----- Original Message -----
From: Brigitta MacMillan
To: Gail.Dawson@gems2.gov.bc.ca
Cc: animaladvocates@telus.net
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 2:42 PM
Subject: Anti-SLAPP legislation

To: Hon Wally Oppal, Attorney General for BC

Dear Sir:
I am writing to urge that anti-SLAPP suit legislation be reinstated in BC. Without such protection, the legal system allows parties to bleed each other dry, both of time and money, in suits that could and should be dealt with quickly. In a SLAPP suit, this would be the intention, one party hoping the other party will disappear before they present their case in court. The loser is not necessarily the guilty party.

In a SLAPP suit the loser is the party that runs out of resources first. This is not justice! The only honourable way for a legal system to work is for each party to have its day in court as rapidly as possibly; let the truth be winnowed out without delay.

Endless harassment on either side serves no purpose. Where the legal system can be used to intimidate or interfere rather than expediently serve justice, much damage and little good can be done. Please close the gap in the law that allows this to happen. Please reinstate anti-SLAPP legislation.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Brigitta MacMillan
Maple Ridge, B.C.