The "Negative Consequence of Colonization" ... All Is Forgiven

"[While the man] was not raised with a traditional upbringing, [doesn't have status and neither he nor his] immediate family were impacted by state actions such as residential schools, even the dissociation with one's past and cultural heritage is a negative consequence of colonization." 

"[Yet] violence against the toddler, when he was so young, will have an inevitable and long-term impact. The extent of the impact is unknown, but I have no trouble finding that there will have been an impact."

"He helped to care for the children when the mother was unavailable or even, as it appears from time to time, unwilling. [On occasion, however], the child would be locked in a bedroom as a punishment for their behaviour and at night [so he wouldn't interrupt them]." 

"[K.J.M.] did not express any concern with locking a toddler in a room for extended periods of time while unsupervised by an adult." 

B.C. Provincial Court Judge Temara Golinsky 

The building blocks of character

 

In British Columbia an Indigenous man of 33, has been sentenced to six months in prison for assaults captured by a nanny cam in the bedroom of a two-year-old child. A year behind bars was sought by the Crown, while a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community was what the defence counsel felt to be a more appropriate sentence. Although the man had never lived in an Indigenous community, nor was he raised with a First Nations consciousness, the man referred to in court as K.J.M. was still given weight as an impediment to his equal status within society, without having suffered discrimination as a result of his indigeneity. 

 

K.J.M. pleaded guilty to the two assaults for which he was charged in court, expressing remorse at a two-day sentencing hearing. K.L.M. spoke during a pre-sentence interview of his relationship with the mother of the two children with whom he lived as 'awful', based on what he believed to be her infidelity. He felt used by the children's mother -- for financial support and child care. The child, he said, 'was difficult to parent', would beat his four-year-old sister and 'smear his s--- on the wall' without chastising guidance from the child's mother.

 

K.J.M. explained he put the toddler in a time out in his mother's absence on the day of the event that occasioned the first of the charges against him. The video in the child's room showed the child, clad in a diaper only, seated on the floor close to the bedroom door. When the door was opened it struck him on the shoulder "rolling him back and away from the door". 

 

"K.J.M. stepped into the room and used his foot to kick and move the child away from the door, rolling him into the centre of the room. He then bent down and pushed his hand on the front of the child's neck, pressing him into the carpet. He squeezed the child's neck for a moment while the child was screaming."

"K.J.M. yelled, 'Get away from the f---ing door', and then released his grip and left the room, closing the door behind him."

"The child can be heard crying while crawling back to sit at the closed door."

 

Two days later, another video showed the second of the charged assaults. The little boy, again diaper-clad, on his bed quietly crying, flinches as K.J.M. opens the door and strides into the room to stand beside the bed.

 

"He immediately squared his stance and then kicked the child once in the face or forehead with his bare foot, causing the child to fall onto his back."

"He yelled something at the child, then stormed out of the room and closed the door behind him. The child continued to lie there on his back and can be heard crying until the video ends a few seconds later."

 

Some time afterward, the children's mother noticed a scrape on her son which motivated her to review the footage on the nanny cam, which revealed the assaults. She immediately alerted authorities. While acknowledging his unacceptable behaviour with the child, K.J.M. spoke to the pre-sentence interviewers of the child having been "screaming or freaking out" after being punished. Judge Golinsky corrected that version, when she said audio from the videos indicate the toddler "was doing neither in the seconds leading up to either of the assaults".

 

 

The judge considered the man's offences to be "of such gravity and his moral culpability" so high that a conditional sentence was inappropriate. In consideration of the violent nature of the assaults given the child's vulnerability, the judge noted that the "assaults cannot be characterized as momentary lapses of judgment. If he had known the first assault was a mistake, as he stated to the report writers, then it is aggravating that he assaulted the toddler again."

 

Even so, taking into account K.J.M.'s indigenous ancestry as well as other mitigating factors, she felt in her judgment, a shorter sentence than requested by the Crown was supported, considering his guilty plea, the absence of any prior criminal record, his remorse -- and long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury suffered from an ATV accident in 2013. 

 

A 33-year-old B.C. man of Indigenous descent was sentenced to six months in prison for choking and kicking his ex-girlfriend's toddler son. Photo by Postmedia

 

In Canada, Justice Delayed Is Justice Stayed

"In 2022-23 , nearly one in three [30.4 percent] of sexual assault cases in adult courts exceeded the Jordan limit."

"Among these cases. 47.3 percent were stayed or withdrawn due to the limit."

"Given that sexual assault cases in adult court were already the most likely to be past the Jordan limit, this means that 14.4 percent of all sexual assault cases in adult courts were stayed or withdrawn, representing one in seven cases of sexual assault in adult courts in Canada, or roughly 500 cases."

"The risk of those records [medical records of victims testifying] being disclosed in court means that many survivors felt like they had to choose between justice or getting mental health help."

"The threat of an aggressor gaining access to a survivor’s therapeutic records is a risk to the health and safety of survivors."

"Reporting sexual violence is often framed as an individual choice, but survivors consistently indicate that their silence is in response to systemic barriers, institutional failures and inequality rather than personal unwillingness."  

"One survivor we interviewed talked about choosing to report knowing that it would be a difficult process, that it could cause harm, but doing it to protect the public. It's a sacred trust that people are putting in the system."

"I do honour the fact that there are many good-hearted, effective people working across the system, but there are clear points that need to change so that survivors are better protected."

"The harm is so well recognized that police officers and Crown attorneys regularly caution survivors against reporting or pursuing charges. The administration of justice is in open disrepute."

Report, Benjamin Roebuck, federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime 

Report from Benjamin Roebuck, federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

 

Sentencing, bail and parole reforms is a large topic in Canada, where criminal offenders no longer feel the stern face of the law under this Liberal-led DEI-inspired government whose 'progressive' agenda has filtered down to every level of governance and all its institutions, including that of the administration of justice. Bail for criminal offences is now liberally applied, and sentencing has surrendered to the purported needs of the perpetrator, not the victim. 

 

Structured release programs appear to have no interest in the fact that the accused or those convicted of previous, similar offences are once again free to re-commit.

 

That many offenders whose tender feelings have been salved by lenient judges who  find reasons to excuse criminal behaviour linked to the offender's unprivileged past, may have amassed long criminal records, offending and re-offending at will -- particularly if they're recognized as a visible minority, or from an Indigenous group -- appears incidental to the sentencing apparatus, more committed to amending the injustices of the 'colonial' past than offering justice in sentencing to the victims of crime. 

 

People who have been the victims of sexual assault can take the person who committed the assault to court in a civil case even if no criminal complaint was made. Educaloi

 

A month ago, an Abacus Data poll found 80 percent of Canadians in agreement that obtaining bail for criminal offences is too readily come by.  Repeat offenders, it is felt, should be impelled to produce proof that they merit such 'second chances'. Police forces countrywide, and provincial and  territorial premiers have been asking the federal government for years to amend those portions of the criminal code that have made it a given that soft punishment for crimes have become the norm, leading to an atmosphere of rising crime rates, reflecting that soft punishment.

 

The recently released 300-page report from Benjamin Roebuck, federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, focused particularly on sexual-assault victims' experiences in the courts. Specifically the number of sexual assault cases that never go to trial -- even when the victims have testified -- due to the aggravated time lapsed between charges and the commencement of a trial date which have had the effect of staying not the charges but a court date at all. 

 

The guarantee of a speedy trial, in other words, eclipses the administration of justice.

 

Where sexual-assault cases are abandoned on grounds of taking too long to bring the case to court ending in stayed proceedings. At times, police investigations resulting in evidence-gathering are tardy, at times it is the prosecution that is  unprepared, leading to a too-long delay of proceedings.   

"Charges in a criminal case can be ‘stayed’ or ‘thrown out’ when a judge or a Crown decides that the case cannot continue. When a case is stayed or thrown out [i.e. dismissed], it does not mean that the charge is withdrawn, that a victim or offender was victorious, or that the crime did or did not occur: instead, 'the issue of guilt or innocence is never determined'." 

"Stays 'can be granted when the state has acted unfairly, including a failure to bring the case to trial in a timely manner'. In 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada decision [R. v Jordan] established deadlines for when a trial must be completed. Delays that go on longer than these timelines violate the accused’s right to be tried within a reasonable time. An accused can then file a Jordan application; from there, a judge can grant the charges to be stayed."

"In Ontario, this is what has been affecting violent crime cases, including a number of sexual violence and child sexual abuse cases." 

Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres 

A  judicial stay isn’t the only way a judge can remedy a too-long court process, and other ways might be preferable in sexual assault cases. (9890 CJME file photo)