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b.c. legislation would ban violent offenders from changing their name
dave teixeira said that allan schoenborn's new name is ken john johnson
may 13 2024
3 minute read
allan dwayne schoenborn
province
people convicted of serious offences will no longer be able to change their names if legislation introduced monday by the b.c. ndp becomes law.
the move comes as a result of backlash to news last month that child-killer allan schoenborn changed his legal name and was fighting to keep his new name from being made public.
health minister adrian dix introduced the name amendment act on monday.
if passed, “it will prevent convicted criminals and individuals that have committed offences causing serious harm to others from evading accountability and avoiding the negative consequences of their actions by legally changing their names,” dix said in the legislature. those offences include murder, sexual assault and crimes against children.
the name-change ban would also include people who were found not criminally responsible for violent offences because of mental disorder.
that was the case for schoenborn, who has been at coquitlam’s forensic psychiatric hospital since 2010, after killing his daughter and two sons. he was diagnosed with delusional disorder and said at trial that he killed his children to protect them from an imagined threat of sexual abuse.
the legislation was introduced with just four days left in the legislative session which breaks on may 16, which means the b.c. ndp will use their majority to force the bill through with limited debate.
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legal name changes are administered by the vital statistics agency which is under the ministry of health.
the official opposition pointed out the government already has the authority to deny a name change that is “sought for an improper purpose or is on any other ground objectionable,” and they said this should have been done when schoenborn applied to change his name.
b.c. united said the b.c. ndp government “bowed to pressure” from its party leader, kevin falcon, who last month tabled a private member’s bill that was almost identical to the amendments introduced by dix.
the b.c. review board, which reviews the cases of convicted offenders found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, rejected an application from schoenborn to have his new legal name redacted from the board’s decisions.
dave teixeira, a spokesman for the children’s family, said on x that schoenborn’s new name is ken john johnson. b.c. vital statistics released the name change certificate to teixeira because he’s an “interested party.”
teixeira said he’s pleased with the legislation, which “corrects the imbalance in the system and ensures that child killers cannot hide from their crimes.”
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the legislation strikes the right balance, teixeira said, ensuring it doesn’t “erode the protections given to individuals such as women leaving a violent or domestic situation.”
allan schoenborn’s new name is seen on this identification.
sun
falcon said on x last month that because name changes are provincial jurisdiction, the b.c. ndp government is “helping this monster hide his identity.”
when asked about the situation last month, premier david eby expressed dismay.
“first of all, it’s obvious to all british columbians that nobody should be able to evade accountability for their criminal activities by changing their name in this province,” he said. “that includes mr. schoenborn and anybody else. when you engage in a heinous act it shouldn’t be avoided by simply changing your name.”
however, victoria defence lawyer robert mulligan questioned the “wisdom of requiring someone to remain connected for life to the worst time of their past.”
“it is not helpful for those who are trying to rehabilitate, in the way that we hope every offender will, if they have to deal with unnecessary reference to something in the past that has been properly dealt with,” mulligan said.
mulligan said he “wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a charter challenge on some basis.”
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dix does not believe the law will face a charter challenge.
“i think this is straight forward and makes sense and will be supported,” he said.
with files from stephanie ip
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