Dale Jackaman
Mr. Dale Jackaman (born 1956, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian politician.
Jackaman, best described as a populist social democrat, became well-known in the 1980s and 1990s as one of the founders and past Executive Director of British Columbia's largest anti-tobacco activist and lobby group, Airspace Non-Smokers' Rights Society, later renamed Airspace Action on Smoking and Health. Airspace was an effective tobacco control organization during a time when smoking was prevalent in the workplace and virtualy all indoor public places. Jackaman was prominent in attacking municipal and provincial politicians for the lack of effective laws to protect non-smokers, and was involved in helping to initiate government litigation against the tobacco industry.
On the political front, Jackaman was a candidate in the federal riding of Richmond for the New Democratic Party in the 2004 federal election, and again in the riding of Richmond Centre for the New Democratic Party of British Columbia in the 2005 provincial election. Richmond is not considered a strong riding for the NDP and Jackaman failed to gain more than 33% of the vote in his last outing.
Losing the Richmond riding nomination bid to run in the 2006 federal election to Neil Smith, Jackaman chose to start a third party attack campaign against the evangelical right wing Conservative candidate, Darrel Reid. Jackaman, an avowed secular Humanist, attacked Reid for his stated opinions on stem cell research and treatment, gay rights issues, creationism and the “hidden agenda” issues which plague the Conservative Party. His campaign may have contributed to Reid losing the election to the Liberal incumbent, Raymond Chan, who would subsequently serve his fourth term in the new Liberal-led official opposition.
Through the 1990s to 2004, Jackaman served as the IT Director at BC Research Inc., western Canada’s largest privately owned scientific research and development facility that has since been acquired by Cantest. Jackaman became well known in IT circles and has used his prominence to take on both governments (notably China) and private corporations on human rights, censorship, security, and privacy of information issues.
Jackaman, a former reservist and United Nations Peacekeeper, served three tours of duty in the Middle East with the Canadian Armed Forces Signal Corps. He currently runs a privately held computer security company and lives in Richmond with his wife and daughter.
References:
(1) "Jackaman campaigns against Reid ", The Richmond News, December 13, 2005
http://www.richmond-news.com/issues05/123105/news/123105nn2.html
(2) "Chan Still the Chosen One", The Richmond News, January 24, 2006
Airspace Action on Smoking and Health
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_%28electoral_district%29