rights and must be encouraged in this venture at every opportunity.

If not, the toil and the lives of previous generations will have been in vain.

Canon James Francis, chairman of the Human Rights Commission, shared these thoughts in an interview with The Royal Gazette yesterday on the eve of the Human Rights Day celebrations planned for this afternoon.

He said that the focus of this year's celebration will be local and will feature the Island's young people from both the secondary and primary levels.

"The theme this year will be `Our Youth, Our Future, Our Bermuda' and it will involve ten schools,'' he explained.

"Young people will be running the entire show at the Cathedral tomorrow. They will read snippets from a number of writers and they will offer selections.'' Canon Francis said that the Commission wanted to focus the attention of Bermuda's young people on their own human rights.

"We want them to understand this quite early,'' he added. "We want them to become involved so that they understand that rights are not out there.

"They must see it as something that is handed down and must be fought for and preserved and maintained every step of the way.'' Canon Francis said that the HRC decided to focus on young Bermudians this year because the community was having some trouble coping with its younger members.

"We often hear people say that our young people are a problem and that they are out of control,'' he continued. "But we believe that young people are just young people.

Canon Francis said that there is a great deal of frustration in the community and younger persons, like adults, had various levels of skill when it came to coping with that.

And he said that many adults still do not know how to solve their problems without violence and aggression.

A good example he said was the ruckus between Opposition and Government politicians in the last sitting of Parliament before the Christmas recess.

At that time several PLP members walked out after accusations of lying were levelled at a Government member.

While not judging the event or the right of the Opposition members to act as they saw fit last Friday, Canon Francis observed that the event underscored a key principle.

"(Walking out) is not particularly helpful,'' he said. "It is always far better to reconcile and to negotiate.'' Today's event begins at 12.30 p.m. and ends at 1:30 p.m. Politicians, members of the Judiciary and the public are invited to attend.

DOG DECISION CRITICISED CTS Dog decision criticised The Bermuda Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals yesterday criticised a Supreme Court judge's decision to uphold a lower court ruling that has sentenced two dogs to death for barking.

And they have thrown out a plea to the public to help the dog owner to take a further step to appeal the higher court's decision.

SPCA president Joanne MacPhee said her organisation was "extremely disappointed'' that Mr. Justice Meerabux had decided to uphold the lower court's death sentence.

In a statement she said: "The judge's contention that the owners have not and are not willing to rehabilitate the dogs is unfair and unsubstantiated.

"The very fact that the owner...has already spent thousands of dollars and 16 months of her life trying to save these dogs is in itself a declaration of her intention to do everything in her power to see to it that these dogs have a second chance.'' Ms MacPhee said that the owner has even expressed a willingness to give the two animals up to the SPCA if it would save their lives.

DISCRIMINATION DIS ANIMALS ALS