Judge Turpel-Lafond's Advocacy |
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Nipawin - October 22, 2000 - by: Mario deSantis | |
social |
Times are changing and we have our own social activist in Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. |
After Judge John Reilly(1), we have in Judge Turpel-Lafond another courageous judge | |
who breaks down the conventional wisdom to close our eyes and shut our ears. Contrary | |
to the oligarchic perception that Canadian judges must not take interest in our social | |
conditions(2), | |
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prison |
Judge Turpel-Lafond has spoken at a national aboriginal policing conference held in Regina. |
The judge has pointed out that the generation of Indians suffering from the "residential | |
school syndrome(3)" is socially deprived and they are lost to alcoholism and they are | |
raised in foster homes. And this is why she has stated that if the criminal justice system | |
doesn't address a profound crisis we could very easily have a society whose main industry | |
is a prison industry, where essentially two-thirds of the population will have as its business | |
locking up the other one-third(4). | |
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social |
At a time when Honourable Janice McKinnon(5)(6) trumpets our phony economic renewal |
and says that Saskatchewan led the country in economic growth for much of the last decade | |
and were the only province in Canada to actually reduce our child poverty rate(7), it is | |
consoling to have Judge Turpel-Lafond taking side for the common people and for the | |
common law. Let us hope we can make some social progress and have more judges taking | |
an interest in the social advocacy shown by Judge John Reilly and Judge Turpel-Lafond. | |
------------------Endnotes | |
Judge John Reilly is a hero: a reaffirmation of individual rights, by Mario deSantis, September 6, 2000 | |
The National Post and Judge John Reilly, by Mario deSantis, September 7, 2000 | |
No support by law societies in residential school crisis, lawyer says 'Walking on eggshells', Richard Foot, October 13, 2000, National Post. An excerpt: Both the federal government and four Christian churches are being sued by natives who say they suffered a range of wrongdoing, including sexual abuse, as students forced into government-owned and church-run Indian schools. Although few cases have been tested in court, the liabilities for taxpayers could run into the billions of dollars. | |
Judge wants help for 'profound crisis', by Barb Pacholik, October 14, 2000, The Leader-Post, Regina, Saskatchewan | |
Honourable Janice MacKinnon: debating the economic underdevelopment of Saskatchewan, by Mario deSantis, February 9, 2000 | |
Honourable Janice MacKinnon and the NDP Government: Spin-doctoring the Truth, by Mario deSantis, February 21, 2000 | |
NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY RELEASED FOR CONSULTATION, News Release, Saskatchewan Government, Economic and Co-operative Development -547, September 14, 2000 | |
-------------------References | |
Chatelaine Magazine gives a point form biography of the judge calling her "the Bright Stuff" | |
Sentencing within a restorative Justice Paradugm Procedural Implications of R. V. Gladue this is heavy reading but indicates the direction Judge Turpel-Lafond is directing our attention in this paper she has produced. | |
Free Speech fo Judges: Turpel-Lafond's comments spark controversy in leagal circles, May 5, 1999 Star Phoenix. | |