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Biography of Will Abram
I
was born on June 14, 1928, in the prairie Province of Alberta, in the town of
Hanna. I was the fourth child of Gust
& Ida Abram, German speaking immigrant settlers, who filed for and claimed
homestead lands as Canada West was opening for settlement.
1928
was a good year for me to be born. My
parents were still young and the future looked bright. The newly plowed prairie
fields produced great crops. In the 1920s wheat prices were good. Homesteaders soon felt a measure of
prosperity. In
1927, after the crops were
planted, and the weather was right, Gust and Ida with
a brand-new touring car,
packed up their three children and drove to Southern Saskatchewan, some 300
hundred miles away to visit Ida's homesteader family. Life was good. Hopes were
high.
It
was under those conditions that I was conceived. I came into a kind, caring
& loving family. Even with the drought and depression of the 30s, I never
felt deprived in any way whatsoever. There always was food on the table. My
childhood was happy and secure. And that set the tone for the rest of my life.
Observe well, and always ask why when things do not seem right. The new car didn't move anymore after that for want of
fuel, until one summer day my older brother and I were pretend
driving. Down into the slough we went. My Dad hauled it out with a team of
horses, took the motor out and turned the car into a Bennett Wagon, the name
given after Prime Minister R.B. Bennett, whose only solution for the depression
families was, "make the most with what you've got!"
When
the drought and depression worsened, my Dad filed for a new homestead in the
bush country of Alberta, by choice, on the banks of the McLeod River. We lived
off the land; logs for the home and outbuildings, fruits & berries from the
woods & fields, fish in the lakes and the river, and also during that first
winter a moose wandered by to give us meat. We also had farm animals for milk
and eggs.
Formal
education for me was a one-room log school-house. Excellent education! Each year I learned everything from grade 1
to grade 8. There was no overload of books, but what we loved. Every one of the 15 fellow students was a
friend, somebody to know.
In
1942, overnight, my life changed dramatically, The Second World War was on. My
Dad had gone to the Industrial City of Hamilton, Ontario to help relieve the
sudden severe shortage of workers. A letter from my Dad said, "have an auction, sell everything,
come! I have bought a home, a fridge, a radio and a car. Things are good.
Come". So we came. I celebrated my 14th
birthday on the train heading east to Ontario.
It
was a new life for me, but my basic teenage nature was already fixed. As a
teenager, during the war, my country needed me.
I was immediately employed, picking fruit in the Niagara Peninsula. Technical training was made available for everyone.
In school I was given access to all the trades. I soon felt confident and
competent. Those skills enriched me for the rest of my life. I could do anything I set my mind to. And I did.
I
lived in a great country. I never gave a thought as to why Canada was so good.
It just was, and I lived it and was free to pick and choose, where I wanted to
live and what I wanted to do. In Vancouver, British Columbia, Christmas Day,
1949, I met 18 year-old Celia Gill, a beautiful Manitoba girl. She looked gorgeous in her Barbara Ann Scott
sweater. Destiny's was at work. Celia
became my life partner. We had four
children,a
boy and three girls. We both, in later years, became teachers and social
activists.
I
worked at various careers; a weather observer and salesman in Northern Ontario,
a financial agent in British Columbia, then an Education Clerk in the B.C.
Corrections system. It was there, in 1964, as Education clerk, that I realized
that there was a shortage of shop teachers in British Columbia. Our Federal Government was still paying University tuition fees for
the training of Teachers for the Public School system.
I
registered at the University of British Columbia and became a woodwork
teacher.
That
soon moved me into the position of High School Counsellor. In that role, with
my connections with the Correction Branch, I was able to initiate the Alternate School programs in the Province of British
Columbia, to work for the "prevention of
juvenile delinquency" Government-funding made it all possible. I was becoming aware that all that is needed
to create the better world is to use our God-given, intelligence and creativity
of mind a to make good things happen. With Government representing us, the
people, with the right to create money, to pay us for the good things we make
happen.
After
reading Stephen Zarlenga's book, "The Lost Science
of Money", in 2005, I was drawn to attend the first American
Monetary Reform Conference in Chicago.
I was inspired there, by all the people I met. I knew some history of
the Bank of Canada and wanted to learn more. I found a copy of Gerald
Gratton McGeer's 1935 book called, "The Conquest of
Poverty", a book not available in any library in Canada. I
soon labeled Gerald Gratton McGeer, lawyer, 1935 Mayor of Vancouver, member of
the Canadian Parliament as, truly, "the father of the Bank of Canada".
Following
that Chicago Conference, Celia & I visited, on Vancouver Island, with
Mayors, Municipal leaders and elected Members of Parliament urging them to
acquaint themselves with the Bank of Canada Act of 1934. Private, Bank created
money, in Canada was phased out from 1935-1945. Credit and currency creation
was now in the hands of government where it needs to be to "regulate credit and currency in the best interests of
the economic life of the nation". The Bank of Canada Act
is still law and can be used again as originally intended.
On
May 28, 2006 Celia & I with the support of a local Citizens Coalition,
organized a Monetary Seminar in the City of Victoria. All Island Mayors and
Politicians were invited. Stephen Zarlenga was our guest speaker. To my great
disappointment, few elected officials came. However, we did premiere, that day,
Paul Grignon's 48 minute animated DVD, Money as
Debt. That DVD has since
gone around the world and has been translated into several languages. Paul's newest DVD Money as Debt II is now available. It will
have an even greater impact for monetary understanding and reform.
I lost my Celia to
cancer on August 6, 2008. We had just completed our fourth year of Eye Opener Film showings; educational documentaries
encouraging people to think independently and to question main-stream media and
global events. I am now moving into our sixth year of showings.
Bill
Abram, August 24, 2009
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