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The Brussels Post, 1978-09-13, Page 2wi '1 gBrussels Post ORME LS °ONTARIO WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1978 Serving Brussels and the.surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros.Publishers Limited. .Evelyn Kennedy Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $9.00 a Year. Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association eNA Others $17.00 a Year. Single Copies 20 cents each. Responsibilities Vandalism has been a common complaint from many places across Ontario recently. Complaints ranging from broken windows.to smashed park benches and threats made to people were some of the things reveal ed in last week's Brussels Post. Most people asked by the Post to comment on the situation didn't wish to reveal their names because of fear of reta liation from the vandals. One can hardly blame them for not wanting to have a rock thrown through their window or have the members of their family threatened. Ignoring the problem, however, won't make it go away. Some people blame the police for not doing their job properly, claiming that those causing the problems should be given more severe penalties. But why should the police bother if they don't have the backing they need from local people? And that means backing them all the way up to the courtroom a willingness to say you saw a particular. person commit an offence, and a willingness to describe exactly what happened. And not only do the police need backing from the public. They need the backing of the courts as well which perhaps could involve stiffer penal ties to the offenders. The town of Trenton has been recently trying to get the endorsation of Ontario Municipal councils for a resolution which requests that the federal and provincial attorneys general convene a meeting of the three levels of government and police officials to determine stiffer fines for the kind of offences we have been talking about. Although the Brussels council voted in favour of the resolution other councils in other municipalities deferred action on the grounds that catching the people who did these things was a problem But, perhaps if people who witnessed acts of vandalism would step forward and say.so, the job of the police would be made easier, and if heavier sentences were levied in court, the offender and his friends might be a little more hesistant to try something in a town that stands up for itself. It's worth a try, anyway. Short Shots by Evelyn Kennedy A WINNER — This home ow-ned by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ditsch of R.R.3, Brussels was picked as a winner in the Farmstead and Home Improvement Competition held in Brussels on Wednesday night. It won first a prize in Class 5 for the Most Attractive Rural or Urban Dwelling (already improved). (Brussels Post Photo), Behind the Scenes by Keith Roulston A small price to pay 4/. (Continued from Page 1) have any' of those articles stored away, unused, in your home why not answer their appeal and see that our Wolf Cubs get them. They will be appreciated. * * * * * It has come to our attention that vandalism of rural mail boxes goes on frequently, Some people have been victimized more than once. It is too bad that those responsible are not caught in the act, identified, and made to repair and pay for the damage they cause. When mail boxes and the posts on which they are mounted are destroyed it creates inconvenience, and is costly to repair or replace. This caused by some misguided person's destructive act. It is time such people grew up and devoted their activities to consturctive endeavours. it: 'It * * sic Ladies: how about the contribution of a pie or two to the Ladies Division Refreshment Booth next Wednesday, Dec. 20th. *gm*** While preparations go steadily ahead for the International Plowing Match, so rapidly approachingveryone involved is concerned about the weather. Will be fine Weather, that did so much for the tourist industry in the past months, continue • throughout Septet-I-the?? Weather forcasts are not too favourable: That Old standby, Chase Almanac, predicts rain for much of Southern Ontario by the 19th, With rainfall below normal at this time many fear it will clime this month. Heavy rains with the resultant mud is just What the International Plowing Match does not need. I was going to try to make this a light and happy column this week. There's so much doom and gloom around that it seemed time for a little lightness. Then I made the mistake of turning on the television Sunday night, and it became a little hard to be light and happy. The program that destroyed any thoughts of humour was the CBC's Quarterly Report which dealt with the plight of Canada's Indian population. It was a pretty sobering experience, particularly the first part of the program which showed us just how terrible the conditions are under which the Indians must live. Not only Indians live in substandard housing and receive poor housing, of course, but the Indians have little hope of escape as poor white people do. Unemployment on the reserve runs as high as 98 per cent: When Indians drift off the reserves and into the cities conditions become even worse. They are unskilled for working in the cities and unprepared for the pressures of urban life. They find it hard to get decent housing at a price they can afford. In frustration they turn totheir worst enemy: alcohol and it destroys them even more easily than it destroys whites. They lose all pride in themselves and their race. Most of us in Canada know the Indians have problems of course, but we've had little direct contact with these problems. I've only met a handful of Indians in my life. I've probably met as many East Indians as Canadian Indians. Moreover, not only do We not know Indians on a person-to-person basis, most of us don't really realize just who is responsible for what under the treaties signed with the Indians 100 years ago. I got the impression from the program Sunday night, for instance, that the Indians under their treaty are to be supplied with housing , by the federal government. It's one thing if Indians live in poor housing because they haven't built better for themselves, bUt if the government is responsible for those rat traps people must live in then it's a crime against humanity. Many Of the problems of the Indians seem to stem from the huge bureacracy of the Department of Indian Affaitt. There are only 22,000 Indians left in Canada. There are 5,900 people working in Indian Affairs looking after thetn. Even in the gOvern- merit's terms of bureacracy this it surely ludicrous: one bureaucrat for every four Indians. The tragic thing is that one bureaucrat is likely earning more than all four of the Indians he's supervising. In that way, I think, Indians suffer from the same problems all of us outside the main stream of Canadian society suffer. The tail is wagging the dog. The government was formed to serve the people but now the people are serving the government. Bureau- crats are so busy playing their own little games that they forget what their real job is. They're boxed up in city office buildings and go home to their suburban homes and think only of city problems. How can they possibly understand the problems of people living in Huron county, let alone an Indian reserve in Northern Saskatchewan. A succession of ministers have tackled the Indian Affairs post in the last 10 years and it's hard to believe that all were insensitive or stupid; yet the problems continue and may be indeed getting worse. Part of the problemtis that eachtribe is a lttle different from the others. The tribes grew in isolation just as the countries of Europe grew in isolation and each people has its own temperment. To government bureaucrats used to lumping everyone together, this is impossible to comprehend. Thus, even for a minister who is truly understanding of Indian problems, it is hard to get action from the monstrous bureacracy he must try to get action from. For some Indians, at least, there seems to be hope. There were a few tribes featured in the program, who had started successful business ventures with government help and others who had organized their own successful school programs. For people in' the north there is the hope of buying their own freedom and right to choose a lifestyle through land claims in the newly developing territories. The lure of oil and gas and pipelines for the south may be the' club Indians and Eskimos need to get a decent break. Those land claims include huge amounts of land and huge amounts of money (an estimate of $3-6 billion was made on' the program). That's an almost incomprehens; able amount of money, yet We spend many times that each year in this country through government spending. If this will help the native people put themselves on their feet, regain their pride and live their own way of life, h think it's a small price to pay. Why should we whites in the south get our oil and gas a few cents cheaper at the cost of misery and desperation for the native peoples?