Canada 150 A local retrospective: Books and the death penalty in 1976

This week in Canadian history, the death penalty was abolished.

On June 22, 1976, the House of Commons voted to abolish the death penalty with a six vote majority. The last execution in Canada was in 1962. A motion to reinstate the death penalty was defeated on June 30, 1987 after eight days of debate.

Yorkton’s MP, Lorne Nystrom (NDP) was one of the MPs to vote to end capital punishment in the country. Yorkton’s residents, however, were in favor of keeping the death penalty according to the June 30, 1976 edition of Yorkton This Week. In a survey conducted by Yorkton This Week of 100 residents, selected at random from the phone book, 68 per cent of those surveyed were in favor of keeping the death penalty, while nine per cent were against it and fifteen per cent were undecided. Eight per cent did not comment.

Many respondents qualified their answer, saying that it should only apply to first degree murder, or murder of officers of the law. Others thought it should not apply to “the insane.”

Sixty five per cent of respondents believed it was a deterrent to murder, while 14 per cent believed it was not. Twelve per cent were undecided, while eight per cent refused comment.

Breaking it down further, 55 per cent of women were in favor if the death penalty, while 86 per cent of men were. Thirteen per cent of women were definitely against it, while two per cent of men were.

Nystrom, when asked to comment, confirmed that when he had conducted a survey four years previous he got similar results, he “had to weight that against my conscience and the knowledge that I have that the respondents haven’t.”

Stating that “you don’t meet violence with violence,” Nystrom believed that the high number of respondents who believed that the death penalty was a deterrent to murder did not review international studies. As he believed there was no evidence that the penalty was a deterrent, he had to vote to abolish it.

A week earlier, in the June 23, 1976 edition, the focus was on reading. Specifically, what students could read, as a complaint by a student about the language in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath set off a controversy in the school system. The complaint lead to the formation of a parent-lead book review committee, chaired by Beth Berg. The committee made a presentation to the Yorkton Regional High School about what they believed to be “unsuitable literature,” which also included Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Allan Stillitoe and Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin.

The position of the board was simple. Board chairman Norman McKeeman stated:

“We don’t believe in censorship. They are entitled to their view but nothing in their presentation made me change my view. I support the viewpoint of our teachers that they are not teaching pornography, simply because some passages may be questionable.”

Norm Wood, teacher of the general English program, had taught Rosemary’s Baby for several years, and said he had no complaints from parents or students. He also dismissed the committee’s complaints.

“I can understand the committee’s concern as far as themselves go, but I don’t know if they have the right to be concerned for others.”

On the subject of books, calls for a new Yorkton Public Library were the subject of a column by author Susan MacIntosh. In text dripping with sarcasm, MacIntosh pointed out the cramped conditions and general disrepair that defined the library building at the time. MacIntosh would get her wish in 1979, a new public library would be built out of a renovated former Safeway location in 1979, where it has remained since, though flooding in 2010 forced a renovation of the space and a temporary relocation. Its former location was restored and now houses Frameworks on Broadway.

If you were looking for new wheels you could find yourself a 1976 Dodge Colt for a mere $4,356. It had an AM/FM radio, plus a blue denim vinyl roof and blue denim upholstery. Currently, no new car offered for sale in Yorkton offers a blue denim vinyl roof.