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Mr. Ted Gerk
Executive Director
Kelowna Right to Life
P.O. Box 1570
Kelowna, British Columbia
V1Y 7V8
February 21, 1994
Dear Mr. Gerk:
I have received your letter of December 20, 1993, in which you express concern about a proposed "province-wide injunction" against protesters at abortion clinics and request a meeting with me.
At present senior officials of the Ministry of Attorney General are monitoring the Ontario application for such an injunction. As no process has been commenced in British Columbia it would be premature for us to meet at this time.
Regarding the articles you have enclosed on incidents of violence against pro-life protesters, criminal disorder of this sort is, of course, not to be tolerated. Whenever there is reason to believe that someone has been involved in criminal activity, the proper course of action is for that individual to report allegations to the police. If they determine that a investigation is warranted, it will be conducted.
In appropriate circumstances, a report will then be forwarded to Crown Counsel for review. Crown Counsel then examine the evidence as revealed in the police report and determine whether there is a substantial likelihood of conviction and whether it is in the public interest to prosecute. If both of these criteria are met, then charges are laid.
I trust that my comments have proven informative. Thank you for writing.
Yours sincerely,
Colin Gabelmann
Attorney General
Note: This letter was in response to a plea for the Attorney General to address violent incidents against pro-life individuals. Mr. Gabelmann would not meet with pro-life representatives. By the date of this letter, February 21, 1994, the BC Attorney General's office had already had at least 2 secret meetings with members of the pro-abortion movement. Little is known about the subsequent meetings that the AG's office held.