As I sit on my deck, I try to digest with disgust how the news of another family (McGowan-Proulx) has been devastated by needless violence that was almost certainly preventable.
I cannot fight the tears and anger for I am well aware of the pain and anguish they are suffering.
Our son Jesse Penner was murdered in a very similar way. He went to the aide of some younger people who were being viciously attacked outside a house party, and was stabbed in the heart for his act of courage.
Sam McGowan did what was instinctive for a father and died for it. His family, as was ours, will be very much let down by what the "industry" considers justice.
After the ludicrous sentence is handed down, this family will need to pick up the pieces of their shattered world and try to move on.
The whole Youth Criminal Justice Act is a complete farce and needs an immediate overhaul.
Asking the Crown to prove that this was an adult crime is wholly absurd as any law-abiding citizen would not need an ounce of convincing. Viewing youth as less culpable because they are under 18 is not beneficial to anyone.
While the family navigates the court process, they will only receive $8 per hour from The Crime Victim's Assistance Program.
As someone working in the movie industry, Sam McGowan's salary was substantially higher and more than enough to support his family.
Minimum wage is completely unacceptable as victims of crime should be at the same financial position as the day of the crime. Without some form of financial aid from the government, victims may end up losing their homes, their jobs and their livelihood.
Ms. Proulx will not be offered legal help to assist her through this legal nightmare. The offender will have free legal council, meals and a place to sleep, not to mention an endless number of programs to help him reintegrate back into society as fast as they can spit him out.
Everyone that walks into that court room receives a paycheque except for the victims who pay for it through their taxes.
There is also no civil recourse because the costs are insurmountable to victims of crime after they have already lost so much. Even the new changes to our civil laws are a joke, tokenism at its best.
There is also a limitation to the number of visits for rehabilitation no matter what shape or form it comes in.
There is something very wrong with this picture as innocent victims are stranded and left to figure out the inner workings of a confusing system when they are told that nothing exists for them.
Wage loss was eliminated in 1992 by the federal government and passed down to the provinces, after which more cuts were made.
In a nutshell, this is a Canadian definition for justice.
Lady Justice still wears a blindfold, not to deliver unprejudiced justice but because she is troubled by the state of our criminal justice industry and does not wish to face the problems that keep piling up.
F.A.C.T. has recently created a proposal called "The True Cost of Crime." Maybe someone in charge will read it, and who knows, they might actually learn something.
Gord Penner is a board member of Family
Families Against Crime and Trauma (F.A.C.T.)
For more information, visit familiesagainstcrime.org
