VANCOUVER – Some residents of Williams Lake are concerned after council voted to hold a Celebrate Life Week in the community this week.
The decision was based on a request from a pro-life group called the Choice for Life Society of Williams Lake and some are not happy.
One resident, Carrie Julius, said she learned about this decision after a city council meeting on Sept. 16.
“The Choice for Life Society is a religious anti-abortion group, according to their website, and in my opinion their desire to submit this proclamation presents a cloaked attempt by the group to get this city to approve an anti-choice viewpoint,” Julius said on BC1.
She added that the proclamation has been approved for at least the last seven years.
“All of the feedback that I’ve gotten has been very positive,” said Julius. “People are quite surprised that this position was taken by city council here, both the title of the week and the wording of the proclamation appear benevolent, but evaluating the group behind the request was perhaps more critical than getting the message itself.”
She said she would like to see the mayor and council work together to rescind the proclamation.
“I’ve received emails with offers to meet and talk,” she said, adding that she would like to think this was an innocent mistake on the part of council and the mayor.
“Because it has been approved so many years in a row and it seemed to me that while the discussion was happening at that city council meeting, there was no ‘nay’ when it came to voting,” Julius added.
The City of Williams Lake issued the following statement, with respect to the proclamation:
The City of Williams Lake is aware of the controversy surrounding its proclamation of Celebrate Life Week at its Council meeting of September 16th.
Council’s role in making proclamations is to help increase awareness of a social goal or movement (e.g. cancer prevention and awareness, Williams Lake’s Stampede season, elder abuse awareness, Legion Week) without endorsing the group or individual requesting the proclamation.
The City of Williams Lake does not expend funds to advertise proclamations.
Proclamations do not originate from Council or from the City of Williams Lake. Requests are received by the City and considered by Council.
The Celebrate Life Week proclamation speaks to the value of human life; that this value is not a result of what a person does or produces, but a result of each person’s uniqueness; and that society should be concerned about every human life.It was never Council’s intention to offer an opinion on the ongoing abortion debate or to endorse either side of the debate. Neither the proclamation request nor the proclamation itself speak to this debate.
As Celebrate Life Week is currently underway, Council will not rescind the 2014 Celebrate Life Week proclamation, but will give serious consideration to the feedback received going forward. Council will explore developing a proclamation policy for all future requests.
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