People come and go from Thompson all the time. That's the nature of life in the North. Some stay a short time, some much longer. How long they stay isn't always the final arbiter of the mark they leave, but it is often a good indicator. Which brings us to the retirements of provincial court Judge Brian Colli and Rev. Leslie-Elizabeth King, minister of the Lutheran-United Church of Thompson.
Both are retiring after long years of service to both Thompson and outlying communities in Northern Manitoba. It is a testament to what they have meant to Thompson that well-wishers, many of them former colleagues journeying north from Southern Manitoba or even outside the province, paid tribute to them at separate events on consecutive nights - over the Victoria Day long weekend no less - with more than a few of the guests in attendance at both events.
At Riverlodge Place May 16, judges and lawyers, including Manitoba Court of Appeal Justice Holly Beard, originally from Thompson, who practised law here and served on city council, and Chief Judge Ken Champagne of the provincial court, a former Crown attorney here, travelled north to honour Colli, who came to Thompson as a Crown attorney himself in 1979 and was appointed a judge of the provincial court by order-in-council on Sept. 21, 1994.
Colli, who grew up on a farm near Virden, is retiring, with his wife, Sue, longtime manager of the Thompson Gas Bar Co-op Ltd., to Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia, near Yarmouth.
While firm but fair on the bench, Colli is known as a jurist even more so for his overriding compassion, borne of the realization that many of the defendants who appeared before him came from unfortunate backgrounds and circumstances, often not of their own making.
From a June 2004 symposium on domestic violence, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges in Whitehorse, until it eventually launched on April 30, 2012, Colli, aided by many others from the local court administration committee, worked without ceasing to make the Thompson Domestic Violence Court Project a reality.
"It is has been an honour to be associated with each of you on a project which I think is very worthwhile because, unlike most of the matters I am involved with, it brings hope to the table and even, perhaps, a promise of a better future for the children of our community," Colli wrote in a March 7 e-mail to many of his collaborators on the project. "Its development has been a passion of mine at times because of that hope and that promise."
Judge Colli also had a life off the bench in Thompson, not always a simple thing for a judge to balance when you are called to be both part of the community, and yet at the same time, stand somewhat apart from it, while at all times, of course, remaining above reproach. "Where else in Canada does a rubber-faced comedic detective actor moonlight as a sober-minded sitting provincial court judge? Or is it the other way around?" we asked tongue-in-cheek about Colli, a Thompson Playhouse favourite, in an April 13, 2011 editorial. He was also long associated with the Kinsmen Club of Thompson and with Knights of Columbus Thompson Council #5961, where he currently serves as recorder, chronicling minutes for his brothers in the Catholic fraternal benefit organization.
The night after Colli's reception, a dinner was held on May 17 at the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada Association (ANAVETS) Thompson Unit 388 hall on Nelson Road to honour Rev. Leslie-Elizabeth King. At the end of June King retires from 35 years of congregational ministry in Ontario and Manitoba. ANAVETS donated the hall for free for the event, as King is their longtime chaplain, as she has been for the men and women of Thompson Fire and Emergency Services.
The date was significant because 19 years earlier on May 17, 1995, King was setting out on the road to pastor St. John's United Church, now the Lutheran-United Church of Thompson, as the former neighbouring congregations of Advent Lutheran and St. John's United formally joined together last year, after starting a dialogue about their respective futures in 2008.
King also pastored St. Simon's Anglican Church in Lynn Lake, a shared ecumenical ministry of the United and Anglican churches, travelling to St. Simon six times a year since 1998 to administer the sacraments. Ministering to United, Lutheran and Anglican church adherents is not simply a nice nod to ecumenism in Friendly Manitoba: it is now a demographic necessity of spiritual life for some Northern congregations, with the trend likely to continue.
King, who plans to remain in the area at Paint Lake, is also known for her tireless advocacy on numerous social justice issues, including, but not limited to, eradicating domestic violence, poverty and racism in our local communities.
Outspoken? Always. Abraham Lincoln is thought to have famously said, "It is a sin to remain silent when it is your duty to protest." That's Leslie King, along with two other aphorisms that come to mind: "speak truth to power" and "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." She has done both. As has Brian Colli in his sphere. For that, we owe them our collective thanks and wish them both well in their retirements.
