It's not something I spend a great deal of time thinking about but I do feel fortunate that I belong to a profession that's consistently ranked as one of the most valued in society (librarians and firefighters usually battle for the “most important public service” title when citizens in various cities are surveyed each year.) As a nurse, Shea also belongs to one of, if not the most trusted profession in society as well.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we all know the reputation that lawyers have. And politicians are one of the few groups who rank even lower in public opinion polls than lawyers, somewhere between morticians and used car salesmen (and what does that say about used car salesmen??? 🤕).
This is the popular conception of those two professions but in my experience, lawyers (the good ones anyhow!) are frequently the ones you want to be working with when it counts. They are intelligent, rational and committed to principles of fairness and decency.
My first boss was trained as a lawyer and when I get to my “Five Things I Learned at the Sask Publishers Group” post, you'll see how valuable I found that perspective while learning a lot about the “real world” in my first job after completing my undergrad degree. In a variety of other spots in my life, it's always seemed to be the lawyers who have been the focal points of making things happen – whether it was the Chair of the Calgary Freedom to Read Week Committee, the head of the Alberta Civil Liberties Union or the driving force behind the G8 Amnesty International Observer Team in Kananaskis in 2002.
So it was with great pride that Shea and I were able to join a busload of enthusiastic Regina supporters today on a road trip to Moose Jaw for the NDP's nomination meeting that saw Regina barrister, Noah Evanchuk chosen as the candidate for the Palliser riding in the next Federal election (whenever that may be – Jurist has lots of great posts covering developments on that front.)
Noah gave a captivating speech – at times personal, at times partisan, and at times profound. I won't go into a full analysis but I want to share one story that Noah told.
He spoke of working as a public defender for a young woman who was being charged with armed robbery. She had been forced into prostitution at a young age and had an altercation with a John who refused to pay her. During the course of this altercation, she was thrown from a moving vehicle and sustained a brain injury. Oh, and she wasn't just a young woman when this happened, she was literally just a girl. Twelve years old.
So now stop.
You read that paragraph and if you're like me, you're surfing around. You skim articles. You keep moving. So now stop. And go back and read that again. Slowly.
This young woman – an underage prostitute, abused by her John and permanently injured – is the PERSON BEING CHARGED WITH ARMED ROBBERY.
Worse, there are people in this country (including the majority of the members of the party that currently runs our country) who believe that this is right course of action. Unbelievable. But that is why we need people like Noah in Ottawa. Canada needs more people who run with country with compassion, cooperation and courage.
Cynics may call it emotional button pushing but when Noah went on to say that he had a follow-up visit with this client and she told him that he was the only person in her entire life who told her that she was a good person…well, I couldn't count the teary eyes in the room because I happened to have something in my eye as well!
It's going to be a tough battle but Palliser has a long history of being an NDP riding and has only recently been lost by a couple of very close margins. And Noah is exactly the kind of next-generation candidate to take both the New Democratic Party and the province of Saskatchewan into the future!
Comments 2
It seems that an implicit arm of of your argument is that a holistic approach should be applied when determining who will be prosecuted pursuant to the criminal code. One wonders if this kind of approach might lead to absurd outcomes which would violate the rule of law. For instance, who would be left to arbitrate marginal cases and would that responsibility be used reasonably?
I won't presume to speak for Noah but I think part of where he's coming from is that this is bigger than the laws as it currently exists and however it may be interpreted – it's about how we, as a society, fail our weakest members.
As for the point you raise, I'm not a lawyer but my own take is that there's the rule of law and then there's the spirit of the law which is ultimately always arbitrary to some degree.
It's a lesser example but I always think of the people who do 110km when the speed limit is 100km without being prosecuted for violating the law.
Or on the topic at hand, there are numerous stories of people (often wealthy or well-connected) who get off or get lighter sentences when they are undoubtedly guilty. Or disadvantaged people who often get harsher sentences – perhaps due to lack of knowledge about the legal system or various other factors.
So yeah, absurd outcomes may happen but I would argue that they already do and that ultimately, we need to aim for justice – as a bigger picture item, not as a set of rules in a book.
PS – I'm glad I happened to see your comment. I usually get an e-mail notice every time someone makes a comment but yours didn't come through and wasn't in my spam folder either. Weird.