Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 66

EDMOVTOX J0C.KXAL Tbstii. Ma? 1975 For her, law career meant helping others Learned societies Workers have strong job commitment workers' best interests? he asked. Mr. Mitchell said industrial democracy can in part be achieved through strong collective bargaining. Granted, the workers wouldn't control the company, but at least they would have some say in its operation through their bargaining agent, he added.

Mr. Mitchell said industrial democracy has been less than successful in those countries where it has been tried. Conflicts of interest arise. Even if capitalism itself was overthrown, there would still be a need for management in business and industry, he argued. Mr.

Gardner said industry al democracy is rare, but not unknown, in Canada. He spoke of a pulp mill in Que bee which was closed by a private firm, then re-opened with a workers' council administering it. The firm is a success, he said, and the workers now own about 40 per cent of it. However it took a crisis the threat of massive unemployment to bring this example of industrial de-mocracv about, he added. "I saw myself as the defence counsel pleading with a jury over the innocence cf my client.

By the time I grew up saw you don't really get ahead by saving one person because there are at least a hundred more like him so I decided to concentrate on areas that would change existing conditions." Soon after her graduation from law school. Dr. Ritchie began working for the federal government. Rather naive With the federal department of justice Dr. Ritchie gained experience in dealing with the United Nations and international law, constitutional problems, and human rights and legal questions relating particularly to the status of women.

She admits she was rather naive when she arrived in Ottawa but that's changed through experiences such as the one leading to her becoming the first woman appointed a federal Queen's Counsel. name had the fatal "Miss" attached to it. The cabinet wanted to know why a woman should be recommended for a QC. So I was turned down once because I was a woman." Dr. Ritchie has had key roles in the changing of the divorce law in 1968, in drafting international covenants on human rights and in pre- By Leskjr Francis Of The Journal More than 20 years ago a professor at the University of Alberta tried to talk Marguerite Ritchie out of going into law school.

"He told me I would probably just end up getting married anyway," she laughs, "So I made an oath I would never get married." Which wasn't really necessary because at the age of seven. Dr. Ritchie decided the life of a married woman wasn't worthwhile. i only considered it once for about five minutes," recalls the vice-chairman of the federal Anti-Dumping Tribunal who Wednesday received an honorary doctorate of law degree from her alma mater, the University of Alberta. The native Albertan made one other major decision at the age of seven to be a lawyer.

"I really only had three choices law, archeology or being a hermit. I threw out the latter because I couldn't see myself killing animals to eat. Changing conditions "And I thought archeology was too selfish although I am still really interested in it. I chose law because I felt there had to be some way of helping people." Dr. Ritchie laughs as she recalls her first dreams about being a lawyer.

paring legal briefs and opinions for the UN on subjects such as racial discrimination. But changing the honeymoon rule in the federal government is one of her funniest memories. "I used to joke with the men getting married in my department about their honeymoons by asking them if they were buying just one ticket to Niagara Falls," she remembers. At that time, she explained, men in the federal service got time off for their honeymoon. If they married a girl who also worked in the federal civil service, she was fired and rehired on temporary staff.

Her heritage Now her interest is turning full-time to human rights. "It's something you can't ignore when you are born into it. You have to fight discrimination." So the newly formed Human Rights Institute of Canada is her baby, her heritage. "I don't want plainly and simply to let all my experience disappear. I want to use it, see it used.

Other people have children to carry on the things they haven't achieved but I have to achieve everything in my own life." The state of human rights isn't that good in Canada, she says. Statistics and research show changes in human rights are like roller coasters people push hard to get some change and once they get it they coast, she adds. Aunt Tomatoes In 1946 there was an uproar over the rights of farm women and their rights and years later the same uproar stirred again when the final decision came down in the Irene Murdoch case nothing had been done in nearly 20 years, Dr. Ritchie said. Then there are the Uncle Toms and the Aunt Tomatoes everywhere especially in the federal government-people who play the tunes called by those who pay.

"But I play human rights as fun, as a game because that's the way it has to be. I speak my mind because no matter how difficult it is you have to. Dr. Ritchie receives degree from registrar A.D. Cairns Human rights institute formed at convocation Women take spot in the legal field A new organization to fight for human rights in Canada has been founded, it was announced Wednesday at the University of Alberta spring convocation.

Dr. Marguerite Ritchie told over 500 graduates in the faculties of law, business and commerce and education the Human Rights Institute of Canada will crusade to give people some control over their problems. Dr. Ritchie earlier received an honorary doctorate of laws degree from the of A where she completed her bachelor of arts and bachelor of law degrees more than 20 years ago. of A president Harry Gunning told the graduates a first-class university is an elitist institution dedicated to producing leadership in every field of knowledge.

He warned that quality is necessary to such an institution not only in staff but in students. Dr. Ritchie said the institute will not be a pressure group but will work in the areas of research and providing information to people, organizations or government departments who want an unbiased report on any area of human rights. "Time is running out on human rights. It's time justice was available for all." Dr.

Gunning said too little emphasis is placed on quality in today's egalitarian world. "Certainly our society must seek to provide equal opportunity for all to explore his or her full capabilities to succeed. But to guarantee success is to ignore the fact human beings can vary by many orders of magnitude in their abilities." Dr. Gunning called upon the public to help the univ-. ersity regain the ground it lost in the five years due to decreasing grants and inflation so it can maintain its academic stature.

He added he wasn't criticizing the current level of funding from the provincial government. "The problem arises from the fact that in the preceding years of the 70s our provincial grants were so inadequate that it will take many years to recover from the damage that has bee done." The next time you phone a lawyer for advice, don't be surprised when you hear a female voice on the other end of the line. This year's University of Alberta convocation ceremonies includes 29 women among the 140 law graduates. And, although the women law graduates represent just one-fifth of the grads there are five women among the top 10. One of the women students, Doreen Sulyma, is the gold medal winner as the top graduate in the law faculty.

Dr. G. H. Fridman, dean of law, says, "I don't keep track of numbers, but By Mike Braithwaite of The Journal Workers often know more about' running a business ihan their managers do, a speaker said Wednesday at 'tpe Learned Societies Conference. Brian Kinsley of Carleton tfnivefsity in Ottawa, told a session of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA), one of the learned societies involved in the conference, that workers often know more about what is good for accompany than its managers do In many larger companies, management evolves into an inefficient bureaucracy that can rival for Wumsiness anything in government, Mr.

Kinsley, a Ph: candidate, told the session. He told of work experience in various firms where managers were often most effective when they didn't bother the workers. He argued that worker fcentroi'-of an industry wAich might occur if the concept of industrial democracy were to be adopted widely in Canada Wouldn't result in laziness or inefficiency on the part of the workers. Every study ever made has shown that workers in Canada have a very strong commitment to their jobs, he said: Mr. Kinsley was speaking to a session on industrial democracy, a concept under which workers in a company would have a direct say in how it is operated, how its profits are distributed and how their jobs are to be protected.

He suggested that in an ideal situation, the workers would establish policy and make long-range plans and the managers they choose would carry these objectives out. Mr. Kinsley received little encouragement from other gpeakers at the session, however. CD. Gardner, western regional supervisor of the Canada department of labor said it takes a crisis, a disaster to get workers and management into a situation where they would work closely enough to make industrial democracy possible.

Gene Mitchell, executive director of the Alberta Federation of Labor, described industrial democracy as "a nice dream." He said he feels the workers' best opportunity lies with good, strong collective bargaining. Basil Jesshope of Statistics Canada said the capitalist system itself makes industrial democracy difficult if not impossible. Under this system a business must set specific goals and achieve them. It must compete. If it cannot, it will go under, regardless of who is running it.

Because of the demands of competition, a business manager must have certain said Mr. Jesshope. He also questioned whether existing laws would allow for industrial democracy or whether they would even encourage it. A complete overturn of the capitalist system might be the only hope for industrial democracy. He further argued that a conflict-of-interest situation in a democratically-run business could cause serious problems to management.

What if a firm had to make a decision that wasn't in its "He had just completed his first manuscript of The Rich Man and he wanted me to read it. I think it is still the best novel ever written by a Canadian." Dr. Priestley has taught at the Universities of Alberta, Toronto, British Columbia, Western Ontario and at Mount Royal College in Calgary, and has been visiting professor at countless other universities across Canada. He has three honorary degrees, including the first doctor of letters degree ever given by the of in 1973. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada, divorce link refuted Home births supported there's no doubt that there are more women in the faculty every year.

"I think women are becoming more and more interested in the professions, and some of them are pretty good," said Dr. Fridman, noting chat "a large number of our best students are women." Currently, women represent only a small percentage of the lawyers in Canada. The 1973 edition of the Labor Canada publication Women in the Labor Force notes that there were only 301 female lawyers in Canada, amounting to only .3 per cent of those involved in the legal profession. school of nursing who said there are certain sociological advantages to home delivery, but said she favors hospital deliveries. "There is a certain amount of familial solidarity which is enhanced by having the father and other members of the family present, but I don't see why that can't take place in a hospital setting as well," said Prof.

Hayes. "It depends on where you set your priorities. From a strict sociological standpoint it may very well be that home births are better, but for safety's sake a hospital birth provides easy access to support services if complications arise. And there's no reason why mothers can't go home earlier, say within 24 hours, if everything is fine." American influence said threat By Mike Braithwaite of The Journal At least 75 per cent of staff members in sociology and anthropology departments of Canadian universities should be Canadian citizens, says a University of Alberta sociologist. Prof.

A. K. Davis, in a paper delivered to a session of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA), also said the real threat to Canadian content in these departments comes from the American and this threat should be faced. The group is meeting as part of the learned societies conference. While some 97 per cent of academic staff in United States colleges and universities are American citizens, only 58 per cent of those in Canadian universities and colleges (1971-72 figures) are Canadian citizens.

The Canadian figures apply to social science faculties. A goal of 75-per-cent Canadian citizens in the Canadian institutions "seems a modest one," said Prof. Davis. He said the CSAA in 1972 called for a moratorium on the hiring of non-Canadians for anthropology and sociology departments but this was violated by the University of Toronto. Prof.

Davis refuted any arguments about social sciences being international in nature. He described the American approach which, he says, is being substantially re-evaluated in the U.S. now as "esoteric trivia" which ignores people, regions, national communities and the nature of Canada as a dependency. He said Western Canada trails the rest of the nation in the percentage of Canadian citizens in its university social science departments. The percentage in the west (again with 1971-72 figures) was only about 46, compared with about 58 per cent nationally and 72.5 per cent in Quebec.

F. E. L. Priestley mmmmmmsm V)' Wage Bv Bob Remington Of The Journal All of you low-income people who have felt bad because American sociological research says you are prone to divorce cheer statistics show you have the lowest divorce rate in Canada. So says a paper on divorce in Canada presented Wednesday to a small group of sociologists at the Learned Societies Conference now under way at the University of Alberta.

For years, sociologists have believed that people in lower economic classes are the ones most likely to end up with a marriage on the rocks. But Dr. John F. Peters, a sociologist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, has had a look at Canadian in three months spent all the money his mother gave him to go to university for four years) mysteriously disappeared after withdrawing his money from the bank. All the evidence pointed to the young Priestley as having bumped off his friend, and taking his victim's money to buy $70 worth of champagne and exotic liqueurs for some raucous campus; bedevilment.

He was actually given the money by his friend to purchase the spirits, but when young Priestley returned from the vendors his friend had left on a whimsical sojourn to the Coast A loosening of religious beliefs which frown on divorce, more social acceptance of divorce and a growing feeling that a broken marriage is no worse than an unhappy home for children, mean that divorce will continue to rise, he said. Although one. delegate at Wednesday's conference said it has been "economically feasible" to divorce at a later age when incomes are high, Dr. Peters says divorces in Canada may begin earlier in marriages. "Historically couples have shown greater hesitation to begin divorce proceedings when children are involved.

Families now are smaller and procreation begins at a later time after the actual marriage. It is therefore suggested that a greater number of couples will consider divorce in early marriage Dr. Priestley said he probably has a former student on just about every campus in Canada. Perhaps it was the teacher himself who turned out this small army of scholars, but Dr. Priestley says in all humility "I guess I just always had a lot of good students." His old students say he was tough and exacting.

"Rigorous mental discipline is the sign of a good scholar," says Dr. Priestley. It was this small army ol scholars who turned out this week to honor the "grand olo man of Canadian Eng statistics and says it may not be so. In the past decade, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island have had the lowest average incomes in Canada. Yet marital bliss is high in the two provinces, which have had a divorce rate consistently lower than the rest of Canada.

What also doesn't fit the long-held theory is British Columbia and Alberta, with high average incomes, having high divorce rates. Dr. Peters isn't able to say for sure why this is the case. He says divorce in Canada will continue to rise, but a number of different factors, such as the changing role of women in Canada, cloud predictions. But some factors, he says, will continue to be evident as contributing to a gradually increasing divorce rate.

without telling anyone of his whereabouts. Priestley was spared incarceration when the adventurous collegiate returned to say he understood someone had been looking for him. The episode bears out the description by of A Dean of Arts Dr. George Baldwin of Dr. Priestley as "one of the teal characters on the Canadian scene as long as I can remember." "He's the complete scholar-teacher." said Dr.

Baldwin, one of 12 of Dr, Priestley's former students who are now on staff at the of when children are not involved." Although Canada has shown an increase in divorce rates since 1968, it has not been as great as in other industrial countries, said Dr. Peters. Even though divorce rates tend to soar in urbanized areas, Canada has had a relatively high urban population, fheidore urbanization is unlikely to affect the divorce rate in Canada, he said Success at last NOTTINGHAM, England (CP) Widow Mrs. Lillian Elliott 70, has passed her driving test at last. She had made eight earlier attempts in the last two years after taking 50 lessons.

lish" at a special banquet during the Learned Societies Conference. "It was the Association of Canadian University Teachers of English," said Dr. Priestley. "They wanted to have a banquet honoring who they felt contributed to english studies in Canada and decided to start with me." One in the crowd had special significance to Dr. Priestley.

"Dr, Henry Kreisel (U of A vice-president of academics) paid me the greatest compliment of my life said Dj, Priestley. By Bob Remington Of The Journal Women who give birth at home feel closer to their husbands and babies than women who give birth in hospitals, say two University of Toronto graduate students. "I think it's significant in view of the approach to childbirth in North America, that most of the time it's not necessary to be surrounded by a million dollars' worth of equipment to have a baby," said Connie Chapman, who gave birth at home in Toronto nine months ago. In one of dozens of small group seminars during the i Learned Societies Conference Wednesday at the of she and Laura Johnson of the Toronto social planning council presented findings to members of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association of a study they did on home and hospital births in Toronto. "We generally found that home-birth mothers felt more actively involved in the birth and had stronger mother-child ties after the delivery than hospital-birth mothers," said Laura.

She said hospital settings tend to put women in a de-; pendent situation. There are about 50 home childbirths in Toronto each year, said Connie, adding, that most are done under the supervision of a handful of willing doctors. But most of the medical profession, she said, consider home childbirth a threat to their practice. Pat Hayes is an assistant professor at the of A Banjo picker honored as one of most learned By Bob Remington Of The Journal At the 1975 Learned Societies Conference now under way at the University of Alberta, F.E.L. Priestley is considered one of the more learned of the learned.

The 70-year-old former student and professor at the of A is known as a ragtime banjo picker, a respected scholar, "the grand ole man of Canadian English" end also a one-time suspected murderer. That brush with the law happened in the late 20's when he was an undergraduate student at the of A. A spendthrift friend (who.