By Mac Headrick

I personally find it very difficult to write anything about law and order issues. No matter how noble my intentions are in the beginning, by the end of the column l am reduced to a cranky, complaining old man. Today, l will once again attempt to express a balanced opinion on the state of the legal system in our society. I will try to avoid my usual conclusions, which tend to end up a little to the right (ouch! sorry that word “right”) of Attila the Hun.

Let me begin by making a positive statement. Regardless of the obvious faults in our present system of justice, it is in my opinion still significantly better than what exists elsewhere. Everyone wants to see consequences to criminal acts. The difficult part is to balance this against individual rights.

My favourite example of what l mean occurred in China in 1949. The Communists took over the country and one of their first priorities was to address the opium addiction problem. Their solution was very effective and simple. If you sold opium to support an addiction you were thrown in a cell to either die or be cured. If you sold drugs just for profit you were denied legal representation and executed in most cases within one day of arrest. Within approximately one year the opium addiction problem was eliminated. Of course the cost of this “effective” justice system is a police state. I prefer a democratic society.

Has the balance in Canada shifted too far to individual rights versus laws enacted to protect society as a whole? Now, l can anticipate what the response of the average Canadian would be to the above question. There are ongoing problems in our society that do have a negative impact on the public’s confidence in our justice system. These must be addressed and somehow resolved or they will continue to erode Canadians

I understand the benefits and logic behind probation. What l would like to see is this aspect of our legal system be applied to individual responsibility. In other words, if a person abuses their probation conditions then they will be denied the privilege. Often in the local news someone will be arrested and there will be numerous additional charges than revolve around “breach of probation.” This continuous reporting of breaches gives the impression that criminals do not take probation conditions seriously.

I am very pleased that the McGuinty government has stated that one of the priorities of his second term is to address native issues. I also acknowledge that the fact there has been no deaths in the last two years in the native occupation of Caledonia is a tribute to the Ontario Liberal’s handling of this situation. The problem is there is a perception that relative to any native protests, police forces have been directed to look the other way and ignore illegal acts. Of course this is the reality. I believe the police forces would intervene to prevent loss of life.

A former police officer Perry Dunlop is refusing to return to Ontario and testify in a public inquiry in Cornwall into alleged sexual abuse of children. Rightly or wrongly Mr. Dunlop feels there is no point as in his words “I’m saying our judicial system is broken…. and l have no faith.”

Locally, this past Thursday, a judge stayed nine charges against a retired Anglican priest due to excessive time in bringing the matter to trial. The prosecution acknowledged more than 16 months of the delay was the fault of institutional or Crown related delays. What does this example do to the public confidence in our legal system? This situation cannot be allowed to continue. Resources have to be allotted to insure trails are conducted in a timely fashion. Also, prosecutors and judges have to be held accountable if they are responsible for decisions that result in delays and the resulting dismissal of charges.

Finally what do you think would happen if I, Mac Headrick, received $300,000 in cash and forgot to claim this money in my income tax statement? When it became public knowledge would l then be allowed to then make restitution to the federal income tax office? My point, hopefully our elected politicians will avoid the behaviour of former Prime Minister Mulroney.

The above examples are some areas l would like to see addressed so Canadians confidence will increase in our legal system.

As l see it, l am a supporter of individual rights. I hope the concept individual responsibilities can be returned to in the future.