2006-06-18

VOL. 4 ISSUE 24

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LIFE 17

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Deborah Collins shoots Summerbreeze

Makkovik’s White Elephant inspires story

‘Inappropriate and insensitive’ Terms ‘retardation’ and ‘malformation’ still used in Human Rights Code, despite opposition the province’s recently amended Human Rights Code.

The code was updated last month after recommendations initially made by interest groups 10 years ago. Marie White, former president of COD (the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, Newfoundland and Labrador), tells The Independent she remembers requesting a change to the code’s language in 1997.

CLARE-MARIE GOSSE

O

fficials from several organizations in the province say they are appalled that “degrading and offensive” language such as “retardation” and “malformation” still appears in

“This is what I said 10 years ago: ‘Under section two, the code provides definitions of both mental disability and physical disability. The language in which the definitions are written is archaic, inappropriate and insensitive,’” she reads.

The Human Rights Code exists to prohibit discrimination and harassment and enables people to make relevant com-

plaints and have those complaints investigated by the Human Rights Commission.

Under section two of the act, which deals with definitions of terms, mental disability is categorized as “a condition of mental retardation or impairment …”

Physical disability is described as “any degree of infirmity, malformation or disfigurement of the body.”

“If you’re going to provide a human rights code that protects people in the broader sense, then one of the things you protect is their integrity and respect,” says White, “and you do that by ensuring that the language is respectful, appropriate, up-to-date and accurate.”

She says terms such as retardation and See “Just doesn’t make,” page 2

‘Pushed through’ Teachers overloaded with Pathways program; students suffering

By Rick Seaward For The Independent

T

his month as students across Newfoundland and Labrador write final exams, relatively few will be forced to repeat a grade. That’s because of the complicated educational system that has evolved over the past two decades.

Time was if a student failed a compulsory course he or she was forced to repeat the whole grade. Nowadays, students have Individual Service Support Plans (ISSPs) or a pathway through the school system geared to ensuring success regardless of disability or behavior problem.

Students are assigned elements of five so-called Pathways after consultation with a committee of professionals, which might include parents, a behavior management specialist, social worker, physiotherapist, language specialist or educational psychologist.

On Pathway 1 students do the course prescribed by the Education Department. On Pathway 2 the prescribed courses are modified to accommodate the individual student. On Pathway 3 the courses are modified altogether to set the bar at a different level for the student. On Pathway 4 the student does alternate courses. On Pathway 5 the student is trained in life skills such as brushing teeth or using the bathroom.

Students may work on more than one pathway in a given year. For example, the student could be on Pathway 1 for language arts, Pathway 2 for math, but also be completing a course in anger management on Pathway 4.

This spring the provincial government announced a one-year review of the Pathway system, along with the examination of the ISSP system, and the formula for allocating teachers. The move comes after years of complaints by teachers that the Pathways system is too onerous and complicated under the present set up.

“Everyone agrees Pathways is a good thing, but the pendulum has swung too

Tony Rodgers of Placentia.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘I’m proud of you Dad’ NADYA BELL

H

e’s from Placentia. He’s 46 years old. And he’s recently learned the days of the week.

Tony Rodgers says he’s made his son Joshua happy. “‘I’m proud of you Dad,’ Joshua said, ‘it was good of you to go back to school to learn to read.’”

Quitting elementary school to go fishing with his father cost Rodgers his education, but he says once he finishes the Rabbittown Literacy Program in St. John’s he wants to get a job back on the water.

See “A tough question,” page 4

“If I could get deckhand then I would — there’s nothing like the smell of salt water.”

The Co-operatives Learners Achievement Award was presented to Rodgers, June 14, at a reception to start the Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament for Literacy.

When Rodgers went back to school at the age of 44 he wouldn’t do it in his hometown because he was worried what people would say.

“There are too many people in Placentia would make fun of you — ‘He’s only a dummy like all the rest of them,’ they’d say, but I got news for them. I can learn just as good as any of them.”

Rodgers dropped out of St. Peter’s

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “A few conversations have ended with folks telling me if I don’t like it I should get back to Newfoundland. My answer: as fast as I can peddle, buddy.” — Doug Bird, page 7 •

Elementary School outside Placentia Bay when he was 14.

“I had no interest in school at all. I had my mind set on fishing.”

He had failed Grade 2, but was passed on to Grade 3 anyway.

“When I left they said I had Grade 3, but I didn’t really,” he says. “You don’t get something unless you work for it.

“The only thing in school I learned was how to write my name.

“After that I started fishing with my father off Marasheen for cod, salmon, lobster … I started when I was six on the docks, so I suppose you could say I spent all my life on the water.”

Rodgers fished scallops off Cape St.

IN CAMERA 8-9

See “If I knew it,” page 2

Bidgood’s supermarket in Goulds caters to local market with local fare

Tony Rodgers left school as a young boy and could barely write his own name.

Today, after years of struggling to support his family following the cod moratorium, Rodgers, 46, is the recipient of the Learner’s Achievement Award for literacy.

‘I’m as good as them now.’

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2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JUNE 18, 2006

‘Just doesn’t make sense’

UMA THURMAN

WWW.TAGHEUER.COM

From page 1 malformation are archaic and “speak to a lower class of people.

“A physical disability is a person who has a mobility impairment, uses any number of assistive devices. A person who has a mental disability has an intellectual or developmental disability.”

Although White concedes terms such as retardation are still used in medical circles, she says they have no place in mainstream society.

“In 2006 you are hopefully working through an independent living model, which is a sort of self definition, self identification, not a medical model, which provided terminologies which … at the time, probably made sense.”

The common use of terms such as retardation and malformation in the past may be hampering their removal today.

Justice Minister Tom Marshall says his department didn’t change the use of the language in the amended code because stakeholders involved in discussions were unable to reach a consensus on the issue.

“The implications of introducing the recommendation could introduce a significant degree of uncertainty as to how the phrases, regarding real or perceived disabilities, would be interpreted by the courts and by boards of inquiries,” he says.

Marshall adds his department was keen to move on with other recommendations put forward for amendment to the code a decade ago.

“We wanted to move forward. I mean, I was bothered by the fact these recommendations had been made in ’97 and nothing had happened since that time — so we did bring forward

meaningful amendments.”

Some of the many changes to the code involved enforcing the prevention of discrimination based on age, family status, source of income and extending the limitation period for bringing a complaint to a year from six months.

Marshall says although the language issue and some other recommendations were not followed for various reasons, that doesn’t mean they won’t be changed in the future.

He adds the provincial Department of Health is currently in consultations to develop a new mental health act, which may make it easier to reach agreements on legal definitions for disabilities.

“I’m optimistic this review will give us a better understanding of the measures we need to take to build a consensus,” says Marshall. “When a consensus is reached by shareholders on new definitions, then we’re prepared to look at bringing the amendment forward.”

‘US AND THEM’ Jerry Vink, executive director of the Newfoundland-Labrador Human Rights Association, says he hopes the province will follow up on the language change. He blames the oversight on an “us-and-them” mentality.

“They didn’t think it through,” he says. “They had decided on the changes that they did make and they were very good changes, but they should have said OK that’s what we want to do but what about the other things?

“We don’t call people malformed and retarded. It was just their carelessness. That’s the best word to use and unfortunately this kind of carelessness in a human rights’ document just doesn’t make sense.”

Tony Rodgers

‘If I knew it all I wouldn’t be here...’’

From page 1 Mary’s on the fishing boat Happy Hook or Two one season, where the men would work around the clock. He says they might sleep only one hour a night for weeks on end.

Rodgers also spent 55 days at sea on a Russian shrimp boat. They were only supposed to be out for a month, but they met a fuel tanker at sea and bought enough fuel to stay longer. He says he only made $1,500 dollars on that trip because he didn’t know he was supposed to be logging his hours on deck.

He says fishing scallops was one of the most unpleasant jobs, and he preferred fishing cod on his father’s boat.

When the fishery collapsed in 1992 Rodgers’ father stopped fishing, and Rodgers took odd jobs, and went on welfare to support his family.

He had three children, two boys and a girl. One of his boys tragically fell off a cliff in Placentia when he was five years old. The strain of telling the story is obvious on Rodgers’ face. He fills up, but keeps his composure, which takes an obvious strength.

With only a Grade 3 education Rodgers had difficulty finding work.

He eventually went to Human Resources and Skills Development in Placentia and asked them what he could do to get a better job. Human resources agreed to give him a grant to go back to school. He would leave Placentia every morning at 6 a.m. on a taxi to get to school in St. John’s for 8 a.m. In the afternoons he would leave class at 2 p.m., and take a bus to get home by 7 p.m.

Rodgers says every morning he would write about the tiring drive in his journal.

“For the whole time since I started, I never missed a day.”

In September 2005 he moved into a rooming house in St. John’s on Gower Street in St. John’s. He says he enjoys the Rabbittown Literacy program — reading books and writing.

“They were all nice people and easy to get along with. When I first came I was a little on the shy side.”

Shy is an understatement, says Doris Hapgood, the co-coordinator of the Rabbittown Learner’s Program.

“When I first met Tony his conversation consisted of wharves, boats and fishing. I taught him how to spell Placentia.”

Rodgers has been in school for two years this month. At Rabbittown’s yearly graduation ceremonies last week he received two awards: one for perfect attendance, and the other for volunteer of the year.

Hapgood says Rodgers is a good inspiration for the younger people in the program.

Rodgers children weren’t at the ceremony Thursday night. His son Joshua is 19 and lives in residence at a School for the Deaf. His daughter, Nicole, is 20 and lives in Alberta.

He says Joshua was happy when he told him he was receiving an award.

At the Fairmount Hotel on Thursday night Rodgers stood up at the podium to read an acceptance speech.

During his speech, Rodgers stumbled a little and occasionally forgot how to phrase his sentences as Doris Hapgood stood next to him and pointed to the words on his script.

He received a standing ovation.

“If I knew it all I wouldn’t be here in the Rabbittown Learners Program,” says Rodgers. “So when you’re doing these things you have to make a few mistakes — everybody is not perfect.”

This is the second year in a row a student from the Rabbittown Literacy Program has won the award. The money raised at the golf tournament goes into funding for Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador. Rodgers will golf with the other participants of the tournament this weekend. He’s never golfed before, but he says he can figure it out.

“You just watch what the others do — and then get up there and act like a real professional.”

Correction Annual registration fees for the St. John’s Rod and Gun Club were mistakenly printed as $165 a year in the article Gun club, which appeared in The Independent’s June 4th issue. The correct amount is actually $65.

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

SCRUNCHINS

Foreigners aren’t expected to hunt more northern cod

A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

he reopening of the fishery for northern cod in local waters isn’t expected to lead to a move by foreign fleets to increase their cod catches outside the 200-mile limit.

“We’re not anticipating any concerns from NAFO countries, particularly because this (fishery) is within the (12-mile) territorial sea,” says Bob Fagan of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John’s.

PAINT BY NUMBERS Yes sir, Newfoundland and Labrador is getting a name for itself. You can see bits and pieces of the place everywhere you look around the world. Turns out a 145-year-old painting of icebergs drifting off our shores hangs in the Dallas Museum of Art. The Icebergs is the work of Frederic Edwin Church, who took a month-long trip to Newfoundland aboard a schooner in 1859, just to sketch icebergs (he must have come from money). According to the museum’s website, Church’s interest in the Arctic stemmed from the publicity surrounding the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition, lost while searching for the northwest passage in 1847. “The ensuing search for Franklin caught the American imagination, as successive missions failed to find the explorer, but stimulated interest in the frozen north as an irresistibly beautiful, yet deadly frontier.”

When The Icebergs was first exhibited in 1861, the first year of the American Civil War, it met with a mixed response and failed to find a buyer. The painting was later bought by Sir Edward Watkin from Manchester and was more or less forgotten about, along with the artist. In 1979 it resurfaced again to fetch a price of $2.5 million at a New York auction.

The painting was later presented as an anonymous gift to the Dallas museum. More to come on this story …

SURVEY SAYS Statistics Canada carried out a survey last year on the health of Canadians. Here’s how Newfoundland and Labrador did (figures broken down from a chart published this week in The Globe and Mail): 23.8 per cent of adults (those of us 12 and over) are obese, third highest after NWT and Nunavut; 15.2 per cent of adults have a lot of stress, lowest in the country, PEI (17.6 per cent) and NWT (18.3 per cent) are the closest to us; 6.8 per cent of adults have diabetes, the highest in the country behind Nova Scotia (6.7 per cent) and PEI (6.3 per cent); 23.1 per cent of adults smoke, 6th highest in the country (Nunavut highest at 53.1 per cent); 10.1 per cent of adults are exposed to second-hand smoke, sixth highest in the country (Quebec registered highest at 22.8 per cent); 10.3 per cent of women have asthma, fourth place (NWT highest at 12.4 per cent); 8 per cent of men have asthma, second place behind Nova Scotia (8.3 per cent).

The stress level’s good but we’ve got to watch the weight and avoid the smokes … ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

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Meantime, this year’s domestic fishery for northern cod is expected to result in catches of 2,900 tonnes.

Bruce Atkinson, a retired regional director of science with DFO in St. John’s, says he doesn’t expect foreign countries to push for more northern cod because there’s so little left.

He adds only about five per cent of northern cod migrate into international waters.

— Ryan Cleary

Leslie Harris

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Less than honest’ Hearn’s decision to reopen northern cod fishery condemned

By Ryan Cleary The Independent

T

he author of a 1990 report that predicted the fall of the once great northern cod stock calls Ottawa’s decision to reopen the fishery a “mistake,” accusing federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn of doing it for the “wrong reasons.”

Dr. Leslie Harris takes issue with recent statements by Hearn that the fishery is being reopened for scientific purposes.

“Of course that’s nonsense — it’s utter nonsense,” Harris tells The Independent.

“First of all, it’s not scientific in the least, and, secondly, far, far more fish are to be taken than would be demanded by a scientist in terms of volume of the catch.”

Hearn recently announced a small commercial and recreational cod fishery this summer off the northeast coast and Labrador (the so-called northern cod zone). All told, almost 3,000 tonnes are to be harvested in the first directed northern cod fishery since 1998.

The official name of this year’s fishery, which is to take place within 12 miles from shore, is the Northern Cod Science and Fisheries Stewardship Initiative. In making the announcement, Hearn said the purpose is to “narrow the gap between industry and DFO about the status and management” of the northern cod stock.

“That would probably be one of my principle objections to it,” says Harris, “that the minister is being somewhat less than honest in announcing the rationale for it.”

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The northern cod fishery was first closed in 1992 by then-federal Fisheries minister John Crosbie. At the time, Crosbie said the closure would last two years. In hindsight, Harris, who was president of Memorial University when he released his task force report in March 1990, says the closure should have been handed down — not for two years — but for 15.

“And then we probably might have been able to think about starting a fishery,” he says. “But what we’ve done, of course, every time there’s been some sign of remnant of the stock … there’s an instant demand for us to get out and kill it.

“I know that fishermen are saying there’s an abundance of fish. I think that is a wrong perception and that if a commercial fishery were to start we would very soon be back to where we started with next to nothing.”

The offshore component of the northern cod stock hasn’t regenerated, Harris says, adding the bulk of the inshore fishery was historically made up of migratory cod that came inshore in summer.

“That’s not happening because there is no fish to come inshore,” Harris says. All that’s left is a relatively small amount of fish in several bays around the province.

“That fish shows signs of recovery and fishing it can be extremely dangerous.”

Harris says he understands how difficult it is for fishermen to sit by and do nothing or move to Alberta and lose their homes and boats. “I’m totally sympathetic to them,” he says. Harris does not understand why there’s no sign of a recovery plan, 14 years after the fishery collapsed.

Winner

BASKET CASES This place is beginning to rival P.E.I. in terms of tourism (rocks are as pretty as potatoes).

Premiers and territorial leaders from across Canada are scheduled to drop by St. John’s at July’s end for a plain old annual meeting … the real draw will be the gift baskets from Bidgood’s Supermarket in the Goulds. Each leader will receive a basket containing a pair of large wooly socks, a bottle of Rodrigues Winery wine from Rodrigues Winery in Markland, bakeapple spread, a painting by Dale Ryan, and — the icing on the cake — St. John’s fridge magnets (black backgrounds and colourfull houses). Which do you think Ralph Klein will go for first — the socks or the wine? Let’s hope he doesn’t bump into any homeless people on Water Street. As for other sights to see, there probably won’t be any icebergs around in the middle of summer but there will be the iceberg soap and bath salts (all done up in a Newfoundland Tartan bow) also included in the gift basket.

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DRIVE Our

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ewfoundland and Labrador is a popular place these days, in case you didn’t know it. A travel writer for the L.A. Times was in Town this past week to put together an article on our culture and heritage (apparently we’re dripping of it). The writer had dinner on Tuesday with Tourism Minister Tom Hedderson at a downtown St. John’s restaurant. Which one? you ask — Blue On Water, if you must know. In other news, Bizarre is sending up a crew to the island this summer to do a fashion shoot for a future four-page spread in the magazine. Unfortunately, the models won’t be wearing local designs — they’re bringing their own (their loss). Moving on, Hotelier had a writer in the city a while ago to do a piece on the rise of boutique hotels. Fancy, fancy. But then House and Home was also here to profile some of the places where us regular folk hang our hats. Finally, Danny was quoted, serious as all Danny Williams get out, in The New York Times June 13 in a story headlined, Canada gets Conservative with Big Oil. The opening paragraph reads: “Danny Williams may be a multimillionaire and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, but these days he’s being compared to self-proclaimed revolutionary, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.”

(Picture Danny in a beret and camouflage jumpsuit.)

Of his demands to the Hebron consortium — demands that led to the project being put on indefinite hold — the premier was quoted as saying, “This is not an attempt to grab more than we deserve. I have a business background, I understand risk and return.” Danny Chavez … wasn’t he a hard ticket in Scarface?

Canada has written other NAFO-member countries to inform them of its decision to allow a small inshore fishery for northern cod this summer. The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization oversees fishing outside Canadian waters on the nose and tail of the Grand Banks.

Foreign trawlers are expected to take 100 tonnes of northern cod this year in bycatch (80 tonnes), and illegal catches (20 tonnes).

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“We have to put a strategy in place and live with it,” he says. “The federal government has never invested in science in any significant way and they’ve cut back even on the minimum investment they were making.

“I mean, it’s quite amazing that you take a country like Iceland with a smaller fishery than we had, much smaller, and being the whole foundation of their economy and still being a viable fishery, while ours, which was 10 times as big, is gone.

“That must say something about management.”

‘INHIBIT RECOVERY’ Ransom Myers, a fisheries biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, told The Canadian Press recently the ban on fishing northern cod should never have been lifted.

“If you fish a population when they’re down, you’ll inhibit recovery, so if you ever want to get cod back, you have to stop fishing it,” Myers said. “This goes in the face of all scientific advice.”

In November 2005 Loyola Hearn was a member of a Parliament committed that wrote a report called, Northern Cod: A Failure of Canadian Fisheries Management.

The report concluded that overfishing was the cause of the collapse of northern cod.

Read the report, “The committee felt it was necessary to travel to Newfoundland and Labrador to fully understand the factors that allowed the world’s greatest fish stock to be grossly overfished for so many years.

In our view, the major factor was clearly mismanagement.”

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4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JUNE 18, 2006

Teachers overwhelmed by customized learning From page 1 far,” says Kevin Foley, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association.

For the past five years the NLTA has been complaining to government on behalf of teachers.

Teachers are required to attend meetings with professionals working up plans for students with difficulties. They are forced to document and sign off on all changes to curriculum agreed upon, and then have to teach, making adjustments for different populations of students in the classroom. Sometimes teachers are on their own.

Three years ago the NTA sounded an alarm, noting in a brief to government, “There are many examples which indicate that the classroom teacher has been largely or solely responsible for the delivery of modified programs to a number of children in their classrooms. For example, a teacher at an inner city school in St. John’s indicates that over one third of her students are on modified programs, and there is little instructional assistance available from a special education teacher.”

Foley received a call from a school in Happy Valley-Goose Bay a short time ago in which teachers complained of having to attend 92 meetings over the course of a year involving 46 students.

Each meeting lasted anywhere from an hour to two.

“Pathways 3 involves changing outcomes and teachers have to change courses themselves. That means that every child that requires Pathways 3 supports … every child has to be individually planned for.”

Foley says the situation has gotten so bad that some teachers have refused to sign off on instructional plans because they know they can’t deliver, and are afraid of legal liability down the road.

“When you apply for a certain category of support you really have to be detailed before it’s actually OKed … the paperwork that surrounds it is overwhelming.”

Foley admits the situation is having an impact on the quality of education received by students. “Because of the time factor teachers can’t get to these students … there is a bottom line impact on education. The needs are so great one person can’t satisfy them all … that’s why (researchers) say we’re set up for failure.”

One of those researchers, Linda Younghusband, developed a PhD thesis on teacher stress in the province and found that “many teachers in this study felt the policies of inclusion and the Pathways program were rushed, not well thought out and lacked proper support.”

She went on to say that many teachers felt it was impossible to meet the demands Pathways placed on them.

When Joan Burke took over as minister of Education last November, she wanted to find out what the issues were on the front lines. She sent out an assistant to hold meetings with teachers and other front-line workers, and he reported that what the NLTA had been saying had legitimacy.

In fact, it was the No. 1 issue.

“What the whole issue came down to was in developing this individual plan, it’s very time consuming and put a lot of work on the teacher and was very cumbersome. So everyone agreed with the principle (of adaptation to the needs of children) and agreed with the Pathways program, but they felt the process itself

Pam, Blair and Brody Ghent at the St. John’s airport.

was really making it difficult for teachers to perform basic duties,” she says.

Burke gives an example of the situation she found one principal in. “There wasn’t enough days in the school year for a principal in one school to attend what was required in the ISSP meetings.”

Frustrated teachers have talked privately of students being “pushed through” from grade to grade after failing to master curriculum. Burke says she’s heard that from the general public, but not from any formal representation by educators.

Foley is more muted but he doesn’t rule out the possibility it occurs.

“It’s a tough question … the system is set up so that won’t occur, or is not supposed to occur but sometimes when a person doesn’t satisfy the requirements as identified through Pathways or anything else then decisions have to be made on the social development of a child too,” he says. “Is keeping a person back more damaging to that particular person in their social development than it is to put them ahead?”

Foley says any decision on keeping a child back or promoting him is a group decision of all the players involved in the child’s plan, with parents having the ultimate say.

“The whole point of the ISSP process is to meet the children where they’re at so they can expect some success and move on. We’re not going back to those old days gone by when somebody stayed in Grade 3 for eight years … where you have 17- or 18-year-old Grade 5s.”

Foley says research in the province has found that 30 per cent of new teachers leave the profession within five years, blaming workload and lack of job satisfaction.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Reality check A week after her husband’s departure to find work in Alberta, Pam Pardy Ghent finds herself second-guessing her sudden single parent status

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

O

ne week ago I drove in the thickest of fog to get my husband off for his early morning flight to Fort McMurray to find work. Our lad wanted to go to the airport to see dad off, and we relented despite the early hour of the event — or non-event. One short awkward hug in the dump off lane at the St. John’s airport isn’t much to write about. Having a scene at the ’port just isn’t us. It seems preparing to leave was worse than actually getting gone.

I drove home a single parent. Now that’s reality.

We got our first phone call from a hotel that cost $129 a night. I was pissed. I asked him if he was on his honeymoon and if a hooker came with the room. It better have, I said. Our first phone call ended with a cuss and left me with a headache. I’m sure he felt no better.

A few restless hours later, I got up. My first visit was to the bathroom. I reached for my toothbrush now alone on the rack. I no longer had to put my glasses on to search for the one with lipstick on it. I passed the spare bedroom — the one I often sent him to when I needed a good sleep, or when our son wanted to sleep with me. The bed was made. Not a wrinkle left from the last night I drove him there. I went to the kitchen, down the stairs he made us by hand and sweat after I made him tear down the old ones so we could get the beds we brought from Ontario up the too-narrow staircase into the too-small bedrooms. As I waited for the kettle to boil I began to put the dishes away until I reached his mug. I returned it to the drain board.

I shot him a one-word e-mail. Sorry.

The next night he called again — this time from a hotel that cost $89 a night. I didn’t comment, though I was convinced

he could have found something cheaper.

He was in a mood. He had spent the day looking for work and he ended it feeling like a failure. There was nothing in his trade (industrial instrumentation mechanic) — at least not right away.

Some potential jobs were immediate write offs. If he had to spend every last cent on hotels and grub while waiting for his first paycheck he would be homeless and hungry before long. I still had the same bills to pay down here, and what he had needed to last him.

MAKING ME PANIC I was guessing — though I didn’t ask — that he had himself on cigarette rations. He smokes on the sly, but I’ve been wise to him for a while now. The tension in his voice sounded more than that of a man with no job — it sounded like my husband was attempting to quit smoking again. Guess he had such a bad day he was worried he might have to pick potatoes over Players. I decided to avoid his next call if I could. He was making me panic.

That night as I cuddled our boy in bed I asked him what he missed most about his Daddy. “I miss his cooking, and I just miss him,” he said quietly.

The next morning over breakfast he had more to add.

“Dad understands better,” he told me.

I locked myself in the bathroom until I felt I could handle that comment a little better. I was relieved when I found out he was talking about understanding how stuff worked, like car motors and math homework and not emotional stuff.

Tuesday was a bad day. He called often as he tried to find work and insisted on filling me in on every rejection. I looked online for a cheap ticket to get him home if it came to that. By evening, the crisis was over. He started work Wednesday morning thanks wholly and solely to another man from this outport

who heard he was up there and looking for work. Thank God for well-run gossip channels. While many didn’t bother to return phone calls, this guy brought him to work and got him started.

Hubby is on a pick and rake working with a road crew laying asphalt, making $19 an hour. He starts work at 5 a.m. and finishes at 7 p.m. Add in the time difference and the time it takes him to get there and home again, phone calls are not working out. He will get this weekend off then work 24 days straight. The company gives him a place to stay so no more fights over expensive hotels, though I’m sure we’ll find something else to bicker over in time. He plans on looking for something in his trade or something with more money down the road, because what he is making compared to what we are doing without doesn’t seem worth it.

He called and woke me up after his first day of work. He was tired, hungry and hot, yet he also sounded relieved. I could hear him dragging on a cigarette as we spoke. Things must be looking up; if he feels he can afford to smoke I guess it will be OK. The sun is out this morning. The fog that was around in the early hours only a week prior seems to have moved on.

The shadows on the saltboxes around my own reflect well-tended maples and freshly painted fence posts. There is a breeze, just enough so the flags — one Newfoundland, one Canadian — over the way in my neighbour’s yard are dancing, casting shadows across the roof of her shed. It’s going to be a nice day.

My husband is away, but he is working now. That means I get to stay and raise our son at home, and that’s a good thing, right? Try explaining that logic to anyone who isn’t a Newfoundlander, they’ll think you’re cracked. I’m wondering that myself.

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

MCP re-registration crosses SINful line

T

he province’s efforts to re-register the population with new MCP cards requires people to fill out their social insurance numbers (SINs) on regulation forms — but people are under no obligation to comply. “(MCP) are not supposed to ask for it,” says Jerry Vink, executive director of the Newfoundland-Labrador Human Rights Association. “The thing is, because government asks for it, people assume they have to give it.

“With a SIN number it is so easy to

verify information. If you put in a social insurance number you can open up all kinds of doors.”

Last month the province announced plans to overhaul the medicare system because of excess, inaccurate billings.

All residents of Newfoundland and Labrador must have their new registration forms in by April, 2007 in order to remain covered.

Tony Maher, executive director of audit and claims integrity for MCP, says requesting people’s social insurance

ing.

Only select government departments and programs are authorized to collect and use the SIN, but there is no legislation prohibiting organizations from asking for it.

Computer technology makes it possible to use the SIN to collect personal information from various databases about an individual without their knowledge, posing significant privacy issues.

SINs can also be used to steal a person’s identity.

Maher says if eligible residents refuse to give their social insurance numbers on their registration forms, they will still qualify for MCP coverage.

LITTLE EASIER “(The SIN) just makes it a little easier,” he says. “We will still proceed with the MCP card; we’ll still do it, it’s just while we have the chance, it’s a way to get additional information on people to determine eligibility. That’s all.”

— Clare-Marie Gosse

American refining giant never had interest in Come by Chance

Mechanical failure at Come by Chance prompts investigation

O

ccupational health and safety are investigating a break down in a compressor at the Come by Chance oil refinery on April 19. “A part came loose, and that’s what caused the compressor to shut down,” says Gloria Warren-Slade, spokeswoman for North Atlantic Petroleum.

The auxiliary compressor cut in when the working one failed, and production continued as normal.

Officials from the occupational health and safety branch of provincial government services have completed a follow-up on the incident and are in the process of conducting a safety

numbers is a way of more easily verifying someone’s citizenship or residency — and subsequently Medical Care Plan eligibility.

“As far as we’re concerned we are allowed to ask for it; we don’t demand it,” he says. “There’s a difference … people are not obliged to give it.”

The social insurance number was created in 1964 as a client account number for the Canada Pension Plan and employment insurance programs. Today it’s more commonly used for tax report-

By Nadya Bell The Independent

audit of the refinery.

As far as North Atlantic is concerned, Warren-Slade says there were no safety concerns.

“Because we have a backup there was certainly no health concerns — it’s just a compressor that runs a unit — if we didn’t have backup then the unit would come down, she says.

“So the auxiliary one just cut in and everything was fine.”

T

he American company reported to be interested in purchasing the Come By Chance oil refinery was never on the official list of prospective buyers, according to a spokeswoman for North Atlantic Petroleum.

Valero Energy Corporation announced this week that the company was no longer interested in purchasing the refinery.

“It came as no surprise to us that they weren’t interested because they were never on our list,” says Gloria WarrenSlade from North Atlantic Petroleum.

She says she cannot disclose who is

on the list of prospective buyers, or how many of them there are.

The speculation about Valero’s interest in the Come by Chance refinery started last December when the refinery went on the market following a report in Platts Commodity News, an industry publication.

“It was just one media person feeding off another and it was never a fact in the beginning,” Warren-Slade says.

Platts has since reported that Sunoco is also interested in purchasing the refinery. Another company, Petroplus, was also reported to be interested, according to Reuters.

Mary Rose Brown, Valero’s communications vice-president, says the com-

pany is no longer pursuing the Come By Chance refinery, but would not discuss any details because of confidentiality agreements.

In a presentation to European investors posted on the corporation’s web site, Valero CEO Bill Klesse said he “will not overpay for acquisitions.”

Come by Chance could cost between $1 billion and $1.5 billion, according to industry publications.

The 33-year-old Come by Chance refinery needs to be upgraded to produce a type of fuel called RBOB blendstock to meet new industry specifications in the United States. The changes could cost between $600 and $800 million.

‘The brutal truth’ Early retirement program for fishery workers would offer meagre income at best, advocates say

By Craig Westcott The Independent

on what they had gotten,” says Matthews. “As a matter of fact, many of them didn’t, they just couldn’t make ends meet; it was a very meagre, istening to some of the chatter on the meagre existence.” open line radio shows, you might think McCurdy points out many people who qualifishery workers who get early retirement fied for the early retirement programs of the past live in luxury. rejected them after calculating the numbers.

But that’s hardly the case say some of the peo- They decided to move on. ple who were involved in the creation of some of Neither McCurdy nor Matthews are optimistic the previous early retirement programs. that Ottawa will come through with a package “It would certainly have this time. But such a proto be quite a remarkably difgram is certainly needed, ferent program than the one Matthews argues. they had under TAGS for “Many of those people that to happen,” says Fish, really need to come out (of Food and Allied Workers’ the fishery),” he says. “They union president Earle need to come out from an McCurdy. individual point of view, but The union has been lobas well from an industry bying the federal governpoint of view, in order to ment to provide an early rationalize. Many of those retirement program to people are at the end of their accommodate some of the productive days.” thousands of fish plant However a paradox posed workers struggling to make by any future early retirea living in the industry ment package is the effect it “They certainly had a amidst earlier than normal would have on the industry’s great struggle to survive ability to find enough worklay-offs and plant closures.

The provincial government for the remaining proon what they had gotten. ers is offering $30-million, or cessing operations. Already about 30 per cent of the estiAs a matter of fact, many some plants are struggling to mated cost of a new profind enough people to fill out of them didn’t, they just gram, but Ottawa doesn’t a shift, notes Derek Butler of seem interested.

Association of Seafood couldn’t make ends meet; the The last early retirement Producers. program was offered in “That’s the scary thing it was a very meagre, 1997. Back then, says forabout early retirement,” meagre existence.” mer plant worker Florence Butler says. “If it was across Yetman, workers who qualithe board and anybody of a MP Bill Matthews fied for it received between certain age could retire, $600 and slightly over we’d be sweet out of luck $1,100 a month until they because we’d be losing our reached 65, depending on what their income workers. It would have to be on the basis of levels had been. They were also allowed to earn ‘Look that plant is going to close, maybe we’ve a small amount of money outside the fishery, got to do some adjustment for these (particular) but after a certain level the income was clawed workers.’” back from their pensions.

Otherwise, says Butler, the Newfoundland Once the workers turned 65, the program industry could end up having to import foreign ended and they had to rely on the regular govern- workers as processors in Prince Edward Island ment pension schemes. are doing.

Yetman says such amounts wouldn’t go far But for Matthews, it’s a question of dignity. today.

“They’ve given their lives to the industry,” “You take a person getting $600 a month,” she says Matthews. “When they went to work, says. “That’s not very much and especially in a employment was plentiful. Nobody could imagcommunity where there is absolutely nothing, ine the days that we’re going through now. And where they can’t even get that little extra that the other thing about it is most people either left they’re allowed to get.” school, or when they completed school, went Random-Burin-St. George’s MP Bill Mat- directly into the fishing industry. So their educathews agrees it was tough sledding for those try- tion levels is another big factor in it all.”

Retraining would be valuable to some dising to live on it in the past.

“They certainly had a great struggle to survive placed fishery workers, Matthews acknowledges.

L

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6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JUNE 18, 2006

Odds and ends I

’ll warn you now, I’m all over the place this week, and there won’t be any real point, other than the casual observation, but that’s what happens when the wife and kids leave you and there’s a hole in your life.

By leave I mean fly off to Houston to see the missus’ brother’s new baby, leaving me alone to rebuild the house in a week. Kind of like one of those homeremodeling shows where the spouse leaves, only to return to find the castle redone from top to bottom. At the very least, by the time they get back I’m hoping to have the dishes washed and put away, the bathtub caulked (my spoon’s all ready), and clothes hung out on the line. The clothesline is this spring’s big construction project; last spring’s construction project fell over in the mud with the sheets on it. Before I forget, I’ve got to remember to put the car in the garage. Personally, I have no problem with tapping the starting motor to get the engine started, but the missus wants her hammer back.

RYAN CLEARY

Fighting Newfoundlander Burry (with glasses). Some people see it an experiment to see if NTV’s beauty formula will work for another station.

Something has to be done about CBC’s ratings, which are in the tank. Krissy Holmes joins Debbie Cooper and Jonathan Crowe for the few weeks that Karl’s away. The name Krissy conjures up memories of Three’s Company, raising the question, what happens to Karl when he gets back? Maybe he could play Mr. Rooper. As long as there’s still a place for him — Karl’s a character.

CBC Television may be a quality product, but it’s not enough to attract viewers back to the station. Watch for a shake up …

••• Moving on to another long-running sitcom, Fishery Productions International. Let’s see if I have the storyline straight — the company announced earlier this month its United States sales and marketing division is

••• To CBC Television first, where the new weather girl is the talk of Town.

Karl Wells leaves on vacation and, what do you know, he’s replaced with a cross between Toni-Marie and Lynn

dropping the name Ocean Cuisine to once again operate under the flagship FPI name.

Why? Well because the company was “thrilled” to “simplify and consolidate” the entire company under the FPI umbrella. It suddenly dawned on the company that it already had a wonderful name and reputation.

Fair enough, but then news broke this week that FPI was being sued by another company over the rights to the Ocean Cuisine name — the real reason for the name change. Wonder how FPI shareholders feel knowing untold millions of dollars were wasted switching to a brand name that was already taken?

Do you suppose the shareholders were even supposed to find out?

Speaking of FPI shareholders and what they’re fed, it’s a well-known fact that John Risley, FPI’s key shareholder, is also owner of Clearwater Fine Foods, one of FPI’s biggest competitors. If that wasn’t strange enough — comparable to allowing Ford’s CEO in GM’s boardroom or the head of Molson to pop by Quidi Vidi Brewery’s management meeting for a cold one — there’s another twist.

FPI issued a proxy circular in early May to all shareholders that included the heading Statement of Corporate

Governance Practices. In it, the company related how all directors were reviewed for “independence” and they all came out clean — even Risley (who has the aforementioned relationship with Clearwater).

“No Director found to be independent was determined to have a material relationship which could, in the view of the Board of Directors, interfere with the exercise of his independent judgment.”

How the hell could they come to that conclusion? A landlocked FPI shareholder who’s spent his entire life swimming in Prairie wheat probably read about Risley’s interest in Clearwater and thought, “Great, the man knows something about fish. Lets keep him on b’y.”

If I were an FPI shareholder I’d demand a little better info …

••• I finally got my spring copy of The Doyle Newsletter, MP Norm Doyle’s riveting read about what he’s been up to in Ottawa. The back page shows a picture of Doyle with filmmaker Anne Troake (of My Ancestors were Rogues and Murderers fame) who dropped by Parliament in May for a tour. My favourite page falls under the headline

Norm Doyle

Pension Donations to Charity, in which Doyle names the latest charities lucky enough to land cash from his provincial pension (Doyle, a former MHA, gave it up when he was elected to Ottawa).

Bauline United Church, the Royal Canadian Legion (Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s), St. Pat’s Memorial, St. Philip’s Anglican Church (Paving), and Topsail United Church got the biggest cheques — $500 a pop.

See, at least one of our seven MPs is worth his salt. When it comes to politicians, you can’t beat Doyle b’y.

Looking forward to the next bulletin — I’ve already started lobbying for a picture upon the completion of the east end’s newest clothesline. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE A chart for the inside-the-overpass crowd Dear editor, As a Townie, I often feel shamefully ignorant about the fishery. It seems to be in a horrible mess and in dire need of fixing. The outports might as well be on the other side of the world as far as my knowledge level goes! I suspect I’m not alone and it’s just not good enough that so much of the population is uninformed on such a vital matter.

With the above in mind, I thought I would make a suggestion — or maybe I’m asking a favour. Do you think it would be possible to publish an “overview” of the entire fishery structure? I suppose I’m thinking in terms of some type of flow chart — harvesting, processing, regulations, management (zones), species, foreign influence, geography (including loca-

tion of various fish plants, dependant communities), and any other relevant information.

Ideally it would be a two-page spread that I (and I hope others) could keep and be able to refer to when needed.

I think you would be doing a great service to us inside-the-overpass crowd who may not depend on the fishery but who are nevertheless linked to it simply by being Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I am convinced that a viable fishery is possible but that it probably won’t look anything like the present setup. I don’t know what the answer is but I’d sure like to have something to base opinions on!

Dave Paddon, St. John’s

Bring Icebergs to The Rooms Dear editor, With the greatest respect to Noreen Golfman and to Christopher Pratt, I’d like to argue with Noreen’s headline of last week’s Independent (Who needs icebergs?). We do, of course, need icebergs. Everyone wants to see real icebergs off our shores.

We might also like to see the huge and wonderful painting called The Icebergs, by Frederic Church, a major treasure of the glamorous Museum of Art in Dallas, Tex. The Icebergs was painted from sketches Church made from a chartered schooner around the

shores of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1859. The story of the expedition to make the sketches is well documented and fascinating, but like the other story, of how the painting was lost and re-discovered in a boy’s remand home in the UK, doesn’t seem to be well known here. Now that we have a gallery that could credibly exhibit The Icebergs, maybe it could be exhibited here, some time soon.

Joan Scott, St. John’s

Harper’s the bomb Dear editor, It is great to see a new government in Ottawa. It seems like it has been years since anyone stood up for our interests. Our new minister of Fisheries and Oceans is delivering, and it’s about time.

Just last month, $8.8 million in funding was announced to upgrade the primary research facilities at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre.

At a time when the fishery is undergoing significant change, research is all the more important, and this investment by the Conservative government

is the right one.

In addition, it should be noted that the Harper government recognizes the difficulties faced by fishing families, and is making it easier for one generation to pass its assets onto the next generation by reducing the capital gains tax. It’s about time. For all those Liberals who said that Stephen Harper didn’t understand Atlantic Canada the way they did — they’re right. Harper understands it better.

Brian Hudson St. John’s

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4 Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499 www.theindependent.ca • editorial@theindependent.ca The Independent is published by Independent News Ltd. in St. John’s. It is an independent newspaper covering the news, issues and current affairs that affect the people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

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Letters may be edited for length, content and legal considerations. Send your letters in care of The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca

Rants and ratings

T

he BBM radio surveys are conducted four times a year. The surveys track listeners during these periods to see who’s listening to what radio station at different times of the day.

For VOCM AM, OZ FM, COAST FM, and CBC AM, as with all stations, the ratings are like a political poll.

Winning is important, but for those who rely on advertising (everybody but the CBC) winning is essential.

Once the results are out a station can hold the numbers up to potential clients and sell them airtime based on their audience.

VOCM AM has a talk-radio format.

As host Randy Simms says when he goes to commercial breaks, “it pays the bills.” The morning Open Line, afternoon Back Talk, and Nightline shows are crucial to the bottom line and shareholder returns.

A commercial radio station tries to walk a fine line when it comes to criticizing government for a number of reasons, including potential government advertising, the newsroom’s access to politicians, and the typical old boy’s club routine (you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours).

The mighty CBC radio, which does not allow advertising, walks a fine line because government pays the bills and salaries.

If you have listened to VOCM talk shows in recent days you will notice a distinct shift from criticizing governments on the fishery, rural decimation, unemployment, and general economic crisis to phone scams and fundraisers.

Don’t get me wrong — the caller has a right to talk about whatever they want, and the information is important to the public.

However, when Open Line turns to 13 reports of phone scams, 2 robberies, 3 fundraisers, and one woman using the program to find a job, people will tune out. The phone scams and robberies are covered by the news and unemploy-

SUE KELLAND-DYER

Guest column ment programs are available for job searches.

Until July 3, I predict VOCM will not worry about losing the edge or becoming a not-so-hard-hitting, free flowing, and politically ramped-up talk station. That’s when the ratings start again.

So for the next month the premier and his province, his government, his cabinet, his people, and his kingdom will not have to suffer too much criticism. New rules or random rules will ensure that the bad girls and boys will not have the same access as they used to have on the radio during the last ratings period — April 17th to June 11th.

SEPARATION CHAT Remember that? Sue on the air every day pounding away at government policy or lack thereof by presenting the facts. In fact, Bill Rowe turned it up a little one day by pre-announcing that he would ask me about separation from Canada the next time I called. Then a couple of days later, while waiting in the invisible radio queue, Bill preannounced that I was next in line and we would chat about the separation question.

Here are some things that do not add up.

There were mystery complaints about me and people who just could not get through. Well the facts are I called and the line was not busy. I called when Linda Swain was talking to herself for half an hour because there were no callers and I called when the hosts said the lines were loosened up.

In a nutshell, when the ratings are on it’s tough for the politicians. The shareholders of the publicly traded New-

foundland Capital Corp. come first and when the ratings are over the politicians get a break.

We wonder how, over 50 years, we have faired so poorly in Canada. Some of it was naivete, some of it ignorance, but the vast majority of it was control of the kingdom by a select few, both in and out of the public eye.

The talk on the radio this particular day is how Eddie Joyce could question Premier Danny Williams on the choice of Mike Monaghan for a bench appointment.

Political operatives and MHA flunkies have been instructed to defend the position. What do we hear? The Conservatives are only doing what the Liberals did when they were in! In other words, it’s our turn, don’t be so stunned b’y.

Yes Danny, it is your kingdom and you will rule it as you see fit. You will continue on the quest to own all seats in the House of Assembly and you will continue to appoint people you like and hold back people you don’t.

What have you accomplished? You frightened the life out of those who dare challenge you and perhaps called in a few corporate favours. Whoop-dedo!

The Great Northern, Connaigre, Burin, Bonavista, and Port au Port peninsulas — basically everything west of the overpass — are waiting for Plan B while filling the ferry to North Sydney. Until we speak the truth and stop pussyfooting around about it we will continue to live in hope and die in despair.

By the way, the next ratings period runs from July 3rd to the 16th and from July 31st to Aug. 27th.

If VOCM were truly concerned with listeners’ complaints the anti-seal hunt ad would have stopped months ago.

Sue Kelland-Dyer was a policy advisor to former premier Roger Grimes.

She was a regular caller to VOCM but is taking a one-year sabbatical.

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

‘You lost’ I

cannot let it go. I feel compelled to reply to remarks I read attributed to Gerry Fallon, a former employee of the Catholic Educational Council, which he made at a Canadian Catholic School Trustee’s Association conference held here in the city recently. He was referring to the referendum, ten years ago, over denominational education, which he and his group resoundingly lost.

Here’s the quote that lit me up: “When the whole population votes on the minority, the minority usually loses.”

I smiled when I read this. How typical. Once again, as a former Education Firster (a loose amalgamation of misfits and malcontents who banded together at the time with the thought that they might persuade the electorate to see things their way on this issue) I feel it is necessary to trot out the reasons — and I use the term in its literal sense — for what happened during that referendum.

First and foremost, Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, con-

stitutionally enshrined, that is designed to protect minority rights. It seems to be doing just that. Minorities in Canada, Mr. Fallon, are well protected.

The referendum on denominational education was not about minority rights. It was about giving people a single school system where all children went to the same school, regardless of their religious beliefs. It was about developing a school system that respected all denominations and faiths equally, a system that hired teachers based solely on their training, not their religious beliefs. It was about adopting a system where elected parents and politicians controlled their schools, not the unelected and unaccountable churches.

Your concern for minority rights would not ring so hollow if your faith’s record on its own minorities — and I refer to my homosexual friends, and my women friends, who are deeply committed Catholics — wasn’t so problematic.

You lost that referendum because you wanted to continue to segregate

YOUR VOICE Ivan ‘the terrible’ has gone soft Dear editor, or some such on the “great Coaker” as Just finished reading your latest Joe Smallwood repeated a thousand efforts in The Independent and I am times. In my own quite amateur view, depressed. So depressed I may finally the first 30 years of the 20th century in get on a ladder and either paint the Newfoundland, leaving aside the sachouse or do a forward two and a half rifices of the First World War, were off the roof. They are characterized by greed, coroptions of equal attraction. ruption, and incompetence Why? Because the one of staggering proportions touchstone I could always unknown before or since. rely on, Ivan Morgan, hereBond, Morris, Squires, and after known as Ivan the Coaker led us to bankruptcy Terrible, has gone soft on and the loss of our nation. us. He neither ranted nor Morris got his payback in reasoned anything in his the House of Lords and, I June 11 monarchist column. William Coaker may be wrong, never set foot Ivan, oh Ivan, I could at in Newfoundland again. least count on you to let the bile and Squires finished in ignominy, one step acid flow ... no BS from you, not a ahead of the lynch mob. As for chance.

Have you forgotten Coaker, the great union man, he abanClarkson’s $5-million junket? Have doned his native land and headed for you forgotten what the French, the sub-tropical climes with what Russians, and the Americans, among must have been a load of Newfoundothers, did to the idea of monarchy? land money. The historical revisionists To hell with the monarchy and its have been far too kind to these knights insipid exclusionary tea parties. It has of the monarchy, these tutors of the a history best forgotten and a present poor. best abandoned.

Our current lieutenant governor, as Robert Rowe, I understand it, has written a treatise St. John’s

Convocation day is here (don’t ruin it) Dear editor, Re: The Independent, June 4, 2006, letter to the editor headlined What has MUN become?

Over 2,000 students graduated at Memorial University’s spring convocation this year. In eight sessions in St. John’s and one in Corner Brook, they shared the delight of their personal achievements with family, friends and supporters. They heard speeches and presentations from Memorial’s president and vice-presidents and the principal of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, congratulating them on their personal achievements and informing them and their families about the collective achievements of the institution.

Despite the comments of one graduate last week, in most people’s estimation convocation at Memorial is special. Graduates are individually recognized, but it is also a time to share in the collective accomplishments of the university community. In their remarks, senior officials noted that the university secured over $90 million in research funds last year (up from $35 million in 1999), indicating that most of these funds were spent in support of students and contributed to the well being of our province.

This year the graduates and audiences in St. John’s were provided with an overview of our efforts to build greater awareness about Memorial

University nationally and internationally. Themed Become, a short video was presented, featuring several highly successful alumni, one student and one faculty member. While the video featured more men than women, it was explained to the convocation audiences that it is a work in progress and material would be incorporated shortly to highlight additional women alumni, faculty and students speaking about the importance of their Memorial experiences. For the information of your readers, we approached five males and five females to participate, but only one of the females has been able to participate thus far.

Memorial has ambitious goals for student recruitment and for the expansion of educational and research initiatives, as well as for fundraising to support both these goals. Achievement of these goals, which are consistent with a university of international renown and the expectations of the citizens of our province, requires Memorial University to communicate the achievements of its graduates and its plans.

This is a task we are both prepared and proud to undertake.

Victoria Collins, director Division of Marketing and Communications Memorial University of Newfoundland

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & Reason

children based on the religion of their parents, and thought the taxpayer should pay for all this, but you did not feel you should be held accountable for how that money was spent.

You lost. Big time. The people of our province were tired of having unelected officials spending public funds in whatever manner they saw fit, while being unaccountable to the taxpayer. So they ended it. That’s democracy.

You said the referendum battle was “a story of faith, commitment, dedication, courage, determination and leadership.” You bet it was — and that was evident in the people I was so privileged to work with: Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Muslims, men and women, gays and lesbians, Liberals, Tories, people from every walk of life, proud of their province and determined to make it better. Perhaps I have a romanticized remembrance of that time. Never in my life have I ever seen such a wide variety of people put their differences aside to work towards one goal. It was heartening to see political adversaries working cheerily side by

side. I fear I will never see the like again.

I remember one afternoon walking into one of our offices and seeing two legendary political figures — the bitterest of rivals — sitting together calmly and pragmatically planning how they could best pool their resources to help the cause. I had to be helped to a chair.

Certainly these people had their differences — but they found common ground in their desire to say goodbye to sectarianism, divisiveness and segregation. They all worked to rid our province of an egregious, offensive, undemocratic and divisive system that should have been relegated to the trash heap of history decades earlier.

Ironically, it was the very act of putting our differences aside, and working together, that made us such an unstoppable force.

You spoke of religious bigotry. We had our share, as you had yours. I found it deeply and personally offensive on whatever side of the debate it appeared.

I cherish our Catholic tradition. I celebrate the astonishing vibrancy that Roman Catholics have brought to the society in which I live. I have many Catholic friends, and I have suffered with them when, time after time, their faith has been shaken by the scandals, cover-ups and denials perpetrated by some of their officials. It is deeply upsetting to see the faith of dear friends

so sorely tested.

So much has changed since that referendum vote. Now children go to school with children from their own neighbourhood. The religious beliefs of all are celebrated equally in the schools. Teachers of all faiths bring their values to the schools, enriching their students with their multitude of experiences and viewpoints. School board and other related officials report respectfully to the people who they serve — the parents and taxpayers of this province. Naturally, the system isn’t perfect. There is conflict and contention. But now, when a school is slated to be closed, the parents organize and protest. Why? Because they feel they can. Because they know they have that right. Times have changed. When I tell young people that in my day high schools were segregated by religious belief, they laugh. Their incredulity is music to my ears.

Sadly, over the years, some things have not changed. Primarily, Mr. Fallon, ten years has apparently not blunted the edge of the breath-taking arrogance with which some people, who still claim to speak for the long suffering majority of Catholic faithful, feel they can speak to the rest of us.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Lawyer Jerome Kennedy says some people accused of crimes should not be identified publicly until they are convicted. He made the call last week after his client Keith McGrath was found innocent of charges of sexual assault. The judge found the complainant in the case not credible. Kennedy says his client’s reputation was ruined once the trial started.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Cottage country Editor’s note: Doug Bird, The Independent’s cartoonist, is currently bicycling across Canada, providing the paper with regular updates on his journey.

C

ycling across Canada is a rural endeavour. We have made an effort to avoid the big cities and divided highways and have travelled back in time through forgotten roads and towns that are still towns and not strip malls. Towns that have a center, a general store, a corner coffee shop full of old farts and a sassy waitress who knows all their names. These towns are dying everywhere, victims of centralization and out-migration, Canada’s increasing urban nature. Rural Canada now seems to be cottage country, a playground for the urbanites with enough money to escape to the cabin on the lake or the camper permanently parked in a seasonal community crowded in the trees along the lakes of southern Manitoba and Ontario.

People go places now. They do not seem to travel anymore. The post-war boom that brought prosperity and the proliferation of the automobile created a travelling boom in the late 1950s and early ’60s that saw Mom and Dad and the kids in the family Ford driving motel to motel, eating burgers and shakes, canvas water bag tied to the bumper and a cloth diaper drying on the radio antenna. It was the golden age of the family vacation, when all it took to

A few conversations have ended with folks telling me if I don’t like it I should get back to Newfoundland.

My answer: as fast as I can pedal buddy. entertain the kids was a little wilderness and water. Modern cars and modern values killed all that. Cars now are so reliable and comfortable there is no need to stop driving and the kids can be stupefied by the DVD player and the XBox. Families, if they even go on the same vacation, simply blast from place to place without really appreciating the ride or comprehending the amazing country that flies by outside the window. So many of the motels built for that era are now dying. The shore along Superior, although so beautiful, feels desperate and desolate as old

buildings crumble, real estate signs askew like no one cares.

I have fond memories of old-time vacations along the Great Lakes and I will have fond memories cycling the lakes as well but I do have a fresh complaint about Ontario. If you ride a bicycle 140 km you should expect to be able to find a cold beer. Liquor laws in Ontario are so antiquated we have actually had to have a few dry nights. If you can even find a liquor store or beer store they close solid at 6 p.m. I love my local Irving even more.

It has been both lovely and terrifying to connect with rural Canada. Quiet country settings and slow rural lifestyles are very compelling until you spend the time to actually talk to the people. They are friendly enough but I haven’t found an adult yet who does not favour the back-to-the-Bible, extreme political right that would demand capital punishment for smoking a joint and torture for every accused terrorist. They all think the world is as it appears on American (and increasingly Canadian) television and consider city folk an abomination that get what they deserve. A few conversations have ended with folks telling me if I don’t like it I should get back to Newfoundland. My answer: as fast as I can pedal, buddy.

Doug Bird is making his way home to Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s.

JUNE 18, 2006

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

IN CAMERA Bidgood’s in the Goulds isn’t your regular supermarket. As picture editor Paul Daly and reporter Nadya Bell learned when they dropped by, there’s blueberry jam in the bakery, cod tongues in the seafood section, and peas pudding by the scoop.

Family store

By Nadya Bell The Independent

C

ustomers come in to show off photos of their children to the woman at the fish counter. This is not your regular grocery

store.

“It’s a different feel here, everyone knows the cashiers,” Elaine Bidgood says as she proudly marches down the aisles in heels and a black suit, nodding and smiling at every second customer.

“We keep it real because we have real people working here,” she says. “Dad would take them hunting or fishing with him. That was the kind of relationship he had with the staff.”

Elaine may not be the oldest of the six chil-

dren in her family, but she has taken charge of the family business. Half of the children still work at the grocery store, kitchens, and fish plant that started when Roger and Jenny Bidgood, her parents, took over the family general store in Petty Harbour in 1947.

Sixteen years later, in 1963, they expanded from trading into retail and their own cooking operation. The Bidgoods’ also own the plaza next to the grocery store that they rent out to shops (people can go to the post office or get a baseball glove mended in the same location).

Elaine says the family is looking to expand the business by building senior apartments nearby, starting off with 60 units.

“You’ve got to find a balance of the old and new to stay in business — people are always

looking for the latest things,” she says.

Jenny Bidgood overlooks the bakery filled with trays of bread rising, jelly rolls, stacks of birthday cakes, and large pots of steaming blueberry jam. The blueberries are from last year, but the rhubarb is fresh and crisp under the women’s knives.

The bread recipe comes from Mrs. Putt, the original baker. Lynda Crouch, the current supervisor at the small bakery, says most of the recipes are still the same, although she has made up a few herself — including the coconut cream pies.

“We can’t keep any of the tea biscuits on the shelves. The boiled fruit cake is really popular too,” Crouch says.

She says there is lots of demand for the dia-

betic pies as well. (The province has the highest rate of diabetes in the country, at 6.8 per cent, according to a Statistics Canada study released this week).

In the fish section, Elaine won’t reveal the cod supplier, although the shelves are well stocked with fresh fillets and tongues.

“There’s only a couple of places that have cod quotas, so you have to have a good relationship with them,” she says.

But cod is not the only popular item in the fish counter.

“This year it was absolutely wild with seal products. Paul McCartney did us well in seal sales,” Elaine says.

Roger Bidgood was one of the first people to recognize the importance of supporting the cot-

tage industry. Bidgood’s buys from anyone who gathers, shoots, traps or snares to keep their shelves stocked. To keep the quality, berries must be handpicked and washed, and the rabbits frozen. The store gets caribou and bakeapples from Labrador, while most other game comes from Newfoundland.

In the produce section, manager Edward Barnes says it’s important to support local farms — the Williams’ and Ruby’s are two of the 9 farms in the area they purchase from out of 27 farms in total.

Barnes tries to offer more than the traditional root crops. He orders in eggplants especially for one customer, and says the organic tomatoes from Rise and Shine Farms are very popular.

“This year it was absolutely wild with seal products. Paul McCartney did us well in seal sales.”

— Elaine Bidgood

“It’s over flooded with cabbages, carrots and turnips so I told (the farmers) to get out of it and focus on things like broccoli, tomatoes and cucumbers, Barnes says. “(The Newfoundland produce) is better quality than the mainland stuff — all the pesticides, the mainland stuff is flooded with it.”

Elaine Bidgood says she enjoys the fact that she doesn’t have to go into town for work every day. Most of the people who work at the supermarket live in the immediate area, and have close personal (and often familial) ties to one another.

“We have no competition — you can put that in the paper,” Elaine says with a smile. The closest supermarket to the Goulds is in Mount Pearl. But it’s not just the groceries the people

come for. “It is a gathering spot for the community,” she says.

The counter in the arts and crafts section of the grocery store is a popular corner.

“This place is like Dear Abby — in sickness and in health — whatever is going on the girls have to deal with it,” Elaine says, laughing with her hands folded on the counter.

The teachers from St. Kevin’s school come over for lunch in the Mug up cafeteria every day. Firemen and construction workers are regulars and the Seniors Resource Centre buses in customers every Wednesday.

Jiggs dinner is served on Thursdays, complete with ice cream scoops of peas pudding and mashed potatoes. Only $5.99. Not your regular grocery store.

JUNE 18, 2006

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

Goodbye I ’m bad with goodbyes. I hate them actually. In the past few weeks I’ve had to do the kind of goodbye I hate the most.

My grandparents have been a major part of my life as far back as I can remember. They’ve always been there with a phone call or a visit, a hug and a warm smile. So when I sat down to write something for the minister to read at my grandmother’s funeral, it felt like the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Being stubborn I deal with a lot on my own. If my ship is sinking, I want to be the only one going down with it. It was definitely sinking that night.

I must have sat there at the computer for an hour, stressed and tired from a pile of schoolwork and still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had lost someone else close to me. I felt overwhelmed by almost forgotten feelings and fragments of a life that feels strangely far away now.

Some of my first memories involve my grandparents, and all of them came back to me when they passed away. I can see my grandfather reading beneath the lace-curtained windows of the sun porch, his weathered hands holding the yellowed pages of a paperback western.

Nan is in the kitchen and she’s sorting berries, her fingertips stained purple.

The radio is playing softly in the background as I’m eating the tarts she has baked. Then I’m running outside to play beneath the branches of the apple tree that creak in the salty breeze.

My other grandmother is in her garden, pulling up weeds and touching

LEIA FELTHAM Guest Column everything with her vitality and love that I swear made those flowers thrive.

I can see her walking out of her room in her Sunday best, hair in curlers, getting ready for Mass. I miss her soft voice and the way she laughed when she played with my little cousin. Part of me can’t let go of those pieces of my life, and always needs to remember. We would watch The Price is Right all the time, and even now if it’s on TV I’ll stop to watch, which may sound silly and insignificant but in my way it helps keep part of her alive.

Looking back now I find it hard to believe that these memories are my own, not some fairytale dream pulled into reality. I hold onto these thoughts as I write and by the end I’m crying onto the keyboard. I talk about heaven, not something I had ever thought about much before. To me it’s more of a feeling, a place in my mind and heart rather than something of biblical proportions.

Heaven is where Nan is with Pop, and there’s light and love, and they’re together again. In my belief that’s a place of eternal beauty and bliss.

My grandparents lived a life different from my own and the saddest thing is that the world they grew up in has come and gone. There’s so much I could have learnt but now it’s too late and that’s the

one regret I have. Yet I refuse to hold onto regrets forever. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life is too short to spend it feeling remorseful for the things I could have done, but I should rejoice for what I was fortunate enough to experience. I see their lives like a picture you take down from the wall. The paint has faded and you can see where it once was, and no matter how many times you paint a new coat there’ll always be a faint outline, or just the feeling that there was once something there that isn’t anymore. I sometimes wish I could find something to fill that space, that void that is inside of me now, but I know that a memory is sometimes all you ever get to have in this life.

As much as I appreciated all the condolences the one thing that someone said which helped me the most had nothing to do with sympathy. She said she believed that the people we love never really leave, but are in a place where we can’t see them, like behind a curtain of fog. This comforted me because I’ve always felt like they were still here, watching over and protecting me. They lend me strength when I feel like giving up, offer faith when everything seems hopeless and bleak. I refuse to let their deaths be the end of their lives because they’ve touched mine in so many ways and for that I will always keep them alive in my heart.

Leia Feltham is a Grade 12 student at Gonzaga High School in St. John’s. Her column returns July 2.

Walter Noel is lending his campaigning skills to Liberal leadership hopeful Bob Rae.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Beating the bushes Ignatieff seen as early leader among Liberal hopefuls in province

By Craig Westcott The Independent

F

ormer Harvard University professor Michael Ignatieff appears to be the leading contender among federal Liberal leadership candidates looking for support in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Of the 11 declared candidates, Ignatieff has attracted the most high-profile organizers.

The Ontarian MP has the backing of Labrador MP Todd Russell, former St. John’s East candidate Paul Antle, and veteran backroom organizer Tony Grace.

The treasurer of the provincial wing of the Liberal Party, Tom McGrath, is also working for him.

“When you’re my age — I’m 47 years old — I’ve been around long enough to have seen some of our prime ministers and I’ve certainly been involved in the Liberal party long enough that you’re kind of looking for something brand new, something very different.”

McGrath says with his career and life experience, Ignatieff is that. He also sees a bit of Pierre Trudeau in Ignatieff.

“Obviously I didn’t know Trudeau and never met him, but I saw much of him and read a lot about him,” McGrath says.

“And the impression I had when Ignatieff was down for a visit a couple of weeks ago was he really was reminiscent of Trudeau. The way he spoke, how clear and articulate he was in his vision of what Canada should be and the passion he brought to it. It was quite remarkable to see the similarities between him and Trudeau. I’m not bullshitting you, that’s what I really did feel when I heard him.”

Long time Liberal and former cabinet minister Walter Noel has his own favourite. He’s put his support and organizing skills behind former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae. “I think that he is the best prepared to lead the party into an election that is probably going to take place in the next eight or nine months,” says Noel. “Rae has been around Canadian politics for a long time, he knows the political process, he was able to get himself elected as the NDP premier of Ontario, so he

must know how to get elected and how to organize parties. He was elected eight times to the House of Commons and the Ontario legislature. And I think he has values and a perspective that is pretty much in tune with most Liberals.”

Which raises the question of who is a Liberal in Newfoundland these days?

Right now there are not many — at least officially. The provincial party stopped selling party memberships two years ago. But to vote at the delegate selection meetings scheduled for every riding in late September, you must be a paid-up federal party member by July 1.

The cost is $5.

Noel says it may be a nominal fee, but it’s still problematic.

“It’s not the amount,” he says. “People just have a thing about the idea of having to pay to participate in the political process. It’s kind of funny. People expect to have good government and politicians who are not dependent on the big contributors and stuff like that, but many people are not willing to pay a few dollars themselves in order to make it possible so that you’re not dependent on big givers.”

Of the 11 leadership candidates, just a few have visited Newfoundland so far.

They include Ignatieff, former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy, Ontario MP and medical doctor Carolyn Bennett and former federal cabinet minister Joe Volpe.

Kennedy’s Newfoundland organization is being headed by BonavistaGander-Grand Falls-Windsor MP Scott Simms. Bennett has the support of former St. John’s South-Mount Pearl candidate Siobhan Coady. Volpe is being handled here by former George Baker political aide and Gander native Corey Hobbs, who works for Volpe in Ottawa.

Not all of the candidates have a formal organization in this province. Of those that do, Ken Dryden’s effort is being run by former Avalon candidate Bill Morrow, Scott Brison has the backing of Senator George Furey, and Maurizio Bevilacqua has Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte MP Gerry Byrne doing his political spadework.

Joining Carter on Bob Rae’s New-

foundland campaign team are Senators Bill Rompkey and Joan Cook.

The provincial Liberal convention held in Gander earlier this month was the scene of fervent politicking by a number of the teams. Noel allows Ignatieff is a front runner among Liberals here. But he says Rae is too. He also includes Kennedy, Quebec MP Stephane Dion and Dryden among the contenders.

“Dryden actually has a lot of people around who like him,” Noel says. “He has potential depending on how he shows up in the campaign, I guess. It’s a long way out, because the voting is not until the end of September (for delegates) and the convention is not until the end of November.”

Noel figures by then the field nationally could be whittled down to three or four candidates. McGrath agrees with Noel’s list of contenders, except for Rae. “People have mentioned Bob Rae, but we really haven’t seen that yet,” McGrath says.

A novel thing about the selection process is that every Liberal member will get to vote for their favourite leadership candidate as well as for the delegates going to the convention. And each candidate must be represented proportionally on each riding’s slate of delegates. “If Rae gets 30 per cent of the vote in the riding, then he’s got to get 30 per cent of the delegates,” Noel explains.

With every riding association allowed to send 14 delegates, plus its president and ex officio party members, the race is on to recruit new party members to vote during the so-called “Super Weekend” at the end of September.

“It’s a very fair and even playing field that we’ve been given and I’ve got to tell you that at the end of the day, I don’t think this one is going to be divisive at all,” McGrath says of the contest. “No one wants to be the one who rocks the boat. As we get into the fall meetings, you’re going to hear some controversy, I’m sure. That always happens. But right now everybody seems to be really respectful of the others.”

The convention is slated to run Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 in Montreal. cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

By Craig Westcott The Independent

S

tephen Wall is the first to admit he may have a fool for a client.

Until now, he has mostly represented himself in a bid to force the Human Rights Commission to hold a board of inquiry into complaints of sexual harassment that were made against him by several of his female co-workers six years ago.

Wall is due to appear in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland again on Monday, June 19, in his quest for an inquiry. Along with the Human Rights Commission, Wall has named his former employer, the Eastern Residential Support Board, and his former union, the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE), in the action.

Wall claims his employer conducted a biased investigation of the women’s claims and that the union didn’t adequately represent him because the charges were leveled by fellow union members. NAPE was in a conflict of interest, Wall charges.

Though the events happened six years ago and Wall has since found employment as a cook with the Canadian Coast Guard. He’s out to prove his innocence, and feels an investigation by the Human Rights Commission of the complaints that were made against him, will clear his name.

“I feel that I have a half dozen Charter rights that have been violated,” says Wall, who is about to return to work after a period on worker’s compensation benefits stemming from an accident during his current job.

“I felt that the investigation was biased. The term of the punishment was very harsh.”

HOME RULES Wall’s difficulties started in May 2000 when a fellow employee at a group home where he worked went to the employer and objected to a shift change that would see her working nights with him.

When asked why she objected to the change, the woman claimed Wall had sexually harassed her. Asked to put the charge in writing, the woman complied.

The employer then hired lawyer Stephen May to investigate the complaint.

When interviewed by May, the woman and Wall offered conflicting versions of the alleged incident. The woman claimed that she, Wall, and another female worker had been doing their clients’ laundry when she asked one of the residents to put away his clothes. The resident, who was noted for leering at female staff, reacted by just grinning at her.

The woman says Wall then observed that the man “gets turned on when he looks at you. But I can’t blame him because I do too.”

Wall admitted to May that the incident happened and that he uttered the observation. But he says he made the comment after the woman had angrily said to the resident, “Do I turn you on?”

Wall claims he made the remark to lessen the embarrassment for the resident. And he says that when the worker objected to his remark, he immediately apologized.

“I had reacted to something she had said, and I apologized,” Wall still says

Stephen Wall

Paul Daly/The Independent

Day in court Former group-home worker out to overturn his reputation as a cad of the incident. “It was inappropriate and I apologized when she got upset.

Wall says the woman only raised the complaint because she was upset that the shift change would split her up from working with a friend.

The second complaint against Wall involved a female employee who told May that Wall had made a sexual advance to her on a bus while they were waiting to pick up some grouphome residents from school.

The woman says during the course of a conversation, Wall placed his left hand on her right knee. When she rebuked him for it, he removed it.

The woman, 19 at the time, also claimed that later in the same shift Wall, who was 35, told her that while he was much older than her, he could still admire her “perky breasts” and that she was good to look at.

She also told the investigator that at one point during the shift, while she was baking a pie in the group home, Wall reached behind her and lifted his arms to the undersides of her breasts.

She says she ordered Wall to “Take two steps back,” and he immediately broke the embrace.

To those charges, Walls maintains he only worked with the woman once, that her versions of the shift offered different dates than the correct one (something the investigator acknowl-

edged), and that when he heard the complaint raised against him he went to his employer and insisted that the police be called in to investigate. Wall says the employer refused.

“Her story changed a half dozen times,” Wall says, adding that after the shift the woman and her boyfriend even drove him home, which would have been unlikely had the incidents really occurred.

The third incident recorded against Wall arose from the conversations the investigator had with the first two women. Those talks led him to interview a third female worker who also accused Wall of inappropriate behaviour.

That incident allegedly happened at a St. John’s hospital where one of the group home’s residents was being treated. Wall, the woman, and two other male staff members were in the process of changing shifts.

The woman says there was a reclining chair in the waiting room and Wall observed it would be a good place to have sex. Later, she added, she came into the room carrying two cups of coffee and had a bag slung on her arm. When Wall saw that her arms were raised in the air he moved in and gave her a hug. The woman said she told Wall to “get the hell away from me.”

To these charges Wall maintains the woman was out to get him because of an argument they had had one time on the subject of make-up.

Wall claims he and the woman and another female worker were watching television when the issue of make-up arose. Wall says he was asked for his views on make-up and that he told the women they didn’t really want to know. After pressing him, he says he told them he regarded make-up as either “war paint or whore paint.”

In her statement to the employer’s investigator, the woman says Wall then asked her in which category she belonged.

STRESSFUL TIME Wall says the complaints by the women and his employers’ refusal to investigate them properly placed him under tremendous stress and he was even hospitalized. Following May’s investigation, Wall was suspended for three months without pay and ordered to take a sensitivity training course.

Wall maintains that when he was called back to the job he advised the Eastern Residential Support Board that he had doctors’ notes advising him not to return to work until the matters raised against him were resolved, because it was too stressful.

But Wall says the employer claimed

he was refusing to report to work and fired him.

Wall says he was already unpopular with one of the managers of the board prior to this because he had raised a number of grievances.

And NAPE was no help, he adds, because of the conflict of interest the union was in due to the dispute between the group-home workers.

“They did nothing,” Wall says of the union. “I got no written notification from the employer or NAPE about their meeting to dismiss me.

I’m trying to bring this forth to a Human Rights Board of Inquiry (to investigate the women’s complaints) or get a judge to rule there was a complete collapse of natural justice in my case. They (the employer) had a kangaroo court basically. I had no means of defence. This thing has changed my life completely around.”

On Friday, Wall was scheduled to meet with a lawyer in an attempt to get legal representation. Wall says other lawyers he approached in the past begged off for various reasons, including conflict of interest.

Wall couldn’t be reached Friday prior to The Independent’s deadline to see whether he had obtained a lawyer. cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

JUNE 18, 2006

12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

SCATTERED PAST

The White Elephant Museum Makkovik’s museum tells stories of Labrador people

By Nadya Bell The Independent

T

here’s a small museum on the coast of Labrador — Makkovik to be precise — that most people will never get a chance to see. I haven’t seen it. But I have heard stories about the White Elephant Museum, and the people who live there, now and many years ago.

One story comes from archeologist Stephen Loring’s dig at Long Tickle and the imagination of several summer students. A fish-shaped bone amulet, worn to a brown colour and more than 250 years old, inspired a story about a young boy.

The Central Coast of Labrador Archeology Partnership put together the book, Finding Anguti’s Amulet, based on the objects they found at the site, and on the social history of the area.

Cynthia Colosimo did the original illustrations for the book, which was exhibited at The Rooms in St. John’s this spring. The features of the characters are drawn from some of the people in Makkovik.

Anguti’s house is on the Adlavik islands just south of Makkovik, and matches the archeological site. The walls of the houses were of sod, and the floor was of stone slabs.

In the story, Anguti’s grandmother sews small amulets inside his parka to

is closed now, but they will have a summer student for July and August to keep the building open.

Joan Anderson, who looks after the museum, says they used to give tours quite regularly when Viking Tourism brought people up on the Northern Ranger, but these have stopped, and last year between 80 and 100 visitors came the whole year.

They still open up on Fridays during the summer when the Northern Ranger arrives, in hopes that some tourists might stumble in.

protect him from changing winds and poor weather. Two baby dogs sleep on the bearskin rug, and granny’s hair is plaited around her ears.

Even the location of the lamp in their house is true to the site — which they discovered from the discoloration on the floor rocks where the burning grease dripped out.

Anguti owns a child-sized harpoon, but his father won’t let him go on the ice yet. When Anguti and his sister Tukkenia go to the top of the hill to watch the men go off hunting, they see a seal off in another direction.

SKIN AS A SLED The children run out on the ice to catch and kill the seal. They put fresh water in its mouth to thank it for giving its life and begin eating the animal nearly right away, cutting up the meat and using the skin as a sled.

The watercolours show a sunset and long shadows over the children as they realize the ice pan they are on is drifting. They sleep the night there under the northern lights, Anguti holding his amulet in his mitten.

For three days and three nights they drift with the seal as their only shelter and food.

They drift as far as Uivaluk, or Cape Harrison, where a stranger rescues them. The stranger, Semigak and his wife Silpa, have European clothing and many beads.

Cynthia Colosimo

The children are carried home days later. They are happy to see their family, and Anguti’s father and Semigak develop a trading partnership. Granny holds the amulet and says she knew her grandson was safe the whole time.

The Rooms decided to display the original watercolour illustrations from the book, along with artifacts from the

Labrador Inuit, after they learned that the exhibit they were receiving on loan from the Museum of Civilization in Hull, Que., made no mention of the people in Labrador.

Today it’s springtime in Makkovik and the white poppies are sprouting next to the White Elephant Museum on the main road by the bay. The museum

WHITE ELEPHANT The building is called the White Elephant — so the story goes — because at one point it was a small and rather useless building next to the larger Moravian Mission Church. The smaller building still had to be painted white and cleaned regularly.

There are wooden plate doors on the small house, and a narrow storage space under the stairs that children are often thrilled with. The tools and fishing equipment are upstairs, and the living room has photos and old diaries.

All the artifacts from the dig at Long Tickle, including Anguti’s amulet, are currently being catalogued and preserved at the Smithsonian museum.

Some of them will return to the White Elephant — although most will have to be stored in a larger museum that is climate controlled.

LIFE STORY

Devonshire woman makes Newfoundland and Labrador home for herself and her descendants ANNE CONGDON DUDER 1785-1863

By Ivan Morgan For The Independent

O

n a chilly August evening in 1833, lying in her bunk aboard the sailing ship Oscar, labouring across the North Atlantic, a 48-year-old woman began writing a letter to her eldest daughter, whom she had left behind in Devon. The letter is an account of her trip.

Her name was Anne Congdon Duder and she had left the safety and comfort of her English home to follow her husband and older sons across the Atlantic in search of a better life. She travelled with her two youngest children, Emma and Mary.

She wrote hastily, explaining that she got seasick writing below decks, and the ship’s master, Captain Banks, had said the weather was too harsh to be above. Anne wrote of her worries for her husband and sons, from whom she had heard nothing since they left. The uncertainty of what she faced ahead tormented her. She knew the danger. Her father had been a ship’s captain, and her eldest son had run away to sea years before and had been drowned in a wreck — all hands lost.

A few days out they ran into bad weather. She writes of lying in her bunk unable to sleep “for the noise of the water, and the men on the deck, and my neighbour being so timid — she kept singing out ‘Mrs. Duder don’t you hear the water coming on the deck? Sure, we are sinking.’ And when she saw a light shining through the crevice in the forecastle: ‘Surely the ship is on fire.’”

But Anne was tougher than that, and notes, “the mate came down and said something to the Captain . . . and I asked him if there was anything amiss, he said ‘No’ and after that I slept sound until the morning.”

After that trying night she writes of waking to “a most beautiful morning indeed, and the vessel going along fine, and the porpoises playing in the water, and I felt my heart drawn out in love and gratitude to my great God and Saviour.”

It is clear Anne’s strong faith enabled her to face such a trip, but she also deeply appreciated the kindness of those she met along the way.

She tenderly recounts the attentions paid to her and her children by Captain Banks, who made sure they were comfortable, well fed and regularly told of their progress.

Her faith sustained her, but so did her spirit and pragmatism.

Speaking of her berth on the ship she writes two weeks into the trip, “My little room that I beheld with such dismay when I first came here, appears to me now quite comfortable, so true it is that practice makes perfect, when one is able to suit one’s mind to one’s circumstances.”

But she faced great strains and fears.

“Two or three nights ago I dreamed a very dismal dream … I thought I had got to America and found Duder (her husband) in great poverty and wretchedness, both in body and mind. He was not at all

glad to see us, but it rather added to his misery to see us come to be partakers in it.” She never once in her long letter mentions her own safety, but wrote, “I fancy I could suffer anything rather than see my husband or children suffer.”

On arriving in Quebec on Sept. 4th, 1833 she writes, “My dear friends, judge of my disappointment and dismay when Henry came on board this morning and said his Father had gone to Newfoundland.

He left a letter here with Henry that informs me he went six hundred miles up, and found he had not money enough to purchase land … and it was not a good place to set up his business.”

Anne’s husband had made the decision to sail back to St. John’s.

Frightened, weary and dismayed, she writes, “What we are going to do at St. John’s with such little money I cannot think … all against the winter too.”

Yet her faith sustained her. Facing the open ocean once again, she writes, “I suppose we shall leave in three or four days, and as I must go, the sooner the better, as winter will be coming on, and a dreadful dismal winter I expect. I know my sins deserve much greater punishment than I have already received, but I trust that My Heavenly Father will never leave nor forsake me — such is his gracious promise, and on that I rely.”

Anne’s letter ends in hope and humility as she prepares to leave for St. John’s. She wishes her daughter and friends back in Devon well, and apologizes, claiming the letter “is not worth reading.”

Nothing could be farther from the truth. In a few hundred words she brings to life the hopes and fears she struggled with on that voyage so long ago.

Anne Congdon Duder and her family survived that first winter in Newfoundland, and built the life they were looking for in St. John’s.

They flourished, several of her sons and grandsons went on to build one of the largest and most prosperous businesses in the country, while others built and ran successful farms. Her many descendants became part of the rich social, cultural and artistic life of the province.

She rests among her children and their children and their children’s children, in a lovely wooded corner of the General Protestant Cemetery on Old Topsail Road in St. John’s, far from her beloved Devon, to which she never returned.

INDEPENDENTWORLD

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 18-24, 2006 — PAGE 13

Liberal Party leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff speaks at the Liberal Party's Northern and Western Leadership Forum in Winnipeg June 10, 2006.

REUTERS/Fred Greenslade

Don’t send Liberals to wilderness just yet

By Chantal Hebert The Toronto Star

S

ince 1990, there have been only two instances when commentators left a federal leadership convention generally convinced that the party involved had picked a winner.

In 1993, the vast majority of pundits felt the Tories were on a roll after they selected Kim Campbell to succeed Brian Mulroney.

And a decade later, most concurred with the notion that Paul Martin would make mincemeat of the opposition parties whenever he chose to call his first election.

The rest is history.

The above is offered to put in perspective the dire predictions that currently attend the federal Liberal leadership campaign.

These days, there is no lack of volunteers to discuss the reduced prospects of the Liberal party. Some foresee a decade-long Liberal exile in opposition and others a freefall to the relative obscurity of third-party status.

They may all be right. It could be that the next Liberal leader will never hold the title of

prime minister. But the notion that the Liberals could come back to power sooner rather than later is no more far-fetched than many of those prognostications.

The last party that selected a certain loser as its leader — at least in the eye of the bulk of the chattering class — happens to be the ruling Conservative party.

At the time, Conservative optimists assumed the Martin steamroller would crush Stephen Harper. What qualified them as optimists was their sense that it was immensely preferable to offer Harper up as a sacrificial lamb than to waste a perfectly promising leader on a lost battle.

Less than a year ago, it was conventional wisdom even within Tory circles that Harper’s Reform/Alliance roots would make him a hard sell in central Canada and an impossible one in Quebec.

Consider now the Liberal predicament.

The party has lost its identity. Even its own leadership candidates no longer seem to share a common set of core values. And if the Liberals no longer know what they are about, how can voters be expected to figure it out?

But, compared with the other parties, the

Liberals are still sitting on prime electoral real estate. Last January, three out of four voters supported parties to the left of the Conservatives.

Of the three opposition parties, only one is widely seen as a contender for power.

For all the NDP talk of replacing the Liberals as the alternative to the government, it is, for now, just talk.

Despite the gaping Liberal vacuum in the Commons, there is no evidence that Jack Layton is undergoing the kind of public redemption that once propelled Ed Broadbent to the top of the federal chart.

The Liberal party is in a shambles in Quebec. But the NDP is in worse shape. It has not elected an MP in Quebec in almost two decades and it did not come close to doing so last January.

As for the Conservatives, they did well in areas where the Action Démocratique party is strong provincially. And they also had a helping hand from some provincial Liberals.

For the foreseeable future, the Adequistes and the Quebec Liberals will be busier fighting each other in the lead-up to a provincial election than participating in the creation of a

Conservative election machine.

There is no telling whether a federalist government in Quebec will still be in power when the next federal election comes around.

When sovereignty is riding high, Quebec federalists tend to close ranks and they usually do so around the Liberal party.

Despite Harper’s election breakthrough, the depleted federal Liberal team in Quebec is still stronger than the government’s feeble Quebec caucus. That may change but it has not happened yet.

And while Harper’s approach to federalism is, so far, going down well in Quebec, most of the Liberal leadership candidates are more in sync with the province on cutting-edge issues such as the environment or foreign policy.

When all is said and done, it is less of a stretch to imagine the Liberals coming back to power in the next election than it was to foresee Harper’s 10 Quebec seats. It is even easier to imagine that the next federal government could be a third consecutive minority one.

This is Chantal Hébert’s last column for several months. She is on a book-writing leave of absence.

The ‘smell of money’ Harbour Grace-native reflects on building a life in Alberta

By Margaret-Ann Carroll Lloydminster, Alta.

For The Independent

I

am often asked what life is like in Alberta. Are the stories of fortune true? Are jobs plentiful, and resources even more so?

My parents flew into Edmonton for their first visit in December 2005. On the road trip back to Lloydminster my Dad commented on the “smell of money” in the air. He noted the construction projects, both business and residential, SUVs that filled the high-

ways, the presence and stature of those we came into contact with. He said it was a different world. The deduction took 30 minutes.

In Alberta you may find career opportunity, you may make more money, you may live a higher standard, but is it a place you would call home?

Alberta is not going to pick up your clothes, although we have services that can do that for you. Alberta is not going to make supper for you at night, but we have the finest restaurants in Western Canada. Alberta is not going to give you an allowance, but our prosperity

cheques were a nice bonus and of course the absence of PST will put money in your pocket.

The Alberta advantage. To me it means my husband and I can be around on a daily basis to support one another and our son. (My Dad worked 4,000 miles away from home when I was a kid to provide for his family.) It means economic security for our family. It means being part of a bigger picture where the residents are rewarded for their contribution to the success of the province. It means progressive change to ensure future generations have the

advantages we have today. It means living in a world where your bread and butter are within your control.

No guts, no glory they say. It takes a lot of courage and a whole lot of guts to move from the only home you have ever known and root your family in the promise of a better tomorrow.

We drove to Alberta with the clothes on our backs and a TV in the back seat not knowing what the province truly had to offer. My husband’s boss gave us some old furniture and over time we were able to exchange the cardboard boxes we used as end tables for the real

thing. I recall the first winter in Alberta and the temperature that hit a shocking -35 degrees with a wind-chill of -50 degrees and radio announcements reporting that your skin would freeze in 15 seconds. We had to take our car into the shop for a “block heater” because the engine would freeze solid. The folks at the dealership laughed because they had not seen too many cars without one.

Summer comes early in Alberta — usually around April — and by May we See “Proceed with caution,” page 14

A stunning collection of photography from the portfolio of The Independent’s own Paul Daly.

Available this summer. To preorder your copy, contact Boulder Publications at 895-6483.

JUNE 18, 2006

14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD

Margaret-Ann Carroll, husband Glenn and son Michael stand by the Stanley Cup in Edmonton, Alta.

Proceed with caution From page 13 are seeing temperatures in the high 20s. The earth is black as oil and crops are being planted. Summer winds blow strong and the thunder storms even stronger. My younger brother was staying with us in 1993 and awoke one night to the loudest clap of thunder we had ever heard in our lives.

Poor Shannon thought the Lloydminster Upgrader had blown. Fall, or harvest time, is not just a season, but a way of life for many of my neighbours. Crops as far as the eye can see are pulled from the earth and neighbours come together to ensure the harvest is a lucrative one.

I told my parents moving to Alberta was a culture shock. Railways, cowboys, oil

refineries, rodeos, NHL hockey, CFL football, universities, concrete jungles. I had only seen these things on TV and now they were in my backyard.

Kidding with my parents on the way to Lloydminster, I informed them my home was around the next turn and over the hill.

Well, if you have ever been to midwest Alberta you would know the only hills are located near the North Saskatchewan River and steering off 10 degrees does not constitute a turn to a Newfoundlander. I added that the advantage of the geography meant you can watch your dog run away for days.

QUANTIFY HOPE It took time to get established. I do not think you can quantify hope, but God knows

if hope was money we were wealthy beyond our dreams.

Proceed with caution, would be my recommendation to anyone wanting to take advantage of the Alberta advantage.

My husband and I did not just happen upon our career success; we have spent years developing our career portfolios and our professional reputations within our community.

Commitment, determination, hard work and a little luck have opened opportunities to us that we may or may not have gotten at home in Newfoundland.

Before you pack your bags and head out on the Trans Canada know this: pride, loyalty, heritage, and your culture are not packed in a suitcase … you need to wear them on your sleeve.

Guilty plea in white supremacist’s killing Paranoia, cocaine addiction played role in fatal shooting

By Peter Small The Toronto Star

A

delusional drug addict who shot dead Wolfgang Droege, one of Canada’s leading white supremacists, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced June 16 to the equivalent of over 12 years in prison.

Keith DeRoux, 44, was suffering from ongoing paranoia caused by consuming large quantities of cocaine, much of it supplied by Droege himself, when he went to the drug dealer’s east Toronto home carrying a loaded .22-calibre revolver on April 13 of last year, according to an agreed statement of facts read into the record.

Superior Court Justice David Watt sentenced DeRoux to 10 years in prison on top of the 13 months he served in pre-trial custody,

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BACK AT HIM He thought that Droege wanted to get back at him for laughing at his racist political views, or for his own perverse amusement, according to the agreed facts read into the record by prosecutor Julie Battersby.

He bought the handgun off the street in Vancouver, and flew back to Toronto to confront Droege about the perceived harassment.

He wanted the gun for protection in the encounter, Battersby said.

He went to Droege’s second-floor apartment, located near Gerrard St. E. and Victoria Park Ave., on April 13, 2005, shaking from methadone withdrawal, having consumed alcohol, large quantities of Tylenol 3 and, in the days previous, cocaine.

He confronted Droege, who “had absolutely no idea what the accused was talking about,” Battersby said.

Droege fled the apartment, chased by DeRoux, who fired four shots. One hit Droege in the chest, and the final one hit him in the back of the head.

“I never at any time was going there to do what eventually happened,” DeRoux told the judge, then apologized to Droege’s family and his own.

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which credited at the usual two-for-one rate, amounts to a total of more than 12 years.

“Addictions and abuse generated paranoid delusions that fuelled this encounter,” Watt said.

DeRoux believed that Droege, 55, a cofounder of the neo-Nazi Heritage Front, was responsible for bugging his home and having people break into it by, for instance, boring through a tunnel in the foundation.

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Conference explores U.S.-Canada split; future of `progressive politics’ on agenda MONT-TREMBLANT, QUE.

By Susan Delacourt The Toronto Star

“F

ather knows best” isn’t just an old TV show any more — it’s where Canada and the U.S. beg to differ, according to Environics pollster Michael Adams.

And the difference between Canadian and American attitudes toward big daddy may reveal something larger about how to rebuild the centre-left of the political spectrum in Canada — a task now under way at a big, “progressive politics” conference at the MontTremblant resort.

The conference also drew former U.S. vice-president Al Gore to talk this week about Canada-U.S. attitudinal divides on the environment.

One of Adams’ most stunning illustrations of Canada-U.S. differences to the conference was on the question of family dynamics — specifically the idea of the father as head of the family.

In Canada, that notion has been slowly eroding since 1992. In the United States, it’s been growing.

In 1992, 26 per cent of Canadians said they agreed with the statement: “The father of the family must be the master of his own house.” In 2005, only 18 per cent of Canadians agree with that notion, according to Adams’ numbers.

By contrast, 42 per cent of Americans agreed with that statement in 1992. But by 2005, more than half of Americans — 52 per cent — said that dad must be

the boss at home.

“If my wife heard that, she’d be mad at Americans. Heck, she’d be mad at me,” joked Liberal party president Mike Eizenga, who was one of about 150 delegates at this week’s Canada 2020 conference.

Conference attendees were excited by Adams’ finding.

They believed it underscores the idea that Canadians are far more wary overall of authoritarianism, hierarchy and other hallmarks of conservative politics.

Some pundits, in fact, have taken to calling Prime Minister Stephen Harper “big daddy” for his tough, highly centralized style of governing since he took office in February.

His perceived weakness on the environment is also seen as an opening for his centre-left opponents, whether Liberal, New Democrat, Bloc Québécois, Green or, in some cases, U.S. Democrats.

Gore, arriving at the conference amid huge fanfare, stopped briefly to tell reporters that he was encouraged by talk of “progressive” politics in Canada, especially if it encompasses a renewed push on the environment. Gore is currently touring to promote his new movie on climate change.

Gore told the conference he was worried Canada would head down the same road politically as the United States.

“I love Canada and I am surprised when I hear some in national positions here say things are broken.

“Some of us look at Canada and say,

`My God, things work so well,’” Gore said.

At a private reception with some of the conference organizers and Liberal MPs and senators, Gore was reportedly more expansive about what he sees as the Canada-U.S. differences on the environment.

He also heard some warning words from the Canadians about the direction of the Harper government — specifically, its announced intention to back away from the Kyoto air quality protocol in favour of a yet-to-be-devised “made in Canada” plan.

Former deputy prime minister John Manley, one of the chairs of the conference, said of his conversation with Gore: “We certainly talked about the differences in attitude between Canada and the United States on the issue, that despite where the Conservative government is going, that Canadians and Quebecers are very concerned about climate change, climate disruption and we told him that we thought his message would be well received in Canada.”

Adams, in his presentation, said that the environment was poised to become “a secular religion” in Canada in the years ahead and that a smart political movement would know how to harness the sentiment.

For the first time since the 1980s, Adams said, the environment has crept up to renewed prominence as one of the issues Canadians define as most urgent.

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15

South Africa youth ‘want to move on’ Kwaito generation concerned about jobs, AIDS, crime; beginning of the end of apartheid remembered JOHANNESBURG

By Kristin Nelson The Toronto Star

T

South African President Thabo Mbeki makes a speech during the anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, marked every year with a national holiday known as Youth Day in Soweto June 16, 2006. Dozens of black high school students were killed by white security forces on June 16, 1976, during a march by thousands of teenagers and children in Soweto. The protest was directed at the white government's insistence that students be taught in Afrikaans, spoken by the mostly Dutch-descended ruling Afrikaners and seen then as the language of the oppressor.

REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

“We are facing a new kind of non-racial apartheid,” says Mhlongo, who was amongst the first batch of black students admitted to the previously all-white University of Witwatersrand in 1994. “We need to fight poverty, inequality, crime and unemployment now.”

The gap between rich and poor has actually widened since the first democratic elections in 1994, unemployment hovers around 40 per cent, gender inequalities persist and rape is endemic. But the most brutal reality of township life may be the relentlessness of HIV/AIDS. On a class trip to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto, Phindile Gumede, a Grade 12 student, says she isn’t particularly interested in Youth Day, as June 16 has been named.

“I don’t want to remember a time when our parents were treated like slaves,” says Gumede. “I just want to move on.”

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On a typical Friday night, the parking lot is full of BMWs and SUVs. Sleekly-dressed bouncers enforce a stringent dress code and frisk for handguns. The unmistakable fast beat and throbbing bass of kwaito, an indigenous version of hip hop that weaves together a wide range of musical influences, fills the air.

The “kwaito generation” is said to have embraced the values of consumerism and turned their backs on conventional politics in favour of the “politics of aspiration.”

“The focus is on getting rich and getting out of the township,” says Mhlongo. “People who have moved out to the suburbs go back to the township on the weekend to flaunt their wealth. It’s all about material competition at the moment.”

In spite of the country’s mostly peaceful transition to democracy, “the struggle” is certainly not over for Sowetans.

ecial Of fer

Africa. In 1904, black residents of a mixed-race Johannesburg slum were relocated there after the city council burned down their homes, citing bubonic plague. Black inhabitants of South Africa’s previous cultural hotspot, Sophiatown, were similarly displaced in 1955.

After 12 years of multiracial democracy, the impoverished, dusty streets of Soweto now resemble a typical modest suburb, where informal “shack” settlements are the exception, not the rule.

Upmarket shopping malls are being built faster than you can say “Free Mandela” and foreign tourists are flooding in by the bus load to explore the “struggle route” or experience a shebeen (pub) crawl.

One of the clearest examples of Soweto’s dynamism is The Rock — a posh new nightclub in the township’s Rockville extension where the young, hip and upwardly-mobile of Soweto come to see and be seen.

WOW Sp

hirty years ago June 16, Soweto entered the global imagination when horrifying photographs of black South African school children gunned down by white police officers were splashed across newspapers around the world.

The most famous — 13-year-old Hector Pieterson’s lifeless body in the arms of a classmate running beside Pieterson’s sister — came to symbolize the brutality of apartheid, the official segregationist system that was abolished in 1993.

Police shot into a crowd of more than 15,000 youths peacefully protesting against the imposition of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in black schools. The official death toll was 23, but others put it as high as 200.

Today, half of South Africans are under 25, and can barely remember apartheid. And Soweto is the New York City of sub-Saharan Africa: a place where artists, musicians, soccer players, politicians and gangsters come to make it.

“It’s simply not possible to underestimate the importance of that day,” University of Witwatersrand history professor Philip Bonner says. “June 16 was radically transformative in every sense.”

The day’s events ignited a fury that spread across South Africa, marking the beginning of the end of apartheid.

“It was the end of submissiveness,” Bonner says, “and it led to the questioning authority of all kinds.”

The countrywide rioting and boycotts that followed fed off a potent youth culture of resistance that married the ideological lessons of black consciousness with the disobedience of local tsotsi pick-pocket subculture, he added. From its birthplace in Soweto, that unique youth culture spread throughout South Africa.

Located a mere 13 kilometres from South Africa’s economic engine of Johannesburg, Soweto — the South Western Township — was cosmopolitan and dynamic from its inception.

Sowetans still pride themselves on setting trends for the rest of country.

“Soweto is the centre of South Africa” says Niq Mhlongo, a novelist who grew up in a four-room home with 10 other family members. “Urban or rural, black or white, all youth of South Africa look to Soweto for music, fashion and lingo.”

All the giants of the anti-apartheid struggle at some point called Soweto home — from Desmond Tutu and Walter Sisulu to Winnie and Nelson Mandela.

The product of segregationist urban planning, Soweto was created out of the ashes of the most lively, culturally diverse communities in South

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INDEPENDENTLIFE

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 18-24, 2006 — PAGE 17

Deborah Collins

Paul Daly/The Independent

Summerbreeze

Rogers Television set to launch new summer programming similar to Out of the Fog

By Nadya Bell The Independent

D

eborah Collins will be chasing caplin this summer as host of Summerbreeze, a new program in the tradition of Out of the Fog. Rogers Television’s local Cable 9 station is continuing its evening programming over the summer with a new show running weeknights at 7:30 p.m. from July 4 to Sept. 1.

“Newfoundlanders love to see themselves — I don’t mean that in an arrogant way — but they love to see themselves more than other people,” says Collins, the show’s host.

The station hopes to continue the success of its evening show, Out of the Fog — which is famous for its colourful guests, local and otherwise.

When Out of the Fog ends on June 23, the new set will be prepared with brick walls and the effect of wooden beams, creating a sparse look.

Collins says she’s excited about the people she will meet this summer.

“I think Newfoundlanders are the most engaging and entertaining and down-to-earth people on the face of the world,” she says. “I think it came from being isolated and having to entertain ourselves for centuries.”

From punk rock to gospel, Collins says the station will be open to all ideas for musical features. She says they may have some of the bands from the Peace-a-Chord on the show leading up to the annual August festival.

The show will have several weekly segments, including a picnic basket from Chef Bryan Abbott and a tour of a local garden.

Storyteller Dale Jarvis has also agreed to shoot unusual ghost tales on location around St. John’s.

They are also hoping to interview some of the provincial leaders during the upcoming premiers’ conference in July.

“We’re not going to shy away from anything if there’s an issue of the day,” says Collins, a long-time fixture in the St. John’s media.

“I thought about moving away to work and made a couple of half-hearted attempts, but I

always had opportunities to work here,” she says. “I was fortunate enough to always be able to live and work in the place that I love … plus my family is all here.”

Collins began her media career at Memorial University’s student newspaper The Muse in the early 1970s, writing profiles of professors.

“It just gave you an opportunity to see behind the person — man or woman — who stood in the classroom,” she says. “Little did I know at that time that I would be pursuing a career in the media.”

Collins started at VOCM in 1980 as a reporter and announcer, eventually moving to CBC television for 19 years. She started at Rogers Television in February, and says the time in television has made her very recognizable. She says when she walks past people in the store she used to hear them whisper CBC — now they whisper Rogers.

“Television, I think, is the most immediate and powerful medium, but I think it is also the most demanding,” she says. “You have to stand in from of a camera and not appear frazzled, even when you are.”

“In addition to getting your thoughts together, you have to get your appearance together.”

Collins says it’s not a matter of having to look attractive to be on television, but not distracting the viewer.

Sponsorship revenues and investment from Rogers Television’s owner, Rogers Cable, have allowed the station to hire more staff to produce Summerbreeze.

According to a recent viewer survey of 500 homes in the St. John’s/Mount Pearl/ Conception Bay South area, 81 per cent said they tuned into Rogers Television at least once a month.

“It’s filling a niche that nobody else is right now. It’s the only show that showcases the music and entertainment scene,” Collins says.

“Our summer is so short and so intense, we want to at least reflect a little of that.”

In the survey, 53 per cent of people rated Rogers Television in the top 15 channels. The channel has 70,000 viewers in Newfoundland, although that number is relatively small compared to other stations in Ontario or New Brunswick.

LIVYERS

‘A great gig’ Whether a stepfather, grandfather or stay at home rocker, dedication makes the dad

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

I

n the words of Pope John XXIII, “It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.”

The fathers in these stories are not typical, but they are all Dad’s.

Dianne Brace, 47, of Chance Cove, wondered how the man she and her siblings called Dad could love them, yet she

never doubted that he did.

“He took on these kids that weren’t his and showed us all so much love, something that we never had from our biological father,” she recalls. “Calling him Dad came natural.”

Brace was 11 when her mother met Sylvester Smith, the man who would become their father. The family of six grew as Smith and his wife Maisie went on to have two children together.

Meantime, Brace was legally adopted by

Smith and proudly took his last name when she was 18.

“I told him I wanted to be his, and he said OK,” she says. “I was proud to be a Smith until the day he walked me down the aisle to be married.”

About 10 per cent of all Canadian children under 12 live in a stepfamily. Of these, 50 per cent are the mother’s child (or children) from a previous union.

Brace says Smith never considered himself a stepparent, he was just Dad.

“If anyone called us Maisie’s children he would get upset; we were his too.”

Smith was patient, she says, especially when he taught the children, and later the grandchildren, to drive.

“I had a hard time. He would get out and walk down the road in front of me so I knew where the centre of the car should be.”

Smith died of stomach cancer on July 15th 2003, surrounded by his family, making no distinctions amongst the

loved ones standing around him to the last.

“When he was dying he used to cry and say he couldn’t believe how much we were doing for him,” Brace says quietly. “But it was always he who was good to us when he never really had to be. He just was that kind of a man. That kind of a father.”

George Clarke became a father to See ‘I waited’ page 18

JUNE 18, 2006

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

GALLERYPROFILE

DONNA CLOUSTON Visual Artist

T

he crisp, deep, yet delicate images found in artist and silkscreen printer Donna Clouston’s work require time and dedication to achieve. From her self-built home, tucked away amongst trees in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, Clouston works with a meticulous method requiring patience and precision born from a desire to create bigger and better pieces.

Her prints begin life as full-sized watercolours, which she uses as guides, and finish up as serigraphs, created from layers upon layers of carefully applied shades of colour.

“I’m doing colour separation,” says Clouston, “but from an artist’s point of view, it’s not a mechanical process at all.”

A serigraph is a hand-made print produced in limited editions using a silkscreen process.

“I find it really satisfying. It started really from calendars, I make cloth calendars, and so it started from me drawing just one colour and then that wasn’t satisfying enough and I wanted to add in more colour and more colour, until I’ve finally ended up with this craziness.”

“...it started from me drawing just one colour and then that wasn’t satisfying enough and I wanted to add in more colour and more colour, until I’ve finally ended up with this craziness.”

Donna Clouston This “craziness” involves spending months at a time crafting one single print.

The results speak for themselves. Back in 1982 one of Clouston’s silk banners was chosen by the province to be given as a wedding present to Prince Charles and Lady Diana. More recently she was commissioned to create a piece for the Johnson Geo Centre, a panorama of Signal Hill and the Battery, which currently hangs in a place of pride in the lobby. The image consists of three watercolours printed on an adhesive translucent film and attached to light boxes.

A commission of Signal Hill was ideal for Clouston, who specializes in capturing traditional Newfoundland scenery. She says she’s inspired by the quality of light upon images — and she loves colour.

Clouston admits traditional Newfoundland prints tend to sell best. A recent foray away from that focus resulted in what she describes as her “masterpiece,” but it hasn’t sold as well as her other prints. Farm Pond features purple irises in a foreground that sweeps and stretches away into a cool blue pond, framed by lush foliage.

She says she broke some printing rules to produce it.

“Once you start printing in one direction you have to continue that, because the screen stretches, but I’ve printed in several different directions … it was something that I wanted to do. I had a concept and I ran with it.”

Clouston was born in St. John’s and grew up on Elizabeth Avenue when it was “still in the country.” After gaining a degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design she pursued a career as a goldsmith. In 1988 she decided to take the plunge and work as a full-time artist.

Today, she has had multiple group and solo exhibitions and her work is sold out of Spurrell Gallery in St. John’s, the Ewing Gallery in Corner Brook, and from her own home in St. Philip’s, which she shares with Rowan — a large Newfoundland/Labrador cross.

As Clouston approaches 30 years of creating cloth calendars of Newfoundland and Labrador scenery, she says she’s hoping to mark the occasion with a special exhibition.

Perhaps she should finally offer her buyers the opportunity to give her watercolour pictures — the essence of her prints — new homes.

“They all just go into storage. They’re kind of my RRSP. I’ve always thought of one day having an exhibition of the watercolours because nobody does get to see them.” www.donnaclouston.com — Clare-Marie Gosse

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

Good for a ride

A MOMENT LIKE THIS

Pixar’s latest proves true to form with colour, character and comedy

T

Kirstyn Dooley plays singer Kelly Clarkson in the American Idol dance number of TV Theme Songs and Commercial Breaks, a dance recital put off by Jill Dreaddy Dance Co. The show played June 14 at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre. Dooley is accompanied by Diana Byrne, Emily Fewer, Emily Murphy and Megan Ryan.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Art school serves up breast milk cocktail

By Judy Stoffman The Toronto Star

M

other’s milk may be the healthiest food for babies, but is it art?

Yes, according to Jess Dobkin, a lesbian mother and artist who will present her work Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar on July 13 at the Ontario College of Art and Design, the institution of higher learning that a few years ago brought you vomiting as performance art.

The audience will be invited to sip during cocktail hours small cups of pasteurized breast milk donated by six lactating new mothers in the community.

Dobkin has obtained a breast milk pasteurizer and will have the milk tested by a lab.

“A substance that nourishes us in our infancy later becomes a curiosity in adulthood.”

Jess Dobkin “I am taking all precautions,” she says. “Donors have all been screened.”

She is also designing a unique serving vessel for each woman. “I conducted interviews with all the donors and I worked with each to envision the appro-

priate serving device, the way different glasses are used for red or white wine.

The vessel is designed to bring out the uniqueness of each woman’s milk.”

Following the “tasting,” there will be an artist’s talk and discussion.

Dobkin, who came to Toronto from New York, and has received grants from the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council, said in a news release she became interested in taboos surrounding breastfeeding.

“This project re-contextualizes something often regarded as indecent or repellent, offering a celebratory view,” the 36-year-old said. “A substance that nourishes us in our infancy later becomes a curiosity in adulthood.”

hey’ve been on the go for twenty years, but most of us have only been aware of their work for just a little more than a decade. Pixar, the computer animation studio that gave us Toy Story, has consistently turned out feature films that deliver much more than one would expect at first glance.

Who wasn’t surprised that a story about toys offered more than just gags and antics to keep animated toys busy for an hour and a half?

Then they moved on to insects (An Ant’s Life), and back to toys for a sequel that was arguably as good as the first film. The next project, Monsters, Inc. wasn’t as strong as the others, but not by much, and considering the subject, probably was more of an accomplishment.

By this time we were bracing for the inevitable dud, especially with the advance word that the next picture was to be about a fish trying to find another fish in the ocean (Finding Nemo). Again Pixar came through with a movie destined to be a classic. It was hard to imagine that they’d keep up with this level of quality entertainment.

A few years before, a guy named Brad Bird had carved a name for himself with The Iron Giant, a primarily conventionally animated motion picture that generated almost as much praise as Toy Story 2, which hit theatres a few months later. With Bird aboard, Pixar developed a story about repressed superheroes forced to assimilate into mainstream society. Despite the sound of it, The Incredibles turned out to be an instant hit.

Despite Pixar’s track record, it’s difficult to maintain high expectations, especially considering that beforehand, we knew very little about their latest offering beyond the world in which it has chosen to set the story. The most recent release, simply titled Cars, features automobiles as animated characters with numerous human attributes. At its basic level, it’s a car cartoon, and one can hopefully be forgiven for anticipating little more than cute talking automobile kiddy fare.

It’s amazing what comes out of hard work, imagination and talent, and Cars is a perfect example.

Again, we find a well written, although somewhat familiar story, interesting and well-developed characters, and an attention to detail that produces stunning results.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is the hot new car on the racing circuit, and is poised to become the first rookie to take the coveted Piston Cup. Although fresh on the scene, he’s driven by the quest for glory and all its trappings — and they’re just one race away.

McQueen inadvertently ends up in the town of Radiator Springs, once a hot spot along legendary Route 66, now a struggling settlement as the new interstate takes traffic right past it.

His reckless antics land him in

TIM CONWAY Film Score CARS 116 min.

Featuring the voices of Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman and Larry the Cable Guy (out of four)

trouble, and he’s forced to stay in the town until he makes amends. Of course, as is often the case in Hollywood pictures, the cast of interesting locals teaches a few life lessons to the otherwise shallow visitor, who eventually leaves a better person, or in this case, car.

The locals are as colourful as we’d find anywhere, offering Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), and an entertaining assortment of automobile based characters whose voices are supplied by the likes of George Carlin, Cheech Marin, and Tony Shaloub. The scene-stealer, however, is Mater, the rusty 1950’s Chevrolet tow truck (Larry the Cable Guy) whose carefree innocence and good nature are simultaneously infectious and hilarious.

Running at almost two hours, Cars is a bit more demanding than it should be, but fortunately, most of the excess occurs near the beginning. Once the film gets going, we likewise draw from its increasing energy, so getting to the end is effortless. In the meantime, there’s plenty to occupy us as we ease into this world populated by automobiles brought to life.

ENGAGING EXPERIENCE Cars has been criticized as being inferior to The Incredibles in many ways, but that’s nothing more than pettiness. In the last two years, only a handful of motion pictures of any kind can claim to surpass The Incredibles on any level. In addition, its chief contributor, Brad Bird, is not involved on this project.

Finally, this film features anthropomorphic cars. Turning out a bearable film would be an achievement, let alone the spectacular, engaging, and entertaining experience we discover here.

Like many of Pixar’s other offerings, this one should be around for a few weeks, allowing for the inevitable repeat visit. Before you make that second trip, however, check out Wikipedia’s web page on the film, where you’ll find information about the models of cars and Route 66 that should prove insightful. Since it also provides detailed plot information, it’s a good idea to forego this until after you’ve seen the movie.

Tim Conway operates Capital Video at Rawlin’s Cross, St. John’s.

His column returns July 2

A LITTLE

OF YOUR TIME IS ALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE IS OPTIONAL. Think it requires heroic efforts to be a Big Brother or Big Sister?

Think again. It simply means sharing a few moments with a child. Play catch.

Build a doghouse. Or help take on mutant invaders from the planet Krang.

That’s all it takes to transform a mere mortal like yourself into a super hero who can make a world of difference in a child’s life. For more information...

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland 1-877-513KIDS (5437) www.helpingkids.ca

2 7 8 D u c k w o r th S tr e e t, S t. J o h n ’s

C a ll fo r p r o g r a m m in g d e ta ils 7 3 9 - 7 6 2 3

JUNE 18, 2006

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

Choosing wisely The Hour of Bad Decisions Russell Wangersky Coteau Books, 2006. 258 pages.

R

ussell Wangersky is no stranger to the printed medium. He is best known in this province as editor of the St. John’s-based Telegram and as a twice-weekly columnist in that same paper, but he is also a creative writer. His creative non-fiction has earned him prizes from the Canadian literary magazines Prism International and Prairie Fire. The Hour of Bad Decisions presents 17 of Wangersky’s short stories.

In Hot Tub, a man spends all night in an outdoor hot tub, avoiding his family during their vacation; in Burning Foley’s, a man embarks on a campaign of arson against residents of Cuslett, Newfoundland; in Musical Chairs, an ostracized factory worker finds acceptance after a workplace injury; in Perchance to Dream, a family man flees his home out of fear that his recurrent homicidal nightmares will become devastating reality.

These are stories that are offbeat enough to be intriguing. They are primarily concerned with the issue of motive — why we human beings do

the things we do. The individual circumstances of Wangersky’s characters may vary widely, but each example highlights that same question of motivation, and in so doing, reveals to readers a deeper element of human nature.

Journalism is all about motivation.

There is the who, what, when, where and how of an event, but without a sense of why things happen the way they do, our understanding is incomplete. Unfortunately, this urge to reveal sometimes tempts Wangersky into over-explanation.

In No Apologies for Weather, a gathering storm serves as unsubtle counterpoint to a tempestuous relationship.

“And suddenly,” Wangersky writes, “it wasn’t about answering her questions anymore — it was about running for cover.” He juxtaposes this with editorial commentary on the habits of weather: “In a real storm, a serious, violent northeaster, there is no shelter from the wind and rain.” This conceit continues throughout the story, culminating in simultaneous meteorological and romantic aftermath: “Sometimes, storms end all at once.

At their height, they suddenly pass, as if they wind up inside themselves and tuck their fury away out of sight, lightning darting inside the clouds.

MARK CALLANAN On the shelf His hands were tangled in her hair, her body was tight in against him and she was crying now.”

Probably the biggest botched opportunity comes in the story Borrowed Time, in which a young man named Frank takes a position as a homecare worker for an elderly woman. As it turns out, Mrs. Pearson’s son has been pilfering valuables from her for years but the blame for the thefts has always been placed on her live-in employees.

Frank eventually confronts her with the truth of the matter: “I think you should really be checking Paul’s pockets…

And I think you know that, too.”

But rather than err on the side of subtlety, Wangersky has Mrs. Pearson unleash a confession more befitting a cornered Hardy Boys villain, explaining in excessive detail her motivations for pretending ignorance to her son’s thieving. And by over-explaining, he stifles the very revelatory moment he is trying to invoke — that moment when we realize just how complicated

human motivations can be; complicated and perfectly simple at once.

This is not to say that Wangersky’s writing does not have high points. His story ideas are usually highly original and there are some very fine observations made throughout: A dying woman “could make home-made soup

even though she was fading away so fast it was like she was making it out of herself.” Two female bartenders are “like small, jewelled, uncatchable tropical birds.” The story Bowling Night ends on this pitch-perfect description: “Down in the ditch, the bees took turns marching into the garish funnels of the foxgloves, and the clover bobbed and nodded its silent approval.”

The most accomplished story in the collection is Mapping, in which a firefighter who is haunted by tragedy works obsessively to annotate a map with all the fires and car wrecks he has witnessed. It is a disturbing study of how the human mind copes in times of great stress, and one well worth reading. The entire collection, in fact, is worth reading.

“Everything [is] a second either way… One small step away, always,” Wangersky writes of the crossroads of choice, “the hour of bad decisions.”

This analysis could be fittingly applied to the art of writing, how easily it is fouled up by bad decisions. Wangersky makes some of these bad decisions, but they are not nearly enough to obscure his instances of inspired choice or negate the overall effect of his narratives.

POET’S CORNER Icebergs Icebergs don’t bother with the wind.

Their deep draught responds to current and tide.

Newfoundlanders understand.

In contrary gales they made their schooners fast to icebergs, and in their cold lun, with lowered sails, were towed, steadily to windward.

Icebergs are not white, of course, but veined in blue, ridged and furrowed and lined in green and grey like the hide of some wondrous animal, flinging spray from its side, snorting water from the rolling bow wave.

I’ve found myself looking for eyes.

They are alive, you know.

A poem from the 2002 book And We Were Sailors, by David L. Benson.

Herb Simms with his 14-month old daughter Daryn in their Seal Cove home.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘I waited too long to have her’

By Tonya Kearley and Laura Russell

Eldred Scott of Conception Bay South instead of the grandfather he should have been when Scott’s father Archie drowned while fishing off Little Bay East on the Burin Peninsula. He was nine months old. Not long after, Scott’s mother Ester died in childbirth, her baby still-born.

“Mom’s parents became the only parents I remember,” he says. “My grandparents had 10 of their own, plus one other grandchild they were raising and me. I called them Mom and Pop, just like everyone else.”

Clarke was a fisherman, then later a skipper on vessels off the Grand Banks.

“If I wasn’t helping him with the fish I was listening to stories about fishing,” Scott recalls. “I was no different than his own.”

Remembering one winter spent building a boat together, he reflects on the physical work this elderly man could do, hauling out logs for the boat with only a strong back and willing legs.

“He was 76 when he died, and still a hard worker. I had five kids of my own and now have nine grandchildren and I get tired just thinking about the stuff that man used to do. It’s true what they say I guess, they don’t make them like Pop anymore.”

Herb Simms, 36, was born in St. Anthony, but moved to Windsor, Ontario so he could perform in rock bands out of

Detroit. He worked construction on the side to keep the bills paid until he made it big.

“I got laid off and had to do this aptitude test for EI; they said I scored out of the range and told me to go back to school.”

Simms did. He jokes that being a musician made him “full of himself,” which contributed to his success academically and helped him win a generous scholarship towards paying for a Masters degree.

Simms went on to pursue a PhD in Aboriginal Fishing Policies from the University of Calgary, something he is still working towards. He returned to Newfoundland for one special reason — Daryn, his now 14 month-old daughter with wife Michelle.

“I had to leave for a while when she was four months old for school,” he says.

But since returning, Simms has become a rebel dad. Not because he is a sometimes rock musician with his band Devastator, but because he is now a stayat-home parent. Years ago a stay-athome dad was virtually unheard of.

Today, fathers like Simms are proud to admit they are the ones kissing boo-boos and bearing Barney.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of Canadian fathers taking parental leave increased from three per cent in 2000 to 10 per cent in 2001. In 1991 there were 88,000 fathers at home.

By 2002 that number had increased to

BAYCHICK

From page 17

110,000.

Simms loves his “job.” Daryn is pleasant, sweet, and the best company he says. (She can also scream like a banshee, has a bad habit of getting up too early and some of the shows she likes can “creep” him out a little, but he is enjoying it all.)

“I never even had brothers or sisters, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment,” he laughs. “But she hasn’t broken herself up yet.”

“I have a stable home life now with my girls and it really is the best...

Remember I know what it’s like to haul cinder blocks up flights of stairs.” This, Simms says, is a great gig.

He is thankful he had the ability to go back to school, proud he had the desire to finish, but he does admit to one regret.

“I waited too long to have her,” he says. “I ripped myself off; I ripped off the grandparents.”

Simms says he wants to share his love of fly fishing and music with his little girl.

“Right now it’s Rafi and Barney, but I’ll toss in a healthy balance of what I like in music and entertainment too,” he laughs. “I feel I’ve accomplished a lot.

I’ve won medals and scholarships, but nothing compares to how proud I am of that little girl.

“It’s important for dads to spend time with their kids, not because we should or because it’s good for them, but because it’s also really good for us too.”

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 18-24, 2006 — PAGE 21

Cathy Smallwood/The Independent

Balancing act Historical Brigus continues to boom; local fish plant site transforming into waterfront homes

By Nadya Bell The Independent

T

he town that defended St. George’s Church from being converted into a bed and breakfast is still an ideal place for home development, developer Gary Reardon says.

Where Brigus’s closed fish plant used to stand, Reardon is building a new summer home for himself and preparing six other lots for residential homes. The undeveloped lots are selling for $114,000 and up.

“Brigus is just quaint,” he says. “It’s got history: the museum, the old forge, the tunnel, but it’s still within easy reach of civilization at Bay Roberts.”

Reardon says he finds the town a very friendly environment. He is selling lots, not constructing the houses, which leaves designing up to the buyers. According to an agreement with town council, he works closely with the heritage committee to approve the final designs, however.

Reardon hopes the new homes will mimic the typical Brigus construction of small houses with steeply pitched roofs, dormers and shingle siding.

“We’ve taken a lot of liberty on the water side, but on the front they’ll look like any

other house across the street,” he says.

“We’re not out there to be the architectural police.”

Reardon says the properties will appeal to some “mainland types,” as well as boaters who will be able to moor in their backyard.

Brigus harbour is a popular place for pleasure craft in the summertime.

He has had callers from across North America interested in the properties, although no interest from Europe, he says.

The lots come with water and sewer connections, and Reardon has decided to build new sections of wharf along the ocean-side of the houses, so residents can dock their boats in their back yards. Two lots have sold and he figures all seven properties will be sold by Christmas.

“The flavour and ambience that is there— it’s the Trinity of the east coast,” he says.

Reardon has been looking for land to buy in Brigus for a number of years and had been waiting patiently for the fish plant to go up for sale.

In recent years, previous developers have not been able to purchase waterfront property in Brigus because of public resistance.

In 2003, Janath Kitson, an American developer, saw the appeal in Brigus, and was interested in purchasing St. George’s

“In the 1970s, for $100,000 you could buy half of Brigus … the problem is one of these days my young one coming up, there’ll be nothing for him to afford.

In by the road it’s much cheaper — but nobody wants to be down there.”

— Shears Mercer Anglican Church to convert into a bed and breakfast.

Shears Mercer Jr. was on town council at the time, and says he had Mr. Kitson over for tea to talk about the considerable public resistance to the sale of the church.

Mercer says he warned Kitson if he did actively pursue buying the old building there would be “a holy war.”

The St. George’s Heritage Committee took over the church in April 2004, and it is now registered as a provincial heritage site.

Their main expense is the insurance, which costs $15,000 a year. The building is not normally heated, and many necessary repairs were completed when it was still a working church.

The church seats about 150 people and is used for musical and community events.

Ron Hynes, Sherry Ryan, and other artists have the Church booked up for weekends over the summer.

When he was unable to buy the church, Kitson looked at purchasing a section of land behind it to construct a bed and breakfast, but that was sold to Juel Choinard from Montreal who asked that it remain a park space.

Although the increasing development in Brigus is welcomed by town council, Mercer says new expensive houses are changing the town.

“In the 1970s, for $100,000 you could buy half of Brigus,” Mercer says.

“The problem is one of these days my young one coming up, there’ll be nothing for him to afford. In by the road it’s much cheaper —but nobody wants to be down there.”

The N-word debate revisited

O

K, I shouldn’t have called the guy an arsehole — in print. I apologize to P.A. Douglas for that. I sincerely do. I haven’t heard from the man. But it was out of line. If you resort to name calling to make a point in a public argument, you’ve already lost your case.

Douglas is a professional development guru who teaches name association tricks and other business skills to middle managers in private and public industry across Canada.

If you read last week’s column, you will know that one of his lectures involves associating the word goofy with a silly-looking guy named Mr. Newfie so that you will have an easier time remembering the fictional Mr. Newfie’s name.

Douglas told me not to be so sensitive when I expressed umbrage.

But here’s why this thing is bad and speaks to the larger image of Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders in the rest of North America: If a smart, professional guy like P.A. Douglas thinks it’s fine to poke a little fun at us in his seminars, should it be surprising that many other North Americans have a condescending view?

Case in point is the New York Times article of last week that likened Premier Danny Williams to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for demanding more of the

CRAIG WESTCOTT The public ledger Hebron-Ben Nevis oil pie. Chavez recently restructured the oil industry in his country to ensure half of all oil revenues go to the state. Venezuela joins many other countries around the world that have imposed similar rules on the oil industry, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya. Still other countries, such as Norway, operate their oil fields using state-owned enterprises.

All Williams did was ask for a small equity stake in Hebron, less than five per cent, and to refuse $500 million in tax breaks.

The reaction of the oil industry and the mainland business press was shock, contending that Newfoundland was demanding something outrageous.

If Albertan Premier Ralph Klein had made such demands, would he have garnered that reaction?

I suggest the response would have been significantly different. Pundits would probably have explained that Klein was asking for no more than what many other oil jurisdictions already enjoy. I would argue too, that if Alberta was getting as

Danny Williams takes questions from the media over the dispute with Hebron-Ben Nevis.

Paul Daly/The Independent

paltry a royalty on its oil as we get from Hibernia, the media and Albertans generally would be demanding that their government shut down the fields, and the rest of Canada would applaud them.

But things are different when it comes to Newfoundland. When Premier Brian Tobin insisted that not one teaspoon of Voisey’s Bay nickel concentrate leave this province, that it all had to be smelted and refined here, he was assailed by the Diane Francis’s of the world as everything but a communist.

He was the enemy of capitalism according to the reporters and commentators who cover Bay Street.

Yet, Ontario has long had a rule that all its nickel ore at Sudbury must be processed in Ontario. No “transshipment” allowed.

A double standard? You bet.

The basis for this double standard is the unspoken belief of many Canadians, including the well-educated and the better-spoken, that Newfoundlanders really are goofy. That we’re happy-go-lucky,

gentle ninnies who have great backs for hard work and strong livers for drinking, but that we’re not quite as intelligent and sophisticated as the rest of the world.

They believe that when they do business here, they are doing us a favour and so the regular rules of commerce and regulation should not apply.

They’ll deny that, of course, and perhaps sincerely think they are not bigots.

But bigotry is the foundation of many a Canadian’s opinion of Newfoundlanders.

The sad thing is, Newfoundlanders are largely responsible for it. Since joining Canada, we’ve perpetuated the image.

Many Newfoundlanders on the mainland still joyfully refer to themselves as Newfies. It’s a recognition that we are different, culturally, than other Canadians.

And that’s fine. We are different. And I’m grateful for it. But the word Newfie comes with a host of problems, not the least of which is the long practice of people preceding it with use of the word goofy and all the negative connotation that loaded word holds. It isn’t acceptable, nor tolerable.

No other ethic or cultural group in Canada would accept such open public usage and insult and neither should we.

I’m not a Newfie. I’m a Newfoundlander. cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

22 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

By Craig Westcott The Independent

W

ith its game plan in hand, the province is about to start asking companies in the aquaculture sector, and the federal government, to help fund an experimental cod farm on the south coast.

The provincial government set aside $500,000 in this year’s budget to go towards the project and is promising to pump $2 million over the next couple of years into the farm.

Industry sources reckon that will cover about 20 per cent of the total cost.

But it’s a start. Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Tom Rideout says the province is on the verge of making a big breakthrough in the science of cod farming and that could have a significant impact on parts of rural Newfoundland.

“If wild stocks are going to continue to decline and not show much evidence of bouncing back, then aquaculture is one way of lessening the pain and the fall out in rural areas that depend to a large degree on the fishery,” Rideout says. “I’ll give you one example. In terms of salmon aquaculture there’s something over 200 full-time, yearround jobs in St. Alban’s on the south coast doing nothing else only processing farmed salmon and trout.

“It’s the best kept secret in the world, hardly anybody ever mentions it, but if we had several St. Alban’s along the south coast and in other parts of the province that are basing good paying, year-round jobs processing farm-grown fish, then that’s an industry that can help sustain and build and grow a rural base, and that’s what I’m so excited about.”

Rideout was interviewed by phone this week in St. Andrews, N.B. where he was attending a major conference on aquaculture. One of the speakers there, he noted, was a Norwegian who predicted the next big breakthrough in aquaculture will be in cod farming.

Like Canada, Norway is racing to be the leader in cod aquaculture. In the past couple of years, Norwegian scientists, as well as scientists from other parts of the

JUNE 18, 2006

Fish farm aid

Rideout to canvass aquaculture industry for cod-farm money

Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout.

world, have visited a cod genome project underway at the Ocean Sciences Centre in Logy Bay. The project, which is being run by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Memorial University and private companies including Northern Cod Ventures, selectively breeds codfish, isolating the ones with the best genes for reproduction and

Paul Daly/The Independent

growth and raising them to commercial size at a facility at Pool’s Cove on the south coast.

Earlier this year, the province, contributed $350,000 towards the genome project. Rideout says the facility at Pool’s Cove will be the site of the experimental cod farm the government talked about in the last budget.

Last week, Rideout’s department received a report it had commissioned on how best to proceed with the farm.

Rideout says over the next few weeks the province will talk to industry players about getting involved in the project. He points to Cooke Aquaculture, which is setting up the first of three salmon farms

near Belleoram on the south coast as an example of how government and industry might work together.

“They’ve done a lot of work on cod aquaculture in New Brunswick and they’ll be bringing that expertise with them here, so we hopefully won’t have to reinvent the wheel, but carry on with expanding our knowledge base and getting on with commercialization,” Rideout says. “That’s the kind of game plan that we have.”

Rideout says he expects Ottawa will want to play a role in the project too. He notes federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn is “very anxious” to get an aquaculture agreement in place.

“And that would entail some funding for this project and other aquaculture projects,” Rideout says. “And we’re certainly spending a significant amount of money ourselves. The aquaculture budget in my department year over year from last year has been increased by 230 per cent. I think that’s a strong signal of how we see the importance of aquaculture development in the rural parts of the province in the future.”

Rideout says he doesn’t know when the farm will be fully functional, or when the commercialization breakthrough will come.

“It will have to take whatever time it takes,” he says. “Norway is not totally there yet in terms of cod commercialization. We’re not totally there. Cooke has come a long way in New Brunswick — I’ve been to their site and I’ve eaten some of their harvested fish and it’s wonderful stuff. But the whole thing takes time. It’s a different grow-out period, we know that now, than there is for salmon or trout, it takes longer.

“What’s the disease problems that you might be facing? What’s the best genetic stock to utilize? All of those questions are tough questions and it will take time and money and research to get there, but we are very, very far along the way and we believe, and Norway believes too now, that we are on the verge of a breakthrough in cod aquaculture and we expect that it’s coming very soon.” cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

Inco Limited chairman and CEO Scott Hand (L) and Falconbridge Ltd. CEO Derek Pannell announce the $12 billion friendly take-over bid by Inco Ltd. to buy Falconbridge Limited, at a news conference in Toronto, Oct. 11, 2005.

REUTERS/Mike Cassese

Approval drafted for Inco deal Europe’s regulators move step forward; markets speculate bid may be raised

By Tara Perkins The Toronto Star

E

uropean regulators have drafted a paper approving Inco Ltd.’s $19-billion offer to buy Falconbridge Ltd., sources confirmed this week. While the European Commission may take until July 12 to put its official stamp of approval on the bid, it now appears that a green light is likely.

That would remove a major hurdle for the two Toronto-based miners, which want to combine their operations to become the world’s biggest nickel producer.

However, there are many more challenges ahead.

European competition regulators, in co-operation with American regulators, have been reviewing the takeover proposal since the fall, forcing Inco to repeatedly extend the deadline on its offer.

Inco spokesman Steve Mitchell said this week “we’re pleased with the progress on the regulatory front, and we’re optimistic we’ll get the clearances we need.”

Regulators launched a detailed investigation in February. Last week, Falconbridge announced that it would sell its Nikkelverk refinery in Norway to LionOre Mining International for $650 million (US).

That deal was designed to address regulators’ concerns that the two Toronto companies together would control too much of the market that makes super alloys, which are used in high-temperature, high-stress environments, such as jet engines.

The transaction will only occur if Inco and Falconbridge merge. To ensure that LionOre is a genuine competitor, the deal includes all of Nikkelverk’s employees, marketing and the organizations that buy unrefined nickel and sell the finished product.

Inco also agreed to supply up to 60,000 tonnes of nickel under a 10-year supply agreement, about the same amount that Nikkelverk currently gets from Falconbridge.

Sources said the draft decision is now being sent for review to each of the 25 countries that make up

the European Union.

The EU has said it will release its final decision

by July 12, while the U.S. Department of Justice might make its announcement sooner.

But regulatory approvals aren’t the only hurdles Inco must jump if its offer is to succeed.

The company’s cash-and-stock bid for Falconbridge is lower than an offer on the table from Anglo-Swiss rival Xstrata PLC. Xstrata, whose bid values Falconbridge at $20 billion, announced this week that it received approval from the Canadian Competition Bureau. It has already got the go-ahead from the United States.

Xstrata’s operations do not have significant overlap with Falconbridge, meaning its offer doesn’t pose competition issues.

However, Xstrata still needs approval for its bid from Investment Canada, which is reviewing the effect the takeover would have on the Canadian economy and employment.

Ottawa had an initial 45 days to review Xstrata’s bid, ending in early July, but it can extend the review by an additional 30 days.

In the meantime, the next major piece of action observers of this saga are awaiting is an increased offer from Inco.

This week, Inco chief executive Scott Hand said those observers should “stay tuned” in coming weeks.

Inco’s current offer, which has been raised once, expires at the end of this month.

Hand and Falconbridge chief executive Derek Pannell spent two days last week showing analysts and investors through the companies’ mines and smelters in Sudbury. The firms believe they can reap annual synergies of $550 million by pairing up.

Xstrata has said that if it wins Falconbridge, it would try to establish a joint venture with Inco in Sudbury.

Inco and Falconbridge brushed off Teck Cominco Ltd.’s claim that its hostile $17.8-billion bid for Inco is artificially inflating Inco’s stock price.

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 23

Local company with revolutionary method for transporting gas files patent

T

he St. John’s company, Trans Ocean Gas, filed patent applications this week for a new method to transport natural gas in large, fibre-reinforced pressurized plastic cylinders.

The new containers are lighter and more durable than the usual steel containers.

Currently, the only way to transport natural gas is by pipeline or by liquefied natural gas tanker.

Both methods are massively expensive, especially for smaller, isolated natural gas fields such as those around the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Steve Campbell, president of Trans Ocean Gas, has said the new technology, which combines freezing and compression, would cut costs by as much as two thirds.

Campbell came up with the idea in the early 1990s while working as a supervisor during the construction of Hibernia’s concrete gravity-based structure and trying to figure out a way to transport

the reservoir’s gas.

Expensive pipelines and transporting liquefied natural gas in steel structures, which have corrosion and rupture characteristics, weren’t good enough options.

After spending time as a pipeline and facilities engineer in Alberta, which included some work with plastics, Campbell found a simpler solution.

“I saw a bus going by that was fuelled by natural gas and I said, ‘Well what kind of container’s on that?’” he told The Independent in an interview last year. “I found that it had a composite (reinforced plastic) pressure vessel but it had an aluminum liner, still the same thing with the corrosion potential, but it was composite wrapped … I realized that an all composite pressure vessel would be the trick. Lightweight and frozen resistant.”

— Ryan Cleary

No worries condo bubble will burst: Bank

By Tony Wong The Toronto Star

T

he Canadian condominium market is fundamentally healthy — so don’t expect a crash any time soon, the Bank of Canada

says.

While there is a possibility of “imbalances” in certain markets, a “significant reversal” of condominium prices is unlikely, the central bank said in a report released this week.

In its financial system review, the bank addresses growing concern that the heated condo market is approaching bubble-like conditions.

“While there may be some risk of future downward pressure on prices in some condominium markets, overall, the risk of a broad reversal of condominium prices is limited,” it said.

The report says that while there are some “disquieting” signs of excess supply in the Montreal and Edmonton markets, there was no evidence of that in Vancouver, Toronto or Calgary.

The report is contrary to the analysis of some economists who have repeatedly said Vancouver with double-digit appreciation in condo values over the last several years looks frothy, while Toronto, with the highest number of condo sales in North America, was at risk of being overbuilt.

“A combination of structural and cyclical factors have contributed to the growing popularity and rising prices of condominiums,” said the report.

Rising real disposable incomes, low interest rates and tight rental markets have made ownership more attractive. Meanwhile, rising house prices have put detached dwellings beyond the reach of many buyers, particularly for first-time purchases. Condos have also been popular with small investors who want to add rental real estate to their portfolios.

“There seems to be few signs of excess supply at the aggregate level,” since the number of recently completed and unoccupied dwellings relative to population is below its 20-year historical average, the report said.

Toronto housing analyst Will Dunning agrees with the substance of the report, but adds that one failing might be that it does not look at the amount of speculative buying.

“The key indicator of risk is the amount of speculative buying that is going on out there, and that’s hard to assess,” said Dunning. Speculative buying in some condos could be as high as 40 per cent, according to some estimates.

The analyst has said in the past that there was “high risk” that the Toronto market is being overbuilt. More than 17,000 condos were sold in the Toronto area last year, the most on record. Some Toronto-area developers have been heaping on incentives for selling agents.

The report, however, is written from the viewpoint of assessing risk to the stability of the Canadian financial system — not whether buying a condo is a wise investment.

In that area, the financial system looks to be at low risk for several reasons, said the report: • For one, the requirement for developers to presell a certain percentage of units, anywhere from 60 per cent to 70 per cent before granting financing for construction, has cut down on the possibility of defaults to banks.

• Commercial bank loans to builders for residential purposes have also increased by 45 per cent in only two years from 2003 to 2005, representing $4.4 billion. However, this accounts for “a very small fraction of the loan portfolios of commercial banks, although some smaller institutions might be more heavily exposed.”

• More than 40 per cent of mortgage loans for condo purchases are currently insured and thus pose “little risk for financial institutions.”

• As for investor owned units, banks also generally require larger down payments for the purchase of rental condos than for the purchase of owner-occupied units, said the central bank’s report, “thus the exposure of financial institutions to condominium markets is rather limited.”

While banks have cut down their exposure to condo loans, some analysts have said the risks have shifted toward condo buyers who are putting up the bulk of the down payment for condos in hopes that the market will continue to appreciate.

“Most buyers are pre-qualified (for mortgages), so the shifting of risk goes back to consumers and whether they will be able to make their payments,” Dunning said.

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24 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

JUNE 18, 2006

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Small amount 4 Feather stoles 8 Honeybees en masse 13 Receive via the ears 17 Shogunate capital 18 Non-clerical 19 Lanny McDonald’s Alta. hometown 20 Sicilian smoker 21 Shower for the new couple 23 Fragrant oil 24 Electric unit 25 Witnesses 26 Shifts 28 Eye inflammation 30 Like Superman 32 Snake 33 Midge 34 French kings 35 With ___ breath 36 Rehearsal 40 Belonging to: suffix 41 Morse Robb’s invention: electric ___ 42 Tired 43 Income ___ 44 Overexplain 46 Togo’s neighbour 47 Engrossed 48 Allot 49 Scottish landlord 50 Male voice 51 West Coast First Nation

54 Uses a sieve 55 Classical pianist Fialkowska 56 Purge 57 Rub 58 Pierre’s dad 59 First claim 60 Half a shoulder-patter’s phrase 61 Common 65 Society page word 66 Challah or pita 67 Hard drinker 68 Wildebeest 69 Signal that danger is over 71 Sanctimonious 72 Superior sort 73 Fibre from Cannabis sativa 74 Main artery 75 Rocky 76 Smear over 79 Looks lasciviously 80 Burn 81 Put down 82 Quebec City university 84 Oblige morally 88 One place to spend kroner 89 A French accent 90 Rake 91 Carp 92 Author of English “O Canada”

93 Republic in S Arabia 94 Spud’s buds 95 Also DOWN 1 Present mo.?

2 Ruckus 3 Curling tournament 4 Lose blood 5 Cereal crop 6 Small island 7 Ali Baba’s blade 8 Beardless 9 Dowser’s desire 10 Colony insects 11 Ribonucleic acid 12 Cooked with tomato sauce and garlic 13 Longtime hockey broadcaster 14 Coup d’___ 15 Not for 16 Ship deserters 22 Lawyer’s charges 27 Agape 29 Suggestive 30 Babe’s bed 31 Tops 32 Not clear 33 Type of piano 35 Thin soup 36 Boscs or Bartletts 37 She wrote Deafening 38 Castrated rooster 39 Film fill-in 41 Really rotund

42 Satirical singer Nancy 45 Awry 46 Faux pas 47 Of the kidneys 49 B.C./N.W.T. river 50 Hoofed animal with long snout 51 Inuit goddess of the sea 52 Spirit of “The Tempest” 53 Stereotyping tag 54 Clip wool 55 Inventor of basketball: ___ Naismith 57 Inexpensive 58 ___ New Guinea 60 Playwright Michel ___ (“Les BellesSoeurs”) 61 Like many a tourist 62 Unlearned 63 Unsigned, in short 64 July birthstone 66 Brigitte’s blue 67 Spare change?

70 Garment of Afghanistan 71 Spring allergen 72 He takes a chance at a dance 74 Official gemstone of N.S. 75 Acts skittish 76 ___ Me Down, Nfld.

77 Little Heart’s ___, Nfld.

78 Capital of East Timor

79 Egg cell 80 Mystery pointer 83 Virtuoso

85 The Englishman’s ___ (Vanderhaeghe) 86 Eastern way

87 Grandstander’s problem Solution page 30

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) Family and friends rally around as you confront an unexpected challenge. Some plans will have to be changed until all the fuss and fluster settle down.

TAURUS (APRIL 20 TO MAY 20) Your creative gifts find new outlets for expression this week.

Someone (a Libra, perhaps) has ideas that you might find surprisingly appealing. Pay attention.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) You’ll soon be able to restart those delayed travel plans. A financial matter you thought was closed could suddenly reopen.

Be prepared to take swift, decisive action.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)

A romantic relationship takes an unexpected turn. You might be confused about how to react. It’s best not to be rushed into a decision that you’re not ready to make.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUGUST 22) Don’t let your pride stand in the way of resolving an emotionally painful situation. This is a good time to deal with it and let the healing finally begin.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) A workplace problem that you’ve been handling so well suddenly spins out of control.

Don’t panic. You can rely on your good sense to help you restore order.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) Wearing rose-colored glasses

won’t solve a thorny personal situation. You need to take a hard look at what’s happening and then act according to the facts.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) Weigh all your options carefully before making any decisions you’ve been putting off. Then go ahead and plan a weekend of family fun.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) While personal and financial situations continue to improve, some setbacks might occur. But they’re only temporary, so hang in there.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Family matters dominate the week. Health problems raise concern but soon prove to be less serious than you had feared.

Things start easing up by the weekend.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) Most situations are calmer now, both at home and on the job. But there’s still a chance that a coworker will set off another round of unpleasantness.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) There’s no need to fish for compliments from an admirer who can’t say enough nice things about you. The holiday weekend bodes well for family gatherings.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK You love to compete, both on a personal and a sporting level, and you hate to settle for anything less than excellence. (c) 2006 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Fill in the grid so that each row of nine squares, each column of nine and each section of nine (three squares by three) contains the numbers 1 through 9 in any order.

There is only one solution to each puzzle. Solutions, tips and computer program available at www.sudoko.com SOLUTION ON PAGE 30

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPECIALSECTION • 25

26 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

JUNE 18, 2006

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 27

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28 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

JUNE 18, 2006

JUNE 18, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPECIALSECTION • 29

30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS

JUNE 18, 2006

Two golden rules of ATV safety learned the hard way PAUL SMITH

The Rock

Outdoors

E

ven when you use care and caution, accidents can happen.

They often happen at the worst time with no regard for your circumstance. Throughout the winter of 1988, I spent most of my Saturdays cutting firewood and logs on a hillside above the old Bonavista Line rail-bed, where it runs along the north side of Princeton Pond. When spring came I had a fine stash of black spruce firewood and fir logs, all stacked and awaiting transport. I had been a busy beaver; according to my scaling, at least eight cords of firewood and 100 logs lay slain.

Bright and early on a cool but sunny Saturday morning I backed my Trike (three wheeled ATV) and trailer into the first load. Twenty 10-ft lengths of black spruce made a conservative first load. I had cleared the path of stumps and rocks a few evenings before, but the tester load almost always uncovers a few faults. This time was no exception; on a particularly tight downhill turn, my left tire crawled over a protruding rock and nearly caused a nasty upset.

LESSON LEARNED Think about the physics; a half ton of trailer and wood bouncing along, downhill behind a three wheeled and quite unstable ATV. Remember that gravity and momentum stuff from high school? In spite of it, I reached the rail-bed safe and sound. I loaded the wood onto my pick-up and headed back up the path armed with a shovel and pickaxe. I dug out the offending rock (actually it could pass as a boulder after the 90 per cent rooted solidly underground was exposed). That’s why I had taken a chance on leaving it in place. Lesson learned.

Back at the woodpile I looked over my left shoulder to reverse the trailer into the pile. I carelessly and habitually took my left hand off the handlebar and rested it on my knee. I had done this hundreds of times. I didn’t notice a stump my right wheel had just

The right side of my machine went up and I was thrown violently off in the opposite direction.

I landed on my side and instantly felt a searing pain.

I had broken a rib on a small protruding birch stump. encountered. I felt a little resistance and my right thumb impatiently administered too much throttle. It happened very fast. The right side of my machine went up and I was thrown violently off in the opposite direction.

I landed on my side and instantly felt

a searing pain. I had broken a rib on a small protruding birch stump.

The wood stayed right where it was until fall and very little work got done around the house that painful summer.

It could have been worse; I wasn’t wearing a helmet. I have been wearing one ever since.

If the stump had contacted my temple instead of my side I may have been killed. Some ATV users argue that they don’t need to wear helmets. They drive sensibly, using their machines for utility or a relaxing ride in the country: No reckless joyriding. Helmets are for young folks tearing around gravel pits and popping wheelies. Wrong! Helmets are for all of us: young, old, aggressive and prudent. I was simply backing into a wood pile and busted a rib.

Three wheeled ATVs are extremely unstable compared to modern Four Wheelers. My wood hauling accident

would simply not have happened on a modern machine. In 1988 the sale of three wheeled ATVs was banned, but there are plenty of them still in use.

They are versatile, maneuverable and cheap to operate — but watch those ribs.

LAPSE OF JUDGMENT Nasty spills can still happen on Four Wheelers. A couple of years back I got pinned under my quite heavy 500-cc Arctic Cat while hauling out a caribou. No fault of the machine, just my momentary lapse of good judgment.

We came to a bog hole that was crudely trestled with two10-inch planks laid parallel to each other. They were spaced to accommodate a typical Quad. My ATV has a wider wheelbase than most, but weary from a long day of hard hunting, I opted not to dismount and make some adjustment. I motored ahead trying my best to keep

all four wheels on the make-shift and too narrow bridge. The left wheels slipped off and sunk in the bog while the right wheels stayed on the plank.

There was nothing I could do to stop 700-lbs of rolling ATV and caribou.

Physics again. As luck should have it the bog was deep and soft. The Quad just pushed me down into the black goo and pinned me. I might have gotten out on my own but it’s doubtful.

My hunting buddies had a wonderful laugh at my expense as they rolled my machine back on all fours. I was covered in black slimy bog, but only my ego sustained injury. Moral of the story: don’t ride alone, especially on unfamiliar or challenging terrain. I could have experienced a very long night.

So wear a helmet and don’t ride alone, two golden rules amid all the controversy over ATV safety and legislation that I’ve learned the hard way.

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INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31

CBC kicked out of house CHRIS ZELKOVICH The Toronto Star

T

he CBC is crying foul over a new six-year deal that shuts it out of the curling picture for the first time in more than 40 years.

But industry insiders are saying the departure of curling, following the loss of the Olympics, isn’t the end of the CBC’s bad news. CTV-TSN, which claimed curling this week, is poised to keep the Grey Cup game in the next deal and take a serious run at Hockey Night In Canada.

If that happened, it would be the death knell for CBC Sports.

“We received what we consider to be a rather perfunctory call at 9 o’clock this morning from the Canadian Curling Association,” said CBC spokesman Jeff Keay. “It appears that for the first time ever there was no tender process and no opportunity for us to counter the bid.

“We’re a little bit surprised and disappointed at that after a more than 40year relationship.”

Keay said the CBC will honour terms of its current contract, which expires after the 2007 season. But from 2008 through 2014, TSN will air all major curling events and the world championships. CTV may carry some of the

CTV-TSN sign 6-year curling deal beginning 2008; Hockey Night could go next, insiders say “Our association believed that this was more of a strategic decision at this time to position ourselves as a cornerstone of TSN’s programming going forward to 2010 and beyond.”

Dave Parkes major finals, too.

“The CCA clearly is thrilled with this deal,” said curling association CEO Dave Parkes, who defended doing the deal without offering CBC a seat at the table.

“Our association believed that this was more of a strategic decision at this time to position ourselves as a cornerstone of TSN’s programming going forward to 2010 and beyond.”

Parkes said his rocky relationship with the public broadcaster was not a factor.

Things hit a low point two years ago after CBC won exclusive rights. When fans realized weekday draws for the Tournament of Hearts were only available on CBC’s digital channel, they flooded the CBC and the association with complaints.

At one point, CBC sued the CCA for $300,000 over breach of contract.

TSN president Phil King said talks began about a year ago, with the winning of the 2010 Olympic bid providing motivation. King would not reveal financial details, but the deal is believed to be worth about $12 million.

King said that it was not strictly a deal involving payment of rights.

While CTV has not committed to carrying playoffs, Parkes said he wasn’t concerned about coverage being available only on a cable channel.

“Our research suggests to us that the numbers we can deliver on TSN ... are every bit as good as the numbers we’ve been delivering on CBC over the past few years,” he said.

Defying the skeptics From page 32 alive.

In the process, Markannen has earned much respect with his teammates and around the league. He’s also put himself in a position for a raise. Look for him to cash in when his current contract expires.

And if the Oilers defy the skeptics and come all the way back from a 3-1 deficit to win the cup, Markannen will have a special place in hockey history.

Another interesting fact is that

Roloson, who carried the Oilers to the finals before getting injured in game one, will be a free agent when the season ends. Based on his performance in the playoffs, and depending on there not being any lingering effects from his injury, Roloson’s value will be high on the open market. Will Edmonton want to cough up the big bucks to keep him?

Again, if Markannen, who will be under contract next season, finishes what he started, Edmonton will have the answer to that question.

Newfoundland: ‘one of the last exotic places in North America’ From page 32 of downhill. Jerrett can trace the upswing in the provincial downhill scene to 1999, when three films were made highlighting some of the rugged courses in Western Newfoundland.

Of course, Jerrett has a financial stake in all this, as his business, Freeride Mountain Sports in downtown St. John’s is a major supplier of all things related to mountain biking and helped produce the videos. However, one can feel his sincerity when he says his biggest goal is to promote the sport.

“My business is not a big motivating factor, it’s more like the icing on the cake,” Jerrett says. “If I can maintain the business and keep up this kind of community involvement, that’s the gravy.”

For those in local mountain biking circles, Jerrett’s contribution to the scene speaks for itself. As third-place finisher in last year’s Downhill Series, biking is in his blood and if other retailers benefit from the work he puts in, so be it.

He wants the sport to continue to grow, and he feels it is poised for a major step in that direction. In recent years, Newfoundland and Labrador has been seen as a popular destination, or as Jerrett explains “one of the last exotic places in North America” in the eyes of tourists. Kayaking in this province has seen an increase in tourists coming here for beautiful shorelines, whales and icebergs. Jerrett predicts the province’s rugged coastline and shoreline vistas will soon entice mountain bikers to come.

To help make that happen, Jerrett would like to see the province’s ski hills used during the summer months as courses, where riders can take advantage of the ski lifts.

Whistler, one of the best ski attractions in the world, saw the number of mountain bikers practically equal the number of skiers at its facility last year.

In addition, Jerrett would love to see the City of St. John’s officially declare the area of White Hills as a bike park, because Jerrett says there’s virtually nothing else that can be done with it.

“I know it’s going to take some time, but we’re trying to do our part to bring some great exposure to the Rock. It’s untapped in most respects.” whitebobby@yahoo.com

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INDEPENDENTSPORTS

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 18-24, 2006 — PAGE 32

Newfoundland and Labrador senior expert downhill champion Matt Beer of St. John’s.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Riding the Rock

Mountain biking on the up as province’s challenging terrain proves ideal for downhill ‘freeriding’

By Bob White For The Independent

M

ountain biking is on the rise in Newfoundland and Labrador. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say the sport is speeding towards a steep incline.

Either way, people associated with mountain biking in the province are happy to report an increase in membership.

Chris Jerrett, one of the pioneers of the sport here, expects the number of riders to reach new levels for the upcoming season.

He attributes the climb to a plan put in motion about five or six years ago, when the focus of mountain biking turned, in his words, “a little more aggressive” with the development of trails which were to become much more challenging.

Jerrett explained last year was the first full year for the Downhill Series, a number of competitions where bikers would use the downhill or freeriding technique.

Essentially, instead of a more traditional cross-country type of course, the new series features a more challenging terrain where racers face the glory of Newfoundland’s geography – steep and rocky, and full of twists and turns.

“Last year, there was a lot of interest in the new series which was great to see,” Jerrett says.

The competitions were held at the White Hills area in St. John’s, near Quidi Vidi, and anyone familiar with the area would agree the terrain is challenging. Jerrett says the races last year pointed out it would be a good idea to hold some sort of clinic for new

and old riders alike to learn techniques used in this style of mountain bike racing.

This weekend, June 17-18 in St. John’s, visiting professional Fionn Griffiths of England, one of the world’s top female downhill racers, is conducting a two-day clinic.

“With downhill, there is a long learning curve and we felt it would be great for people to learn the proper techniques from a pro,” Jerrett says. “We want the mountain bikers to get the techniques and skills to advance them in the sport.”

Jerrett explains Griffiths will instruct clinic participants in some of the more difficult aspects of the sport, including braking, traction and racing on steep courses. And with the first race in the 2006 Downhill Series set for June 25 at White Hills, the timing is

great.

Based on what he has seen and heard, Jerrett expects this season’s first race to double the number of competitors from last year. The youngest rider registered to date is 11 years old, while the oldest is in his ’30s.

Jerrett himself is 39 and anxious to start racing.

In addition to the competitions at White Hills in St. John’s, the plan is to stage a race in Corner Brook this season. In 2007, there are plans for additional races in Clarenville and Gander.

The number of people in Bicycling Newfoundland and Labrador (of which riders of the Downhill Series are members) doubled last year, primarily due to the effect See “Newfoundland,” page 31

Fish flops

W

ord from the Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association is that it looks very promising for St. John’s to host a pair of international friendlies between Canada and China in women’s soccer later this summer. The games are tentatively scheduled to be played around Aug. 19-20 weekend and will take place at the newly renovated King George V pitch.

The matches would treat local fans to top-notch soccer, as China is currently ranked 8th in FIFA rankings; Canada sits 11th.

••• Speaking of soccer, I have enjoyed what I’ve been able to watch of the World Cup so far, but I am a little irritated by all the flopping that goes on. Embellishing an injury or a collision to gain an advantage

BOB WHITE

Bob the bayman (and a penalty to the opposing team) is a common tactic in many sports, but nothing rivals soccer. Here in Canada, with our rough and manly sport of hockey, we too see it all the time. Thankfully, however, the NHL has implemented a “no-dive” rule and a penalty is assessed to the guilty player.

Is it called often? Well, no, not as much as it should be. But some guys are awfully good at it and I guess it’s tough for a referee to discern between a legitimate penalty and a swoon.

Having said all that, there are some very real and very painful collisions in soccer and there are also players who won’t hesitate to bring a player down. I just wish players would stop the theatrics and knock off acting as if they were shot or ripped open with a knife. Especially those guys who drop like dead weight when there was no contact whatsoever. These phantom menaces take away from an otherwise “beautiful game.”

••• It was interesting writing the above story on mountain biking. Now, I’m no aficionado and haven’t had a decent ride in a couple of years, but there was a time when I’d love nothing more than to jump on the bike and hit the backwoods trails. No matter where you are in this province, there are plenty of trails … great exercise and awe-

some scenery await. I agree with Chris Jerrett that the sport, led by downhill racing, is set for a surge here in the province.

year, however. Oh wait, that’s a different game. But I did swing and miss three times before connecting with a foul drive.

••• With little fanfare, The Independent’s Craig Westcott struck a hole-in-one last week at the Black Duck course at the Clovelly Golf Club in St. John’s.

Witnessed by his brother-in-law Dan Finlay, Westcott accomplished the feat on the second hole, a par 3 with a tee off from 123 yards.

So, there it is. Apparently I am not the best golfer that writes for this paper.

What’s more, I’m pretty certain I am the worst. I’m one of those guys who has yet to settle on whether to use right or left clubs. I’ve used both, and let’s just say I’m equally bad at both.

I’ve only struck out once so far this

••• Jussi Markannen has stepped up, when many figured he would fail miserably.

Whether or not the Oilers won game six on Saturday night and lived to play game seven of the Stanley Cup finals is irrelevant. What Markannen has been able to do is simply career-making. After a dreadful start to the season where both he and fellow netminder Ty Conklin struggled mightily and essentially lost the starting job and forced the Oilers to obtain Dwayne Roloson, Markannen has risen from the dead and kept Edmonton’s chances of winning another championship See “Defying,” page 31