PROTECT THE WEAK

Stories we'll never read: "Joe Smith faces more charges and stands accused
of being Canada's worst serial killer in the disappearance of dozens of
members of Canada's corporate elite."

"Bob Jones is accused of being Canada's worst serial killer and has been
linked to the deaths of over 60 professional hockey players."

"Jack Johnson is poised to go down in history as Canada's worst serial
killer having been accused in the deaths of five dozen missing politicians."

Yet there it was just over a week ago: "Millionaire pig farmer Robert
Pickton ... faces four more murder charges - and now stands accused of
being Canada's worst serial killer." His alleged victims? They're commonly
referred to in the press as "drug-addled prostitutes" - a phrase that,
while accurate, is usually spat out with a venom that suggests they're
barely subhuman.

Pickton has been charged in 15 deaths, and there are more than five dozen
prostitutes who have been listed as missing. The list of missing women
stretches all the way back to 1978, but 38 of the 63 on the list have
disappeared in the last six years.

Now think about that in context of the stories that we'll never see. Is it
conceivable that 38 CEOs could go missing over such a long period of time -
just disappear off the face of the earth - and it would take nearly six
years to find out what happened to them?

Could that many hockey players vanish without a trace without a massive
manhunt and millions of dollars spent on police manpower to track them
down? Would not Ottawa spare no expense to locate six dozen cabinet
ministers who suddenly stopped showing up for work, left no forwarding
address and suddenly ceased to exist? Heck, the FLQ once murdered a single
Quebec cabinet minister and Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act!

And that's why this story leaves such a bad taste in our mouths.

Society should best be judged not by how it treats its rich and powerful -
because they can look out for themselves - but by how it treats its weakest
and most vulnerable. A story like this would suggest that our society is
quite cold and callous, because five dozen women vanished and no one cared
- - because they're "drug-addled prostitutes" and apparently not worthy of
anyone's attention.

Yes, people make bad decisions in their lives and yes, prostitution is a
"high-risk" profession.

But it's far too easy for us to focus on the label - the phrase
"drug-addled prostitute" - and forget that behind those words are real
people, human beings who are desperately hurting and needing help, not
seeking to be dragged off the street and murdered.

They deserve better than this.