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Legislative Library,
Parliament Buildings,

Victoria, B.C,
V8V 1X4

4

The Miller family keep a set of gumboots or hip waders near the entrance door to thelr home on Paquette Avenue In Thornhill. Story page 2.

Outside
Date Hi Lo Prec.
Mar. 3 8 2 68mm
Mar. 4 B 4 0.2mm
Mar. 5 6 2 7.8mm
Mar. 6 4 0 65mm
Mar. 7 2 -1 8.2mm
Mar. 8 5 117.2 mm
Mar. 9 B 1 &8mm

Wednesday to Friday,
generally cloudy with
showers. Afternoon highs
8 to 10, overnight jows of 3.

Inside

Business Guide 15
Church Directory 2
Classifled Ads 22

Coming Events 10
Comics 21
Crossword 21
Dining Directory 20
Entertainment 15
Horoscope 18
Letters 4
Opinions 4
Sports 6
Stork Book 17

Talk of the Town 3

Pro-choice committee will remain

at Women’s Resource Centre

A large and determin-
ed contingent of the
‘sisterhood of women’”’
(and a few brothers as
well) packed the
municipal council
chambers at the Mon-
day, March 10 council
meeting. The issue was
relocation of the Terrace
Pro-Choice Committee,
and the people who
spoke left no doubt as to
where they stood on the
matter.

Mayor Talstra and
council members listened
with apparent dismay as
they were accused of
limiting freedom to in-
formation, infringing on
freedom of speech and
making moral judgments

in a political situation.
The issue originated
with complaints by some
local citizens that a
municipally-owned
facility, the Women’s
Resource Centre, was be-
ing used as a venue for
counselling abortions
due to the presence of
the Terrace Pro-Choice
Committee in the
building. At a meeting of
the council’s Social Plan-
ning and Cultural Ser-
vices Committee on Feb.
4, representatives of
both .sides were heard,
and the committee

recommended that ‘‘the-

Women’s Resource Cen-
tre be encouraged to find
alternate -accommoda-

tion for the Pro-Choice
Committee’’.

At the March 10 coun-
cil meeting, Kay Hep-
plewhite conveyed the
support of the Terrace-
Kitimat and District
Labour Council for the
Women’s Resource Cen-
tre, adding that the basic
issue in the conflict is the
right to information.

Elaine Pigeau termed
the request to move the
Pro-Choice Committee
‘*a veiled threat from the
mayor and council’’. She
went on to say that
women who seek pro-
choice information are
only exercising their
rights, and concluded,
‘SIF you continue to limit

use of the Women’s
Resource Centre, you
will be in for one hell of
a fight.’’

Lillian de Balinhard
pointed out that the
legality of therapeutic
abortion had been
resolved in the ’70’s.:

Dave McKinnon _in-
dicated that if the coun-
cil were going to be con-
sistent in any such
policy, ‘‘you must
threaten every balanced
source of information —

starting with the
library.”
The barrage of

criticism continued for
some time, and as it fad-

ed, Mayor Jack Talstia.

attempted to provide an

explanation for the
council’s action. ‘The
District of Terrace was
being perceived as hav-
ing taken sides on this
issue due to the presence
of the Pro-Choice Com-
mittee in a District of
Terrace building. We
were attempting to
balance community
perception.”

Ald. Ruth Hallock
said, '‘There was certain-
ly no intention of a
threat.”

Mayor Talstra con-
cluded by saying,
‘We've asked them to
consider moving the Pro-
Choice Committee, and

they said ‘No’. So be it."
continued on page 24