The Other Press

January 31, 1986 page 5

 

“It’s like purgatory”

Barnes tackles the welfare monster

by PAUL J. GILL

“Twenty seven dollars and four-
teen days to go.”’

-Emerv Barnes makes this statement
with a wry face. The date is January
22, welfare day for most of the people
living in the Vancouver downtown
eastside, but not for the area’s
Member of the Legislative Assembly
(MLA), Emery Barnes, NDP.

Barnes is undergoing the greatest
reflection in his adult life. Born to a
poor Southern U.S. family, Barnes
thought he escaped the life of poverty
when he’joined the B.C. Lions.

On January 6, he took up a
challenge from the End Legislated
Poverty coaltion (E.L.P.) to spend.
one month living in this depressed
part of the city with only $350 in his
pocket (the amount of welfare avail-
able for single men in B.C.).

“It’s not just the $350, or whatever
a person lives on,’’ says Barnes. ‘‘It’s
the system. It does not relate to the
needs of the people.’’

“On welfare, there’s a little bridge
you have to pass, and that’s some-
thing I'll never be able to do in just
one month. It’s like purgatory. Some
people call it ‘the tender trap’.’’

‘“Most people on welfare find ways

 

Department diluted

by LORI DONALD

After sixteen years of teaching
history at Douglas College, Mr.
George Porges will be retiring at the
end of the Spring semester. And,
according to Mr. Gordon Gilgan,
Dean of Academics, Mr. Porges will
not be replaced. The courses in Euro-
pean history which Mr. Porges devel-
oped and taught will be contracted to
part-time faculty.

Mr. Gilgan insisted this does not
necessarily mean that any history
courses will be cut; however, in the
future there may be a different em-
phasis in the College’s history pro-
gram. It is possible that less Euro-
pean history courses will be offered.
Courses in Asian or American history
may be offered instead.

He also stated that history need not
be taught in the comprehensive man-
ner in which it is currently taught. He
suggested that history could be taught
in a fragmented manner, ‘‘which
would be equally effective.’’ Mr. Gil-
gan went on to say that the decision to
not replace Mr. Porges with a full-
time faculty member was strictly for
economic reasons and that the quality
of the College’s history program will
not suffer as a consequence.

Mr. Gilgan’s opinion that the his-
tory program will not suffer is highly
debatable. In his letter to Gordon Gil-
gan, Student Society President Mich-
ael Glavin voiced his concern about
‘the short-sightedness inherent in a
rigid policy of economizing through
attrition.’

By not replacing Mr. Porges, the
history department will have only one
full-time faculty member, Mrs. Gres-
ko. Contract faculty members cannot
be expected to put the same amount
of time, energy and loyalty into a
department as would a_ full-time
faculty member.

Also, if Mr. Gilgan’s suggestion
that new history courses reflecting the
shift in emphasis away from Euro-
pean history are to be created, who
will develop these new programs?
Contract faculty certainly would not
be expected to do so. Mr. Gilgan
stated that someone would have to be
‘contracted to perform this task. In-
stead of hiring one full-time instruc-

 

Porges is history

tor who could both teach and develop
new programs, the administration
would prefer to hire two contract
faculty members, one to teach and the
other to develop new programs. While
the desire to balance the budget
cannot be faulted, this example of
false economy strains the adminis-
tration’s credibility.

How much value is placed on
history? Mr. Porges has developed a
comprehensive program of European
history courses which allows the
student to study Europe’s develop-
ment from the 375 up to its recovery
after World War II. Because of the
comprehensive nature of these cour-
ses, the student can gain a sense of
perspective of how Europe’s develop-
ment shaped the world as it is today.
Many students who have taken one of
Mr. Porges’ history classes want to
take more for just this reason. The
study of European history also gives
the student a deeper understanding of
other disciplines, such as Political
Science and English Literature.

Douglas College currently has an
excellent European history program.
But if some of the courses are
replaced by, for example, Asian or
American history courses, the College
would no longer have an excellent
European history program. Neither
would it have an excellent Asian or
American history program. The col-
lege’s history students would be
studying only bits and pieces of
history. This is not learning. It is
merely collecting transfer credits.

In his letter, Michael Glavin also
stated that College President William
Day, in his recent address to the
College Wide Assembly, referred to
Douglas College’s committment to
academic education. Glavin went on
to say “’...a virtual halving of the
History faculty would cause one to
question the strength of this committ-
ment.”’

European history may not be a
“‘trendy’’ subject, but it is important
to the students of history who are
concerned about the future of the dis-
cipline at this college. Hopefully the
administration will live up to_ its
committment to academic education
and be less concerned about edu-
cational fads.

to work around the system,’’ Barnes
says, ‘‘and it’s difficult to put the
blame for crime, drugs or other illegal
or semi-legal acts totally on them.’’

“It’s all a part of a greater
economic problem.”

But Barnes does not claim to be
able to come up with a magic solution.
After his month long sojourn, he
intends to ask the provincial govern-
ment for a full inquiry into the wel-
fare system, poverty and related
problems.

“Once you’ve seen what it’s really
like here, you can never just go back
home and sleep.’’

“It’s formidable, overwhelming. |
thought | went on a thirty day experi-
ment and I’ve run into a monster.’’

“‘How do-you teach a person that
they have the right to dignity when
the schools are teaching them obedi-

 

 

MLA EMERY BARNES: look for feature next issue

ence?’’ he asks, and then he shrugs.
“I’m not happy when | feel helpless.’’

Barnes says he realizes his one
month foray into ‘‘skid row’’ (a term
he detests) will not give him the great
insight needed to understand the
complexities and problems inherent in
a system where people feel trapped.

“On February 6, | return to a nice
house, with a warm bath, a refriger-
ator full of food and not a cockroach in
sight,’’ he says. ‘I’m sort of like a
celebrity down here, and it’s not quite
i for me but | didn’t think it would

e./”

Near the waterfront of Vancouver,
the cartoon above Barnes’ dresser
drawer says it all. It shows two older
men in ragged clothing sitting on a
park bench. The caption reads, ‘‘To
bad this isn’t a_ hypothetical
situation.’”

   

Paul J. Gill Photo