The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

‘‘We the children have watched it all on TV. We see the world leaders dealing nuclear warâ€"heads the way we deal marbles. ‘You take 10 and I‘ll take 10 and if you won‘t play my way, I won‘t play.‘ Well, Perhaps some of us are not as conscious of that message as we ought to be? We need no reminder that this is a rough time of year in our area for all the unemployed, many of them on welfare. But the presence of PEACE is the reason we can have a holiday season at all. We are the fortunate minority in our world who can speak of welfare needs instead of refugee camps; of a lack of skills training instead of body counts; of family problems instead of disappeared (and presumed dead) loved ones.... And I believe, as I know many in our area do, that this puts a responsiblity on our shoulders. That responsibility was best summed up for me by a dialogue I heard between two 10â€"yearâ€"oid chiidren at a parliamentarians conference prior to this year‘s Second Special Session on Disarmaâ€" ment at the United Nations: While each of us goes about the happy celebrations around this holiday season, the one theme that is repeated in the carols and greetings is the wish for PEACE. Queen‘s Park Report According to a Ministry of Agriâ€" culture report, more than 57,000 acres of Ontario farmland have been bought by or on behalf of foreigners in the last two years. Liberal Agriculture Critic Jack Riddel!, who has been urging the government to take action on this question for some years, says the increased foreign ownership will lead to deterioration of rural communities, making ‘farmers ‘"‘feudal tenants." However, the Minister does not believe that foreign ownership is a serious problem and has no pilans for legislation to control it. INJURED WORKERS Ontario‘s injured workers will get a 9 per cent increase in benefits under a Ministry of Labour proâ€" posal which has the support of all three parties. Changes are retroâ€" active to July and would raise the minimum permanent disability pension to $748 a month from $686. Liberal leader David Peterson would have supported an even higher increase but will move quickly to get the pay raise through. Other changes include a new rate of $537 for a dependent spouse‘s pension, $149 for a depenâ€" dent child, $167 for an orphaned child, and a burial allowance to a widow or widower of $1,200. The ceiling on covered earnings will rise to $24,200. Some 70,000 Ontario workers are on full disability penâ€" sions. PENSION REFORM As David Peterson has frequentâ€" ly pointed out, Ontario has refused to make a commitment on the childâ€"rearing © dropâ€"out provision for pensions. Changes in the Canâ€" ada Pension Plan require the support of two thirds of the provâ€" inces with two thirds of the populaâ€" tion. This effectively gives Ontario the power of veto. The Premier has now indicated that Ontario is sympathetic to allowing women to leave the labour force temporarily to raise children without losing pension benefits. He has also stated that the provinces might be able to agree to certain pension WALTER McLEAN HERB EPP reforms soon rather than waiting up to two years for studies by Otâ€" tawa. DOMESTIE ABUSE An allâ€"party legislative commitâ€" tee has recommended that the police lay charges in cases of wifeâ€"beating and that the province help finance a network of halfway houses for women attempting to escape violence at home. There are some 50,000 battered wives in Metro Toronto alone, and the committee believes that wife batâ€" tering ‘"must be treated as a crime â€" too many persons, both in posiâ€" tions of authority and in society at large, tacitly approve of wife battering by treating it lightly." Currently, the burden of laying charges is upon the victim, which the committee considers ‘"unfair and ineffective.‘"" Emergency shelters ‘"‘are an absolutely essenâ€" tial element in protecting assaultâ€" ed women from further violence." FAMILY LAW REFORM The Province plans a major review of Family Law Reform, and the Attorneyâ€"General has statâ€" ed that "any important reform has to be adjusted from time to time ... cases such as Leatherdale make it seem that the legislation isn‘t working." You will recall that Barbara Leatherdale was recently awarded oneâ€"quarter of the stocks and savings acquired by her husâ€" band during their 19 year marâ€" riage, and women‘s groups have protested that the law fails to take into account the contribution to a marriage of a homemaker. Also part of a legal review will be the recent case involving 20 year old Justin Clark who won a court battle with his parents and was declared competent to run his own affairs, despite his cerebral palsy. Albert Roy of Ottawa East quesâ€" tioned whether costly court battles were the best method of resolving matters of mental competence of handicapped people, and the Atâ€" torneyâ€"General replied that the issue would be covered by family court Judge Rosalie Abella‘s inâ€" vestigation into the accessibility of legal services. we may be childish, but our marbles don‘t kill. You are quarrelling like badly brought up children, but you are armed like monsters. The world must evolve from the days of solving our differences by killâ€" ing." This holiday season, I have joined with a group of Members of Parliament and Senators from all parties and all provâ€" inces, to convey to the Canadian Governâ€" ment, on behalf of many of the people of Canada, an urgent plea for PEACE. The results of municipal referrenda held across Canada this fall, show that the people of Canada are far ahead of their political representatives when it comes to the issue of nuclear disarmament. In our area, an overwhelming majority of the people in both city and fownship alike, voted in favor of urging the Canadian Government to support the goal of negoâ€" tiating a balanced, mutual, and verifiable nuclear disarmament. The returns were: Kitchener â€" 64.3%, Waterloo â€" 77.0%, Woolwich â€" 79.2%, and Wilmot â€" 81.0%. Millions of people the world over underâ€" stand the threat to the very existence of mankind posed by the continuing nuclear arms race. The existence of 50,000 nuclear weapons, with a destructive power of one Christmas. wish for peace Since there has been a great deal of discussion this past year concerning alternaâ€" tives, I would like to provide you with some information about this topic. It should be of special interest to the residents of Waterloo because there is a.surplus of classroom space in the downtown, and alternative education could provide a solution to prevent school closures. Alternative education prevented the possible closure of Alexandra Public School. Although it will no longer exist as an elementary school, it will serve adult stuâ€" dents in a program known as Operation Open Door, s Alternatives in Education "It shall, therefore, be the policy of The Waterloo County Board of Education to encourage and support the development and implementation of a wide range of programs and structures responsive to the needs of individuals within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo consistent with the financial resources available." The Waterioo County Board of Education recognizes that the needs of some individuals might best be served if there are alternatives within the educational system and approved the following policy statement in July of Some desire a particular type of program. The desired variation may focus on content â€" as in more emphasis on academic subjects or on the arts or on French. Some are concerned about standards and seek a situation where, directly or indirectly, they have closer control and more parental involvement. Some have convictions about the methods of teaching and prefer a different style. Some parents seek programs especially designed to meet the special needs of their children. 2. Religion Let us now examine some of the present needs of individuals. I have divided them into four categories. 1. Programs Some parents want the school‘s teaching and its ambience to support the religious teaching that is being given in the home and in the church. Others want the school to do the religious instruction which they, for whatever reason, find difficult to supply on a daily basis. j 3. Values No matter what the public school teaches about family life and sex education some people will be offended. Furthermore, in a public school system which seeks to offend none, some parents question whether there is enough moral conviction to guide its teachâ€" ing. They want schools to have firm beliefs about right and wrong. School views Since then, the arms race has acceleratâ€" ed, and a new generation of even more terrifying nuclear arms is upon us. The UN Secretaryâ€"General, Javier Perez de Cuelâ€" lar, concluded in his annual report this year that: "The world is perilously close to a new international anarchy." Some have said that balanced, mutual disarmament of nuclear weaponry is only the pipeâ€"dream of democratic people. However, they might consider the report which recently appeared in the Kitchenerâ€" Waterloo Record: * ... Soviet citizens persist in referring to civil defense (in the event of nuclear attack) by combining the first two letters of each word, which happens to make the Russian word for cofâ€" fin." Nuclear disarmament is not just the dream of people in the democratic nations. The will to survive is shared by human beings around the world â€" East and West, North and South. It is our political leaders million Hiroshima bombs, can only lead to global catastrophy. The 1978 United Naâ€" tions Special Session on Disarmament declared: "Mankind is confronted with a choice: we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilaâ€" tion." WATERLOO CHRONICLE, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1982 â€" PAGE 7 ELIZABETH WITMER This Board is encouraging _ teachers, administrators and the public to submit proposals for alternatives in education so that more needs may be recognized and adâ€" dressed. It is because of this encouragement that many alternatives have been submitted and approved by the trustees. Presently trustees have given their approval for future impleâ€" mentation to three alternative elementary school proposals and they could become a part of the 1984 school organizational plan. 4. Disciptine dA growing number of parents are deâ€" manding better discipline. They want the school to have a clear code of conduct and a statement of consequences if this conduct is not adhered to. â€" It is also abundantly clear to me that we can never satisfy everyone and meet all of the individual needs. Thus private schools will continue to flourish. However, we must continue to identify, analyze and prioritize the needs of individuals and provide alternaâ€" tives in education to respond to some of these needs as opportunities arise, circumstances dictate and finances allow. 3. Process Piace 1. School for the Arts The curriculum for this school would emphasize dance, art, music and drama. This school for 150 students would initially be directed at Grades 4 to 6 and two students from each school in the County would be selected following an audition. This school is for Kindergarten to Grade 6 students and concerns itself with the total growth of the child, putting emphasis on both the emotional and cognitive development. The program stresses the importance of preâ€"service and inâ€"service training for the staff. All of these schools place emphasis on parental involvement and commitment and would provide students with an educational choice. 2. Learning Place The emphasis of this school is on a highly individualized program which would maxâ€" imize the use of play in the teachingâ€"learning process. The 4 to 8 age group wauld operate on a nonâ€"graded basis while the 9 to 13 age group would operate on the traditional grade basis. Students would learn at their own rate. The emphasis would be on the prevention of learning difficulties rather than on remediaâ€" tion. I join with my wife and family in wishing you lasting PEACE. MERRY CHRISTMAS! As the children at the United Nations said: ‘"Protecting ourselves from our neighbours is the path of Arms and leads to War. Protecting our planet is the path of Disarmament and leads to PEACKE." The recently released Statement of Concern on Nuclear Arms is gaining the support of Senators and M.P.‘s from all parties. It is my hope, as one of its originators, that this will encourage those who are working to sustain the level of public opinion which was demonstrated in the municipal referrenda. The Statement calls for ... a faceâ€"toâ€"face meeting of the Presidents of the two superâ€"powers‘" and urges that "Canada should withhold an agreement to test the cruise missile delivery system until such a summit is held. Canada can act with other concerned nations in creating the political will to achieve lasting PEACE." ... I believe it is essential that Canada participate actively in the new international drive to limit, reduce and eventually abolish nuclear arms. alone, who continue to fuel the arms race