Page 2786 - Church of God Publications

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reaped what it sowed.
Bu! now the Japanese
mus! show themselves lo be
a matured and sobered
people, committed in a way
that no other people can be
lo showing !he truth about
atomic war. To this end !he
Disarmament Research
lnstitute makes available a
pictorial record and
information in severa!
languages about !he effects
of atomic attacks.
Two hundred thousand
people died horribly in the
holocaust of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Most were
noncombatants-women,
children and !he elderly.
Quebec Still
Canadien
E
ight years ago Canada
faced the possibility that
!he province of Ouebec
would secede. A Partí
Ouebecois campaign slogan
stated, "A vote for the PO
is a vote for
independence."
But that was eight years
ago. Most of Ouebec
doesn't want independence
from Canada.
A recen! poli indicated
that only 4 percent of the
inhabitants of Ouebec want
independence. Another 15
percent desire a
sovereignty-association with
Canada . That is less than
hall the nearly 40 percent
who wanted a
sovereign-state setup when
the Parti Ouebecois
Mr. Utsunomiya warns that
the Japanese must not
allow themselves to say,
" Let's forget it; the past is
!he past." Not while
nuclear war is an
ever-present threat.
Rather, !he Japanese
mus! take advantage of
their unique experience and
show the world, as
convincingly as possible,
exactly what happens - to
people- when
nuclear
weapons are used.
Such honesty is
refreshing in a world where
it is more usual to accuse
or blame. But there is
nothing to be gained by
presented a referendum on
independence in 1980.
To many in
La Be/le
Province,
separatism hardly
seems worth it. Many issues
of major concern lo
French-Canadians in
Ouebec are being resolved
to their satisfaction, with the
province able lo maintain a
large degree of cultural
independence.
A few years ago sorne
French-Canadians feared
that !he French language
would become only a
"curiosity," functionally
replaced by English.
lmmigrants to Ouebec
usually elected to learn
English rather than French.
A command of English was
required tor many jobs.
Francophones complained
that an English-speaking
minority dominated
Ouebec's economy. Said
the
Toronto Star
in 1977:
" The chiet threat to
Canadian unity is neither
political nor a matter
ot
linguistic or cultural
chauvinism, bu! a question
of economics."
But that is changing . In
1977, the provincial
~
government passed the
.... French Language Charter
~
declaring French to be
5
Ouebec's language
ot
~
business and government.
42
pointing a fi nger. What
is
importan! is lo make sure
that it never happens
again.
When the elder
statesmen of Japan speak
out on nuclear war, and
call on thei r people to set
an example by continuing
to renounce war and
violence lorever, not only
the Japanese but the
whole world should listen.
Without accusation or
justification, Tokuma
Utsunomiya has made a
dignified plea for sanity. He
sees his work as having
worldwide application and
as the most effective
memorial lo the 200,000
people whose lives were
so cruelly shattered on
!hose two August mornings
40 years ago. •
T
he age at which a person is most /ike/y to first
experience serious depression is dropping steadily
Harvard Medica/ School researchers have found
that while women born in the 1930s were most likely
to suffer major depression at about age 50, women
born since 1950 were likely to become seriously
depressed befare a9e 30. Women general/y are more
susceptible to depression than men. But researchers
observed that the difference between men and
women in rates of depression seems to be
diminishing.
Now, one whose home
language is French can
spend his entire working lite
using only French (though
bilingualism is required for
nearly all executive-level
jobs). He is served in
French in restaurants and
stores.
lt's !he English-speaking
citizens who are torced,
more and more, to learn
two languages to gel by.
The same language law
banned English signs and
restricted English schooling.
The
Star
went on to say
that no French-Canadian at
that time headed any
ot
the
major corporations operating
in Ouebec, including banks,
lite insurance companies,
major retailing chains, oil
companies, automobile or
appliance companies, major
construction or real estate
firms. Now French–
Canadians are becoming
more involved in businesses
that were once
English-speaking bastions.
The Quebec French have
come to hold numerous key
positions in business in the
province.
Ouebec's economy in
1983 and 1984 showed
growth above !he Canadian
average despite the tact that
major companies for years
have been moving their
headquarters to neighboring
Ontario, saying they can't
live with the language laws.
With more control over their
own ecor.omy, most
French-Canadians are
looking at separatism
negatively as an isolationist
move.
T
ension between Ouebec
and !he rest of Canada has
by no means been
eliminated . But, it seems that
Canada does not have to
worry about being
sans
Quebec
in the toreseeable
future. •
The
PLAIN TRUTH