In Québec, Mr. Acher Sabbah, a 61-year-old man was sentenced to house arrest for having sexually assaulted a 13-year-old runaway girl from a youth centre (https://tinyurl.com/kuyhtsy7). Of note, five years ago, as per the Sûreté du Québec—the provincial national police—Mr. Sabbah was “believed to have committed crimes between 2015 and 2019 in the regions of Lachute in the Laurentians, Beauharnois in Montérégie, and Laval on the North Shore of Montreal” (https://tinyurl.com/yefa6n75). From La Presse (https://tinyurl.com/kuyhtsy7), we learn that this same man “was acquitted last month of sexual crimes against a minor by Judge Simon Dolci. He was accused of acts that allegedly occurred in 2006“.
Let’s put this story aside for a few second to focus on another story that took place recently in Halifax. A woman, Ms. Tracey Kitch, former CEO of the IWK, was sentenced to 9 months in jail, and went there handcuffed by the police after her trial, for a financial fraud. The latter consisted of charging personal expenses to her corporate credit card. According to CTV News, “Kitch resigned in 2017 and was charged with fraud over $5,000 in 2018, following an internal investigation by the hospital. An audit found Kitch used her hospital credit card to pay for roughly $47,000 in personal expenses. That money was reimbursed. A conservative estimate of more than $30,000 was the evidence presented at trial, consisting of personal flight passes and taxi chits (https://tinyurl.com/3y242nfw).
While Bambi does not deny that a financial fraud in public service is a bad act, why does the Canadian criminal system punish stealing money from a children’s hospital, but is more forgiving with child sexual abusers? And what about the young victims? Don’t they deserve a victim-centred justice system in a protective society?
Very well said Russ. Historian Niall Ferguson describes himself as a lapsed atheist. Here’s an inspiring quote from him from a recent interview in Vancouver: “We’re probably in the very early phase of a Christian revival. This reawakening will be the antidote to the great awokening that has caused so much harm. I’m from England where I wonder how many unhappy people there are would be so much happier if they only went to church on Sunday and opened their heart to Christ.”
MARK …. FROM YOUR LIPS TO HEAVENS EARS ! !
I AM A POOR STUDENT WHEN IT COMES TO RELIGION …. MY FATHER SAID
HE DID NOT ATTEND , FOR FEAR OF A ROOF COLAPSE ( RETRIBUTION FOR A SINNER ) .
I PRACTICE THE ONLY RULE MY FATHER LIVED BY ….. THE GOLDEN RULE , DO UNTO
OTHERS .
I HAVE LIVED ONLY IN THE WESTS ….. JUDEO CHRISTIAN VALUES . I DO NOT
UNDERSTAND ANY PERSON WHO LIVES ON THIS GLORIOUS PLANET AND VALUES
DEATH & HATRED MORE THAN LIFE & LOVE .
I HOPE THAT THERE IS AN AWAKENING …… OUR SOCIETY IS OVERDUE FOR
THIS AND A REALIGNMENT WITH FACT IN THE SCIENCE & MEDICAL FIELDS AND
THEIR AVERSION TO COMMON LANGUAGE . I TIRE OF THE PSEUDO WORDED AND
CREATIVE GENDER DISTORTIONS FROM THOSE WITH ABUNDANT VOCABULARIES .
THANK YOU MARK .
Canada’s criminal justice system is just a make-work program for lawyers, judges, prosecutors and police officers. There is no consistency and laws have little more value than ink on paper. As for police officers, their typical mentality is a cross between failed hockey player and British soccer hooligan.
We have lost our moral fiber as a society. I notice gaps in conversations around basic human decency, and the will to stand for what is fundamentally important. Let’s just say that there is an erosion in the inner strength, fortitude, and even integrity in relationships, partnerships, friendships, brotherhood, sisterhood, and across all human relations. There is no dispute that stealing is wrong, cheating is wrong, and lying is wrong. However can we please cut through this political BS and admit that there is a BIG difference between these three unacceptable human behaviors (that do inflict pain in the lives of people) and harming, terrorizing, and taking the lives of vulnerable children whether causing death or psychic pain and trauma through sexual violence and abuse. How dare we as a Canadian society pretend we CANNOT see the difference and even tolerate a justice system that doesn’t weigh the cost of the pain to those surviving??!??
Bambi thanks you Mirella for your thought-provoking comment!
THANK YOU BAMBI ..
ON CANADA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM …… $ 47 K , MOSTLY REPAID ….. MEASURED AGAINST
PERSONAL MENTAL DAMAGE TO A CHILD IS NOT EQUATABLE . BAMBI QUESTIONS THIS
BECAUSE IT GOES AGAINST HER RATIONAL MIND . SHE OBVIOUSLY WAS PARENTED WITH
” OLD WORLD VALUES ” , NOT FOUND IN MUCH OF TODAYS BIZARRO SOCIETIES .
THE SADDEST PART OF ALL THIS IS THAT , IT HAS BECOME THE ACCEPTED NORM
IN MOST UNDER 40 . AND TOLERATED ( OUT OF FEAR OF REPRISAL , OR INDIFERRENCE ) BY
A MAJORITY OF THE REST OF US .
I HAVE NO RELIGIOUS COMMITMENTS . BUT I BECOME INCREASINGLY AWARE THAT
WITHOUT THE TENENTS OF RELIGIOUS MORALITY , I MYSELF , FIND LIFE VERY CLOSE TO A
STATE, VOID OF PURPOSE . Russ
Many thanks Russ for your thoughtful comment!