The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 18

B2 THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2001 Help us out here? Which one is the war mongering Taliban and which one is the dovish Northern Alliance? MONTREAL THE GAZETTE founded june 3, 1778. by fleury mesplet Don Babick Interim Publisher PETER STOCKLAND Editor in Chief RAYMOND BRASSARD Managing Editor Vice-Presidents: ROBERT ATTALA Advertising and Circulation MICHELE DUMAIS Finance CATHY HAMILTON LAMBIE Marketing PETER HADEKEL Editorial Page Editor JOmi IJUmiN Manufacturing ASHOK CHANDWANI JEAN-PIERRE TSXMELXX Human Resources Deputy Managing Editor Editorials milt rtfe Access isn't negotiable ealth Minister Remy Trudel assured the National Assembly this week there is no question of changing Quebec's legislated guarantees to health iv' fax 5 rv alslintb.egazette.southam.ca Letters Ritalin can help when proper diagnosis is made the law on health and social services can be rid of this "foreign body" and reclaim its "virginity." Where there's smoke, there's fire A government official told Le Devoir this week the health ministry will recommend a reduction in the number of bilingual positions when Me Trudel announces his new policy in January This official used a completely misleading argument: that in a region of Quebec like Saguenay-Lac St Jean, 20 per cent of the institutions are designated as bilingual when only one per cent of the population speaks English. Well, in that particular region, 20 per cent works out to a measly three institutions where anglophones can actually get served in their own language. At some of these places, English service is now limited to two days a week. This is hardly the creeping bilingualization of a health-care system; yet even this is about to be reduced.

Unfortunately, the government's new hard-line policy has won the backing of the Larose commission, which stated in its report the right to work in French cannot be trumped by the right to service in English. Me Trudel will be able to impose his new policy on regional health boards without any problem and for a simple reason. Under Bill 28, the government took over authority for appointing the regional health boards this year. (It tried to take control over hospital boards, too, but was forced to back down after a public outcry.) In the past, the independent regional health boards were staunch defenders of English access. Comprised of conscientious health professionals, these largely francophone boards insisted on providing an adequate level of service to the English community Now, who is left to defend English rights? An advisory committee of anglophones that is supposed to make recommendations to Quebec has largely been ignored.

Me Trudel's new policy is expected to say access plans are too bureaucratic and cumbersome in their present form. In fact access plans are the only mechanism that makes the guarantee of English service real The government cannot be allowed to care service in English. "On the fundamental question, the right of access to health care by English-language persons, nothing has changed in Quebec," he said on Wednesday. His boss, Premier Bernard Landry, went farther Anglophones now enjoy "exceptional" health-care services in Quebec, he said. "They have them, they will keep them and we will even try to improve them if we can." Quebec anglophones should remember those words and hold the Parti Quebecois government to its promises, because the battle to preserve English-language access is heating up all over again.

Access to services in English Is not considered a universal right. Quebec law requires English services be designated every three years under access plans worked out by regional health boards. These plans will be up for renewal in January, and Mr. Trudel made it clear yesterday he sees no need for bilingual positions. The strongest indication of the ministry's intent is a 68-page document, obtained by the opposition Liberals, which was presented last April to the estates-general on the future of the French language, headed by Gerald Larose.

This document, a series of briefing notes accompanying a Power-Point presentation, is a narrow-minded and nasty piece of work that seeks to limit and weaken English-language access to health care. When the Liberals first tried to obtain it, the government denied the document even existed. A ministry official told the access-to-information commission no such presentation was made, hiding behind a lawyer's opinion that slide presentations don't count But the document is real, and damning. It exposes the ministry's frustration and weariness at having to respect English-language access plans, and it suggests there's too much bilingualism in the system, leading to "confusion" among health-care professionals and patients. It then asks when term." If, indeed, there are no long-term studies, then we don't know that it does not work in the long term: We do know that it only remains in the system for four hours.

We do know when a child uses Ritalin for school purposes, the medication has usually worn off by the time the child gets home and, mere-fore, its positive effects are not seen at home. And we do know that it doesn't work for everybody. Hence, the importance of close monitoring by a qualified professional. My experience has been that it is a very rare parent who makes the decision to put her or his child on medication without agonizing over that decision. One has to live in an ADHD household in order to understand the toll it takes on an individual and his family However, with good intervention, these individuals and their families do learn good coping strategies and can reclaim their lives.

SUSAN HAYUT Parent-Child Resource Centre Montreal I' As a professional who sees families with children with ADHD, I was very dismayed to read yet another sensational article about Ritalin (Gazette, Nov. 27). First and foremost it is imperative that one makes an informed decision before resorting to using Ritalin. When a proper diagnosis is made, when knowledgeable professionals conclude Ritalin is an option to try, the decision is based on sound knowledge and experience. Itmightbetruethenumberof children using Ritalin has increased, but it is important to consider why.

Perhaps increased knowledge and awareness on the part of professionals has led to better diagnosis. Perhaps this is positive rather than negative. Perhaps the better ability to agnose and treat a disorder, rather than to ignore it and watch a child flounder, is a positive thing. It's true the drug has "a weaker effect for some symptoms and no effect at all for others." It is also true it is not a drug that promises to Unfortunately, there is no cure for this very debilitating disorder The first thing that I teach my clients if they ask about medication, is that "pills do not teach skills." Ritalin decreases impulsivity and hyperactivity It also allows the individual to focus better It does not un-teach behaviours that have been learned over the individual's lifetime. Recent research has shown interventions with an individual with ADHD must be multimodal if they are to have an impact.

Ritalin puts these individuals in a position to learn new, more desirable behaviours than the ones they have in their repertoire. Interventions must include the individual's family and schooL Ritalin by itself is not enough and has never claimed to be enough. Your article reported girls were under-represented in the studies. This might have been the case because the disorder is much more frequent in males. Your article also quoted the lead author of the Ritalin study.

Dr. Howard Schachter, as saying "Ritalin works in the short Let's get out of the weapons business Verdun shoppers Peacekeepers needed 4- too sawy I was amused by Aislin's clever cartoon on Nov. 27 of a Westmount matriarch's snobbery on dog runs and Verdun residents coming to shop on Greene Ave. However, I don't think there will be a run on Greene Ave. by Verdunites.

They are far too savvy to shop at stores where the prices for the same merchandise are at least six times those on Wellington St I know because, ironically I am a Westmount resident who shops in Verdun, and all my Westmount friends have been following my trail to Wellington St for years now And by me way, parking is free in Verdun for Christmas. SHARLEENCBTN Westmount (Note to readers: Aislln lives in Ver- dun and also shops on Wellington St) nib plained about this week's rebellion of Taliban prisoners that was put down with massive force. There were casualties on the Alliance side, too, suggesting there was, indeed, a battle and not as some have alleged, a simple massacre. But Amnesty International is right to insist on a proper investiga-tioa Among the questions to be answered is how the prisoners were able to get weapons. Were they all really taken from the guards? Were the prisoners not searched properly? Were they set up? Given the political sensitivities involved for countries such as Pakistan, in addition to the human-rights considerations, transparency is essential.

Another incident that raises questions was the killing of scores of captured Taliban by the Alliance last week after, according to a senior Alliance commander, they refused to surrendeE But if they were captured, one presumes they were no longer in a position to fight, so what excuse could there be for slaughtering them? It should be made clear to the Alliance that the US. military action in Afghanistan was not designed just to replace one group with another, that a peacekeeping force is part of the deal and that their cooperation with such a force is expected. An international peacekeeping force should be sent to Afghanistan immediately, to provide the security necessary to distribute aid to starving and suffering Afghans and as a check on the behaviour of the victorious Northern Alliance forces. It was an improvement at least, that the Alliance yesterday seemed to be backpedal-ing from the position it had taken at the Bonn talks a day earlier that such a force wasn't needed, because Alliance troops already were ensuring security. Its statement yesterday that a force would be welcome -but only after the creation of the interim government still falls short, however Better security clearly is needed.

Despite the Alliance's battlefield successes and the Taliban's defeats, the country is divided into several fiefdoms. Oxfara America yesterday added its voice to those calling for the rapid deployment of United Nations peacekeepers, in order to facilitate aid work. And given the North Alliance's own record of abuses, neutral oversight would be welcome. If Taliban fighters insist on fighting to the death, there might not be much that Alliance forces can be expected to do but oblige them. Still, much remains to be ex From Bill C-36, the proposed antiterrorism bill, one would not know that government itself can contribute to terrorism.

The majority of Canadians probably don't know that certain Canadian corporations are major exporters of military technology and that our Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade actively promotes the sale of their military hardware to countries, many of which are guilty of serious human-rights violations or of engaging in warfare. These include Thailand, Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines. Even Canadian military components sold to U.S. companies can end up in weapons systems sold to repressive governments. Does all this not contradict the need to oppose terrorism? According to the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, between 1990 and 2000, almost $92-million worth of military technology was sold to Thailand alone and included small arms PQisits own religion Pierre Bourgault blames Premier Landry for having attended an inter-faith gathering in the wake of Sept 11 and praises Prime Minister Chretien for not having done so, citing some sort of political obligation stemming from the hard-fought separation of church and state achieved 50 years ago (Gazette, Nov.

26, "Chretien, not Landry did it right Could it be that Mr. Bourgault has not noticed the Parti Quebecois is de facto a religion of substitution, complete with dogmas, precepts and high priests? Could it be he doesn't realize the pathology of total control that was kicked out 50 years ago has never gone away but was simply recycled in a political organization led by people who have seen the truth, who know what Is good for the people and impose their will because they can do no wrong? It's not belief that is the problem but its pathological manipulators. The Taliban and other fundamentalists, with or without guns, being cases in point. JEAN-CLAUDE LEFEBVRE Sutton-Junction Clarity on Kyoto Having dwelt on all the dire consequences that would follow ratification of the Kyoto treaty (Column, Nov. 29), it might be helpful if Brian Kappler could overcome his contempt for "child-like enthusiasm" and reflect seriously on the consequences of not ratifying the treaty.

That is the very least demanded by the cold logic that he Maybe he could also say something about the EUs approach to Kyoto. J. M. PEARSON Montreal Trade Minister Pierre Pettlgrew that might well have been used in the violent and deadly suppression of demonstrations. If we are serious about opposing terrorism, then let's get out of the weapons business.

SHLOIME PEREL Montreal Not impartial The Centre For Monitoring the Impact of Peace is not an organization "dedicated to encouraging a climate of tolerance and mutual respect between peoples and nations," as stated in your Nov. 24 article "Lessons in it is in fact a right-wing Israeli lobby group. An Oct 1 article in the U.S. magazine The Nation, "Battle of the books In Palestine," describes how the study referred to in your article is full of distortions and lies. It also notes one of the researchers of the CMIP study, Itamar Marcus, is a right-wing extremist who lives in a West Bank settlement Someone who is living on illegally occupied land, in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, hardly seems to me to be "dedicated to encouraging a climate of tolerance and mutual respect between peoples and nations." Your article and the study it is based on plumbs the depths of Journalistic integrity.

As journalists, your most important asset is credibility; yet, you seem to relish squandering it on articles that can only Ue described as propaganda. CHRISTOPHER HAZOU Montreal OTHER VIEWS EDITORIALS FROM ACROSS CANADA Defending the indefensible LETTERS WELCOME They should be signed and must include the writer's full name, address and daytime phone number. Letters may be condensed, although care Is taken to preserve the core of the writer's argument Copyright in material submitted to The Gazette and accepted for publication remains with the author, but The Gazette and its licensees may freely reproduce it In print, electron or other forms. We are unable to acknowledge receipt of letters or return unpublished letters. Send letters to: 250St.AntolneSt.

Montreal II2Y3R7. Letterscan be sent to our fax number at (514) 987-2639 or E-mail us aU LeiterKathegazette.southam.ca "Working gays and lesbians have paid into the plan all their lives," lawyer Ken Smith said as the suits were launched. "The government does not discriminate when it collects the money; it only discriminates when paying out the benefit." Mr. Smith argues the benefits should be retroactive to 1985, when the Charter of Rights outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation. The federal government shouldn't discriminate against gays and lesbians just because $400 million in potential benefits are at stake.

But that's what it's doing, and it's The government should not waste public money fighting these suits -it's defending the indefensible. Vancouver Sun, Noix 29 It's simple, really Either you believe discrimination based on sexual orientation is wrong, or you don't Yet the federal government seems to think that discrimination before Jan. 1, 1998, is OK. When it extended Canada Pension Plan benefits to the survivors of same-sex relationships, it set that date as the cutoff. If your same-sex partner died the day before, you don't have the rights of those whose partner died the day alter.

Vancouver's Gall Meredith, whose partner, Judy Lynn Patcrson, died In 1992, is a plain-tiff in one of two class-action suits launched Tuesday The other one is in Ontario, where different laws govern class actions..