Wednesday, July 1, 1992 @ inionPAGE : Op Dave McCullough Publisher Scott David Harrison Editor Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren Chernoff OurViEWS Sunfest success espite the bumps and [iz from inopportune changes, the 1992 Sunfest celebrations were a success. Thanks to the relentless work of a handful of volunteers, Castlegar’s annual gathering was one weekend to remember. Sunfest couldn’t and wouldn’t have happened without the unselfish efforts of the Castlegar Festival Society. If anyone is to be thanked for the fun-filled weekend, it is them. Amid the list of activities, we may have forgotten the enormous hoops the Castlegar Festival Society was forced to jump through before making Sunfest’s 20th year a reality. The society was dealt an early blow when the Kentucky Head Hunters backed. out as Sunfest’s premiere musical act. If that wasn’t enough, the society was given another kick when the popular regatta was nixed. Despite those major setbacks, president Derm Jackman, the society’s understaffed and overworked executive and volunteers managed to keep their spirits high, promising.a good time for all. The Castlegar Festival Society delivered on that promise this past weekend as an entire city delighted in events that would have never happened without the perseverance and dedication of this volunteer organization. Each and everyone of us owes the Castlegar Festival Society our thanks. And what better way to show our appreciation than to volunteer for Sunfest 93. Wy te = iA 2 y i se Vicrcnes [ites rawst — My Canada includes everyone I’m becoming a little Me, I’m -different, I discouraged with the state of Canada’s constitutional Let’s face it, in the whatever-plus years our politicians have been bantering about their biased ° interpretations of Canada, the topic has become as dry as Melba toast. And with that comes a_ general malaise about the very country I happen to care dearly about. s.p. HARRISON Harrison Comparison separate the province from its wind-bag. politicians. With that, allow me to share a story with you. Growing up in Courtenay on Vancouver Island, I led a sheltered — dare I say naive — life. Quebec, to me, was that English-bashing, ‘bigoted province where it was very fashionable to scoff at everything Canada stood ‘for. I hated that|and I grew an instant-dislike If you care, today is Canada’s 125th birthday. To most of us, it’s no big deal — just another day off work and another chance to polish off that case we put a dent in during Sunfest celbrations. Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh, but it’s not without provocation. See, during the last week I’ve had two friends and a brother tell me — and I quote — “I hate Quebec.” Aaarrrggghhh! Such unintelligent statements from intelligent people. towards French in any way, shape or form because of that. Why my bag of potato chips needed French on it I didn’t know. In protest, I managed to get myself thrown out of French class in Grade 6, 7 and 8. By Grade 9, they gave up on me, saying I’d never get into university without French 10. “So what,” I said. please see HARRISON page 7 Heather Hadley Circulation Manager Street WALK Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus LV. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Question: Did you enjoy the _ ast weekend? 2 Sheldon Woods Castlegar Jennifer Sanderson Fruitvale Uriah White Castlegar “Yes, I did.” “It wasn’t bad.” “I didn’t go.” Carolyn Dowell Castlegar Yes, I did.” Laurel Closkey Castlegar “I didn’t take part in Sunfest.” @ Wednesday, July 1, 1992 z : Other-VIEWS Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C. V1N 3H4 or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not longer than. 300 words. Letters MUST be signed and include the writer's first and last names, address and a telephone number at which the writer Can be reached between 9 a.m.and5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, Letters coWHE EDITOR Thanks for the memories, Castlegar As I prepare to leave Castlegar after an 11-month stay, while my husband was completing a contract at the Celgar expansion for TIW Canadian Erectors, I wish to express my appreciation to the many people who made us feel very welcome. You may have been a cheerful waitress, the helpful clerk or.the person on the street who said hello. Special praise to your Castlegar Recreation Complex and the local library and staff. These are two important features in any town and here they are outstanding. Friendly, helpful, encouraging and knowledgeable are only a few of the adjectives one can use to describe the staff of these places. Special thanks to Chris and Lynn, the Senior Swim Club, the tennis girls and the walking girls who helped to keep me fit and encouraged me in my endeavors, and to the many others too numerous to mention, who made a stranger feel at home. Thanks for the great memories. Virginia D. Galipeau Milton, Ont. A Happy Canada Day to all Castlegar News readers. We have now reached Ottawa and shall be spending our Canada Day on Parliament hill. Since our last report, four more premiers have added their signatures to our banner and we’ve met hundreds more Canadians. Our project for Canadian unity continues to build momentum. Our meeting with Premier Roy Romanow of Saskatchewan was the best encounter with a premier so far. We arrived at the legislature at about 9:30 a.m. on June 16 and parked right in front of the main entrance in the pouring rain. When Romanow came down the marble stairway, he headed right for us, introduced us to Dr. Howard Leeson — his chief constitutional advisor — and listened intently while we explained our project. He signed the banner with great flourish, then gave us a wonderful endorsement during a TV interview in English and, interestingly, some limited French. : What followed surprised and delighted us. The premier had arranged a total agenda for us. Dr. Leeson gave us a tour of the very impressive legislature. The constitutional committee had gathered in the old cabinet room to meet us. We sat around Tommy Douglas’ original cabinet table, drinking coffee and hearing all the inside information about the constitutional talks and the process involved. Romanow then came out of the cabinet meeting and took us in to meet his cabinet, introducing them one by one. Although the other premiers we have met did not project the warmth and charisma of Romanow, they were also very gracious. In Manitoba, we were greeted with cold, blustery weather, so we waited inside the Unity tour continues to gather momentum Kiwanis Canada Unity Tour The KETCHUMS | fanfare. He greeted us and presented us legislature for Premier Gary Filmon’s Filmon appeared and shook our hands — he seemed quite unassuming and pleasant, though not as impressive as the other Western premiers. He complained about the red (“Liberal color”) pen we handed him to sign the banner, so amongst laughter, we quickly gave him a blue “Conservative” pen. Sharon Carstairs, the Liberal Leader, had no compunction about adding her name in red. In our meeting, we had casual conversations with Filmon about his visits to the Kootenays. Like other premiers, he enthusiastically endorsed our project, then signed autographs for some local students. Setting the actual time for Premier Bob Rae’s meeting in Ontario proved to be rather exasperating as there was ever- present possibility that he would be called away suddenly for constitutional talks. It was finally set for June 25 at 1 p.m. at Queen’s Park — the provincial parliament buildings — in downtown Toronto. Many people came along to sign, including the * meeting but our impression of Mr. Wells _ astronomical). Global TV travelled with us president of the Canadian French- Speaking Association. Bob Rae appeared without much with a letter of support he had written to us. Developments in the constitutional talks continued to influence our schedule. When Prime Minister Brian Mulroney invited all the premiers for lunch on June 29, we decided to take advantage of the situation to get the signature of Newfoudland Premier Clyde Wells, saving ourselves the long trip to St. John’s. It was a brief was that he is over-rated by the media. However, he did sign our banner! Unbelievably, we have Clyde Wells signature on the same document with five other premiers (one more and we have a constitutional majority!). The media seems to find us wherever we are thanks mainly to the cellular telephone that we had installed in the motorhome before leaving (alas, our phone bills are into Toronto when we met with Rae. As you read this article, we shall have spent part of Canada Day on Parliament Hill. Special clearance was arranged by CTV to drive our motorhome up on the hill so we could take part in their coverage of Canada Day festivities on Canada A.M. The cell phone has also made it easy to maintain contact with Dean Carter, president of Castlegar Kiwanis, who continues to make calls to the various Kiwanis groups we speak to along the way and works diligently on this project with none of the media attention. Again, Happy Canada Day to everyone at home as we carry the good name of Castlegar across the country. Harrison , legality, grammar and taste. continued from page 6 My cocky attitude persisted through my high school years. It was only when I joined a Canada-wide youth program called Katimavik that I opened my obviously ignorant eyes. See, Katimavik was a program that brought together a group of young Canadians for $1-a-day labor in towns across our country. My group — Group No. 34 — consisted of eight Anglophones and four Francophones. For nine months we lived and worked beside each other. And for -nine months, we got along. My own awakening continued following the now-defunct program when I moved to Quebec to go and learn the language. What was supposed to be a two-year jaunt at a community college turned into much more. After completing two years of college, I moved back to B.C. to attend the University of Victoria. Assigned a number in classrooms of 200 people, it wasn’t long before I decided to return to Quebec to attend \ Bishop’s Lennoxville. My two-year hiatus turned into six years of fun-filled times. Sure, the politics of the day sucked, but it was no worse than what B.C. went through in the Bill Bennett and Bill Vander Zalm years. Quebec — like the five other provinces I’ve lived in since I University in was 18 years old — consists of © people. Walking, breathing and caring people. The one-to-one conversations I had with even the staunchest of Quebecers never revolved around separation or special status. Instead, it revolved around a equal recognition of each other. To set the record straight, I don’t believe in special status for Quebec or anyone, I believe we are all equal. We are, after all, Canadians. And on I day like today, I suggest we remember that. It’s time we looked beyond the political rhetoric of the day to see the many faces that build our nation. Canada is about people, not politics.