February 1, 1982

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COVER

Why police pay criminals

When convicted mass killer Clifford Olson settled into British Columbia’s Oakalla correction centre last week, the tremors caused by his gruesome string of 11 murders reverberated across the country. At the same time, people inside and outside the judicial system debated and criticized the deal under which Oslon’s family was secretly paid $90,000 in return for Olson revealing the bodies of his victims to the police. By Thomas Hopkins12 min

THIS CANADA

Seeking a treasure of silver and gold

Not long ago, the Cariboo Mountains in the British Columbia interior belonged largely to the beavers and the squirrels, interrupted only by an occasional logger or lone prospector. For the past 11 years, however, a patch of the rugged bushland has been overrun with people clutching bits of paper, gazing intently into middle distance and whispering to each other about winged serpents and Indian cave drawings. By Andy Turnbull7 min

People

The executive headhunting firm Caldwell Partners is either unaware or unconcerned that government postings overseas are traditionally political plums. Whatever the case, the firm ignored scores of defeated Tory candidates and plucked Adrienne Clarkson, 42, from her job as co-host of the CBC’s top current affairs show, fifth estate, to be agent-general in Paris. By BARBARA RIGHTON7 min

EDUCATION

A tower of babel for the classroom

When the bell rings at Edmonton’s Hollyrood Public School, Cathy and Allison Storchuck yank off hats and mitts and enter two different solitudes: Allison, 9, goes to a French immersion classroom; Cathy, 11, a Ukrainian. In Cathy’s Grade 6 class students speak and write Ukrainian most of the day, even while calculating long divisions in mathematics or learning about the solar system in science. By Andrew Nikiforuk6 min

LETTERS

CBC’s changes

It enrages me to see that the heavily subsidized CBC needed from 1977 until two weeks ago to change the viewing time for the news and to come up with a Canadian ripoff of ABC’s Nightline (Cover, Jan. 18). As for The Journal, poor Ms. Finlay is assigned little more than the announcement of commerical breaks.

DATELINE: ZIMBABWE

A revolution grapples with reality

From the roaring, breathtaking Victoria Falls, to the cool, troutfilled mountain streams of Inyanga, resorts are booked solid on weekends. In Salisbury, the capital, the sidewalks are lined with brightly blossoming trees. Restaurants, serving imported wine from South Africa and prawns from Mozambique, are doing a brisk business, and shops are bustling with customers, black and white. By Caryle Murphy6 min

BUSINESS

The caisse’s bold but silent conquests

When the province of Quebec’s public pension and insurance funds were tinkled into a common chest 17 years ago and buried securely beneath the province’s financial floorboards, the only concern was quiet security. There, under cautious grandfatherly management, the storehouse-called the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec—was meant to accumulate assets and earn interest as well as public trust. By David Thomas6 min

COVER

Handsome rewards for show-and-tell

The $100,000 trust fund established for Clifford Robert Olson’s wife and son in exchange for his grisly cache of information is the most gruesome example of police payoffs in memory. But it is clearly not the first time that police in Canada have paid to make a case.

PODIUM

Housewives are people too!

Loyal wives, whether they are married to politicians, diplomats or coal miners, have become the lepers of our society. The women’s movement and glossy fashion magazines accuse loyal wives of living vicariously and of not conforming to the “correct” image of the new “Dream Woman.” By Sondra Gotlieb5 min

SCIENCE

The northern lights probed

When ice sheets begin covering the Beaufort Sea and the sun no longer peeks over the horizon, most visitors to the high Arctic head for home. But not a team of 65 scientists and technicians from Canada, the United States and Scandinavia. To these specialists, winter—with its 24 hours of darkness per day—is the best possible time to study the elusive and mysterious “daytime” aurora borealis, the red northern light that dances in the arctic sky. By Pat Ohlendorf5 min

COLUMN

Mr. Trudeau’s Polish ramblings

It was clear from the start of last December’s interview that CTV’s Bruce Phillips wanted to set the record straight. “You’ve been criticized about your position in respect to Poland,” said Phillips to guest Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, “and in fairness to you, I don’t think you meant what they said you said, namely that you feel martial law is better than a civil war.” By Barbara Amiel4 min

January 251982