OPEN FORUM

Native Indians’ struggle

IVAN ADAMS, Prince Rupert, B.C.: The struggle of the Cana- dian Indians to solve their prob- lems has always been just short of victory due to lack of strong organization plus dissension: and misunderstandings within their own ranks and leadership.

First effort of the Canadian In- dians to protect their rights took the form of armed conflict to drive the new settlers from their

_lands. This failed because of the superior weapons of the invaders and because the Canadian Indians were not an organized nation but a series of primitive tribes.

Common sense should have shown that even armed victory

under such conditions would not”

have benefited the Indian people. They soon saw the newcomers had better tools to work with, -more comfortable clothes-to wear, better homes, better traps and weapons to hunt with. And so they began to adjust themselves to the new way of life.

When the Indians acecepted

the authorities and the new way

of life they were forced on té re- serves.

Then came the exploitation of the Native Indians in earnest. They were taught to slaughter the game and fur-bearing animals to bring tremendous profits to the fur companies, which were not in the least worried over the consequences of such slaughter.

Today we see the results of this policy, for many of the orig- inal fur and game animals are all but extinct. The animals are extinct but the methods of ex- ploitation are far from extinct and once again our weapons are weak and there is dissension with- in the ranks.

In speaking of our present day struggles I shall confine myself to the Pacific Coast Indians as they are the ones I am most familiar with, being a member myself.

° ; i ee We, the Indians of the Pacific, are traditionally fishermen and naturally our financial problems have always been connected with the fishing industry.

With the introduction of can- ning the profiteers were in their glory. Not knowing any better in the early period, Indians- fish- ed for practically nothing. On the Queen Charlotte Islands they fished the big spring salmon for 25 cents per fish and one cent each for pinks. This meant very small incomes but this could be tolerated because they still de-

pended mostly on food preserved -

as their forefathers taught them, and every family had a vege- table garden.

As the Indians acquired more expensive tastes and learned to enjoy such comforts as cars and radios, they soon realized they must increase their income. That was when they also realized the need for organization, for bar- gaining purposes.

Our employers did their best to split and divide us. With the help of scabs and strikebreakers their divide-and-rule system work- ed to perfection for a long time,

By 1939 we had half a dozen organizations on the Pacific Coast representing groups of salmon fishermen: Pacific Coast Fisher- men’s Union; Salmon Purse Sein- ers Union; B.C. Fishermen’s Pro- tective Association; several Jap- anesé organizations; the Vessel owners; and the Native Brother.

- hood of B.C., which was amalga- mated with a strong Native union from Alert Bay.

The first attempt made to rep- resent the entire salmon fleet on the Coast was in 1939 when it was decided to set up a central

committee from the above-men-_

tioned organizations to negotiate our fish price agreement.

Upon our arrival in Vancouver a man named Roley, who repre- sented the B.C. Fishermen’s Pro- tective Association, invited all the Native delegates to a meet- ing in the office of a man named Bremner of the Vessel Owners Association. They told us the PCFU and SPFU were trouble makers, and suggested that with the aid of the Natives they could reach an agreement with the companies, without trouble or danger of a strike.

The meeting broke up when I

objected to their methods, which —

would have undermined our ef- forts to form a united front.

The representatives of all the organizations met later in the Georgia Hotel where the central committee was formed. Bremner was elected ene and Roley secretary. \

George Miller and Elgin “‘Scot- ty” Neish were among those pre- sent at that meeting and will re- member that I exposed Bremner and Roley for their actions. I was

hopeful that the exposure would’

‘put them “on the spot” or shame

them into taking a better stand, but their activities doomed the committee to failure.

Regardless of nationality, we will always need one union in the fishing industry. Our problems are the same, we must deal with the same employers, and we should all have learned by now that we fight best collectively under the leadership of a central body with capable officers.

Since: 1945, the United Fisher- men and Allied Workers Union, assisted by the Native Brother- hood of B.C., has given us this

“unity, and we all know the splen-

did results.

Now Roley enters the picture again, attempting to create dis- unity just when we need solid- arity the most.

Backed by the Seafarers ‘In- ternational Union, would - be union busters are on the job again.

Where was the SIU when fish- ermen were having a tough strug- gle trying to organize this in- dustry? The SIU’s whole history has been a shameful one of scab-herding, strike-breaking and union-busting.

I appeal to all my people and to all my union brothers to re- pudiate these SIU raiders wher- ever they put in an appearance.

Building an organization in this’ _country has ‘been an uphill fight

along the way. But let’s not make the fatal mistake of letting these SIU raiders. undo all that has been accomplished.

LETTERS DIGEST

GUS KULCHYSKI of Celista, B.C. sends in his sub renewal plus a dollar donation, apologizes for being a little late because he has been out of work for a couple of months, and wishes us a Happy New Year.

“T was very pleased with your work in the last year, and wish the staff happiness and success in 1954,” writes F. NORBACK of Lantzville, B.C., sending in some

‘cash for a bundle of papers.

JOHN LEE of Pitt Meadows, B.C., forwards a long poem from the B.C. Federationist of 40 years ago, which we are unable to re- print because of lack of space.

HERMAN HOUSE of South Burnaby writes a letter condemn- ing the idea that man can be “master of his fate’—a sentiment which is refuted by the very ex- istence of socialist countries.

FIGURES REVEAL WAGE INEQUALITY

New act offers no protection to women in ‘equal work, equal pay’

RITISH COLUMBIA women

have waited long and patient- |

ly for higher wage scales to be granted them—too long: and too patiently, perhaps—and the new provincial act giving equal pay for equal work may only provide benefits negligible in their over- all effect unless women use their

organized strength both to en-' sure its implementation and im-

provement.

The new legislation, for in- stance, does nothing to safeguard the jobs of the women it affects. There is nothing to ensure that they will be kept in their jobs or

that jobs now open to women will

not be offered in future solely to men.

(On December 20 the provin- cial department of labor admit- ted that the Social Credit gov- ernment’s new Equal Pay Act, which went into effect Thursday this week, won’t mean pay boosts for women doing the same work as men in the same place for less wages.

(Women will be able to “com- plain” to the department, which will send an inspector to check the complaint and then “ask” the employer to adjust the fe- male pay scale.

(Labor department officials said there is “not too much” pro-

tection in the act for women who

complain. They might find them- sélves fired “unless there is a strong union in the plant.’)

It is doubtful if women realise exactly how unfavorably their weekly pay compares with that earned by men even where this is admittedly inadequate.

Facts and figures in the form of statistics may often bore us, but a striking example of wage

. discrepancies is shown in the

1952 Department of Labor An- nual Report of B.C. . Classified Weekly Earnings.

Far from being dull, these fig- ures which cover 9,200 firms and and include a variety of wage earners, clerks, salesmen, should give a bitter stimulus to women who are not content to remain in their pre- sent position of inferiority but wish to progress to a stronger and more dignified standing among the workers of the province.

The most striking figures in the report are found at the two ends of the salary scale... Of the 201,801 men listed, only one in 25 receives under $30 a week. One quarter, or 25 percent of the women are paid less than $30 a week. No comment is needed to clarify these facts. f

However, to bring the situation home yet more forcefully, let us examine the highest income group of $75 a week and over. Of the men, well over one quar- ter earns more than $75 weekly, whereas only one-ninth of the 35,608 women listed is in this category. :

It is shown that the lower the wage scales, the smaller the per- centage of men and the larger the percentage of women in those particular brackets. Inversely, the higher the wage scales, the greater the number of male earn- ers and the smaller the number of women, the difference in many cases being strongly marked.

The burden of living costs falls heavily on working women. They have to meet a scale of commod- ity and accommodation prices more suited to a man’s pocket book than to the flimsy payment handed to them at the end of their week’s labor.

Even the Vancouver YWCA, an organization which has been noted in the past for its reason-

stenographers, :

able rates, has upped its price for room and board in the new wing to $20 a week (single), and its cafeteria prices match those of downtown ‘restaurants.

If such an organization which, through its directors, has stress- ed “the great lack of reasonably priced accommodation for girls and young women in the city” should now feel itself compelled

to charge rates above those of.

the average boarding house, then it is high time women’s wages should rise to meet the new levels in the cost of living.

A weak argument is sometimes ~

put forward that women do not have to pay for their own enter- tainment. Agreed, this is true in a lot of cases, but the few dol-

lars spent on them by their male

companions hardly warrants such a wide difference in wage rates.

Further, why should a woman have to rely on a man to spend his money on her? This anti- quated custom originated in the days when women had no rights

or money of their own and were nothing but the property of men.

They can and should stand on their own feet and look out on the world proudly and indepen- dently, and. not have to be the poor relation dependent on a handout from the man who invites her out. Not only should she be willing to pay her own way, but she should be given the oppor- tunity to earn adequate money to do so.

A New Year’s resolution: Let all B.C. women resolve to unite to bring their just demands for higher wages, with full guaran- tee for protection from discrim- ination against their sex by em-

‘ployers, before the government. Let their unrelenting voice be

heard in Ottawa and throughout the nation.

By their shining example let them lead Canadian women to their proud and rightful place beside their brother -workers in all phases of industry and busi- ness. Now is the time to act— not tomorrow!

~

‘

people.”

eastern territories.”

September 7, 1953 2), x

as it used to be in the past.

Heinrich the Lion.”

Time marches on KAISER WILHELM

* “Our basic aim is to tear away from Russia the Baltic provinces of Kurland, Latvia, Estonia and the area linking the Baltic provinces and East Prussia, and to include these areas in the German Reich. Russia will also be thoroughly weakened if we detach Finland and the Ukraine.”

H. Class in Germany‘s War Aims, Munich, 1917. ADOLF HITLER

“Our future foreign policy must not be one of alliance with the east or the west: it must be an eastern policy in the sense that. we acquire there the necessary space for our German

Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, Munich, 1930.

KONRAD ADENAUER

“Our aim is to liberate our brothers and sisters in the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer at a oOBite meeting in Bonn, “The east of Europe must once again become as Germanic Young ‘men from the west must

accompany the drive to the east, as they once accompanied

» Offenbach Post, Offenbach, October 17, 1951.

ote

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 15, 1954 — PAGE 4

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