12 ett. ae % THE WESTERN CANADJAN LUMBER WORKER THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 38,000 copies printed in this issue. Published twice monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOQDWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 Editor — Pat Kerr Business Manager — Fred Fieber Advertising Representatives — Elizabeth Spencer Associates Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post. Office Department, hens: 2 and for payment of postage in cash. EDITORIAL “PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATING" TH impressive victory of New Demo- cratic Party candidate Norman Levi in the Vancouver South provincial by- election must be construed as an out- right repudiation by the voters of the Social Credit government’s new anti- labour Bill 33. Strongly supporting this contention was the admission by Labour Minister Leslie Peterson during the campaign that Bill 33 was a major issue in the election and a Socred win would vindicate the government's action in bringing in the new labour legislation. The fact that the .South Vancouver electorate rejected by over 1900 votes, the Socred candidate in a riding taken by them in the previous election by a margin of 3200 votes, clearly indicates a disen- chantment with the government. - Whether this disenchantment extend- ed to Bill 33 is difficult at this time to assess. There are those who say the Bill was not the major reason the govern- ment lost the seat. This may be true but, nevertheless, the central issue of the election campaign was whether the voters were for or against the Bill’s com- pulsory features. We suggest that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The fact that the NDP flailed the restrictive sections of the Bill so unmercifully and wound up taking the seat from the Socreds is indi- cation enough that it played no small role in Vancouver South. 2 We suggest further that Premier Ben- nett would be well advised not to dismiss the loss of the seat as airily as he did unless he is prepared fo rid the Bill of its compulsory features before the next provincial election. GUEST EDITORIAL "A MATTER OF WHOSE OX IS BEING GORED HE woodworkers’ strike is over. Some are happy, some have reservations, others are bitter. Looking at this episode in retrospect, people who should know better were blaming the president and other officials of the union for the length of the strike. Actually, it was a matter of whose ox is being gored. The mer- chant group and their mouthpieces, on city councils and others were placing the blame for the cash registers operating at a slower pace on the union. The forest industry was making hay of this anti-labour propaganda and using gov- ernment officials to coerce labour into a position. Tactical moves were a dime a dozen and smokescreens of news re- leases were the order of the day. But has anyone considered the over- all strategy and the motivation of the giants of the industry in that struggle? If not, consider this proposition: Manipu- lating the strike to squeeze out the smal- ler partners and blaming the whole thing on labour; this appears to be in character and more to the point than just a simple dispute over wages and working con- ditions. Wages and other added costs can easily be inserted into the price of lumber but the weakening and elimina- tion of competition and the acquisition of their lesser partners’ holdings is an enterprise worthy of our monopolists. This is the real reason the strike was dragged out to its utmost limits. But in truth, the winners of the strike were the workers who, by maintaining their right to set the price of their labour, retained their human dignity. The re- ported cost of $3,000 to each worker is hardly relevant; this is only money. The worker has only his humanity, his brains and his hands; he has little else to lose. —The Chase Shuswap Weekly TREE ee ae eh. ee SSE - See WHAT'S WRONG . . . WEREN’T THAT TH’ QUITTIN’ WHISTLE? SASKATCHEWAN FACING NEW INDIAN UPRISING By FRANK HANSON An Indian uprising is again taking place in Saskatchewan, but it is being conducted with strictly modern methods. This time they are not armed with bows and arrows but with protest placards and are pic- keting outside the Regina po- lice station, where magis- trate’s court sits. The theme of the protest was expressed on one placard in these words: “Federal gov- ernment disregard’s Queen’s treaty with Indians. For this we surrendered 174,000 miles of territory.” The occasion was the open- ing on May 17 of a test case in Regina police court in which Saskatchewan Indians are reviving a claim that they are entitled to free hospitaliz- ation and all medical services. The case centred on Walter Johnson, an Indian charged with failing to pay his 1965 hospital and medical care in- surance premiums for 1965. The group picketing the court came from all over Sas- katchewan and included Wal- ter Dieter, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Indians, and Delia Opikokew, Saskatchewan Indian Princess of 1967 and the 1968 Wheat Queen candidate for the Sas- katchewan New Democratic Youth. The Saskatchewan Federa- tion of Indians claims that the Crown, in an 1876 Indian treaty, agreed to pay all medi- cal services, including hospi- tal care. Under the treaty, the Crown agreed to keep a medi- cine chest at the home of the Indian agent. The Saskatche-. wan Federation of Indians says this means Indians are entitled to medical care, Counsel for Walter John- son, Allan Lueck, said that Mr. Johnson’s case would be a test case for all Indians. If Mr. Johnson wins this case, Indians in Canada will not have to pay hospital and medi- care premiums. Mr. Lueck said further that if Mr. Johnson is found guilty in magistrate’s court, the case will then go to appeal court and if necessary to the Su- preme Court. In a similar case in 1963, Mr. Johnson was found not guilty in magistrate’s court of failing to pay medicare pre- miums. The case went to the court of appeal in 1966 and was ordered by the judge back to the magistrate’s court for disposition. In the earlier case, court of appeal ruled that the 1876 medicine chest clause did not cover hospitalization premi- ums and that Mr. Johnson was not exempt as a person entitled to receive general hospital services from the Canadian government. In Saskatchewan the fed- eral government pays the pro- vincial hospitalization tax for Indians living on reserves or who haven’t been away from the reserve for over a year. Mr. Johnson had been off the reserve for over a year, work- ing in North Battleford. NEW DUTIES FOR CLC OFFICERS Donald MacDonald, presi- dent of the Canadian Labour Congress, announced a redis- tribution of responsibilities among CLC officers. The ac- tion follows the recent bien- nial convention. Executive Vice - President ' Joseph Morris will have ad- ministrative responsibility for the departments of Organiza- tion, Education, Federations and Labour Councils, and Public Relations. Executive Vice - President Gerard Rancourt will assume administrative responsibility for the departments of Polit- ical Education, Research — including Special Projects, Government Employees, Leg- islation, International Affairs and Union Label. Secretary - Treasurer W il- liam Dodge, by virtue of his office, will be in charge of ad- ministration and finance, He also will be administratively responsible for the official journal of the Congress, Ca- adian Labour, as well as for conventions and for the Art and Production departments. IT’S NO PICNIC Getting out a paper is no picnic. If we print jokes, people say we're silly. If we don’t, they say we're too serious. If we publish original matter, they say we lack variety. If “ publish things from other papers, they say we’re azy. lf we don’t print contributions, we don’t show appreciation. If we do, some say the paper is full of junk. mere uvaie will say we swiped this from another paper. e did. ; Be