Whether its rooted in the failure of our lawmakers to take meaningful action, or news outlets like the CBC to acknowledge there’s any problem at all, one thing is certain in Canada: the repeated shortcomings of our justice system continue to put innocent people in danger, and while the most violent offenders are coddled, their victims are left hung out to dry.
Nowhere was this more apparent than on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning.
Under grey skies that threatened rain, stories otherwise kept curiously separated by the media found a way to coalesce on the lawn of our nations capital.
We were brought together by Rodney Stafford whose fight for his daughter Tori gave the country a rare peak behind the curtain that hides the shocking difference between the average Canadian’s basic expectation of justice, and how it is applied by our systems in reality.
The public outcry that followed led to an assertion of intolerance, made by Prime Minister Trudeau himself, pointed directly at those who speak out against such low standards for victims. To him, we were “ambulance chasers” and we shouldn’t be mentioned at the table where such policies and laws get implemented. Our experience should be dismissed.
Well, it wasn’t the table, but here we were on the doorstep, and over the din of construction on government buildings in the background that we all wanted to interpret as a sign of a change to come, we met and shared our stories.
Aaron Gunn came from BC to support the effort and speak to the crowd. Others, were mostly from Ontario.
A group called Guardians of the Children were there from Toronto to show their support for the cause.
Maureen Basnicki, Brenda Bondy, Lisa Freeman, Susan Gerth, and Tina White were among those who were there to stand up for their loved ones and against a justice system that has failed them in some capacity.
But there were many people that weren’t there. That couldn’t be there… Many more than those of us that could.
The sad truth is, it is inherently difficult as a victim in these circumstances to do anything at all. It’s as if the the broken system depends on that fact. To be made to beg for what amounts to common sense and decency at a time of great tragedy is not easy. And though it may be more simple things like finances or distance that kept some away, I don’t blame them at all either way.
Three years ago to the day was the last time I was in Ottawa. I spent the next few days in the building that was now the source of all the construction noises. I watched then as more lawmakers voted to dismiss my experience as a father and a victim than ones that voted for it to be considered.
Though it wasn’t framed as such by them at the time, or by the media that seemingly approved of their indifference, the result was all to the benefit of the ones who violently end the lives of innocent people. A standard outcome in Canada.
I hope that all the noise was in fact a sign of a change. And I hope that the change soon finds more reasonable people in that building. I hope that whoever it does end up being is capable of empathy for more than those who commit these violent crimes – I hope their empathy extends at least as much to the people that the crimes are committed upon…
Whoever it is that ends up in there, we will be out here waiting on the doorstep – sounding our siren.
