The Experiences of Jack Cram and Renate Andres-Auger
In 1999, Jennifer Wade, a founder of Amnesty International in Vancouver, referred to this in a keynote presentation at the Global Conference on the Commercial Exploitation of Children and Youth. As part of her talk, Wade looked back at the experiences of Jack Cram and Renate Andres-Auger. Andres-Auger was the Cree lawyer in B.C. who brought forward allegations about the sexual exploitation of children.
In 1994, Andres-Auger hired Jack Cram to be her lawyer after she fell into difficulties. Wade explained this history as follows: “The sex trade in children is not a recent happening in Vancouver. While doing some research for this presentation, I came across the affidavit of a Cree lawyer named Renate Andres-Auger naming prominent legal personalities and the B.C. Law Society for destroying her legal practice and libeling and slandering her (I have a copy of that affidavit listing prominent plaintiffs with me).
Renate Auger alleged this happened partly because of her knowledge of pedophile rings operating out of the Vancouver Club and out of resorts in Whistler. In a very bizarre scene as it was described in the papers I discovered, Ms. Auger and her lawyer, Jack Cram, were first not listened to in the court, and then were handcuffed and dragged out of the courtroom to a jail cell. When Jack Cram eventually did speak, he put before the judge some of his allegations involving cover-ups by the head officers of the Law Society and the judiciary to aid and abet pedophiles and drug dealers. When he insisted on giving more details on radio, Jack Cram was met by ten policemen upon his return from a radio station. He was then put into an ambulance and taken to the psychiatric ward of Vancouver General Hospital. He believes he was injected again and again with mind disorienting drugs.”
No public investigation into the treatment and accusations of Andres-Auger and Cram ever took place. We can only speculate, therefore, on the circumstances behind such a dramatic collapse of dignity and due process in the criminal-justice system. Certainly it is made to seem probable that some highly placed group or individual believed that he, she, or they had a great deal to lose if Andres-Auger and Cram had been able to press charges.
What’s more, the accusations of the two lawyers merged with a powerful stream of allegations by critics who charged that rampant corruption and conflicts of interest permeated the entire proceedings of the $27-million federally funded test case to determine the legal status of Aboriginal title in the lands and water of B.C. Cram was deeply involved in this controversy. At the time Cram tried to represent Andres-Auger, he was also beginning to act for Gitskan Indian clients who charged that their own lawyers had committed fraud against them. That pivotal case began with the assertion that the hereditary leaders of the Gitskan and Wet’suwet’en Indians continued to be the legitimate governors in a large area of the B.C. interior. The case would eventually emerge in 1997 as the basis of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Delgamuukw ruling.
Chief Justices & Corrupt Chiefs: Partners in Crime? (Excerpt from Warrior Publications)
In 1999, one independent BC interior newspaper, The Radical, did report on allegations of an organized sex trade in the Prince George area involving judges, doctors, police, and even band councils. The paper was forced to close down after one of the accused- Ed John, a long time chief of the Tl’azt’en band (near Prince George) and head of the First Nations Summit- launched a lawsuit. Ironically, Ed John was named minister of Child and Family Services in November 2000, just as the allegations against him were becoming public.
For those involved in exposing Ed John and others, his appointment as an un-elected minister “brought to light the extent of official protection of pedophiles in public office and the systemic nature of this crime” (Evidence of crimes against aboriginal children, including pedophilia, Hidden from History.)
These allegations have been echoed by others over the years, including Squamish elder Harriet Nahanee, who has stated that she saw young Native girls being removed from the reserve to serve as prostitutes for wealthy business men connected to the Vancouver Club. James Craven a Blackfoot and constitutional lawyer has corroborated this story and stated ” It has been alleged with considerable supporting evidence that some of the same forces involved in trafficking young Indian Boys and Girls for the rich and powerful pedophiles are also involved in key aspects of the BC Treaty Commission as well as being involved in using isolated reserves for the landing and distribution of drugs.” (“Reprisals due to exposure of pedophile ring.” Statement by James Craven, Aug 3, 1998)
For More Information, or for copies of documents related to the above, please contact:
Bill Lightbown, phone: (604) 251-4949 Ts’peten Defence Committee, phone: (604) 322-7934, fax: (604) 323-0224
– In 2005 former RCMP officer Gary Stevens plead guilty to sexual assault of an underage girl. The allegations were first made in April 2004 when Stevens was a member of the RCMP’s Kitmat BC, detachment
– In 2005 two RCMP officers were suspended during an investigation into allegations they were buying sex from young prostitutes in Prince George BC. Lee Lakeman a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres stated that this was ” just the tip of the iceberg” “referring to Judge David Ramsey”
– In May 2004, David Ramsey a BC Provincial Court Judge pleaded guilty to buying sex from and assaulting 4 Indigenous girls aged 12, 14, 15 and 16. These attacks happened in 1992 and 2001. Ramsey was not removed until 2002
Related Links
Comments