MORE TO THIS THAN POT

The country continues to mourn and seeks to answer the tough questions
following the senseless murders of four Mounties in Mayencourt,
Alberta. More and more, we're seeing that this tragedy had nothing to
do with marijuana and everything to do with a chronic violent offender
who should have been behind bars at the time of the massacre.

The spotlight, and rightfully so, is illuminating the sentencing
practices of the country's judges. And there is a particular focus on
the judiciary's lack of willingness to order incarceration even when
the law and circumstances authorize and support it.

I listened to a media event where three judges sought to exonerate
their colleagues and instead, blame Parliament for sentencing trends.

One question put to the trio was particularly revealing. Between the
three of them, not one had ever experienced so much as a residential
or vehicle break-in. Not even one.

Living in gated communities, far removed from the realities the rest
of us encounter on a daily basis, must be quite comforting indeed.
"What's all the fuss? What crime?"

Some observers are asking if any good will come from this tragedy.
Will it prompt some common sense reform in the criminal justice
system? Will it move us to reconsider our misguided efforts to emulate
the Europeans where incarceration is fast becoming extinct and violent
offenders terrorize law-abiding citizens with immunity?

A change of course is not entirely unthinkable. Unlikely; but not
unthinkable. Think back to the October Crisis of 1970. A British Trade
Commissioner is kidnapped from his Montreal home. Then a solitary
cabinet minister from Quebec is abducted and murdered.

Almost immediately the civil liberties of Canadians are suspended.
Tanks and armed military (remember when our military was armed?) roam
the streets. Suspects are rounded up and held without charge. Doors
are kicked in. There are no warrants. Social clubs are raided and
hordes of people detained without any legal rights or recourse. The
army is sent in to protect the House of Commons. In all, 497 people
are arrested. Less than one in eight would actually end up being
charged. In 1970 there was no government talk of due process or the
rights of detainees.

Trudeau, when asked how far he was prepared to go, uttered his most
famed bit of braggadocio, "Just watch me."

Decades later, cabinet documents released through freedom of
information legislation clearly demonstrate that the Liberal
government of the day never considered the separatists a serious
threat to national security. It was widely acknowledged at the cabinet
table that the suspension of the Canadian Bill of Rights was an
unjustified over-reaction.

What seems to have happened was a calculated act of violence hit too
close to home. And violence, at least violence targeting politicians,
would not be tolerated.

Unlike other violent offenders, these guys were hardly cuddled. You
don't kidnap and kill a Quebec politician and plea bargain a
conditional sentence.

Two of the FLQ members were given life sentences for murder. A third
was sentenced to 20 years for kidnapping. Another member, convicted
only of being an accessory, was given eight years. No house arrest or
probation for these guys. After all, they killed a Quebec cabinet
minister. The point is; government, even a Liberal one, is fully
capable of acting swiftly and decisively when it chooses to.

Chronic offenders with a history of violence are being given community
sentences as a matter of routine. Even those rare offenders who are
incarcerated are typically released long before their sentence expiry
date. Despite recommendations for prolonged confinement of offenders
who clearly pose a real and imminent risk to society, the system
releases them to save money. Dangerous predators are placed in halfway
houses only to wander down the street and kill again. The government
shrugs its collective shoulder and says they still have a pretty good
track record.

If it were four judges who were ambushed and gunned down last week
what do you think the government reaction would be? What about four
cabinet ministers? What if they were from Quebec?

The Prime Minister has an opportunity to call for substantial and
significant reform to our broken and dysfunctional criminal justice
system. He has a duty to do so.

Unfortunately, Paul "Mr. Dithers" Martin is unlikely to announce
anything quite as bold as "Just watch me."

"Let's study it some more" is a more likely battle cry from this
fearless leader.

* John Martin is a Criminologist at the University College of the
Fraser Valley