Say it ain't so!

As far as I know, Canada is located North of the US of A and firmly at the top of North America. That’s what I thought. But reading the news lately, I’m starting to think it that it moved and no one told me and I’ve just been living in the Twilight Zone. It’s the only explanation for the insanity I’m seeing on the news lately.

So in Toronto, we have a pregnant 19 year old abuse victim who is in jail. Has she committed a crime? Nope. Does anyone think she’s committed a crime? Nope. But apparently putting her in jail is the only way that she’ll testify against her abusive partner who is wanted on 8 charges including assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and three counts of breaching probation. He sounds like a real winner.

She’s been in jail since April 3rd and will remain in jail until the court date, even though she’s 9 months pregnant. Their logic is that victims of “domestic violence” (Oh how I loathe that term) often refuse to testify and the police claim they require her testimony for a conviction, and well the only way they can guarantee she'll testify is if they keep her within arms' reach. Literally.

This situation really reminds me of Bill C-484. With Bill C-484, instead of focusing on preventing abuse against pregnant womyn and creating laws and policies that support these womyn before they are murdered, they push for a stupid Bill which will give their "unborn child" personhood rights and add extra sentences to someone who offs them. With this current situation, rather than creating laws/policies/programs that support survivors of violence who are wanting to testify but also you know… not wanting to be killed or furthered abused, we jail them to “keep them safe”.

And if you think this situation is a doozy, the latest news in the murders of 3 children in Merritt, BC show that the prime suspect was let off last week by a Justice of the Peace who didn’t deem him a threat. This is despite the fact that the man had a peace bond against him, been charged for a DWI on another occasion and a sexual assault on another occasion. Oh and was in court last week for threatening the school principal and administrator at his children’s school. Now I'm not a JP but I'm thinking that shit ain't right.

I’m telling you, this can’t be happening. Can we make the sexism, misogyny and blatant disrespect for womyn's lives any more obvious?

If the Canada I know and love is putting abuse victims in jail and letting creeps out on bail, then I’m out. I'm packing my bags and getting off this train.

I hear Antarctica is nice this time of year…