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I therhood To Seek nidian Dep't Probe

fany Indians in this province are receiving and the Native Brotherhood of BC fee cads toe ask a parliamen- jmavestigation of the Indian Affairs Branch of the Department of s and Resources, according to Andy Paull, business agent of the §ization. The matter will be discussed at the next Brocheriood ek eption at Cape Mudge this December 1.

“outrageous treat-

taba lbings have been increasingly bad in the Indian Department

bre Siuee Dr. Harold McGill yeypeaed Bunecan Campbell | as deputy superintendent

al of Indian Affairs,” stated “There is something rotten § that demands an immediate igatien.” 4 evidence, Paull pointed to qases of two Indian families ht to his attention this weel. ¥| first case concerns irs. | Green, who in 1915 entered ePmiahmoo Reserve with her sr-breed husband, with the ‘onsent of the Indians and idian agent. as called for in jidian Act. The agent at that twas Peter Byrne, who told ) “go ahead, move in, build house. and’ plant your trees.” te August 17 of this year, Mrs. i received a summons to rin court, on the charge of }Jng to obey an officer of the }? who ordered her to yacate ieind, on which she and her r have built a house, plant- fruit orchard of fourteen cultivated a large garden; -s3uult houses for her fifty 4 ns. . Green received no court to vacate, and no reason liven. No aliernate sugges- S to where she can live has dmade. All she knows is. that nti be fined if she is not 4 fand by October 1. mijar case has been report- ' the Brotherhood concern- ad left to Mrs. Laura James 7° grandiather. The will giv- irs. James the land was approved by the Depart- 4 of Indian Affairs in Octo- 88, although a clause in the ed Indian Act provides that Mm reserve land is left to a sr of a different Indian t@ the land must be turned @ ash, which will be turned to the legatee. Of course, the Indian Agent is con- ad capable of deciding who zs to a certain band and in ise of Mrs. James the very

#i—Our Ally,”

t “Soviet Foreign Policy,

Wanter. and will deal with ent phases of Soviet life eres will be illustrated with #2 pictures. and will be fol- ™ by question and discussion 2B is, er lectures in the series are: ober 17, “Stages in Soviet } perktcy “Policy,”

4 , National Minori- mn the USSR” by Harrison #1, writer and lecturer. ember 14. “The Red Army,’ om Barnard, provincial pres- = of the Canadian Legion. @ember 28 “Soviet Medi- by Dr. D. M. Baillie of Vic-

Zember 12, “The Soviet Con-

will shouid haye been evidence enough that she was acceptable te the pand, Native Brotherhood officials point out.

However, this year the Indian Department had a sudden change of heart and took the following steps in quick succession.

First, the department an- nounced that the land of an fn- dian named Fred Wealeck had been taken over by the Depart- ment of National Defense, which department was to pay him rent for his land for the duration of the war.

This left Wealeck without a place to live or house his cattle. So the Indian Agent told Wealeck he was to take over Mrs. James’ land for his own use. The depart ment informed Mrs. James that her land had been appropriated and that she would be paid $40 an acre, a price set by the de- Rartment.

Mrs. James refused to leave her land, heir house, her fifty full- srown fruit trees, her acre of cultivated land. The department would take no refusal, ordered her off the land, threatened to fine her for trespassing.

Wo home is ayailable for the Indian woman, who must get out of her house immediately. In ex- planation of the action, the de- partment blandly stated that “there Was no way of purchasing Mrs. James* land until now:’

As an afterthought the depart- ment figured that Fred Wealeck was getting too much of a good thing. He had been given Mrs. James’ land and was also getting rent for his own preperty. So Wealeck was informed that he would receive no further rent for his property and that the goy- ernment was taling it over com- pletely. After the war, the Indian Agent suggests, Wealick’s prop- erty will be turned back to the band. If any of Mrs. James’ chil- dren and grandchildren are still looking for a place to live, he added, they can use it.

jity LPP Branches bonsor Open Forum

i more Philpott, wellknown radio commentator and columnist, fipen a Sunday series of open forum discussions on “The Soviet | under the sponsorship of Kitsilano and Mount fl mt branches of the Labor- -Progressive Party. First lecture of the ” will be held October 3 at 8 p.m., in Biers Hall, 315 East Broadway (at Kingsway)-

Be Series will continue on alternate Sunday evenings throughout

stiftition,” by John Stanton, Van- couver labor attorney.

January 9, “Soviet Music and Drama,” by John Goss, noted Vancouver singer.

January 23, “The Soviet Mone- tary System,” by Professor G F. Drummond of UBC.

February 6, “Women and Chil- dren in the USSR,” .by Hilary Brown, author of Women Must Choose.

February 20, “Soviet Trade Unions,” by Nigel Morgan, Interna- tional board member of the IWA.

March 5, “Soviet Literature,” by Professor Hunter C. Lewis of UBC.

March 19, “Incentives to Worl: in the USSR.” by Tom McEwen, provincial organizer for the La- bor Progressive Party.

An Editorial

front where the

They are falling all along the Eastern

Nazi armies have been hurled back across the Dnieper River — and where tens of thousands of Soviet sol- diers have died to achieve victory because there still is no second front.

They are fallins in the Balkans, in France and the Low Countries where millions face another bitter winter of terror and priva- tion—how many will see another spring?— because there still is ne second front.

And because there is no second front, because some eyen are coming to look upon Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s that a second front will be opened as some- thing as withered as his autumn leaves, doubt and skepticism are spreading.

It is precisely this condition upon which the insidious engineers of disunity, the ad- voeates of delay, seize to obstruct the main and immediate need of the day—the full AS united efforts of Canadian labor can military collaboration of the United Nations coalition to transform fhe crisis of Hitler- ismi into complete victory. be accomplished only by the opening of the second front. The utter destruction of Hitlerism is the military purpose ot the

_ United Nations coalition and the second front is the military and political means to its achievement — military because it will

Compel King To Speak Out

qe autumn leaves are falling.

planks for

pledge

And this can

force Hitler to divide his reeling but not yet routed armies; bring speedy victory, and defeat the aims of those who counsel delay for their own ends.

INGo es on this paramount issue abroad nor on the grave issues confronting the Canadian people at home do the King governments policies represent the needs of the people. Prime Minister King speaks darkly of the opposition parties playing poli- ties and impairing Canada’s very creditable war effort. The Liberal Party confers upon a new Iiberal platform. But none of this can obscure the fact that the failure of the King government to take a firm stand for the opening of the second front and its playing into the hands of reactionaries through stubborn refusal to abandon its vicious anti-labor policies are themselves impairing the war effort.

change these conditions and effect a healthier situation that will strengthen Can- ada’s war effort and the United Nations’ coalition. The King government can be com- pelled to adopt a new policy toward labor. This is not the time to weaken the demand for the second front, but to raise it with redoubled force. This is not the time to lessen the pressure, but to increase it.

political Because it will

Polities Seen

Saamieh School

By PEOPLE STAFF WRITER

SAANICH, B.C—Citizens here and teachers throughout the pro- vince are disturbed over the in- quiry recently conducted by Judge Wilson into the administra- tion and discipline of Mount View High School, Saanich, by its principal, Dr. Thomas, and ihe judge’s ruling which recom- mended removal of Dr. Thomas from his position.

That a public inquiry which required 13 days of court sittings and about 1400 pages of tran- Seript evidence, at a conserva- tively estimated cost of $5,000, Should be held for the trivial reason that Thomas had admin- istered punishment to four of his students must have raised a ques- tion in the minds of those read- ing the reports of the hearings. Still more doubt must haye been raised by the fact that in his summary of the case Judge Wil- son praised Dr. Thomas for his administration, went to consid- erable length to describe the sey- ere proyocation suffered by the principal, but concluded by “re- gretfully” recommending that Dr. Thomas be relieved of his position.

This reporter found the answers to these questions through talking with people in Saanich—parents as well as tea- chers. And with complete unan- imity the ‘answer was—‘Politics.”

I met only one Saanich citizen who did not think that behind

‘the inquiry was the hand of Ed-

ucation Minister George Perry.

The evidence to support such a claim can be summarized as follows:

The discipline incident upon which the case was based took place last January 5. The Saanich school board closed the incident by a resolution on its books be- fore Easter week.

At the annual convention of the B.C. Teachers Federation, Dr. Thomas, president of the Rural Teachers Association, sponsored

a resolution asking that a refer- endum be taken among teachers for a strike vote against rural education conditions and teach- ers wages, for which Perry, as minister of education, must take responsibility.

Several days later, Dr. Thomas eppeared before the annual con- vention of the Parent-Teacher Association at which he was quot- ed by the press as advocating a wider form of democracy in the post-war period. This statement was used by counsel for the plain- tiffs at the inquiry as “evidence” against Dr. Thomas and he was grilied for an entire afternoon as to his definition of democracy.

And all counsel succeeded in proving was that Dr. Thomas’ teachings conformed to the defin- ifions made by the department of education. é

Immediately following the BCTE convention, Saanich u- nicipal Council asked Perry’s permission to launch an inquiry into the high school’s adminisira- tion. It is significant that Saanich Sehool Board was not consulted by the council on the matter, although Perry now places the full responsibility for carrying out Judge Wilson’s ruling on the school beard.

Final incident in the whole far- ciecal case came when one of the trustees, in testifying against Dr. Thomas, waved her Liberal party membership card before Judge Wilson, also reputed to be a member in good standing, and was reprimanded by the judge for her poor judgment.

Saanich ratepayers have since met to demand that the recom- mendation not be carried out. The

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BCTE, following the lead of tea- echers here, has agreed to in- struct its membership that “it would be considered unethical” for any teacher to accept the yva- cant position.

Teachers interviewed were not backward in expressing their Opinion.

“It is the most recent of a Series of attempts to remove fighters for better conditions among the teachers from the pro- fession,’ said one.

Removal last year, on an ex- cuse of decreased enrollment, of Les Buckley, then secretary of the Rural Teachers Association, from his position at Richmond, Was cited as an outstanding ex- ample. .

“It IS my opinion,” declared another teacher, that instead of spending $5,000 investigating a man like Dr. Thomas, the money should be spent investigating the conduct of educational affairs in this province.” +

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