AlO - Friday, April 27, 1984 - North Shore News

MP, minister

THE RECENT conviction of David Shearing, for
murder of six members of a family, and of course,
the Olson case, has again resulted in many British
Columbians discussing the pros and cons of capital
punishment.

To help bring this issue into focus, the **NEWS”
interviewed Reverend Trevor Fisher of the
Anglican Church of Canada and Member of
Parlaament for North Vancouver-Burnaby, Chuck
Cook, tor the first in our new series entitled
“Crosstire’’ where we will be presenting opposing
views On Issues Of the day.

Chuck Cook
Member of Parliament
North Vancouver-Burnaby

WHY CAPITAL 9 punish
ment? It you look at the in-
dividuals concerned, there 1s
no wavy they should ever be
allowed loose in the public
again, none whatsoever In
many cases there ts no hope
of rehabilitation An Olsonis
an example. He will remain
an Olson the rest of his Ife
There ws a twist in the mind
that means the publi can

on capital punishment

never be involved with the
man

Barbarnec as if may sound
and seem, | think capital
punishment may be a blessing
im some cases for the in-
dividuals who are so estrang-
ed trom our world that thes
can only damage it
tas the only solution

Perhaps

Frankly, | don’t think
capital punishment is a deter
rent to crime However. it
there is capital punishment,
the crime cannot be repeated
1 do worry about the
possibility that an inneeent
person might be executed
Then, of course there iw no
rehabilitation However,
with our present penal

system, there seems to be lit- °

tle rehabilitation, anyway

1 would vote in favor of
capital punishment because
8O per cent of the people ot
North Vancouver Burnaby
think they want it | do not
believe | can substitute my
own moral code for the
moral code of all the people |
represent in the riding.

Ellsworth
Dickson

Reverend Trevor Fisher
Anglican Church of Canada

THE ANGLICAN Church in
Canada ts against the in-
discriminate taking of human
life. | am not aware of an of-
fiaal Church posiuion on the
specific issue of capital
punishment.

My personal opinion is
that capital punishment ts in-
defensible. | can understand
the emouon that a man hke
Shearing or Olson arouses in
people. However, if we could
only turn back ume, maybe
we could have done things
differently and Olson could
have been stopped sooner

What 1s) society after
revenge or rehabilitation”?
The fact that many criminals
return to crime after being in
prison points out our inabili-
ty to handle the rehabilitation
process effectively. | beheve
we have not given rehabilita
tion a fair go We talk about
it, but are hamstrung by
financing and our attitudes. |
think society 1s still interested
In revenge.

We are responsible for our
fellow citizens, even if they
are convicted criminals If it
costs a million to keep them
in prison tor lite, so be at

We must take up the
challenge and say: ‘*What are
we doing right and wrong
with rehabihltatron?”’ It's
time we found some answers

People sav capita! punish
ment is the answer, but who
is guilty, men hke Olson or
Shearing for killing innocent
people, or us tor killing the

. murderer?

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