©

   

 

by Jeff Harrington

HALIFAX (CUP) — When
Mohawk Patricia Monture
couldn’t decide whether or not
to go to law school, she went to
see her elder. He told her a story,
perhaps two or three hours long.
When he had finished, she knew
she had to go to university
before she could fight for justice
for her people.

"First, I had to learn how to
| talk honky," she said recently.

Now a professor of law at
Dalhousie Law School in
Halifax, Monture is one of an
increasing number of First
Nations people who recognize
“that getting a university
education is an indispensible if
often unpleasant step to
attaining self- determination.

"Canada is not making an
effort to talk to us. We’re the
ones who have to do
double-time and learn how to
talk to them," she said.

But while talking and acting
honky may come easy to English
and French Canadians, it’s
obviously quite unnatural for
First Nations people like
Monture -- who doesn’t
consider herself Canadian, by

 

the way. Never mind learning to.
talk like a lawyer.

First Nations people learn in
a different way than the
dominant Euro-Canadian
society’s mode of education. An
elder in a Micmac community
doesn’t lecture the children or
scold them if they do something
wrong -- it is their responsibility
to approach their teacher, and
then watch and listen.

"We’ll watch something
long enough and memorize it
and go away and try it until we
get it right," said Jean
Knockwood, a native education
counsellor at Henson College in
Halifax.

For eight years, Knockwood
has helped aboriginal students
cope with a system that has little
inkling of the cultural
differences that can make
university an alien place. She
holds regular writing and study
workshops to help students
become familiar with the ways
universities work.

"You don’t have to alter
their learning style, their
cultural beliefs or how they see
the world," she said.

the Other Press

Unfortunately, man
non-native teachers at all leve
judge First Nations student by
their own values, equating
shyness with disinterest, or
silence with stupidity. The
result: "streaming" into
non-academic or vocational
courses, appalling ut rates
(20 per cent complete high
school -- 75 per cent is the
Canadian average) and low
participation at the university
level.

"I don’t think our students
are failing because they’re
stupid or inadequate. They’re
failing because the system is
failing them," said Wendy Hull,
chair of the Aboriginal Students’
Association at Dalhousie

University.

As well as hiring more First
Nations faculty - Dalhousie has
two out of 760 — and staff, Hull
feels schools and universities
must alter their curricula.

"I’m tired of having to listen
‘that residential schools were
\good for my people,” she said.

And all teachers must be
taught — not by non-natives —
tthat a meaningful education for

Post-Secondary Education A Neccesary Evil For Natives

First Nations people involves
the mind, body and spirit.

"In your dominant society,
we’re looked on as quitters. But
most people don’t make it
because they aren’t spiritually
whole - - they don’t have the
right suport."

Now 35, Hull will graduate
with a degree in political science
this spring, ready to change
things.

"(University) education is
not important to me in my life.
But it is important when we start

February 12, 1991

dealing with the government,"
she said.

Hull is hopeful things will
get better -- Dalhousie has made
some positive recent changes.
But as she nears graduation, a
piece of her spirit is missing. Her
mother chose not to teach her
Micmac. Hundreds of years of
"civilizing" propaganda had
done their trick.

"She believed I would speak
English, go to an English school,
and do better than she did."

Peace Groups Split
Over Arab-Jewish Issue

OTTAWA (CUP) -
Tensions are running high
within anti-war coalitions in
Vancouver and Ottawa over the
role of Arab-Canadian and
Jewish students within their
groups.

End the Arms Race (EAR) —
a coalition of more than 200 anti-
war groups -- did not allow
Arab-Canadian representatives
to speak at a Jan. 26 Vancouver
rally.

Demonstrators Still Remember Tiananmen Square

 

by Huang Chen Chung

VANCOUVER (CUP) -
Flashing yellow ribbons, about
80 demonstrators gathered in
front of Vancouver’s Chinese
consulate Feb. 2 to protest the
Chinese government’s
treatment of Tiananmen Square
dissidents.

The yellow ribbons, a
symbol of hope, have been
waved by Vancouver
demonstrators since June 4,
1989, when hundreds -- possibly
thousands -- of students and
workers protesting in Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square were either
shot to death or run over by
army tanks.

"This is to demonstrate to
the government that the
imprisoned dissidents still have
support," said protester
Raymond Chan, a University of
British Columbia student.

Chan gave an impassioned
speech through a makeshift
speaker system as dozens of

peseing motorists honked theit
orns in support.

Chan, chair of the
Vancouver Society in Support of
Democratic Movement
(VSSDM), recently visited
Beijing but was barred from the
trials of Tiananmen Square
dissidents. ! ;

_ Hesaid many of the student
dissidents were sentenced to
unexpected lengthy terms. And,
he added, ¢ ne of the workers
whose cuses were not
well-publicized received even
stiffer sentences.

“One architect got 14 years.
We (the VSSDM) feel it’s
because we did not (publicize)
his case," he said.

"Right now, we are trying
our est to assemble
information on workers but it’s
hard. The workers are
intimidated and do not realize
the media’s power."

Another concern, Chan
said, is the fate of Wang Juntao,
deputy editor of the
now-banned Economic Weekly.
Wang is suffering from
hepatitis-B in prison but
government officials flatly
rejected his wife’s request to
admit him to a hospital.

A spokesperson for the
Ministry of External Affairs said
Canadian officials are
discussing the trials on a regular
basis with officials in Beijing and
the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa.

"We want to make sure the
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights is being upheld
during the trials," External
Affairs spokesperson Dennis
Laliberte said in an interview
from Ottawa.

But the ministry is not yet in
a position to reveal details of the
talks, he said.

External Affairs minister Joe
Clark last, spoke with China’s

deputy foreign affairs minister,
Hua Qui, in December during
his visit to Ottawa.

In. Vancouver, several
protesters accused the Chinese
government of speeding up the
trials while international
attention was focused on the
Gulf War.

"Canadians respect the
rights of human beings -- I
believe through this type of
action, we can make those
Canadians aware," said UBC
student Mankit Chan.

"We want to let the Chinese
government and Canadians
know that there’s still much to
do."

Raymond Chan said the
Chinese community in
Vancouver is united in its stance
for the most part. "Only the
people with businesses in China
have some reservations," he
said.

Challenge Grants Still Don’t Get Proper Funding

 

by Andy Riga

OTTAWA (CUP) --
- Students will probably find the
pickings slim when they hit the
streets hunting for summer
work this year.

Summer unemployment
soared to 17.4 per cent at the
height of the 1982 recession for
those aged 15 to 24. And
forecasters -- predicting a tough
year ahead — warn the current
deepening recession could leave
students out in the cold again
this summer.

"The summer job market is
usually the first hit" during an
economic downturn, said
Giamos of the University of
Toronto’s career centre.

Current job listings are not
as numerous as in the past,
Giamos said, although she noted

that "that doesn’t mean there
aren’t any jobs out there. It
might mean that employers
don’t have to advertise as much
as previously because there are
so many people looking for
employment."

The spring and summer
could be bleak for anybody
looking for work. The national

unemployment rate for all ages -

— currently hovering at about 8
per cent -- could reach 9.7 per
cent this spring, according to the
Conference Board of Canada, an
independent research institute.
Even Youth Minister Marcel
Danis, who announced this
year’s federal summer job
program Feb. 4, warned
students about employment
prospects, although he seemed
leery of using the R- word.

The government added $3
million to this year’s Challenge
program because "it is expected
that job prospects may be
somewhat more difficult in the
current economic climate,"
Danis said at a news conference.

The extra cash will go into
the SEED (Summer
Employment/Experience
Development) program, which
provides wage subsidies to
employers creating summer
jobs.
"They have added some
money (to Challenge), but they
haven't taken into account the
recession and they’re certainly
not making up for the millions
that have been cut from the

‘am since it started in 1985,"
said Silvia Sioufi, researcher for

the Canadian Federation of
Students (CFS).

Back in 1985, $150 million
went to SEED. "They‘ve almost
cut SEED in half over the past six
years when the need has been
constantly increasing,” Sioufi
said.

Liberal and New Democrat
critics are also condemning the
federal government for only
adding $3 million to the job
programduring a severe recession.

Liberal co-finance critic John

Manley said more cash should be
pumped into Challenge — and
quickly.
"There are two barriers to
post-secondary education,"
Manley said. "One is the absolute
cost and the other is the inability of
students to finance that cost."

On the same day the
Carleton Anti-War Coalition
allowed Jews for Peace to speak
at a demonstration — but barred
them from addressing the issue
of a Palestinian homeland.

An estimated 10,000
demonstrators gathered at the
Vancouver Art Gallery to listen
to a variety of speakers, none of
whom were of Arab descent.

Mazen Sukkarie, a
University of British Columbia
student or Arab descent and a
founding member of Hope for
Peace on Earth (HOPE), said she
was concerned with the
exclusion of Arab-Canadians
from the speakers list.

"We would like to share our
thoughts and beliefs with
others, no matter what race,
religion or color they are, as long
as they seek peace," he said.

EAR president Frank
Kennedy said his group feared
that Arab voices may have
spoken in favor of Saddam
Hussein, creating a rift in the
anti-war movement.

Kennedy said EAR wanted
to avoid becoming embroiled in
the Arab-Israeli dispute, fearing
it would shift the focus of the
rally from the Gulf war. Doing
so would have "kept people
away, rather than drawing them
in," he said.

He said EAR draws a "fair
amount of support from sectors
of the Jewish community," and
did not want to alienate them.

Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the
Carleton Anti-War Coalition
continues to debate its approach
to spreading the message for
peace in the Middle East.

During a heated debate on
Jan. 24, the very purpose of the
coalition was questioned.

Allie Irvine, chair of
Carleton’s New Democratic
Youth, said she was angry. the
coalition was thinking about
denying Jewish students the
chance to speak at the demo. She
added that a few individuals
were deciding the coalition’s
actions,

An impassioned Denise
Lachance, another member of
the coalition, countered that the
coalition’s goals are only
"Canadian troops out of the
Gulf" and "no blood for oil."

"The question of Israel is a
divisive issue," Lachance said,
adding that she did not want
Arabs upset.

 

 

bal Sis