B.C. councillor sues daughter for publicly disclosing alleged abuse

A councillor of a small town south of Squamish is suing her own daughter, claiming she violated the terms of a settlement made over two decades ago, in which she was not to speak about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her stepfather.

Village of Lions Bay councillor Eileen Wilke and Ronald Wilke filed a notice of civil claim in November 2016 claiming that Sherri Anne Thomson sent letters about the alleged abuse to various people in the community.

The civil claim states the letters were sent around Nov. 16, 2016 — just days before members of the community went to the polls for a municipal by-election where Eileen was running for council, a position to which she was elected on Nov 19, 2016.

The letters were sent to Village of Lions Bay Mayor Karl Buhr, a fellow councillor, a Squamish radio station and other groups in the community, according to the civil claim.

The claim states that around 1994 Thomson took Ronald and Eileen Wilke to civil court in Ontario, alleging she "suffered years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse" at the hands of Ronald.

Parties previously settled out of court

The lawsuit also states, that in the original action in the Ontario court, Thomson claimed Eileen had failed to protect her from years of alleged abuse and did nothing to assist her.

In a response to the civil claim filed Jan. 19, Thomson claims the abuse took place from the time she was eight or nine years old until she was 13 or 14.

In April 1996, Wilkes and Thomson reached a settlement in which Ronald agreed to pay $33,000 to Thomson, as indicated in the civil claim filed last November. 

According to the minutes of that settlement outlined in the current lawsuit, Thomson agreed not to discuss the allegations with anyone except for a few exceptions that included family members and close friends who were also not friends of the Wilkes. 

The minutes stated that any disclosure of the allegations to anyone else would be a "fundamental breach" of the settlement, and that Thomson would have to pay damages that were equivalent to what she received — namely, $33,000.

The Wilkes' claim from November also states that, along with each letter, Thomson also sent out a copy of some transcripts from her first court action.

In her response filed Jan. 19, Thomson denies breaching the minutes of the settlement. 

The response reads that, if Thomson did breach the settlement, then it is "void and unenforceable" on the grounds of public policy, "in that it is, on its face, an attempt to stifle, or in practice would have the substantive effect of stifling, the investigation and/or prosecution of serious criminal offences." 

The claim did not specifically deny that Thomson sent the letters.

Lions Bay in 'difficult place'

Lions Bay mayor Karl Buhr told CBC that the village was advised by Elections BC and legal counsel that it could not exclude Eileen Wilke from the election when the allegations came to light. 

Buhr said he spoke to Wilke on Tuesday night and she was not well.

"It's an unfortunate situation that leaves the municipality in a fairly difficult place trying to understand where we are in terms of alerting the community to an alleged event that happened 30 years ago - and protecting the privacy of people against whom no charges have been proven," he said.

No charges were ever laid and none of the allegations have been proven in court.