The New Canadian $5 Bill

JMJ Feb.21,2014 The new Canadian five dollar bill has a picture of the Canadarm and Dextera, equipment used in the international space exploration programmes. On the front side is the traditional picture of Sir Wilfred Laurier, the Father of Confederation from Quebec. The Canadian Mint is obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit with a keen sense of History and Current Events, more than it and we realise. There are government TV ads telling about the excellence of the country’s space contributions specifically about the Canadarm. There are interviews with NASA describing the importance of the Canadarm. One thing that is not mentioned is the person who designed it. Let me fill in that information. He was born at Davidson Union Hospital to Eric Wallace White Sr. and Patricia ( Fisher) White who farmed four miles E of Girvin. He went to Detchen country school where almost all the six children enrolled were his siblings or first cousins. In gr.4 he went to Girvin School and did so, to gr. XI . He graduated from Davidson High School, got his B. Eng.and his Masters on Coloured Television at University of Saskatchewan. He got his Doctorate at McGill University in Montreal . He travelled extensively but lived in Montreal the rest of his life. He died in 2004 one day short of 60 years old. He died of complications of cancer and a borrowed kidney. Since he was my eldest brother I knew Eric Wallace White Jr. very well. He was cremated a week before I was informed of his death. I was told that I could not go to the funeral because the Canada Space Agency could not afford it. There really wasn’t a funeral or Mass but a noon hour memorial. Some time later I got a phone call from a social worker Christine Laliberte who informed me that I was the beneficiary of Eric’s money and custodian of his son, Samuel Raymond White. I was assured that it is a great deal of money because of the “ Boeuf “ ( bull) market. Later I was sent information that steps were being made to make our nephew whom we now consider our son, “a person in need of protection” ( a ward of the State ), that this step would make all wills null and void and all money would go the Curator Public. We went to Montreal three times to stop this. We met with people at Charles Le Moyne Hospital and to the Canada Space Agency. We said that we wanted to see the plaque that they had of Eric. We waited in the entrance while janitors found and put up the plague again in the conference room. We met with the Chief Engineer who replaced Eric. His name is Minh- Tuan Huynh. He goes by Tuan pronounced Twan. He told me that it’s true that Eric did not have a funeral. He show us plaster models on display of Canadarm and Dextera. He said “ Eric made these. He spent a long time working on Dextera.” He made it clear while of course Eric had staff the effort and leadership came from Eric. Genius rarely goes by committee work. I also read later how generous and polite Eric was to give other people credit for any contribution. We went to Montreal again, this time to meet with the law firm, Samuels and Samuels that we had hired. They did nothing for us and betrayed us. They have an office on Pitt St.in Ville Marie. His office is the Serbian Consulate. I thought that since they are probably a Jewish law firm that out of ethnic loyalty they would protect Sam.Sam’s mother was Jewish. Later we went to a court where a chic judge assured us that she would consider carefully our concerns and sent us the judgement. The pamphlet stated the “ person in need of protection” has to be brought before the judge . At court I asked why Sam is not here? I met with a burst of Gallic stoney outrage. We never heard from the judge but when we got home a letter came stating that our nephew and all his assets are in the hands of the government. The letter was dated before we left for Montreal. An earlier letter stated that Stephane LaRose Q.C. had met with the Curator Public concerning Eric’s assets. I wrote him and phoned his office many times. The only reply I received was that he was no longer the lawyer for Eric White and the file is closed. Earlier I had written the Canada Space Agency and asked if they could tell me all the things that Eric had done. Two years later the public relations woman sent me a revealing list that showed among other things he was responsible for Canada winning an Emmy for contributions to international communications. Hon. Flora McDonald had accepted the Emmy on behalf of our country. I gathered that the woman was pressured not to send me the information. Much of it was “ He had something to do with....” When I was talking to Tuan I said that I wanted to write a book at a 12 to 18 year level about Eric. He cautioned me “ Shhh”. Some people were very anxious to search Eric’s house and resented that Sam still lived there. I defintely gathered that there was an effort to bury Eric’s work so other people could take credt. Tuan seemed aware of this and was opposed to their efforts. So Canada should be proud of our space contributions says the government. Don’t we owe something to the Canadian who led the work? Doesn’t he deserve to have his estate and son protected and his stated, written Will honoured.? Oh, and Sir Wilfred Laurier? He was the one who insisted that Catholic Schools should be protected not just in Quebec but all over Canada. Eric wanted his money used for the Catholic Mission, L’Ecole Notre Dame du Nord, its expansion and its founders John and Gay Caswell . Gay