Letters (Page 2)

Bus boys

As an ex-Dawsonite, circa 1945, I attended the 50th reunion in June with great gusto only to find, as others must have, that "nothing remains of that colossal wreck" but some supplanting ziggurat-sawtooth complex paid for by us taxpayers to house bilingual and foreign language studies for Canadian Forces personnel about to go peacekeeping.

We were totally disoriented as everything had changed, from the entrance gate to all the old familiar H-huts and other buildings that comprised a wartime RCAF base.

It was a muted bunch that was driven back to the Roddick Gates after our sandwich lunch. The bright spot of the outing was the reborn Boulais bus, and I enclose my photograph of John Dinsmore on the left and George Currie on the right, two of the protagonists of our reunion.

I hope a history of Dawson will be appended to the official McGill history. Cyril James cajoled the government at the end of the war to institute two vital pieces of legislation -- tuition and living expenses to every serviceman and woman who interrupted their studies to serve king and country, and the creation of the Central (now Canadian) Mortgage and Housing Corporation to provide low-cost, guaranteed mortgages to finance veterans' housing.

We may have squirmed in our seats in Moyse Hall listening to Principal James drone on about economics, but these two important pieces of legislation put a real punch into the Canadian economy as it made the transition from wartime to peacetime.

Cheers and all good wishes for the continued success of the McGill News.

Patrick McG. Stoker, BArch'51
Westmount, Que.

Ed. note: Reunion organizer David Bourke, BArch'54, tells us that the Boulais bus line used to take Dawsonites from their campus to downtown St. Jean, a couple of miles distant, for such necessities as pub visits. The buses also ran to and from Montreal, sometimes transporting dates and party guests to the mostly male campus. The Boulais line was bought some years ago by another company, which provided the transportation for last June's outing to the old Dawson site.

Une surprise agréable

Je vous écris une simple petite note pour vous remercier et vous féliciter. J'ai été agréablement surprise de trouver un article en français dans votre dernier numéro. Si je ne suis pas aveugle, c'était une première?

J'ai étudié en éducation pour l'enseignement des langues secondes. Je trouve rafraichissant de voir que vous affichez un certain caractère bilingue dans votre revue.

Merci et bravo!

Dominique Allard
Oromocto, N. B.

Note: Nous sommes heureux de vous avoir agréablement surprise. Cependant, il semble que votre vue vous joue des tours, car nous avons commencé à faire paraître des articles dans la langue de Molière vers le milieu des années 1990. Ces reportages portaient sur des sujets tels que la santé, l'endettement des étudiants et le télétravail. Vous les trouverez dans nos archives.

No tarnish intended

I really enjoyed the most recent issue of the McGill News. The article about John Bellini and the Trans Canada Trail was most inspiring.

I am, however, disappointed to read on page 37 in the Alumnotes section the following: "Omar Kazi, BEng'92, went to work for Alcan after graduating due to a weak market in chemical engineering jobs."

I must admit that I was a little shocked to read a deliberate jab at one of the biggest multinational corporations that call Canada home. I realize that alumni write their own updates, but I hope that someone at Martlet House does a quick read-through. Not only is the production and management team of one of the top three aluminium producers in the world predominantly chemical engineers, the current Dean of McGill Engineering, John Gruzleski, has made an entire career researching liquid state metal processing (mostly aluminium) with some support from Alcan.

As president of the Engineering Undergraduate Society in my final year, I was able to witness the incredible amount of work your office does to raise funds and keep McGill going. Keep up the great work and give McGill a big hug for me!

Kleigh S. Heather, BEng'99
Hamilton, Ont.

Ed. note: We double checked with Omar Kazi, who said his only disappointment had been that he was not able to make a career with Alcan. Like many other companies, Alcan was at the time (early '90s) dealing with the consequences of economic recession and was not taking on many new engineers. Due to a weak market, Omar was hired by Alcan on a limited-term contract, and he then moved on. He says he very much enjoyed his time there and is still in touch with some of the people he worked with. The original edit was perhaps a little tight, and the phrase "on contract" added after "he went to work for Alcan" would have made Omar's sentiments clearer.

Help wanted

Pursuant to writing a biography, I am seeking information, anecdotes, memories, etc., about Dr. S.I. Hayakawa, who graduated from McGill University with an MA in English in 1928 (and remained for another year writing for the McGill Daily). Given the years involved, second-hand stories heard from parents, grandparents (or whomever) would be of great interest to me.

Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, born in Vancouver in 1906, became a United States Senator, the controversial president of San Francisco State College (now University), and was a distinguished semanticist and author (Language in Thought and Action).

Any information will be most gratefully received and fully attributed in the book that follows. I may be contacted at ghaslam@sonic.net, or PO Box 969, Penngrove, Calif. 94951.

Gerald W. Haslam