The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 14

"0 B2 The Ottawa Citizen, Monday, November 21, 1994 ClTYLIFE Wives find a base Of support Peacemaker says love is all the world needs By Maria Bohuslawsky Continued from page 1 The act applies to the military, federal public service, RCMP and members of Parliament. Before that, pension entitlements of former military wives could be jeopardized by the death of a spouse or the husband's decision to stop monthly payments. The authors say a better life for military wives lies in the connections they make and the opportunities they seize. "Wives should not expect the military to take the initiative for them. From everything we have learned, it seems obvious that unless wives continue resisting and applying pressure from below, the military will make little effort to help them." The centres, which numbered 42 by 1993, provide information, companionship, day care and other family services.

In 1990, the support group filed a second Charter of Rights suit against DND, alleging that certain provisions of the Canadian forces pension plans discriminated against spouses on the basis of sex and marital status. That ongoing suit and the group's lobbying were largely responsible for the Pension Benefits Division Act of 1992, say the authors. The Act provided former military wives, both separated and divorced, with a means of enforcing a lumpsum pension entitlement directly from their spouse's pension plan. In 1985, the group fought the ban by suing the Department of National Defence under the freedom of association and equality section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The suit has been dropped, but the action raised the military's awareness of the need for support services for the family and led eventually in 1991 to a DND financed national Military Family Support program.

The program set up multi-service family resource centres with mostly civilian spouse boards. mentally handicapped or any of the movements. You need motivation and you need example." He is separated from his, wife, who is in Thailand with their 25-year-old daughter. He plays tennis and violin. Ask him to talk about himself and he refers instead to unsung heroes around the world, people making small but important contributions in human rights, development and conflict resolution.

There's the woman in Sri Lanka, who with $500 a year from feace-fund, is trying to reduce hatred and revenge between people by role-playing with mothers who have lost sons to the other faction in the civil conflict. Or the young Canadian man living for the past three years Ton, the Myanmar-Thailand border taking pictures and interviewing people who have suffered horrible abuses from the Burmese military making sure the world knows what is going on. Development and peace efforts can be more helpful if they aim to prevent conflict rather than coming in after it occurs to provide food, water and refugee camps, he says. It means addressing local economic problems. But it also means trying to stop the flow of weapons into countries.

He notes that the arms trade in Africa is flourishing and the result is the slaughter many thousands in civil wars. Richard Sanders, of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, says Thomson is well-loved among local activists. "He feels deeply abd'ut the state of the world, but he'sgot a great sense of humor," hesays. "He's religious, but he wears it lightly." Citizen staff writer After 40 years as a peacemaker, Murray "Mahatma" Thomson says doing good isn't perfect, but it beats the alternative. "Love is the force that makes the world go round," says Thomson, 71, an Ottawa Quaker whose life's work has been in peace and development organizations.

Colleagues nicknamed the gentle gentleman after India's pacifist political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. The 1990 winner of the Lester Pearson Peace Medal was roasted at a fundraising event in Ottawa last week to raise money for the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade. Thomson is co-founder of about 10 peace groups and has worked for Canadian University Service Overseas, Project Ploughshares, Canadian Friends Service Committee and UNESCO. He has been involved in various United Nations' efforts on disarmament and is executive secretary of Peacefund Canada, which raises money for groups trying to stop civil war by promoting understanding between people. What can these small, idealistic groups really accomplish in the face of seemingly hopeless world problems? Thomson ponders the question as he sips instant coffee in his pleasantly shabby Spruce Street office.

"It's the same question you could ask of any effort to build a humane society," he responds. "You could ask what good was the life of Jesus or the life of Buddha? Because there's war and hatred everywhere. "It's good to be on the side of people who put human values and human worth ahead of themselves, Dune buggy ride turns into tragedy MURRAY THOMSON: Roasted to raise funds whether or not you know where you're going." Thomson grew up in China and Japan, the son of United Church missionaries. He trained to be a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War, but the war ended just as he got his wings. He went to work with Tommy Douglas, Saskatchewan premier and father of socialized medicine, in Saskatchewan's Ministry of Education.

In 1956, he joined UNESCO in Thailand and two years later became involved with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Southeast Asia. He joined CUSO in 1970 in Thailand, Project Ploughshares in 1976 and in 1985 started his current job. "I'm a strong believer in people doing concrete projects with other people," he says. "There are all kinds of opportunities in this country, working with street people or not need to be licensed or safety-checked, he said. Richard's mother recalls her son telling her he was interested in buying the buggy, but saying he would have to install new brakes first.

"He liked to putter around in the bush," says Betty Richard. Charles Richard, who was legally blind, was on a disability pension, said his mother. But he wanted to buy the vehicle anyway, for his brother and father to drive. Betty Richard, who lives near Otter Lake, is not blaming anyone for the accident. "When you're driving something, make sure it's in good order." Richard is also survived by three brothers and sisters, and his father, Charles Sr.

V'. By Jacquie Miller Citizen staff writer Todd Pelow kept his homemade dune buggy a Volkswagen Bug stripped down to the metal frame parked at a rented house he owns near Campbell's Bay. The buggy was not roadworthy and had not been driven for more than a year. It wasn't licensed and the brakes weren't working. Saturday afternoon, Pelow's brother, Ross, and his friend, Charles Richard, decided to take the buggy for a spin along trails in the nearby woods in the community about 70 kilometres northwest of Hull.

While driving down a hill between Campbell's Bay and Otter Lake, Ross Pelow, the driver, lost control of the buggy and it flipped over. Richard, 20, was killed. Pelow, 25, of Hull, suffered some cuts to his head. He was treated and released from hospital. Todd Pelow, of Aylmer, said Sunday he didn't realize the pair had CHARLES RICHARD: Killed in crash taken his buggy for a ride.

"They shouldn't have taken it out. It's obvious to me it wasn't fit to be driven." No charges are expected to be laid, said Sgt. Rejean Martin of the Quebec Provincial Police in Hull. Vehicles driven on private land do Cullen Gardens The Eaton Centre SI 29 Double Dec. 3 4 DAY TRIPS EVERY DAY Otteuv.

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