CANADA WON'T COUNTENANCE CRIMINALS, EH

THE shackles on Allen Richardson emphasized his fragility, as did the
flanking, beefy bailiffs who escorted him to a New York state prison
to serve the remainder of a 28-year-old sentence.

Originally, when I wrote about Mr. Richardson, I called him the latter
day Jean Valjean. Richardson was wanted in the U.S. for escaping a
four-year sentence for selling a small amount of hallucinogen to an
undercover law enforcement agent almost three decades ago. Then 19,
Richardson bolted to Canada after being told he would be returning to
the infamous Attica where 43 people had just died in a riot. An
exemplary member of the community ever since, Richardson has worked
for a UBC-affiliated research facility for almost 20 years.

When the story broke, I noted with irony that it was not the Americans
who had issued an extradition order, rather, it was the Canadian
immigration authorities that piped up, whining righteously that those
with a criminal record were not welcome in Canada. Since when? I was
under the impression that Canada had extensive, if unofficial,
welcoming schemes for criminals, and that, once they availed
themselves of Canadian benefits, these prized individuals were well
positioned to launch successful careers throughout the commonwealth of
NAFTA. For every one terrorist caught at the U.S. border, there must
be many Canadian success stories who make it across.

Back last year, there was at least one specimen known to me, Jose
Mauricio Jimenez, who had been welcomed into Canada under the criminal
reunification and recruitment tacit agreement, in spite -- or maybe
because -- of concealing a series of convictions in the U.S. Clearly
Jimenez had what it took, and was able to exhibit the kind of moxie
Richardson couldn't muster, and, as it turns out, Canadian authorities
are looking for: once in Canada, Jimenez was convicted of assault with
a weapon. Was he deported? Are you kidding, not with AIDS he wasn't.
Go Jimenez!

Even my plumping can't make Richardson look good in the face of such
stiff competition. An absolute wimp, Richardson is non-welfare
dependent, an upstanding member of the community, and a tender partner
to his ailing wife, Amalia. The man never stood a chance.

Why, on the same page updating the Richardsons' recent travails,
loomed the story of another shining recruit to whom Richardson could
not hold a candle. With her less than supple mind, Supreme Justice
Le'Heurex-Dube averted a huge loss to Canadian society. A Dube ruling
enabled an equally cerebral lower-court judge to keep a rapist, who
had been declared a danger to the public, from deportation. Now that's
a close call. The judge concluded it would be devastating for the
Canadian wife and children to do without the rapist's tender
ministrations.

No, I applaud the justice system. I applaud Immigration Canada for
ordering Richardson to leave the country. Good riddance: Canada does
not need the kind of riff raff who, for all his years in Canada, has
failed to slurp at Jane Stewart's trough. What's more, I will go so
far as to hail the foreign affairs minister for having the fortitude
to intervene on behalf of those exported Canadian arch-criminals,
Christine Lamont and David Spencer, but still having the gumption to
remain silent in the Richardson affair.

Dear me, all these accolades and I almost forgot the magnanimous
Justice Connell of Rochester, N.Y., whose stellar logic led him to
make Richardson an example for aspiring future "papillons." I'm
sending a message that escaping prison will not be tolerated, he said.
Three cheers for the Justice for knowing when to discard hundreds of
testimonials and when to discount a life well lived.

Okay, I'm cool. Allen Richardson was never rehabilitated, because
Allen Richardson was never a criminal. Just because government
legislation decrees that consenting adults may not voluntarily choose
to use or exchange certain substances -- does not make government
right or give it the moral (as opposed legal) authority to aggress
against the people it condemns for such activity. Allen Richardson did
not hurt or coerce anyone. If it is the health of the population at
large that Richardson allegedly imperilled, then government ought to
criminalize tobacco, alcohol, bungee jumping, fatty foods, and my own
nemesis, the chocolate dealer. The laws of the land can and often do
diverge from the principles of justice. The facts of the law, however,
should never make a discussion about justice moot.

Call it reason, call it Natural Law, or, for all I care, call it the
law that dare not speak its name, but a justice system that fails to
be informed by its principles is an ass.