Colin Gabelmann

Colin Gabelmann died on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at his home in Campbell River, British Columbia, at the age of 82. According to a tribute published by his longtime friend and fellow NDP figure Ron Johnson, Gabelmann's death followed a brief illness involving an aggressive cancer, the specific type of which has not been made public.

The news was shared publicly within days of his death through Johnson's written tribute and was quickly picked up by British Columbia news outlets, including the CBC, which described him in a headline as a transformative former Attorney General. CBC Radio's Vancouver Island morning program, On The Island, broadcast a segment on October 8, 2026, looking back at his influence on Island politics.

Tributes focused heavily on his role in shaping British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and on his reputation as a consensus builder during his years as Attorney General under Premier Mike Harcourt. Former associates and commentators in British Columbia's political and legal communities described him as a dedicated public servant whose work on government transparency outlasted his time in office.

No public funeral or memorial service details had been announced as of the time of writing; this page will be updated once arrangements are confirmed. He is survived by his wife, Robin Geary, her children Vanessa and Nathaniel Geary and their families, his sister Eleanor, and his brothers Paul, Doug and Mark.

Colin Stuart Gabelmann was born in London, England, on February 11, 1944. At the age of three he emigrated from war-torn Britain to Canada with his mother, Honora Elsie Puddifoot, whom his friend Ron Johnson described as very courageous. She later married Fritz Gabelmann, an orchardist, co-op activist and prominent member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the forerunner of the NDP.

Colin grew up in Osoyoos, British Columbia, in a strongly social democratic household. His first venture into politics came at the age of nine, when he helped his stepfather put up CCF signs during a 1953 by-election in the Similkameen constituency. He had to wait until he was 14 to join the CCF Youth Movement, which he did in 1958. At Southern Okanagan High School in Oliver he led a student protest against nuclear evacuation drills.

After high school he attended the University of British Columbia, but, as Johnson put it, like many of his generation he was drawn to political activism rather than academia.

Gabelmann was a founding member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party in 1961. His early activism included a summer job at the House of Commons in Ottawa in 1965, managing Lois Haggen's provincial election campaign in Boundary-Similkameen in 1966 at the age of 22, serving as president of the BC Young New Democrats in 1966 and 1967, and working as an NDP provincial organizer from 1967 to 1969.

In 1969 he was hired as legislative director of the BC Federation of Labour, the start of a long association with the labour movement. After losing his seat in 1975 he returned to the Federation as political education director, a post he held until he moved to Campbell River. He later said one of his greatest honours was being made an honorary member of the BC Federation of Labour Executive Council.

He was also a key figure in the federal NDP for British Columbia, serving on the party's Federal Council as a BC representative in various capacities from 1965 to 1995. He said he was inspired by and fortunate to know social democratic figures such as Tommy Douglas, David Lewis, Stanley Knowles and Stephen Lewis.

Gabelmann was first elected in 1972 as NDP MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour in a close four-way race, defeating the incumbent Liberal MLA, the leader of the Conservative Party and a popular local councillor running for Social Credit. He sat as part of Dave Barrett's government, the first NDP government in British Columbia's history.

As a backbencher he gained notoriety for voting, with colleagues Rosemary Brown and Harold Steves, against some sections of the government's new Labour Code, which the BC Federation of Labour opposed as too restrictive of the right to picket. The three also voted against the government's 1975 back-to-work legislation ending four different disputes. He was a strong supporter of the call by Rosemary Brown and the NDP Women's Committee for a separate Ministry of Women's Rights.

He was defeated in the December 1975 election when Social Credit returned to power, despite increasing his share of the vote. He then won the newly created riding of North Island in 1979 and held it in every election until he stepped down in 1996. Over his career he served as both opposition whip and government whip.

As NDP labour critic in 1987 he led the opposition to Bill 19, the Social Credit labour legislation of Premier Bill Vander Zalm's government. Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer recalled that "there were no stunts in what he did, nor any personal attacks." In 1988 he took the lead in drafting an NDP economic plan for Vancouver Island that served as a guide to NDP action in the 1990s.

When the NDP won the 1991 election, Premier Mike Harcourt appointed Gabelmann Attorney General, a post he held from November 5, 1991, to August 16, 1995, when he was succeeded by Ujjal Dosanjh. The appointment of a non-lawyer as the province's chief legal officer drew criticism. Gabelmann's approach was to build consensus before acting, listening to all perspectives before doing what he thought was right. He valued regular meetings with the volunteer-led NDP Justice Policy Committee.

His best-known achievement was British Columbia's first Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, praised at the time as the best in Canada. Journalist Bob Mackin later called him the "father" of the province's freedom of information law.

According to Ron Johnson's memorial, his other accomplishments as Attorney General included ending, with Premier Harcourt's support, the province's long-standing legal position that Aboriginal title had been extinguished, which opened the way for the Supreme Court of Canada's 1997 Delgamuukw decision; legislation lowering the provincial voting age to 18; graduated licensing for new drivers; new conflict of interest legislation; an inquiry that led to an independent police complaints commission; modernized access to land title information; and an independent, non-political system for appeals to cabinet. He also implemented recall and initiative legislation approved by referendum. He later served as Minister of Government Services and Sport.

At his retirement party he called the Attorney General's post "the toughest job in cabinet," adding, with a look at Harcourt, "I can say that, not having held any of the others."

Gabelmann said his first meeting with local First Nations as North Island candidate had a profound impact on him. When he asked what issues they wanted him to take forward, the answer after a long pause was "they stole our land." He became a strong advocate for the rights of First Nations to reclaim title to their ancestral lands.

As MLA he worked to establish protected areas including the Beaver Lodge lands in Campbell River, Tashish Kwois, Read Island and Ha'thayim (Von Donop) Marine Park. He helped secure funding for Timberline High School and North Island College, a joint facility and the first of its kind in British Columbia, as well as the Inland Island Highway.

In 1990, after a blockade by the Klahoose and other Cortes Island residents shut down MacMillan Bloedel's logging at Squirrel Cove, he agreed to mediate. The Cortes Island community paper Tideline credited him with bridging the divide, leading the company to experiment with partial cutting in place of clear cutting. In the same year he persuaded the Social Credit government to delay an export licence for bulk water exports by tanker from Toba Inlet, in Klahoose territory. The delay became a permanent ban under the NDP government.

In 1978 Gabelmann began a nearly 50-year personal and political partnership with Robin Geary, a feminist and activist in the NDP Women's Rights Committee, whom Ron Johnson described as his confidant, consultant, collaborator and companion. Robin brought her two children, Vanessa and Nathaniel, into his life. As a family they skied at Mount Washington in winter and hiked and kayaked around northern Vancouver Island in summer.

In retirement he served on community boards including the John Howard Society, the Beaver Lodge Trust Society and Vancouver Island University, and continued his work on Aboriginal issues as a consultant for the Homalco and Klahoose First Nations. He and Robin loved travel, with Greece their favourite destination, delighted in being grandparents to two grandsons, and were avid gardeners whose Campbell River garden held flowers, vegetables and more than 100 rhododendrons.

Gabelmann described himself through his life as a democratic socialist. Johnson wrote that he lived true to those ideals, with a strong sense of fairness, a commitment to working people and a member-focused NDP. At a time when many men in the party struggled to embrace feminism, Johnson wrote, Colin never hesitated.

He remained principled about labour rights. In a July 2, 2024, conversation recorded by the BC Labour Heritage Centre, he called the 1975 back-to-work legislation "the lowest point of our term in government" and said it "was wrong in principle." He was not opposed to back-to-work orders where public safety was at stake, and had supported one in a firefighters' dispute.

He also defended the original purpose of the freedom of information law. Speaking to Bob Mackin in 2021 about later changes under the Horgan NDP government, he said: "That's not what the NDP can be proud of."

While Attorney General, Gabelmann was the subject of a private prosecution brought by an anti-abortion activist over a mistake in an affidavit he had filed. "I agonized over this matter for almost 50 hours," he told reporters. "I had two nights when I could not sleep." He rejected calls to resign, saying "I have done absolutely nothing wrong." Special prosecutor Richard Peck agreed, concluding that the perjury accusation "did not come close to being provable in a court of law."

Vaughn Palmer also noted that while Gabelmann implemented the recall and initiative legislation approved by referendum, he imposed requirements so exacting that neither process would be workable.

Gabelmann is remembered as one of the last remaining members of the Barrett government of 1972 to 1975 and as the architect of British Columbia's freedom of information law. CBC News described him as a transformative former attorney general. Journalist Rod Mickleburgh called him "ever-genial" and "a lovely guy," and Johnson wrote that he "will continue to inspire us long into the future."

His work on Aboriginal title, protected areas on northern Vancouver Island and forest practices on Cortes Island, where elements of the Cortes Initiative he supported live on in the Cortes Community Forest, are part of his lasting mark on the region he represented for 17 years.

Gabelmann recorded a conversation with Ron Johnson for the BC Labour Heritage Centre on July 2, 2024, used in the centre's video The Backstory: Labour and Politics 1961-1991. He appeared on Bob Mackin's theBreaker.news podcast in October 2021 to discuss the freedom of information law. After his death, CBC Radio's On The Island broadcast a segment looking back at his life.