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Does the editor read minds?

I am the unnamed "well-spoken Parents' Voice candidate on CBC Radio last week" recently attacked in editor Pat Tracy's column.

I am the unnamed "well-spoken Parents' Voice candidate on CBC Radio last week" recently attacked in editor Pat Tracy's column. Tracy seems to believe in mind-reading rather than calling to check facts, and engages in blatant slander and fearmongering: "But as she has already shown me that she is not up front about why she is running under the banner, Parents' Voice, her candidacy is very unsettling."

It is discouraging to see this paper accusing me of deception, discrimination, and lacking the virtue of honesty, while dishonestly and in violation of standard journalistic practice clumsily avoiding mentioning my name, perhaps to avoid legal action. The editorial states that I "very skillfully avoided the gay issue" in the CBC interview. Well, the CBC interviewer did not ask about "the gay issue."

Perhaps she is not as obsessed with that as some are. The editor seems unaware that "the" issue is parental empowerment: the need for parents to have a direct political voice to advance parents' and children's interests. Corporations, unions, professionals' groups, etc. all have their interests vigorously advanced and protected. In our role as parents, we don't.

I am painfully aware of the marginalization of parents by government because I have been active in advocacy for parents and children for 12 years locally, nationally and internationally. I have been active in community building and environmental, human rights and peace issues for most of my life. Yet Tracy accuses me of dishonesty regarding the reasons I stated in that interview for running for school board trustee.

Ask the moms whose crying babies I hold. Or the low-income moms threatened with apprehension of their children. Or the home-learner kids I taught to sing in six languages. Or the lactation consultants who fought baby formula companies in Burnaby Hospital with my media help. Or the Swedish parents now learning from B.C.'s Dr. Gordon Neufeld about the importance of child-parent attachment. Or the folks who had a great time at the all-age dances I organized this year. Or ask your own reporter about my exposing in-school data-mining done without parental consent.

These are just a few examples of my active, informed, unpaid commitment to advancing parents' and children's interests.

As NOW editor, Tracy must know a bit of my track record because the paper has reported some of it. If the NOW believes in political engagement and community building, kindly refrain from attacking people like me who do this unwaged work for decades. A printed apology would in order, but I won't hold my breath.

That said, I hope the Burnaby NOW will continue to include issues and projects I bring to their attention in future. Please accept my standing invitation to dinner. Peace.

Helen Ward is a school board trustee candidate with Burnaby Parents' Voice. (To read Pat Tracy's column that Ward refers to, go to www. burnabynow.com.)