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Marijuana Party Sues Over Freedom Of Speech
Pubdate: Tue, 24 May 2005
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Province
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Glenda Luymes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Cited: B.C. Marijuana Party http://www.bcmarijuanaparty.ca/
MARIJUANA PARTY SUES OVER FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The B.C. Marijuana Party is suing the Surrey School Board and the City of
Abbotsford for targeting the party and its candidates' freedom of speech
during the provincial election campaign.
"In both cases, our right to promote our position was taken away from us,"
said Marijuana Party campaign manager Kirk Tousaw. "That's unacceptable
under the Charter of Rights."
The party's case against the Surrey School Board centres on an
all-candidates' debate at Surrey's Queen Elizabeth School.
Tousaw said the party's candidate, Amanda Boggan, was invited to
participate by a student. The same student called back the next day to tell
her the school had said Boggan was not invited.
When Boggan tried to attend the debate, she was asked to leave.
"I thought it was detrimental to the students' political education," Boggan
said yesterday. "I felt very intimidated by the school board."
The party's case against the City of Abbotsford concerns the removal of
Abbotsford-Mount Lehman candidate Tim Felger's signs.
They were near a school and were removed after people complained they were
offensive.
Tousaw said the city told him it did not take down the signs, but he is
skeptical.
"It was a targeted action against a political stance," Tousaw said. "It was
completely undemocratic."
The separate lawsuits were filed in B.C. Supreme Court on May 13.
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