Nase Novine, March 22, 1978

              ШвКВШт
l'i i.i.'L1 ј. A.t. ."..) .If lW J'Wr . I' '' iiJ'ilV w,? f 't.tJ1,!.! , ' ' ','-V-
(, .. ,itl ,_. ,—- - ' 41 v rf" ,,, ' и- - '1 - a- - n ftiA.r;rt Bi , iS. iiA,-- . ;.;'. s; -- ,,. j' ,' '' ', v.--.;.- . ;.' '.': ' '. ;."
'У , ., .
' VlM- -
WJfy r '" ' rt
"Л
.?, "
U~ikКГГТТ?ПТТКкА ТГИN_ ТiТ A N iОб,А NA ТГ)ТГ ANS
The election of the Parti Quebe-coi- s
government in Quebec bro-ught
an old question of Canadian
history to the consciousness of
English-speakin- g Canada in a new
way. In the face of a government
with the avowed intention of
leading Quebec out of confedera-tion,
it is no longer possible, in the
rest of Canada, to ignore the ques-tion
of relations between the two
Canadian nations or to sweep it
aside, the national (question in
Canada, heightened to crisis of
confederation, is now widely percl-ive- d
as a fundamental problem in
Canada's continued existence.
the question of relationships
within Canada is not new, neither
is the involvement of the Associa-tion
of United Ukrainian Canadians
in the debate. As an organization
which will be celebrating its 60th
anniversary in 1978 and whose
members have had and continue to
have an important place in the agri-cultural,,
primary resources and
manufacturing industries of this
country, both in Quebec and in the
rest of Canada, we have an intense
interest in the just solution of the
issue. Furthermore, as one of two
centres of thought in the organized
Ukrainian Canadian community, as
the progressive and labour orien-tated
wing of the community, we
bring to the discussion position
which has been unique among
those put forward by organizations
of Ukrainian Canadians aspirations
of Quebec and the democratic
rights and aspirations of all peo-ple,
including those of national
group minorities, within the twc
nations of Canada.
Our own brief and that of the
Canadian Council of National Gro-ups
of which we were an active
member along with eleven other
groups, submitted to the Royal
Comm'ission on bilingual ism and
Bicultpfajism in June 1964, pre-sented
in some detail our pqsjtion
on confederation and relate'des-tions.,1The,siJbstan- ce
of thosere-sentat(ons4re.mai- ns
valid.
First,-Cana- da is composed of
two natjpns that is, French-spi-akin- g
Canada and English-speakin- g"
Canada encompassed
roughly by the geographic boun-daries
of the present province of
Quebec and the rest of Canada.
These nations are historically evol-ved
communities, established and
stable with common language,
territory,, economic life and cultu-re.
'" '
It is interesting to note that
while the federal government se-ems
to have some difficulty in
recognizing nation while being
bowled over by one, the definition
which we have presented, or others,
very similar to it, is widely accep-ted
in QuebeciThe Bi and Bi Com-mission
in its preliminary report,
UmmnwoMMMr rpp'innwunw
.t' ,
", '
-- ' .
N , _______ __ _____ __, __ _____ - ______
a
If
a
—
—
a
-
a
&
while it avoided by circumlocuti-ons
and euphemisms calling Que-bec
a nation, nevertheless found
that Quebec had those attributes
which form our definition of a
nation.
Second, within each of Canada's
two nations are national groups,
subcultures of the nation, which
are at once part of the nation and
distinguishable within it by their
conscious and more or less volun-tary
activity in maintaining and
retaining aspects of the cultural
values of the ancestral homeland.
These groups are an historical
fact of Canada arising from such
factors as immigration and settle-ment
patterns and are an impor-tant
element in the emergence and
definition of a Canadian identity.
Far from being artificial or irrele-vant
to the concept of Canada,
these groups and their members
have made and continue to make
important contributions not only to
the economic life of Canada but
also to the cultural values of the
developing national cultures. Es-pecially
In English-speakin- g Ca-nada
is this true.
Third, the AUUC supports the
proposition that the British North
America Act must be replaced with
a new constitution geared to the
realities and needs of Canada
today. It is our firm conviction that
such a constitution should:
a) recognize that Canada is a
country of two nations and settle
on each nation full rights to self-determinat-ion
within a voluntary
union, with the recognized right to
secede from the union as a
guarantee of national rights and
equality;
b) have imbedded in it a bill of
rights which would guarantee to
every citizen the full enjoyment of
those rights and to every resident
complete, protection from arbitrary
limitatiqtofJhose' rights whether
by government or governmental
agency, by corporate entities or by
individu'als;,
c) resolve certain urgent prob-lems
facing Canada, such as nati-ve
rights, foreign ownership and
others. , In the course of the debate
which has unfolded during the last
year, a number 'od issues have
been raised and counterposed to-th- e
concept of Canada as a country
of two nations.
One such issue has been regio-nal
disparity and the proposal has
been that Canada be divided into
several regions Instead of ten pro-vinces
and northern territories.
Such an approach can not solve
the problem of Canadian unity
because it maintains an inequali-ty
—r the inequality of the one
nation- - in the face of the other.
While solutions to the problem of
regional disparities: can and must
1"
be sought, they will only be fully
operational in a framework which
recognizes Canada as a country of
two equal nations.
A second issue which has been
raised is the position of the natio-nal
minority groups. In our policy
statement on multiculturalism a-dop- ted
at a seminar in July 1973,
we state:
There has been a long-standi- ng
need for aid to viable ethnic cultu-res;
for recognition of the place
and role of ethnocultural groups
and organ itions in the develop-ment
and enrichment of Canadian
life... To the extent that the go-vernment's
policy of multicultura-lism
meets these two objectives,
and time and practice will deter-mine
its thrust, the policy is to be
welcomed... But there are funda-mental
differences with the politi-cal
aims of this policy that go to
the heart of the national question
in Canada. It would be politically
naive to( ascribe the government's
policy to a simple and natural res-ponse
to the needs of the ethnic
comunities... It is our view that
ahuary;25jr1078
"#$№", WMM
political expediency had a primary
role in the shaping and timing of
this policy.
The federal power, in seeking a
countervailing force against the
national aspirations of the French
Canadian people, sees a potential
ally in the ethnic field.
May we add parenthetically that
we feel that our concerns were not
unfounded in relation to French-speakin- g
Canada, and we are
increasingly concerned that multi-culturalism
is also being turned
into an instrument of the cold war.
To us it is apparent that it is
wrong to pose multiculturalism
against French-speakin- g Canada.
We feel that the fullest and most
democratic development of ethnic
cultures is hampered while Que-bec's
national aspirations are
suppressed. Only a just solution
the national question will finally
take the question of ethnic cultu-res
out of the realm of narrow self--seeki- ng
politics and move it into
the realm of general democratic
rights. (Submitted In Toronto
in November 1977)
makers of fine clocks
3440 Pharmacy Ave, Agtncourt.iOnt. M1W 2P8
ROBERT & S. ZIVO
(416) 497-783- 1
Home: 497-117- 8
GUSOVITO
LJEKOyiTO В1ЏЕ
.U- -
i i-.- r
IS I.--v 1',
frIJ.
" J
W'V ~
to
i#?.H sS&fi
--v ',l1wlHi~li l Ml :; 'S 'KS "j
Urine-regulati- ng Tea No. 107 - Ovai dai pomade
togutirati mokradu. smaniuie inlaciju
Lipov Cvijet No. 114 — Ublaiuie prehladu kaSal.
sintiku. reumaliCke i bubreHno bolove
Camomile Flower Tea No. 113 - Cai od kamorm
linog cvijeCa ublaiuie bolove u ielucu. zubobolju
Chest-easin- g Tea No. 111 - Ubiaiava kasaij.
olakSava disanje.
Soothing Tea No. 112 - Ovaj cai knjepi i umiruje
iivce.
Kutija svakog od ovih cajeva stojl $2.00.
Narudzbe iz U.S.A. $2.25 kutija.
Kod porufiivanja navedite ime Hi broj Caia koi trebate
Imamo i drugo vr,ste Cajeva.
PiSite po cionik. , . Narudibe i novae Saljite na:
BALKAN IMPORTS
212 Spadina Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2V1
Tel. 921-85- 87
! пгапдесдож ' .iw a ,'га -- j тЈГ- - ,T- - „тч v WyWKfMUMfff
rvW4'"T-"lTltp;iJr.WK-W
..Wif и(И1К-(Ч(№ЧЛ?,Ј;- П