There Is Anger In Canada Today

Let me clarify that a bit. There is always anger in Canada these days, usually directed at the Conservative government. We have evolved from being the nice guys in the world to being like everyone else; loud and brash with hair-triggers on our angry and too often, ill-informed opinions. Much of the recent anger has been directed at the government and more specifically, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

But the anger in much of Canada is focused on something else today. Graham James was convicted and sentenced to two years.

For my non-Canadian readers and friends, let me provide a little background. Graham James is a former hockey coach who is a convicted pedophile. He is our version of Penn State’s accused child molester, former football coach Jerry Sandusky with the only difference being that Mr. Sandusky has yet to be convicted of anything.

Mr. Graham is not only a convicted child molester, he is a convicted serial child molester and yesterday he received a two-year sentence for his second conviction.

Canadians are angry.

Editorials have been written. People have called online radio programs to voice their outrage. There are criticisms of the judge in the case for exercising too much discretion in passing sentence, for not understanding the true nature of the case or for just being an idiot. There are demands that the government do something to protect children and to limit the discretionary authority of judges when it comes to sentencing.

Canadians are justifiably concerned and they are angry. They were also angry when the current government introduced its comprehensive crime bill which dealt with two main areas; violent crime and the crime of sexual child abuse. The new bill moves to limit the discretionary authority of the courts when it comes to sentencing.

At the time it was introduced, many Canadians criticized the legislation as draconian, it was oppressive and just one more example of the totalitarian fascist state that Prime Minister Harper was introducing into Canada. He was accused of being obsessive about crime and for trying to impose regressive punishment on convicted criminals instead of introducing new measures to combat the causes of crime. The criticism against the bill was based more on dislike of the Prime Minister than anything even closely resembling common sense.

Until this morning.

This morning the same media and many of the same Canadians who failed to recognize that the government had, perhaps, correctly identified the problem with our courts and had introduced the needed legislation to try to correct that problem are now demanding the government they criticized do something.

It is national schizophrenia fueled by blind ideology and ill-informed thinking or more likely, just a complete lack of common sense. Perhaps it is all three. Take your pick.

Canadians are angry because a convicted serial child molester has once again received a light, inappropriate sentence. They are right to be angry. In this country, a bank robber receives a stiffer sentence than Mr. James received for his second child sexual assault conviction. There is something wrong with a justice system that has such inverted values.

There is also something wrong with a society when too many within it fail to recognize until after the fact, when a government they have decided to hate actually gets it right. As Christie Blatchford of the National Post wrote, the Graham James sentence is "par for the course| and that is neither a surprise to the government nor should it have come as a surprise to Canadians. The travesty is that too many Canadians refused to acknowledge that in their blind opposition to the Conservative government's crime bill because they were simply opposed to the Conservatives under Stephen Harper.

It doesn’t matter whether you support one political ideology or another. What matters is when you allow ideology to make you so blind to common sense, you actually end up opposing the very thing you want and need simply because the  political party or leader you hate is introducing it. 

If this bill had been passed two years ago when it was first introduced by the Conservative minority government Mr. James might well be serving a much longer sentence today. But it wasn't. It died on the order paper, just one more victim of politics and ideology undermining common sense.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Canadians are right to be angry today. They should be angry with Mr. James and with the courts. What has happened is not justice nor is it moral.

But many Canadians should also be angry with themselves for the hypocrisy of allowing ideology and delusions to cloud their judgment. The one person they have no right to be angry with is the prime minister. He saw these problems with our courts years before and moved to do something about it. For that he was ridiculed and called a fascist.

Perhaps if Canadians had listened and actually thought for a moment instead of giving in to hysterical and unfounded fears, Mr. James would not be now serving a sentence that will see him released after having served only six months.

And that, my friends, is just one more price a society pays when people recklessly abandon common sense to emotional knee-jerk reactions based on nothing more substantial than a dislike for someone. As the former victim of not one but two sexual predators when I was a child, I'm tired of this rampant and willful blindness interfering with finding consensus on resolving the most serious issues we face.


LINKS

CTV News Video of Victims's Reaction To James' Sentence
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120320/graham-james-sentencing-120320/

Anger Greets Two Year Sentence - The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/graham-james-sentenced-to-two-years-in-prison-in-sex-assault-case/article2375149/

Graham Sentence is Par For The Course - The National Post
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/20/christie-blatchford-the-travesty-is-that-graham-james-sentence-is-par-for-the-course/


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