiry by a
noted pro -establishment judge found police had
used force that should have been avoided.
Harris and his governor^ant showed no immedi-
ate concern and had to be prodded by opposition
parties into holding an inquiry, -and a demonstra-
tor knocked' unconscious. has now won an out-
of-court settlement from thegovernment on con-
dition he not talk about it -- the Tories want this
police action put quickly behind them.
In another incident, 250 heavily -armed police
ejected 24 native protesters, who turned out to
be unarmed, occupying part of ipperwash pro-
vincial park and a police sergeant who shot one
dead was found guilty of criminal negligence.
Cops are tops?
Police under earlier.New Democrat and Lib-
eral governments had a policy of. avoiding con-
frontation with native groups. but changed it
and one explanation is that they recognized
they have to account to a Tory Ggovernment
more supportive of police and less tolerant of.
natives: The Tories have refused to hold a pub-
lic inquiry or even promise one after possible
legal appeals.
The vast majority of police. it should be not-
ed, treat demonstrators with courtesy and re-
straint. Watching protesters haranguing former
U.S. president George Bush visiting a universi-
ty president's official residence here last Month
and • police exchanging good-natured banter
with them would have made anyone feel Ontar-
ians have police who by and large view others
with respect.
But police who want to be heavy-handed have
grounds for feeling that a Tory government will
sympathize. The Tories in opposition almost in=
variably leaped to side with police whenever
their actions were questioned.
Bob Runciman, now solicitor general and re-
sponsible for police, never stopped accusing
Liberal and NDP governments of being soft on
criminals. pandering to pressure groups and
failing to support police in their dangerous
work. As minister. he has assured police they
have "a friend in government. -
Charles Hamick, now attorney general. ac-
cused
o-cused the NDP of persecuting police and Harris
showed up to congratulate a police chief whose
claim to fame was refusing to accept that police
ih the end have to. answer to civilians.
Police demonstrated boisterously against an
NDP government outside Queen's Park, booed
its premier Bob Rae in a baseball stadium; ran
ads complaining that the NDP had made life
easier for crooks and Idemanded Liberal attor-
ney general Ian Scott resign after a policeman
was charged with manslaughter in a shooting"
Police have never found much reason for
quarrelling with the Tories. it is a cause for
worry that some police may feel that, if they
give dissenters a hard time, friends in govern-
ment will let them get away with it