Last week, the high court dumped a whopper in Harper’s lap when it ruled Canadians in “grievous, unending pain” have a right to end their life with a doctor’s help. This not an issue the Tories wanted to have to deal with, especially in the months leading up to an election. It might get in the way with fearmongering about terrorists in every basement and mosque and boasting about tax breaks for wealthy Canadian families.
Some Canadians, the Supreme Court said in its decision, “may be condemned to a life of severe and intolerable suffering … a person facing this prospect has two options: she can take her own life prematurely, often by violent or dangerous means, or she can suffer until she dies from natural causes.”
The court might have been describing the Tories’ plan to deny parole to certain first degree murderers. Last week, the Globe reported the government had backed down on the plan to simply eliminate parole for cop killers, child killers and terrorists because the government lawyers warned the Supreme Court would strike down such a law.
Now there’s a shocker — the Tories actually listened to their own paid legal advice about the constitutionality of a proposed law. The new proposal, reported by the Globe, doesn’t sound much better: It will lengthen the time period before certain murderers can apply for parole from 25 years to 35 years and require the approval of the Justice minister for certain killers to get parole.
The Tories haven’t been able to articulate any reason for the changes, beyond: “Canadians do not understand why the most dangerous criminals would ever be released from prison.” But here’s the thing — Canada’s most dangerous first degree killers are not getting parole. I have been to parole hearings for some of these individuals; parole for them is not easy to get, and some of them don’t even bother to apply.
I remember one case involving a man who committed one of the most brutal homicides you can imagine — torture, sexual assault, taunting the police and victim’s family after the murder. The killer took more treatment than ten other prisoners combined. He got an education. He avoided any serious trouble in prison. He applied for parole after serving 25 years in prison … and still the parole board said no. That was almost 10 years ago; he’s still in prison.
The statistics simply do not justify the kind of reforms the government is considering. Few convicted murderers have been paroled only to kill again — but even the small number of murderers who do kill again are not the killers the Tories are targeting. Harper is, again, offering a solution to an imaginary problem.
If the government wanted to spare victim’s families the ordeal of repeated parole hearings for killers who have little chance of getting parole, he could allow the parole board to set hearings at five-year intervals instead of the current two. But removing the prospect of parole (because what minister is going to approve parole for a heinous killer?) could mean some individuals who no longer pose a risk to the public will be kept in prison for years longer — at a cost of $120,000 each year.
The next election will be about a lot of things — hopefully more important questions than which leader you’d want to have a beer with. Hopefully it will be about how the people who want to lead us intend to solve the problems that matter to us — not the phoney ones that matter to them.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca/
Author: Steve Sullivan
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