TO argue for a statute
of fimitations in the
face of what Jack
Ramsay did is not easy,
and J suspect I may fall
flat on my face in the
process.

The member of
Parliament for the Alberta
riding of Crowfoot was up en
a charge of rape, but convict-
ed of the lesser count cf
attempting to rape a young
aboriginal girl.

The events took place
some. 30 years ago. We know
_, that Jack Ramsay did some-

thing shameful. What it was
exactly we don’t know and
never will.
“He took a vulnerable |
~ aboriginal girl of 14”, wrote
-Christie Blatchford of the
National Post, “to a smali
Royal Canadian Mounted
Police office on the remete
Pelican Narrows reserve in’
Northeastern Saskatchewan,
where he was king, the senior
most powerful Mountie
- around for miles.”
- | In her pnapic florid style,
Blatchford proceeds to
describe how Ramsay propo-
sitioned the girl, asking her if
ske would like to have sex
Up to this point the -
events have been confirmed
by both the complainant and
‘Mr. Ramsay, who confessed
to as much. From this point -,
on; Ramsay’s version of the
events departs from the one
offered by his accuser. The
Reform party's “law and
order point man” denies the
accusaticn of rape, and claims
-that;-as if this were not bad
nough, he went no further

fair

cominent

than propositioning his
young charge. The woman,
on her part, claims Ramsay
had sex with her.

The jury settled this
ancient “he said, she said”
case by ruling that Ramsay
was guilty of attempted rape,
which he continues to deny.

I can’t condemn enough
the abuses of power and
trust, and tite lewd conduct.
of a man who should have
known better. But I can’t say
that Iam convinced beyond a
reasonable deubrt that an
attempted rape took place.

The woman against whom

offended is a product
of an impoverished reserve
and of ali the attendanx famil-
iat dysfunction this back-
ground wreaked.

Her fife has been fraught
with problems of substance
abuse. She has also made
accusations along the way
against a number of other
men.

For the most, her attempt
to achieve “closure and heal-
ing” throvgh the courts has
escaped scrutiny. .

Invariably, turning the

. courts into therapeutic aretsas
‘seems to have had the effect

of eroding the burden of
proof placed on, and stan-
dards of evidence required of
the prosecution.

The complainant in the
Ramsay case was put in an
untenable pesition, but we
do not know that she was
raped or that she wa: ui
ed in any way. How can we
ever be sure?

And should not such a
serious conviction be based
on solid evidence?

Even now it seems that

son for bringing
say to book for what
he did cirea 1969 has more
to do with victim therap
ties than with the broader
notion of justice.

ina culture animated by
the cthics of the recovery
movement, “empowerment”
is all too often achieved
through the courts rather
than a life well lived.

Predictably, the woman
whose identity remains pro-
tected did not seem content
with Ramsay’s conviction.
After he had secured the
acquittal of former Nova
Scotia premier Gerald Regan
from decades-old sexual
assatth charges, QC Edward
Greenspan made the need for
a statute of limitations the
subject of forcelul comment.

With the exception of
murder, on which there is no
limitation anywhere in the
world, statutes of limitation
are in place in the “U.S. and
continental Europe,” but not
in Canada.

“There is a point,” wrote
Greenspan in an editorial for
the National Post, “at which
it becomes simply too late to
lay a criminal charge because
the exercise of state power to
Prosccute is no longer pro-,
Portionate to its goals.”

According to Greenspan,

” allegations are, at some point,

simply so old thar it is funda-
mentally wrang to allow
charges to be laid, even if the
allegations may be true.
Compounding this is the

face that historical allegations
are Mostly sexual because sex
ual politics have gripped the
culture in a MeCarthy-like

ce that threatens the impar-

y to mete Out justice
The Ramsay case is a vio-
lation of the aim of propor-
tionalicy ta which Greenspan

y took advan-
rage of a girl 30 years ago,
although we do not know for
sure what transpire

In the absence of forensic
evidence, or corroboration
from other witnesses, we will
never know the truth.
Ramsay had spent 20 years
serving on the force as an
RCMP officer.

He is the recipient of the
Commemorative Medal of
Canada for outstanding work
in his community, and he
became an effective and prin-
cipled justice critic for the
Reform party.

Is a life well lived through
community not a form of
recompense? Ramsay is no
longer the perso; he was 30
years ago. Vengeance except-
ed, his punishment decades
after the fact will achieve
nought.

Banished from the Reform
party caucus, a once produc-
tive man is now a pariah, and
may even lose his liberty.
There is a case to be made
for a statute of limitations
although Ramsay may not be
the poster boy for such a
case.

—gnome@attcannda.net

Friday, December 3, 1999 — North Shore News - 7

Governor General’s
spending questioned

Dear Editor:

It would seem to me that
our Governor General is an
intelligent, astute and popular
person.

All the more reason why I
am completely beguiled bv
her openly flaunting pub
funds during her visic to
Victoria.

By incurring tens of thou-
sands of extra dollars on exor-
bitant transportation costs
and unnecessary hotel accom-
madation, she has compro-
mised her position of trust
and responsibility.

It appears thar Adrienne
Clarkson has experienced
first-hand the scourge of
poverty in her own youth, yet
has conveniently chosen te
ignore the ever-increasing
number of Canadian families

Po eo ee oe ee ee

@

ENTE # Ss
‘

AR
fully warranty

threatened by poverty today.

Surely our head state
must have considered that her
excessive spending would
become public demain and
that she would have to
respond to her egregious mis-
use of public finds.

Oris this simply an all-too-
comnion malaise of public fig-
ures who, once chosen or
clected, become inviolate and
unaccountable?

Barrie Street
North Vancouver

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