From Vancouver, Canada

I've been away from these pages far too long. After working hard all summer and having gone back to school now I've been pretty busy. Also I recently purchased a new computer. As it's my first I'm quite excited.Anyway,I apologize for the delay and will try to do better in the next little while, Kurt.

October 9, 1998 It seems that British Columbia will soon return to the conditions of the seventies when roadsides were covered with empty beverage containers of every stripe. The government here has rolled back deposits on a variety of containers, both glass and plastic. New regulations took effect on October 1st. An element of theft occurred as well; containers for which consumers had paid ten cents on Sept 30th were worth only a nickel the next day. This will mainly affect the poorest members of our community, those who pick up cans and bottles for the deposit. These changes were made without public debate.

October 9, 1998 Nearly a year after the Asia Pacific Economic Conference held here last year, police memos of the period give a view of tyranny not usually seen. The memos, along with transcripts of police radio conversations made at the time, paint a clear view of a police state in action. Police infiltrated peaceful protest groups, planned and executed the arrest, on bizare* charges, of one protest leader with a goal of preventing him from making speeches, removed lawful signs (reading: FREE SPEACH )and sprayed protesters with large quantities of hot pepper extract. There is now a considerable call for the resignation of prime minister Jean Cretien who, when first asked about the pepper spraying responded, "Pepper, I put it on my food!" Police actions are the subject of a hearing, conducted by the police themselves. The hearing looks like a cover-up, large sums having been allocated for the legal bills of police members.

* He has been charged with assault after yelling, allegedly too loud, into a mega phone. A security guard claims his ear hurt afterward.

August 5, 1998. The government of British Columbia signed a treaty yesterday, at the town of New Aiyansh, with the governing body of the Nis'ga aboriginal people. The treaty marks an end to 100 years of foot dragging on behalf of the governments of British Columbia and Canada. The Nis'ga people's requests for a treaty have been falling on deaf ears since the last century. The deal provides for recognition of Nis'ga title to some of their traditional lands and a cash settlement to compensate for the loss of other lands.The agreement raises concerns from a variety of quarters. Many of the Nis'ga who live outside the reserve, object to the treaty as they may be excluded from benefitting from their ancestral lands. Another concern comes from neighbouring tribes, many of whom have traditionally shared fishing grounds with the Nis'ga. A few weeks ago, on the day the agreement was announced, members of the Nis'ga nation approached members of a neighbouring tribe, who were fishing at a common fishing ground within the new boundarys recognized by the agreement and ordered them to leave. Traditionally, aboriginal peoples often shared resources, such as fishing grounds,a custom which has led to 105 per cent of British Columbia being subject to overlapping land claims. Some native groups are afraid that the deal will divide them in their negotiations with the governments.

July 30, 1998. The British Columbia government, led by Glen Clarke, will implement retroactive legislation prohibiting citizens from suing it to recover monies which the government stole from area charities. The move is to derail a lawsuit launched by a number of charities in B.C. aiming to recover 100 million dollars. The suit was recently heard in B.C. Supreme Court, which ruled that the government had been siphoning money from local charities for years in violation of the criminal code. the bill is retroactive for twelve years. Some legal experts have been quoted as saying that such tyranny is quite legal.

July 20, 1998. Local politicians have finally come to an agreement on the installation of cameras at intersections in British Columbia. The stumbling block has not been the morality of spying on the citizenry, but the distribution of the loot. The cameras are, they say, to be placed at intersections with high accident rates. At several intersections in Vancouver,(particularly along Granville street) motorists routinely run red lights, stopping on the crosswalks, stealing the right of way of pedestrians.There is no word yet on whether cameras will prevent these crimes.

July 20, 1998. Yesterday Marked the aniversary of the day on which Gwen Jacobs took her stroll down the hot, summery streets of Guelph, Ontario. Jacbs beat the summer heat several years ago in the same fashion as the men around her; She took off her shirt. She was charged and then acquitted at a trial which found that she had been discriminated against on the grounds of her gender. Women in Canada celebrate the day by walking topless through the streets of the larger cities. Women who choose to go topless as individuals however are still subject to arrest.

June17, 1998. Police in Edmonton, Canada wiretapped the phones of three area journalists. This was in an attempt to discover the source of a leaked police department document. The wiretaps were approved by a Justice of the Peace and has brought a cry (no doubt temporary) for a review of the powers of a J.P.

June 17, 1998 The Alberta College of Physicians is investigating the participation of several local physicians and at least one hospital in a multi level marketing scheme.They have been selling nutritional products to their patients, according to a report from the society. They then pressure the patients to sell the product themselves, turning a profit for the physicians and hospitals with each sale the patients make.The government of Ralph Klein has promoted a decline in business ethics in recent years, which may have led to these acts.

June17, 1998. The city of Vancouver is apealing the aquittal of David Malmo-Levine. Malmo-Levine, a cannabis activist, was charged with violating the city's anti-postering bylaw. The case went to court in Febuary, with Malmo-Levine defending himself, and being aquitted. The bylaw, which banned posters from all but a small number of locations, is considered the harshest in Canada, and has a wide variety of critics, having been condemned by civil libertarians as well as community and social activists. Murray Mollard, the policy director of the B.C.Civil Liberties Association, said of the bylaw, "We certainly support postering as a time honored means of freedom of expression and an important way of expressing political and other opinions and it's financially more accessable than mainstream media." Even the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that postering is "a historically and politically significant" form of comunication. Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, a social activist says "posters are an important way of comunicating to people and getting the message out about events." Malmo-Levine plans to again conduct his own defense. No court date has been scheduled as of this date.

June 16, 1998.  Hockey legend Frank Mahovolich was named to the Canadian Senate today. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Cretian made the annoucement a few days ago. The Senate, an appointed body formerly composed of political hacks, will take a step up in the world as a result of the bruiser's appointment. Mr Mahovolich was quoted as saying that he looked forward to finding out what the Senate does (as do the rest of us). Mahovolich was the Prime Minister'second choice for the vacancy, the first hockey player having turned him down. The practice of reserving legislative seats for sports figures is new in Canada and possibly unique in the world.

June 16, 1998  The B.C. Law Society has finally issued a citation against John Laxton. A former President of the B.C. New Democratic Party, Laxton then President of the publicly owned electric company B.C.Hydro, admitted 26 momths ago that he and his son in law, Richard Coglin had invested the utility's monies in companies controlled by themselves. When Questions where first asked about the deal Laxton initally denied knowing the identity of the owners of the tax-haven registered companies involved . As it turns out, they were the owners! Coglin remains under investigation.

More and more business groups are hiring uniformed security to keep an eye on street activity.

Increasingly, the guards are being accused of stepping over the line into the realm of policing .

Community workers in the downtowncore have seen or heard stories of people being shoved, held and harassed by security guards.

"Vagrancy, loitering and panhandling are not illegal, yet all these acts are treated as crimes,"says Todd Keller, a Gastown resident.

"These (guards)have no more rights than you or me, but they're acting like police."

Keller and Barbara Waldern are co-authors of a report which looks at alleged abuses by security guards against mostly low-income people. Both are volunteers with the Main and Hastings Community Development Society.

"I've seen people who've been badgered to move along-people who might not look right, panhandlers," says Keller.

"We want to know what businesses are up to by employing security guards. Are they going to run over public rights and section off areas of public land for their own use? I begin to wonder about that. It boils down to who can claim ownership of public property."

Included in the report are details of an attack on a woman in Chinatown by security guards. They alledgedly kicked her in the back as she walked down a lane, after telling her to leave the area of the night market. In another incident, guards are accused of using pepper spray on people caught using drugs in a Chinatown parkade.

Business associations in Gastown,Chinatown and the downtown core have hired guards or "ambassadors"to patrol streets.

In Gastown, 'guards wearing white shirt and black tie'(sic) work the streets seven days a week, noon to eight p.m. for a second year they've been hired through a security company by Gastown Business Improvement Society.

The society's Roger Bayley says there's been a decrease in "incident reports" in Gastown since the hiring of the guards.

"We have a lot of visitors in the area, and people who defecate on the street or use inappropiate language or are aggresive in asking for change-we;d rather not have them around and think they should be discouraged from doing such activities."

Bayley said the guards play an important role in detaining people suspected of crimes such as shoplifting.

Physical confrotation by guards is not encouraged, he said.

"We were personally involved in hiring the security people and set standards for how they behave on the street," said Bayley.

The Vancouver Police Union is concerned that in an effort to do more with less, administrators may be tempted to deploy security forces instead of police officers.

Of more concern to Keller is the increasing pressure on low-income people to not interfere with shoppers and businesses.

"Hiring of these guards has very little to do with crime. It has more to do with certain people being bad for business, bad for the look of the area" he says. "These security guards are dealing with nuisance behavior, and the money that goes into it could go into social support or something like that."

Keller and Waldern are forwarding their report to the attorney generals office in the hopes of creating more awareness.