Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran has flatly denied a request by the Kelowna Right to Life Society to proclaim Saturday, August 29 as Celebrate Human Life Day in the city.
It is the third consecutive year the Society has been denied their request, following five consecutive years of being granted an official City of Kelowna proclamation.
“Mayor Basran did not even read or consider for a moment what we were seeking,”Marlon Bartram, executive of the Society, said in a press release Friday, July 10. “We sent him a letter asking to meet with him so we could introduce ourselves and discuss the possibility of a proclamation for 2015, no proposed wording was offered, nothing.
Bartram continues in the press release: “After weeks of silence from City Hall, we received a letter from the mayor saying in no uncertain terms that he would not tolerate, nor entertain the possibility of a proclamation for our group. Basran’s cold response to our group, a registered charity that has been in Kelowna years before Basran was even born, was certainly disappointing in light of all the talk about inclusion and acceptance coming out of his office lately.”
Bartram also said that after former Mayor Walter Gray took a hard-line stand against his group after meeting with them to discuss the issue, he was hopeful the new mayor “would be more welcoming and considerate of those who believe in the pro-life message,” which he acknowledges is in the minority. “Mayor Basran needs to know that there are thousands if not tens of thousands of people in Kelowna who respect the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception on, and who expect the Mayor’s Office to tolerate and respect their views as well.”
The Kelowna Right to Life Society will go ahead and proclaim Saturday Aug. 29 as “Celebrate Human Life Day” anyway, and will host their annual Walk for Life in Mission Creek Park from noon to 3 p.m.
The Kelowna Right to Life’s website is www.prolifekelowna.com.
