A legal defence fund has been established for the Centretown activist who spearheaded a community movement to relocate the Correctional Service of Canada parole office from its current location near Elgin Street Public School and Minto Park, home to a memorial to murdered women.
Albert Galpin, who has two children at the school, was slapped with a $3.8-million lawsuit in the fall by the owners of the building at the corner of Gilmour and Elgin street seeking damages for loss of future income, $300,000 in punitive damages and “a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from intentionally interfering with the plaintiff’s economic relations.”
The suit was filed by a numbered company, whose, president, according to the lease, is Brian W. Karam.
Galpin has been a leader in the battle to get the parole office moved since 2004 when it appeared unannounced at the present site. Community groups and local politicians vociferously denounced the location vowing to leave no stone unturned to have it relocated. Finally, in 2006, the federal government announced the office would be moved when its lease expires this September. Two attempts to find a new location have failed. The latest attempt, to move it to 1010 Somerset Street, collapsed when the community objected because it would be close to another school and Plouffe Park. An earlier attempt to relocate it to 116 Albert Street also was unsuccessful.
City council passed a motion at its meeting on Wednesday urging the federal government to move the office to a location in the downtown business district.
Meantime, the community has rallied behind Galpin to help defray his legal costs, which have already amounted to $6,000. “I’ve been trying to take a low-key approach to all of this,” Galpin told media in an interview, “but now that all the bills are piling up, I’ve had to go public. What I really hope is that the landlord does the right thing and withdraws this claim, because all we are trying to do is protect our children.”
The present location of the parole office, seem to contradict the Correctional Services’ own guidelines, which stipulate that such an office can’t be within 300 metres of schools, parks or residential neighbourhoods.
Those wishing to contribute to the defence can make a direct deposit to the Galpin Legal Defence Fund at any TD Canada Trust branch (account No. 02975212083)
Donations may also be made at the following website: http://slapp.ca