Big Mouth to Blow Hard at Victims Conference

I keep forgetting to mention this: someone thought it a good idea to invite me to speak at a victims conference in Vancouver. Aparently British Columbia's Police Victim Services felt sorry for me after being snubbed by Justice Canada's National Victims Conference (you know, that victims conference back in November where no victims were invited to the party). I hope they know what they're getting into. I'm supposed to talk about Theresa's case, but maybe I'll spend the entire hour-and-a-half discussing those PETA billboards...

Oh well, it's a free trip to Vancouver. If you're in town, come see me; we can dish about this-and-that. Here are the details:

MONTREAL – John Allore - the brother of Theresa Allore, who was murdered in Compton Quebec over 25 years ago – has been invited to present at a provincial victims conference in Richmond, British Columbia.

Theresa Allore’s story drew national headlines in the summer of 2002 when Mr. Allore presented evidence that suggested her death was the result of a sexual assault and murder at the hands of a serial sexual predator, not a drug overdose as Quebec investigators originally speculated. 

Since then Mr. Allore has become an independent victims’ advocate, working with several victims associations in Canada and the United States. Last Fall Mr. Allore, along with fellow advocate, Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, whose daughter was murdered in Sherbrooke in 2002, traveled to Ottawa to criticize the Justice Department’s National Victims Conference for failure to invite enough victims to the symposium. Mr. Allore had applied to present at that conference, but his application was refused. As well Mr. Allore has been working with Mr. Boisvenu to initiate a Quebec victims association, and with victims’ advocates from across Canada to form a National association for victims assistance.

The B.C. conference, hosted by the province’s Police Victim Services, is the only annual conference of its kind in Canada. This year’s theme, The Dawning of Hope – Triumphing Through Adversity, will feature close to 40 presenters speaking on topics of criminal justice and victims issues. The two day event will be held in Richmond on June 4th and 5th. Mr. Allore will address the conference on two occasions; first on the topic of the investigation into his sister’s death and his relations with Quebec’s Surete du Quebec, and then on issues concerning campus security at Canadian universities. 
- posted by John @ 4/19/2004 09:13:30 AM