Calgary
Three men and three women say their sentence is a clear example of the double standard now prevailing in the justice system. On Tuesday, September 5, 1989, Justice Ernest Hutchinson sentenced Michael Malley to pay a $500 fine or, in default, spend six months in jail for disobeying an injunction prohibiting pro-lifers from protesting at the Peter Lougheed Centre. The other five individuals, including an eight-and-a-half month pregnant woman, must pay $250 or spend three months in jail.
But when a Quebec woman, Chantal Daigle, disobeyed an injunction means to stop her from having an abortion, she wasn’t penalized. Said Malley, “It’s clearly a double standard.”
Charged along with Michael Malley, 41, were Beverley Swalwell, 27, of Calgary, and from Edmonton: Lianne Laurence, 30; Sheila Dollard, 29; and Gary and Glen Brisbois, both 27.
Since the sentence Michael Malley has filed an appeal against the sentence and also filed a motion to set aside the injunction as unconstitutional, under the provisions of the Charter of Rights guaranteeing freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and equality rights. Mr. Malley is his own defense counsel. He is also running as a trustee on the Calgary Catholic School Board on a pro-life platform.
Edmonton
Two weeks earlier, on August 17, the same accusation about one set of rules for pro-lifers and another set for pro-abortionists had been made by Edmonton lawyer Roseanna Saccomani before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice David McDonald.
Justice McDonald found five of Ms. Saccomani’s clients, Direction Action for Life (DAL) members Gerard Liston, Lianne Laurence, Sheila Dollard and brothers Glen and Gary Brisbois, guilty of civil contempt. Earlier that morning, the five broke a court injunction by blocking the entrance to the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s “Reproductive Health Clinic.”
Justice McDonald ordered the five to return to court on August 28 for sentencing. He also questioned the role of the police. “Whether police have the authority to enforce such an injunction is a questionable matter,” he said. On August 28 he ruled that the accused could indeed challenge the injunction. He postponed sentencing to after the appeal had been heard before Associate Chief Justice Tevie Miller on September 14.
