comping 7 BRITISH COLUMBIA Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned, and with good reason, about the spread of pomography across the country. Because of this concern, and no doubt also because of the upcoming fed- eral elections, the Liberal government has established a special committee to. look into the question of pornography and prostitution and what to do about it. Headed by Paul Frazer, and known as the ings across Canada. Pornography is on the increase, of that there is no doubt. And little is being done about it by government and by the police. The Criminal Code of Canada does not give any definition of pornography. In fact the word is not even used. It uses such terms as “obscene,” “indecent,” “immoral” and “scurrilous” to deal with the issue. An obscene publication is deemed to be “any publication, a dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation of sex, or of sex and'any one or more of the follow- ing subjects, namely crime, horror, cruelty and violence.” In determining what is “obscene” the courts also consider whether the work _offends community standards of thinking. Governments deal with pornography through the following: Frazer Committee, it is now holding hear- ' @ Charges under the Criminal Code, which can only be amended by Parliament; @ The Customs Tariff Act, which allows the seizure and destruction of imported items that are of an “immoral or indecent character;” © The Broadcasting Act, which prohib- its the airing of obscene programs; @ Film censorship (by provincial governments); © Regulation of local distributors (by municipal governments). Vancouver city council, in conjunction with many public organizations, will be presenting a brief to the Frazer Commit- tee. The draft brief points out that “pres- ent laws are so nebulous and open to interpretation that any charges the police institute are guaranteed a long journey through the court system by the use of the appeal process.” In Vancouver, for exam- ple, 15 charges of obscenity were laid | against an adult entertainment store in’ Pornography is a crime, not a right’ Harry Rankin January, 1983. The case has been adjourned pending the outcome of a sim- ilar case in Victoria which is being appealed. If the Victoria appeal supports the prosecution, then the case could be appealed to the Supreme Court which could take another year or two. In the Meantime, no new cases are being accepted by Crown prosecutors until this case is completed. The producers and distributors of pro- nography are arguing in the courts that their freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights is being attacked and that community standards are not being violated. In Vancouver close to 1,000 outlets are selling so-called “soft porn” (magazines like Playboy, Hustler and Penthouse) while scores more are selling the worst types of hard porn. In my view, pornography in all its forms ’ clear once and for all that freedom of pornography against society. is a crime against society, a crime against women and a crime against children. Itisa form of depravity and the society that promotes violence and crime is degraded. — The increasing spread of pornography is not due to any demand for it by the public, or indicative of its acceptance by. the public — it is being promoted for profit and imposed on our citizens by unscrupulous producers and distributors that have no concern ‘whatsoever for the well-being of our communities. I agree with those who advocate that the Criminal Code should be amended to more precisely define pornography and that the province’s Motion Picture Act should.also be amended to include the sale or rental of pornographic videotapes. 1 think also that heavy penalties should be imposed on conviction, not only by heavy fines but also prison sentences. : But even the best of laws will not solve the problem if they are not enforced. Pub- } lic opinion plays a major role in compel, | ing governments and the authorities to use those laws.to crack down on pornography. — The laws and the courts should make expression, guaranteed under our Charter of Rights, does not include the crime of City council approves peace camp Soviet, Canadian and American pre-schoolers may be frolicking in summer “peace camps” next year or the year after, thanks to a city of Toronto initiative adopted by Van- couver city council. Council voted 9-1 Mar. 6 in favor of Toronto Mayor Art Eggleton’s proposal for one, or possibily a series of camps for kindergarten-age child- ren and their mothers, located in Canada. The sites under considera- tion are Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, all of which have sister-city relationships with Soviet cities. The proposal, delivered in a letter - from Eggleton following approval from the Prime Minister’s office, envi-_ sions 30 children attending each camp for a period of eight to ten days. Pro- gram design would involve the moth- ers of the participants for the federally-funded project. ‘The Toronto mayor received app- roval for the project after he wrote Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s office urging the camps as an exten- sion of Trudeau’s recent world peace effort. The plan prompted a warm response from most Vancouver coun- cil members. “T believe a live-in situation is the best environment to promote peace,” said Ald. May Brown. “Maybe it’s a bit too small a con- cept, but I'd like to start it at this level and then expand it a bit,” said Ald. Harry Rankin. Only Warnett Kennedy, council’s most right-wing alderman, stayed true to form and attacked the plan. “The whole thing is nonsense. . .it’s the exploitation of children for a polit- ical principle,’ Kennedy, who has opposed all of council’s peace initia- tives, said. 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 14, 1984 Surrey rally focuses protest — over Socred school cutbacks A demonstration of some 400 angry par- ents, teachers and school support staff at the - Surrey School Board administrative offices last week underscored a recent province- wide study that found British Columbians overwhelmingly oppose this year’s round of education cutbacks. People jammed the walkway and steps leading up to the building Mar. 5 to support the demand that the layoffs of teachers planned for mid-March be rescinded and that the board lead the fight against school cutbacks in Surrey. Surrey Teachers Association president Moira McKenzie told the crowd teachers scored a victory when the board agreed to respect seniority rights and rescinded the layoff of 18 of the 39 teachers scheduled to be cut in mid-term. “We've solved the contract issue, but our fight isn’t over until all the layoffs are res- cinded,” said McKenzie as the rally cheered. Trade unionist and parent Sid Shniad accused the board of “not acting in our interests, which they were elected to serve, but as handmaidens of the Socred govern- ment in its cutbacks.” The anti-cutbacks protest in Surrey, which mirrors that in several communities in which classes, teachers and support staff have been cut mid-term, has been distin- guished by the trustees’ ready acceptance of Victoria’s diktats. ees Criticism of the board’s inactivity was focused in a recent four-page tabloid, “Crisis Bulletin to the Citizens of Surrey,” in which the STA outlined the past, present and future cuts to the district, which it called - “the fastest growing district in B.C.” Enrolment is expected to increase by 1,000 students next term, but 89 more teachers are to be laid off June 30. In the bulletin McKenzie attacked the education cutbacks across the province, questioning government priorities which involve “cutting back on important learn- ing opportunities for B.C.’s students in the name of restraint while spending millions on megaprojects. ..” TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON : cutbacks outside trustees’ meeting. An open letter distributed at the rally called on the Surrey board to “immediately rescind all teacher layoff notices” and to “lead a broad coalition of parents, teachers, non-teaching staff and citizens of Surrey in the fight with the provincial government to acquire adequate resources for the students and schools of Surrey. “Meeting after meeting of parents in schools throughout the district during the past few weeks have been giving the board the message that education cuts have gone too far,” stated the letter. The Surrey effort is backed by a recent poll, sponsored by the B.C. Teachers Fed- eration, which found massive opposition to education cutbacks, - The survey, carried out by Marktrend Marketing Research, reported 47 per cent of the British Columbians interviewed thought the cutbacks had gone “too far,” while Surrey Teachers president Moira McKenzie urges parents to continue fight against school another 40 per cent felt they had gone “far enough.” Seventy-five per cent of those polled also backed the federation’s request that the government hike the schools budget by three per cent in 1984, in order to maintain services at the 1983 levels. Asked whether they thought a reduction in the number of teachers and support staff would harm, have no effect, or improve the quality of education, 66 per cent of the 506 adults polled felt the cuts would be harmful. Fifty-six per cent disagreed with provincial government financing of private schools. To the last of the 15 questions, a com- bined percentage of 60 per cent responded affirmatively to some sort of protest action by Operation Solidarity if “‘a lot of teachers and support staff are fired at the end of the school year.”