decency

There was another excellent court decision yesterday, as I'm sure you've heard. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that clubs that allow group sex do not harm Canadian society and should not be considered criminal.

This ruling marks a step forward in personal freedom and civil liberties. The court has rejected the vague, paternal notion of "community standards" in favour of treating Canadians as adults. They've said, in essence, as long as all participants are consenting adults, there isn't a problem - and it doesn't matter what the neighbours think, because no one's forcing them to participate.

These letters about the ruling on the CBC News site show broad support and understanding, as well as a minority of misunderstanding and finger-wagging. That's exactly what makes the ruling so important. The finger-waggers can wag all they want, but they're not allowed to run other people's lives.

A quieter story involves a case more than 120 years old.
On a February night that was never fully forgotten among the Sto:Lo tribes of the Fraser Valley, a mob of 120 riders came north out of Washington State in 1884, took a native boy out of British Columbia police custody and hanged him from a tree.

It is thought to be the only lynching that ever took place in Canada -- and now, 121 years later, the State of Washington is drafting an official apology. The return to B.C. of a sacred Sto:Lo stone from a U.S. museum may also be part of the gesture of reconciliation.

At the same time, the province is expected to make a statement of regret for the B.C. government's failure to pursue the U.S. vigilantes who murdered Louie Sam, a 14-year-old Sto:Lo boy. [Globe And Mail story here.]
It is believed that as many as 10,000 people were lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1964 (the majority before 1930). More than 4,700 cases have been officially documented, but that is likely a fraction of the total. This excellent site has a lot of information about the history of lynching in the US. I'm not linking to the most disturbing images - which were sold on postcards as keepsakes and mementos - but they're easily found, if you can stomach it.

Earlier this year, the United States Senate apologized to lynching victims and their families for the government's failure to enact federal anti-lynching legislation. The vote to issue the symbolic apology was not unanimous. Guess who didn't cosponsor it?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

not so fast

Not everyone thinks the Conservative government is a lock. Canada's opposition Conservative Party, which is set to bring down the minority Liberal government later this week, was hit by a new opinion poll on Monday that showed it was trailing in the country's most vote-rich region. The Leger Marketing poll for the Sun chain of newspapers put support for the Liberals in the powerful central province of Ontario at 43 percent compared with 31 percent for the Conservatives. Ontario, a Liberal stronghold at the federal level for the past 12 years, accounts for 106 of the 308 seats in House of Commons, and no party can hope to form a government without doing well there. . . . Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals have been badly hurt by a corruption scandal and Conservative leader Stephen Harper says the government must be defeated as soon as possible. The Leger figures, however, suggest there is no guarantee Harper can end 12 years of Liberal rule. Thanks, ALPF! I must say, I...
Read more

dipstick

So there won't be an election yet. Talk about a squeaker . Feel free to tell us how you feel about this, unless it's all been said already, then feel free not to. ALPF mustered his courage and sent more links, so I have some good commentary to post. I found this Macleans story on the Conservative party's reaction to Stronach's decision - and public reaction to that reaction - very interesting. Canadians seem almost universally turned off by the name-calling and sexist slurs. On the other hand, when a certain governor made his "girly men" pronouncement, his constituency howled with glee. (Which is not to say the rest of us weren't appalled.) The Macleans article also notes that not all the sexism came from politicians: Some of the most sexist characterizations of Stronach didn't come from her political adversaries, but from media. Montreal's La Presse newspaper ran a cartoon of Martin leaning out his car window to solicit a street-walking Stronach...
Read more