NEWS photo Pau! McGrath Drive-in thieves grab cigareties THIEVES used a vehicle to smash into a Capilano mall drug store on Dec. 29 and steal cigarettes. A security guard saw ovo men run into Shoppers Drug Mart and grab cigarettes during the 2:30 a.m. incident, according to the North Vancouver RCMP. No vehicle description was obtained. The suspects were described as being thin, 30-year-old Caucasians. One suspect was 1.8 metres (6°) with shoulder length brown hair. The other suspect was 1.6 m (5°3”) with short dark brown hair. Anyone with information is asked co call North Vancouver RCMP Const. Glen MacPherson at 985-1311 or Crime Stoppers at 669-8477. Affordably Priced from $42-$86 Sizes Available 24"W x 31°H 30"W x 31"H 24°W x49%"H = 30"W x 43%"H 24"W x56%"H —-30"W x 56%"H 24°W x 68%" = SC"W x 68H 24"W x80%"H = 30"W x 80%"'H “A lamily owned business since 1984" 1385 Crown St. N. Van. Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a pareut is fustified in usina force by way of correction toward a pupil ar child, as the case may be whe is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonacle under the circumstances, — Canadian Criminal Code, Section 43. Katharine Hamer Contributing Writer TO spank or not to spank? A contentious question indeed — and North Vancouver District Coun. Trevor Carolan wants his voice heard on the matter. Carolan is indignant about attempts by the Toronto- based Repeal 43 Committee to have the offending section removed fram the Criminal Code. Ina recent letter to the committee, Carolan said, 7 f regard your efforts as an intol- erable, ‘politically correct™ affront to the family.” Carolan points out that he is Opposed to the abuse of children, but that the commit- tee’s “attempts to interfere with the rights of the family are scarcely credible. “Were | to hear and expe- rience widespread public dit: ference with my own views,” he told the committee, “it wouid be my duty to support this alternative tack. “Ido not hear this. What I hear continually when your repeal attempt arises is the charge against vou of do- gooderism, of politically cor- rect toadyism, of anti-family politicking.” Carolan said his conversa- tions with local residents have revealed their disbelief at the prospect of government inter- ference with family affairs. “Irs an intolerable intru- sion into the rights of the fam- ily,” he said. “People cannot sit idly by and watch their farnily responsibilities stripped away by bureaucrats and sleazy U.S.-style lawyers who will be handing out business cards to kids in playgrounds, urging them to take out law- suits against their parents.” On Nov. 4, 1996, North Vancouver District councillors passed a resolution “that End Physical Punishment of Children (EPOCH) and the Repeal 43 Committee be sup- ported by advocating the removal of section 43 from the Criminal Cade.” In a letter to Allan Rack MP, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada dated Nov. 7, 1996, district council arged the minister to take the necessary steps ro repeal section 43. According to who was council at the time, the municipality was one of only a handful nationally who “saw fit to stick their noses in.” He believes his fellow councillors “caved in to politically correct thinking.” The volunteer-run Repeal 43 Committee was formed in 1994 by a coalition of lawyers, pediatricians, and cducation protessionals to lobby for the elimination of section 43 from the Criminal Code. An attiliated legal clinic, the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth, and the Law, filed a constitutional challenge to section 43 last November. The court application will determine whether section 43 violates the Charter and the Chited Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Repeal $3 cite numerous cases in Canada where parents have been acquitted cy assaulting their children using section 43 as a defence. These inchide “parents who have hit children with straps, belts, sticks and exten- sion cords, causing bruises, welts, and abrasions.” Repeal 43 believe that the lack of clarity in the section’s Carolan, ADVERTISING CORRECTION. in our ‘AWrite Sale’ insert (qronin incu in this ee) ocr: A TE: Front Page - 50% olf sheets sets + was incorrectly described. Copy should read: “60% off sheets and cases.” . We sincerely apologize to aur vaiued customers and regret any inconvenience or contusion this may have caused. EATON’S not a member of Friday, January 8, 1999 — North Shore News - 11 | Family discipline debated definition oof “reasonable torce” has made it difficult to prosecute ageressive parents. Section 43 has been ins rhe Criminal Code since criminal Jaw was first codified in 1892. It’s based on English com- mon Jaw, which once also allowed tor the corporal pun- ishment of wives and servants. “Children have very few rights,” said Repeal 43 founder Corinne Robertshaw, “and very little power, [Fusing corporal punishment is such a great way to correct a child's behaviour, why is it no longer used for ather groups?” Robertshaw pointed out that) since = 1979, ight European countries have repealed criminal laws allow- ing the parental use of corpe- ral punishment — and even Great Britain, on whose laws ours are based, has banned corporal punishment — in schools, Burt Carolan said that what goes on in the contines of the family home is nobody else’s husiness: “Even the beat kids become intolerabie at times. Sometimes a smack on the ass is ust what's necded to bring them to atiention.” Carolan, who says there ts a oclear difference between child abuse and. child) disei- pline, said, “There’s nothing worse than seeing all those wacko mothers and fathers in Walmart, where their kid is screaming bloady blue mur- der because they can’t have a $100 toy, and their parents are engaging in Kitsilano style gestalt encounter therapy. Why don't they just give the kid a smack and feave the rest of us in peace and content- ment?” Robertshaw does not feel that any change in the faw would precipitate a flurry of assault charges against law- abiding parents. Whar she hopes ts that the repeal of sce- tion 43 would change public attitudes to the use of corpo- tal punishment, including spanking. {CBC HAS A TEAM OF LAWYERS, SHOULDN'T YOU? 4] « Ail claims have time limits « Documents you sign can be used against you. 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