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THE  FIS'HERMAN
May 10, 1955
THE FISHERMAN
Published every Tuesday excepi the last Tuesday of each month by The Fisherman Publishing Society, 301  Powell Street, Vancouver, B.C. G. NORTH — Editor      —      Phone : MArine 1829 Authorised as Second-Class Mail by Post Office Department, Ottawa COPY DEADLINE: Sunday noon preceding each issue.
Brotherhood in School But Not on Platform
JHE PIONEER JOURNAL of Alert Bay and District in its April 20 issue carries an account of the interesting speeches given by provincial minister of education Ray G. Williston and other dignitaries on the opening of the new "Elementary Senior High School" at Alert Bay.
The list of speakers at this historic event was impressive, including principal J. O. Ruhr, Inspector of School J. N. Burnett, chairman of Village Commissioners Ron Shaker, chairman of the school board G. Peterson, Reverend Heber Green and Reverend O. R. Howard; there were other honored guests on the platform.
Significant thing about the new school is that it numbers among its students children who are Indians and children who are white. In fact, according to the Vancouver Herald, there are 80 white students and 100 Native pupils.
In his remarks, Mr. Williston sounded the theme stressed several times during the affair: that in this joint enterprise, the Indian Affairs Branch and the Education department "are cooperating to provide joint instruction for Native and white pupils.
"The success of this experiment,''' said Mr. Williston, "may be the turning point in the handling of this problem all across Canada."
Mr. Shuker, respected • member of the Alert Bay community, stressed that of all the important lessons to be learned in this fine new school, he thought the most important for the children to acquire
I was brotherhood, especially because of the integration of Native and
j white pupils in the project.
But while these excellent and progressive ideas were being expressed, they weren't being carried out in practice because the minister and those in charge of arrangements had neglected
j    to invite a single Native to the platform, either as a guest or a speaker.
". . . there was not one Indian on the platform with the Hon. Ray Williston, minister of education. The dozen invited to the platform were all simon-pure white," the Herald reports.
And yet. Chief William Scow, father of many, children brought up in Alert Bay, one of them attending University, was sitting in the audience. This Native leader, for many year.; president of the Native Brotherhood of B.C., sat in the audience, while the white men extolled the beauties of brotherhood.
Indeed might it be said, as Mr. Williston did in his sp*eech, that "The eyes of Canada and particularly of B.C. are on this school,''' though what they have seen may not concur with what was intended.
The young president of the Student Council spoke of the "atmosphere of goodwill, cooperation, justice, and friendship that prevails in the classroom," and it is that atmosphere that we urgently commend to the attention of Mr. Williston and those of his associates responsible for the glaring, in fact, unthinkable oversight of which they were guilty.
To be opposed to racial discrimination means more than mere words blandly pronounced on a platform. It means to live the theory in practice and to fight actively against this pernicious disease.
It is not enough to say one is opposed and then refuse to work alongside; have social relations with, or hire a person of Indian descent just as it is not enough to say the same thing from a platform while neglecting to see that the platform is shared by those with whom brotherhood is pledged.
It is our opinion that construction of the school is a great achievement of the Alert Bay community; it is worthy of widespread endorsation and in fact IS an example for all parts of Canada.
But it seems incongruous that those who take much of the credit for this achievement appear to require the basic common sense approach that is being provided in actual life to the students who enter the classrooms of this new building.
All-Inclusive Canadian Union Centre Could Make '56 Banner Year for Labor
By HOMER STEVENS -
THE most important item on the agenda of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada's Seventieth Annual Convention, which meets in Windsor May 29, will be the merger with the Canadian Congress of Labor. This merger will not only dominate the discussion at the Conventions of the TLC and CCL but will be the big talking point throughout the entire Canadian labor movement during the next six months.
When the TLC with 500,000 members and the CCL with 380,-000 members unite, it will make for a big Congress. If the 100,000 members of the Canadian Catholic Confederation of Labor and the 160,000 independent trade unionists are also brought in, Canada will have a united labor centre representing well over a million workers.
Such a Canadian centre could achieve a great deal. First on the list, there could be an unprecedented drive to organise the unorganised. Time and energy formerly wasted in jurisdictional warfare and raiding could then be used to bring another million workers into strong unions. BANNER YEAR The new merged Congress could make 1956 a banner year for wage increases, shorter hours and better working conditions. This would entail the development of a united program of action with the new centre acting as a coordinating headquarters.
Similarly, the new congress could win many improvements in labor legislation,  social security
measures and government trade and economic policies. It stands to reason that when labor speaks out clearly, with one voice, the gains' will be greater than when labor is divided.
Of course, the success or failure of the new congress will depend on many factors. Perhaps the most important factor will be the all-inclusive nature of the merged centre. There is no guarantee that the Canadian Catholic* Confederation of Labor (CCCL) will be included.
Possibly the CCL-TLC leaders are not too anxious to bring the CCCL into the merger. Not too long ago the head of the CCCL, Gerald Picard, issued a call for an "all-in conference" of the Canadian labor movement on the question of unemployment. He was rebuffed by the CCL and TLC leadership.
SEEK AFFILIATION There is no guar a n t e e that the independent unions will be brought into the new congress. Several unions were expelled or suspended for daring to differ with the TLC and CCL leadership. No doubt the same leadership will try to keep these unions from gaining admission to the new congress.
The UFAWU was suspended by the TLC for refusing to conform to a policy of witch-hunting. Our Union is democratic, controlled by nobody but the rank and file member^. We won't throw away the foundation stones of our Union in order, to be part of any new congress. Our Eleventh Annual Convention put it very clearly when it authorised the General Executive Board "to seek affiliation with the
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new congress on a basis which preserves the democracy and autonomy of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union.'"
Every honest Canadian trade unionist must be fed up to the gills with U.S. interference and domination. The situation where Canadians, elected toy Canadian workers can be removed by an American citizen is absolutely disgraceful. To add further insult, these American labor dictators have gone so far as to order Canadian unionists to stop holding meetings.
Expulsions, suspensions, blacklisting and witch-hunting do not build a strong trade union movement. In fact, the kind of political discrimination and smearing going on today only serves to tear the very guts out of the unions. NEW SITUATION The new congress can lead the workers of Canada into a new situation, where every union is democratic and free from foreign dictation. But we must remember there is no guarantee that the new congress itself will be an autonomous and democratic Canadian organisation.
The TLC has witnessed many cases of gross interference by the AF of L. The present split in Canadian labor and the present merger are both the result of actions taken first in the United States. The amount of democracy and autonomy in the new centre will depend on how hard the rank and file of every union fights to gain control over their own destiny.
The same goes for program and policy. The higher wages, shorter hours, better labor legislation and improved social welfare laws will not be handed out on a silver platter. The TLC did practically nothing in recent years to coordinate and develop the basic struggles of its affiliates for better contracts. Always the TLC executive shied away from giving strong leadership to the affiliated unions.
To expect the new congress to automatically become a vital co-
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ordinating centre is to expect miracles. However, if the unions insist on such action, the new executive will have no alternative. Either they will give leadership and assistance to the unions or be replaced by leaders who will lead.
The UFAWU has always supported policies designed to advance the cause of organised labor. We are part of the trade union movement and we will fight for our right to participate in the new congress. Those who have tried to push us out, to isolate and to sma.-h our Union, have failed miserably.
They are still active, however, and nothing would give them greater pleasure than to keep our Union and other democratic unions on the outside. Our presence strengthens democracy and autonomy just as our absence strikes a blow at these fundamental principles. We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of the labor movement to make our presence felt.
By ZERO TIDE
DEFORE leaving on her trip east, Agnes Sabin entrusted in my care ° a scrap book including all the interesting columns her husband, the late Percy Sabin, wrote for The Fisherman under the pseudonym "Singood, The Fisherman." -——---—
T „ .. , . r , , , . „f i Mr. and Mrs. R. Corkum of Pen-I got a lot of chuckles out of reading Percy's philosophical der Harbor, troller ••Corkum-, ramblings and noticed too that he j were in the city last week- Say, carried the constant refrain, "Write ithat's a dangerous name for any to the editor," which all goes to [ ^ tnat migh, be around gi,j_ show that 17 years may be a long net(ers
time but it isn't long enough to get fishermen (or shoreworkers) into the writing mood.
Here's one little item worth noting and which Percy wrote in 1938, "Nearly every business figures   depreciation   on everything
* * *
Also noted in the village was Pete Simmonds of Westview, owner of the trailer "Sea Bird."
★ ★ ★
Mr. and Mrs. John Lundstrom,
they use, except human labor. They owners of the seiner-halibut boat also feed a mule when he ain't "Connie Jean," have returned froro working.   Not a man, though."     Sweden where they spent several And here's a little yarn: j*eeks holidaying.   The couple en-
"The other day I was sitting in W ^e trip immensely but John
the office of The Fisherman try- f^'Vrv f tlm<? t0 go to work
.      ., ... j    i !fishing halrbut.
ing to write something the dumbbell  editor  wouldn't   blue-pencil j * *
Barney Bing is taking out the "Joan F 3" on halibut while his erstwhile friend Ole Paltesen is again going out on the "Tanza." *      ★ *
when a cannery operator barged in.
" 'What kind of a paper are you guys running? You've got my name in the paper and you're telling lies about me,' said the operator.
"The editor butted in with 'Well, what would you say if we told the truth about you?'
"The operator scrammed. I figured the editor 'ain't so dumb after all'."
In a 1941 column, Percy sagely commented that "When a guy takes a chance and gets close to the reefs and bets his life against a chance to get a hundred sockeye and wins, he's a brave guy and a good fisherman. If he loses, he's a damn fool.   Such a life.'"
★ ★ ★ FOUND:   Union  book number
4993, owned by Andrew Katnich of 2453 Franklin Street, well-known purse seine fisherman. You can have it by calling at 301 Powell Street, Andrew. By the way, dues are paid up to the end of this coming June.
★ * *
Mr. and Mrs. J. Mowat of Ganges were in the city aboard their gill-netter "Carr T." They were in buying their season's fishing supplies.
★ ★ *
OK, so we made a mistake, which shows that care is more than a virtue, it is a necessity. Last week on the basis of what we thought was reliable information, we inadvertently said the "Norcrown" was owned by Tom Carr. Fact is, according to Dave Wilson of North Shore Packing Company, the big seiner is owned by the Company and he should know, since he is general manager.
★ ★ ★
Our deepest sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Yeltatxie and family on the death by drowning of their   19-year   old   son Vernon.
Tragedy took place on Easter Monday night while Vern was rowing to shore. Ernie is owner of the seiner "Massett Maid."
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Congratulations to Bofe Bingham,
formerly of B.C. Ice and Cold Storage and now manager of Babcock Fisheries in Prince Rupert. Bob has long been an active UFAWU member and bowled in the Union league with his wife Joyce. The new company was formerly Bacon Fisheries.
* * ★
See the "Co-operator 4" is up on the ways at Menchions Shipyard taking on her usual spring repaint job.
* * ★
Here is an old poem we probably printed before but it bears repetition:
An efficiency expert died;
The pallbearers were giving him
his last ride. When out of the coffin, A   voice   that   only   wood could
soften. Asked matter of factly. Yet kind of rartley — "How  many  men  carrying me?"
The pallbearers' tones were mixed. But the answer was the same — "Six."
Again from  the coffin  the voice
came through. Weakly   yet   distinctly.     It said,
"Lay off two."
"HELLO? Is this the pet shop?" "Yes."
"I want to order a half million cockroaches." "What! Why?"
"I'm moving tomorrow, and the lease says I should leave the premises as I found them.'*
★ * *
THE SCOTSMAN entered the riding stables and said, "I wish to rent a horse."
"How long?" he was asked.
"The longest you have." said the Scot, "there will be five of us going."
* * *
THE SKID-ROW derelict was receiving a lecture from the judge. "Now, I don't expect to see you here again," ended the man of the law.
"Why, Judge," queried the victim, "you aren't going to resign, are you?"
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