'Ihursday, February 19,1981 page 6
ICharter: Half step in theright direction
by BRIAN TOPP
reprinted from the McGILL DAILY
by CANADIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
In the military dlctatorshlps of Latin America today, life for many consists of waiting for the knock on the door at night that will herald their disap- pearance. The people picked up in the juntas’ fishing expeditions for dissidents might return weeks later. As often, they will simply disappear forever. '
In South Africa, almost 20 million blacks provide a pool of slave labor for 4 million whites.
in Poland, farmers demand the right to join their colleagues in the cities in an independent labor union. On the borders, Soviet. East German and Czechoslovakian soldiers are massing.
In Saudi Arabia, women accused of adultery are stoned to death. Thieves sometimes lose their hands.
And in Canada, the first volume of the Macdonaid report on decades of illegal RCMP activity has been in the hands of the federal solicitor-general for weeks; the report is in the process of being “abridged”, and only selected portions will ever be made public.
All of these are the consequences of governments whose power is unbridled, and of societies willing to tolerate the resulting excesses or unable to resist them. An observer is hard'pressed to find any country in the world where citizens can live unmoiested to any degree by government. Where they are not openly predatory, governments are
Reprinted from the Charlatan by CUP
/
strangling people in bureaucracy, oppresslng them with odious laws, ignoring the plight of the poor while fattening the rich, etc.
Canadians are lucky in that our population is relatively small in a rich country. Further, we are lucky in that we are a small country that has transferred from one empire (the British) to another (the US.) relatively bloodlessly. Our overlords were and are most interested in plundering our resources than in stationing armies on our territory.
As a result, we have been spared the brutalization that afflicts much of the rest of the world.
But in no way can we pretend that Canada has been free from oppressive government. From the crushing of the Métis in the 18703 to the police states inaugurated under the War Measures Act in 1914, 1939 and 1970, and from the extermination of Canada‘s native peoples to Duplessis' padlock laws, Canadians have tasted what others have lived-with for generations.
The contempt our governments hold for civil rights is eloauently demon- strated in the bargaining that has taken place since the present prime minister proposed an entrenched Canadian Charter of Rights while still justice minister in the Pearson cabinet. Provincial premiers have effectively held cur civil rights to ransom, holding out on the Charter until the federal
If you could read their minds. Watch as our
dauntless computer student applies for a job with
IBM and read what he and the interviewer are
really thinking as their th
Scoop Harris!-
lob hunter: Cod. They’re ten minutes over their time. What are they discussingi-where they'll put his desk? Come on, come on. . .
DOOR OPENS, RELAXED WOMAN LEAVES, CLOSES DOOR
lob Hunter: God. Not already. OK. OK. Let ’5 see, is my tie straight? Should! knock or go in? Should. . .interviewer: Enter. ‘
Job hunter: Good afternoon. . .I mean morning. He '5 a bear. . .a bloody grizzly bear they’ve trained to sit behind a desk. interviewer: Take a seat.
Job hunter: Where should I take it? Heh heh Good broke the ice. Shake hands. Be firm. . .shitl sweaty palms.
Interviewer: Cigarette? Hmm, must have forked out a bundle to rent that suit for the day. Must be hungry for a job.
lob hunter: Thanks. He’s wearing jeans, the man is wearing jeans. Looks like we’ll be discussing land rovers and wood stoves.
interviewer: So you want a iob as a computer programmer, what languages do you know?
lob hunter: English and a bit of french.
I 've got to start relating to this granola head.
Interviewer: i wouldn’t be so quick with the first one. No, I mean computer languages.
lob hunter: Oh yeah, well, all of them, in fact. . .do you like granola! Was that too _ obvious? .
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i
oughts appear in italics.
government agrees to dismember itself by “repatriating” Its powers to the, provinces.
The events of October 1970 make it difficult to take Pierre Trudeau very seriously when he speaks. eloquently as always, of the need to place checks on Parliament's and provincial iegislatures’ powers.
But in something like the proposed Charter of Rights, we have a first, in- complete step in the right direction.
It is true, as opponents of the Charter argue, that Canadian courts have not shown themselves to be outstanding defenders of-civil rights; we can expect their performance in enforcing the Charter to be mediocre in the great Canadian tradition. .
Further, it is true that the courts can
.do little against a truly repressive and
authoritarian government. Against guns and tanks, judges can do nothing.
But a constitutionain entrenched Charter. and the opportunities it opens for individuals to seek redress for violations of their rights, 'is a step in the direction of creating a political at- mosphere in this country which will make people more conscious of -their liberty, fragile as it is.
And perhaps then Canadlahs will be less willing to barter their rights for law and order at the first hint of distur- bance. ‘
interviewer: Pardon?!
lob hunter: Split logs not atoms eh?! Heh Conservatively?.
heh l'm making an idiot of myself. interviewer: So, why do you want to
situation. .
lob hunter: I've grown up with IBM. It’s in my blood like baseball and Mom’s apple pic. I can't believe l'm saying this crap.
interviewer: I can ’t believe he’s saying this crap. Well, do you believe in what we do at IBM? . '. lob hunter: Oh yes, defense has to be a high priority in North America. Where's the ashtray?
Interviewer: What are you talking about?
Uh huh.
lob hunter: And missiles are the key. No ashtray! Help! —
interviewer: He can ’t be talking about lCBMs, can he?
‘Iob hunter: And I think Intercontinental . .are you
Ballistic Missiles are the key, . OK sir?
‘ interviewer: uh, iust something in my eye. lust live more minutes. lob hunter: Five more minutes. interviewer: What do you feel your greatest weaknesses are! Try to keep it within an hour.
work for IBM? Now there’s a hypothetical ‘
Do / get the job?
lob hunter: 1
. .NDPly?. . .help! interviewer: Well, where do you think
' you'll be in five years? If he says sitting in
my chair, I’ll shove my pen down his
throat. '
lob hunter: Sitting in your chair
raters/lowing you, heh heh. Not bad. Not
d. .
interviewer: Heh heh. Where‘s my pen?
Have you got any questions!
Job huntercrves, if I don't take a vacation
this year, can i save it up for twice as
long next year?
interviewer: Don’t laugh, don’t laugh.
We’ll see. Tell me, what do you do in
your spare time? Watch the laundry spin?
Count sidewalk cracks?
lob hunter: Got to get back to the
environment. I rally against nukes.
interviewer: I can’t hear anymore. Uh
huh. .
lob hunter: Yes, split logs before atoms.
God, I already said that.
Interviewer: Wonder what’s for supper.
Uh huh.
" lob hunter: And as for the whales. . . Interviewer: ZZZZ. . .Whalers?? Are you a Whaler fan? ' lob hunter: Uh. . .sure. What? Interviewer: Not many Hartford fans up here.
lob hunter: I have an insatiable urge to work, that drives fellow employees to drink and suicide. I also have a pocketful of hot ashes.
interviewer: Insatiable, are you! Not bad, four syllables.
lob hunter: l’m still looking for a woman to prove l'm not, heh heh. I hope he doesn’t think I ’m a sexist bastard. Interviewer: Sexist bastard.
lob hunter: As for my strengths, l'm a
man of strong convictions, liberally
speaking. . .
interviewer: liberally?
lob hunter: Liberally, oops. Conservatively speaking. . ,
interviewer: Conservatively?
lob hunter: No, not many of us. Football? Soccer? Ping pang? Help!
Interviewer: I’m a relation of Rick Kehoe you know. Never noticed how intelligent this lad looks. ‘
lob hunter: Finest player on the team interviewer: You think so eh? Heh heh. I can find a spot for a bright light like this. Well listen son, there’s no use going on. 'Job hunter: No?
interviewer: I should be calling you in a ' couple of days, with a contract.
lob hunter: lshould have
known. . .mafia.
interviewer: I'll keep in touch. Dresses well.
lob hunter: Thanks very much. ,