Interim readers will recall the attack on pro-lifers at a Mother’s Day shower outside Vancouver General Hospital in 1992. Some of the perpetrators in the attack were members of the BC Coalition for Abortion Clinics. Police recommended charges but Crown counsel refused.
Yet the provincial government of Mike Harcourt felt that the BC Coalition should have access to a private investigative firm and the information collected on the pro-life movement.
Despite ongoing public relations difficulties in these new revelations, the B.C. Government is still planning to introduce legislation at the end of June making it illegal to ‘harass” patients, abortionists and their workers. Part of the process in tabling the legislation is the gathering of evidence in proving that a threat exists.
That included setting up a “Criminal Harassment Unit” to examine the risks involved in being part of the abortion industry. However, government officials tell pro-lifers that no such threat was discovered. The final report sits on the desk of Attorney General Colin Gabelmann, who has now refused to release it to the public.
BC Report newsmagazine obtained detailed information from the report, and found that it dismisses the notion of a “conspiracy” in the pro-life movement. It also allegedly exonerates the pro-life movement, noting that there has been no evidence suggesting an increase in harassment or criminal activity surrounding the abortion protests.
Campaign Life Coalition’s John Hof confirms that many MLA’s are concerned over the government’s use of private investigators, and the level of “interest” that the government has directed toward pro-lifers. They also question why the government has directed toward pro-lifers. They also question why they government refuses to release the findings of the Criminal Harassment Unit . . . findings that will either prove or disprove the government’s concern.”
But Hof feels he knows the real reason behind NDP government paranoia.
“They (the NDP) are so far out of life on this case that it could well prove to be their last kick at us before British Columbians throw them out of office in the next election. No clear thinking voter could possibly support a government that tries to snuff out any and all opposition to its agenda.”
Some months ago a senior B.C. Government official leaked the news that the Ministry of Health, under the direction of Paul Ramsey, had contracted with a private investigative firm, Canpro Investigative Services of Burnaby, B.C.
The over 40 pages of contracts obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, by Harold Munro of the Vancouver Sun, detail the documented scope of the investigation, along with a breakdown of the $88,500 cost.
This included conducting physical and personal security for over 20 B.C. abortionists, their employees and premises. This included security work done at abortion out, as of March 17, at $46,500.
Ominously, the directive adds the phrase “gathering of evidence to accurately do a threat assessment.” The provincial government was billed $12,788.07 for this “gathering of evidence.”
Hof had difficulty in believing Canpro’s denial. With tongue firmly in cheek he taunted: “For those dollars ($12,788.07), I will clip stories for them . . . we could call it a pro-life fund-raiser. Lord knows we could use the money.”
B.C. Minister of Health Paul Ramsey defended the contract stating it was “money well spent.”
He added: “It is part of ensuring access to a legal medical service.”
