Gin

‘Sexually Transmitted Disease,

crime and
punishment

“FOR ALL the hoopla about
recently released pedophile, .
Robert Roy Owens, there are
some points which have been
‘overlooked, ~

‘After the news broke that Owens

had moved to the quiet, tree-lined

streets of the Highlands, the North

_ Vancouver RCMP quickly convened

“an “emergency” Block Watch mect-

~ ing. Over 250 concemed residents

_ attended that meeting, along with the
officer in charge of the local detuch-
ment, Supt. Gil Yard.

‘)._As Listened to the angry resi-

dents demanding answers, 1 was

struck with the knowledge that the

. police were trying to represent cur

. interests, but were being hanistrung

by their political masters, -

‘It surely must have been uncom
fortable for Supt. Yard, clearly in the
- position of having to duck and dive

“while trying to answer the questior
‘of the outraged community. | Jt rap!
ly became apparent that if the infor-
“mation had net become public
‘knowledge i in the media, there would

"= not have been any information forth-

“coming from official sources within
the RCMP. | say, “official” because
there were numerous rank-and-file
members who had sufficient con-:

, S science to do what they could to get ;

“the information into the public

‘domain, *

of =-T cannot understand why. there
“would have been any conflict with
» the decision over whether to inform -
“the community. Owens is a convict-
ed pedophile. He plead guilty as part”
of a plea bargain in 1989 concerning -
the’ sexual assault of three young

* girls from the ages of three to 11.
One of them got the incurable i

Herpes, from Owens, 1am unable to
discuss the charges dropped as part
of the plea bargain.

When Owens was in Mountain
Institution in the Fraser Valley, serv:

‘ing his sentence of six years, he

applied for parole. In a confidential
Parole Board document Owens is
described as, “a regressed pedophile
with a specific sexual arousal to pre-
pubescent females.” The report con-
tinued, “You are a likely risk to re. |
offend jn a pedophiliac way when
you feel you are unable to cope with
lite’s stressors.

In denying the parole application,
the board stated, “IC is the board's
opinion that you are an untreated
pedophile who is i need of inten-
sive treatment. There continues to be
reasonable grounds to believe you
are likely to coramit an offence

~~ enusing death or serious harm to

another person..." ;
‘These ure very strong words,
Strong enough ta convince me that
the residents of any neighborhood
this man resided in, supervised or
not, should be advised sa they might
guide themselves accordingly, fam
more than a litle perplexed to under-

©, stand. why. the “official” RCMP did |

not provide the information about

~ Owens as a matter of course,

The concept of policing began
several hundreds of years ago.in
Britain. Villages, called reeves, used
{o appoint a representative of the .
community, to look after their col-
ictive interests. This position, called
Shire of the Reeve, later to become
Shereeve (Sheriff). was rotated
throughout the community so that no
‘one pecson was permanently ¢ com-

_mitted to the office.

The evolution of the office, to
what we know today, hus certainly

~ changed, But the concept of being

| WINDOWS. :

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| ted white, m. Pp. _
‘THIS IS DEMOCRACY?

The ‘more time: | spend In
Ottawa, the more. frustrated. |
become. with the way’ our parila
mentary system functions..in my
opinion, what takes: place on The
Hil is far ft from democratic. The end

- PASSING BILLS
Parliament in Canada is well suit-
ed to. the enactment of a political
agenda rather than the will of voters

"and taxpayers, Just a few examples of

Bills: which were passed in the past
‘year or so, . virtually . unchanged,
despite significant public_opposition
and jots of debate in Parliament,
included:

(a) Bill C-41, which contained spe-
cial. . sentencing for crimes

against another person based
on the undefined term, “sexual
Y orientation”. significant
+. majority of Ganatiars opposed
..this section of Bill C-41, but the
‘Prime Minister still acted “i
your best interests” by ordering
Liberal MPs to pass it. So much
for the Red Book promises of
more free votes.

*(b) Bill’ .C-85,: which: tinkered
around with MP pensions and
forces Reform MPs to “opt out”
of ANY | pension” by . mid

. September. while’ specifically

:, protecting the Prime Minister's

pension from any. changes. :

” Long serving Liberals :remain
‘atthe trough with Sheila
Copps, Brian Tobin and Sergio

~ Marchi still able. to collect mil-
‘lions in benefits. This Bill was
rammed through committee
stage with Liberal members
refusing to hear from key oppo-
sition witnesses including the
National Citizens Coalition and
Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.
aC) Bill C-16, which was virtually
_ignored by the media but gave

-. away an area of Canada 50
«times the size of Prince Edward
Island and five times the size of
Nova Scotia to just 982 adults
and 773 children of Dene’ and

_. Metis descent. The Bill included’, aL

terest f

rst

the representative of the communal
interest has not changed. Or has it?

ll seems the official RCMP policy of
not telling the community when peo-
ple like Owens move into their
neighborhood is an abdication of
their responsibility to protect the
rights of the community in favor of

. protecting the rights of the individ-

tal.

The argument that Owens has
dong his full sentence and paid his
debt to society may be valid insofar
as he completed the term he was
sentenced (uo, Whether that sentence
was appropriate given the crimes is
another argument, But, according to
the Parole Board, he chose aot
undergo therapy for his deviancy
while in prison.

‘The official RCMP line j is that
Owens has served his Gime and has:
the same freedoms and rights as any-
one else, Phere is the sume ting of
thinking for anyone being released
from prison. Bul Owens did not to
breuk inte # residenée ar rob a bank,
He is a child molester. He must be
fooked at differently,

I cannot agree with keeping the
community in the dark and risking
another child's life and future. How

>many more like Owens are there in

North Vancouver? | believe this
question must be answered, The first
responsibility of the police must be
to the community they serve, not the
individuils who have demonstrited
they are not prepared or capable to
abide by the guidelines set out by
that community, People tike Owens
should not be provided with an offi-

"cial shicid. Members of the local

RCMP detachment understand this. »
The force's policy makers and their
political masters obviously, do not. *

lea Knight, a foriier police offi-
cen is presently a partner ina North *

Share-based security firm.

advortorial
Aug 16/98

result of all the debates, questions, :
committees, hearings, petitions,
lobbying and. strategy Is that the
people. of Canada rarely get thelr
way, while: the Prime Minister °
almost always gets: his way! ‘

a yearly group payment of $75
million in 1980 dollars ‘for the
next 15 years and also guaran-
tead ongoing access to all
C existing ° programs: of Indian
‘Alfairs. : ‘

(d} Bill C-53, “which gave the
_ Heritage Ministry the authority °
"to fund a wide range of special
interest groups through gener-
ous grants programs estimated .
to total $4.4 billion. Passage. of
' the Bill means we'will continue
{0 see our money spent on
‘things fike $21,000. for: the
study of interactive gestures,
$58,000 to study what it is like.
to work for Dominion Grocery
Stores, and a $5,060 bilingual- -
ism ‘grant to the Canadian
Kennel Club...

VOTING MACHINES

The fact is that except for Reform
MPs and a few independently minded.
Liberal MPs, most MPs are just voting

‘machines programmed to their

leader's agenda. They are rewarded

, with’ travel junkets,. and. kept. busy

between votes giving speeches in the
House or sitting ‘on ‘committees, - but
voting according to the wishes of con- -

stituents is not usually part of the job.

tis going to take a lot of hard work
to transiorm this outdated system into
one more suited to the Information
Age. but change is in the air, and!
believe. that we are slowly moving -
towards a much more democratic form
of Parliament. i
Canada’s Federal Debt ‘today
reached $558,884,277,822.14, and:

was growing by $ 1,172.46 per second. :

' “Ted White, M.P. oe
302-1200 Lynn Valley Rd.
“North Vancouver, B.C.:.V7) 2A2-

28 NeLt 666-0585; Fast 666-0509, 4:

a

Agnew Shoes.) Pacific Linen

Atwater insurance Pier Boutique

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Brass ‘N Lite:
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Planet Superstar
‘Quick Cobbler.
» Reitman’ $s. ;

wo Ricky's S

- Claire’s Boutique ; ae

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' Coles Books Wn as

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