(This column was published in the Vancouver Province on Mar. 21, 2005)
Justice left wanting
By Leo Knight
At the end of a national week of mourning for the four murdered RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Coleen Myrol, the mother of the most junior officer killed on that terrible day, Constable Brock Myrol, told the two thousand people attending the service that it was time to move on. “We must look to the future,” she said at the final memorial service to honour the fallen officers in the small town where it all began.
A day later came the stunning decision at the Vancouver Law Courts, acquitting the two accused in the Air India terrorist attack on flight 182 in 1985. Yet again in this country, victims were left disappointed by a justice system left wanting.
It happens so often that, in the normal course of events, people have become inured to the injustice inherent in our justice system. But, when we are shocked back to reality by the spectre of four good young men murdered by a walking, talking freak show with an assault weapon, we get angry. Especially when we learn that everyone in the community knew the guy was a ticking time bomb and he kept waltzing through the system unscathed.
But, the hand wringers say the system did its job. After all, he went through due process each and every time and the system did prohibit him from having firearms after all.
Twenty five years ago, another loose cannon named Steven Lee Leclair entered the Palace Hotel at 37 W. Hastings and shot five people, killing three. He then commandeered a taxi and went to the Richmond RCMP Detachment. He approached the front counter and was greeted by Constable Tom Agar. Leclair shot Agar point blank and killed him. He also wounded Constable Wayne Hanniman who was diving out of the way after the first shots were fired at Agar.
Leclair was sentenced to life in prison. Now, after 25 years, he is being given a parole hearing on Tuesday at Mountain Institution. In a just world, Leclair would never see the light of day again. And, to be fair, he might not, depending on the collective common sense displayed on Tuesday by the parole board.
But, any system that would allow someone like him to even be considered for release is fundamentally wrong. Call me old fashioned, but when you murder four people in cold blood, one of them a cop, you’re done. Or at least, that is what should happen.
But the reality of our justice system today is that it is really hard to go to jail in this country. That’s why James Roszko was able to ambush four Mounties.
Last week in North Vancouver, Lukas Rosov was given a conditional sentence by the ever so lenient Judge Judy Geddes when sentencing him for four counts of robbery. And one of those was an armed robbery of a bank in Coquitlam.
When Leclair killed Constable Agar, a bank robbery conviction brought 12 years on average. Now it seems you get grounded.
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