sittawd “sh

 ppepeafva3q wet? days

‘WELL, i suppose in all
conscience I must rush to |.
the defence of Doug Collins.

Poor ‘devil, he's famous for
being too shy, too reticent, to.”
i defend himself..] always was a
soft touch for the under-dog —- or,
_in this case, the under-Doug.
.. ‘This concerns a letter to the.
“News by Ray Eagle, West
_ Vancouver, identified as a member
= of the Committee for, Justice for.

Christine. Lamont and David
:. Spencer. They"re the Canadian’

*, couple serving 28 years in Brazil

for their part in a sensational kid-_
napping of one of the country’s

» fichest men and a $30 million ran .

“som demand.
: Eagle rounds on our Doug’ s

a column i in praise of two books on

-Jsthe pair: Toronto Star reporter

Caroline Maflan’s Wrong Time,.

“: Wrong Place? and Globe and
© Mail-Latin‘American bureau chief

Isabel Vincent's See No Evil:

“4 As Lhave stated elsewhere: I

_ havea conflict of.interest here

because both’ writers (I know nei-
ther) speak kindly of my early .

"skepticism about the supposed
innocence of the two.. :

.° The writers — both began by
assuming, that Lamont and
Spencer were indeed innocent —

‘slam Vancouver, reporter Kim
Bolan, who wrote dozens of
pieces that portrayed the pair

sympathetically, and CBC-TV’ ,

~The Fifth Estates)...
Back to. Mr. Eagle. We met at

Doug Foot
v. Comptraliar » ” .
. 985-2131 (133)

. Publisher :
985-2131, (104

ih

HEY BE! HORE YD CO
~Ais anes Sis? .

UK sae { 1
LUCK 1S FINALLY CHANGING. YEAX,
{ JUST GOTA JeB OUT HERE IN
BC AA SRN TOLER,

his behest several years ago after I
put my skepticism into type. And
he phoned mé twice after [ wrote

*:that the Mallan and Vincent books -

exonerated then-External Affairs

. Minister Barbara McDougall; who
“didn’t bend under pressure from

. the Lamont-Spencer lobby.
(Which has spent, I’m told,
$500,000, including for the ser-

vices of Ottawa lobbyist David °

Humphreys. Jer

Ray Eagle'i isa true believer in:
the pair’s innocence. He's been:
courteous to me in person. As
have Marilyn and Keith Lamont,
: Christine’s parents, who live in
Langley. But their campaign to
free the pair has led’them to dump

publicly on anyone and everyone a

who isn’t on side. ~~
Doug is the latest. Early on,

“the Lamonts publicly declared
._ that my facts about the matter:

Chris Johnson
Operations Manager
985-21 31 (166)

OR ALL the media circus antics and

spurious entertainment value provided

by the interminable O.J). Simpson farce

being played out down south, the case has
shown the pivotal value of DNA evidence.

Justice Minister Allan Rock's plan to intro-
duce a bill in the House of Commons that
would enable the police to obtain DNA sam-
ples from criminal suspects should be sup-
parted by politicians of all stripe.

The scheme would also establish a DNA
data bank and a system of accreditation for
DNA forensic laboratories.

But Rock must cut a careful path between
two defi ining goals.

He must come up with an effective piece of

‘Jegislation with enough teeth to'ensure that
the investigation of crime is not frustrated, as
is now. the case when it comes to DNA evi-

Aas ORIN: it CRT Sect Uy LOR is eae Lene Dace Gs Ace

He must. also avoid hampering a suspects
rights of privacy and personal dignity.

It's a balancing act, yet currently the scale -
is tipped in favor of the accused.

There was once a time, before 1982, when
the Canadian Parliament was the recognized
lawmaker of the lands

Since the proclamation of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, however,
the power has passed into the hands of an
unelected judiciary.

We have since seen an abominable trend it in
which lawyers and criminals have had a hey-
day with Charter rights argumeits in court.

The DNA evidence initiative can be hard- .
ened against such finagling, but it will take
the political will of a Parliament. brave
enough to invoke Section 33, the so-called
“notwithstanding” clause, which allows gov-

“Timothy Renshaw
_ Managing Editar ~

dence in Canada.

were “almost 100% wrong.”

To recite those facts would be
tiresome. You have to read the *
books to get the full sense of just
how overwhelming the case is
against the proposition that poor
Christine and David unwittingly
stumbled into a house full of kid-
nap-plotters.

It’s understandable, and
poignant, that loving parents
would wring themselves out try-
ing to tree their imprisoned chil-
dren. But the Lamont-Spencer

_ lobby increasingly clutches at
straws.

_ Thus Eagle in his letter cites a
U.S. State Department investiga-
tion that found no link between
international terrorism‘and a

’ Salvadoran terrorists’ arms cache
uncovered in Managua,

~ Nicaragua. '(I've requested that
document from the U.S. govern-
ment but haven't heard back.) But
does it matter? It's a footnote. For
what it's worth, the kidnappers ..
were from Chile, Argentina,
Brazil and Canada.

“The important thing is that that .

cache also included lists of poten-
tial kidnap victims — and letters
by Christine to. her parents about

~ Christtnas and other celebrations

_ that néver happened, letters that
were to be mailed after the non-

existent events. Which presumably.»

were meant to keep her real
whereabouts and activities from

. her parents. And anyone else who
inight read them.

j . Eagle recently sent me some

t

985-2134 (1 16). . 980-0574 (3

Linda Stewart :
Sales & Marketing Director

ernments to over-ride the Charter,

stuff meant to support his cause.
Including two letters. One from
the Lamonts’ paid Brazilian
lawyer, One from a paid Queen's
University legal consultant. Have
you ever heard ofa lawyer saying,
“I've examined the facts and I
conclude my clients are guilty as
charged —- guilty as hell?”
If you have, I know of a cause: «
"that's tailor-made for you.

udices. ,“

Defending
dialogue —

Dear Editor:
Hear, Hear! to the Char
Generauxarticle on racial prej-

I'm’ what has been labelled
a WASP, which doesn't, have’
much meaning for me, but

seems to color ‘others’ percep-'

; Yup, you learn something new tions of me.
every day. For instance, did you
know that a basic problem with
the controversial sewer beside the |.
West Vancouver Seawalk isn’t that “
it leaks and lets sewage out, but “
that it leaks and lets storm sewer,’
and ground water in ? It’s called
inflow and infiltration. Get out to
council meetings. It’s an educa-
tion.

lama

made. by p

prejudice

money., Th

Am I the only West Vancouver ;
works. for

library user annoyed that date

slips are no longer provided?

Saves money. But not the library

user’s. I've already had two

videos and some books overdue
- because I lost. track of the due

‘gent dialog:
“YT -hope.

of.. work;

ence.

This article has a lot to say
about attitudes of people .ouit
on the street — you know,
“typical Canadians.”

great observer of.

-people, and it surprises me the ;
number. of ‘racial. comments

eople that you ini-

tially perceived ‘to be ‘intel
’ : gent and culturally tolerant.
yf ' Legislating ° against racia

is a. ridiculous |

endeavor and a'huge waste of

e politics of rights”.
both sides: of. the |

fight, but benefits no one.’ ”
“Understanding _ and: intelti-

ue will help: .
one day we* find’:

Doug Collins-type authors’ out:

in. a. world where.’

Collins’, would have no audi-.:

» Brett Humphreys
_-bretth@Direct.CA’,

Malerie Stephenson |
: Classified Manager |
986-6222 (202).

Poter Kvarnstrom
Display Manager --

19} | 980-0511 (103)

Trixi Agrioes
. Promotions Manager

985-2131 (218)'

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an MEMBER

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