National Post hammers race-based sentencing of Caledonia attacker

UPDATE 0024 hrs Jan 06/11: I’ve received a tip that on SUN TV’s ‘The Arena’ Show tomorrow Michael Coren will be talking to David Menzies about the light sentence given to Richard Smoke.
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Richard Smoke, the man who was convicted of nearly murdering builder Sam Gualtieri in Caledonia and leaving him with permanent brain damage, received a total sentence of only two years and eleven months because he had the good fortune to be born of a favoured racial minority.

The National Post editorial board and their reporter Christie Blatchford — author of Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear And Anarchy, And How The Law Failed All of Us — have decried the shameful law that has allowed this repugnant situation to exist:

• National Post editorial board, Dec 27/11: More injustice from Caledonia
• National Post, Jan 02/11: Christie Blatchford: Bad logic behind light Caledonia sentence

See also:

• Ontario Superior Court, Sept 16/08: Statement of Claim (SAMUEL AND SANDRA GUALTIERI V. R.)
• VoiceofCanada, Sept 19/07: Bulletin: RCMP lead OPP arrest of 13 natives during crisis at Stirling Street development in Caledonia
• VoC, Sept 13/07: Caledonia man’s injuries on hands of McGuinty, Kwinter, Fantino and many, many others

VoC Comment

For five years I and my associates have done our best to try to follow in the footsteps of Dr. King’s non-violent approach as we confront the injustices of racial policing in Caledonia. In the long run, it is the path to victory over the racial supremacy enshrined in our justice system that says, in effect, that a human life doesn’t matter as much if it is destroyed by someone with aboriginal blood running through their veins. 

Some will be tempted to become prejudiced against native people or believe that justice can only be obtained through extrajudicial means, but let us not forget that even when four black girls were murdered in the KKK bombing of a Baptist church in 1963, King never waivered from his belief in non-violence or his faith in his white neighbours:

 […] The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience.

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair. We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers. Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality. […]

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Sept 18/63: Eulogy for the Martyred Children

I hope that one day those involved in the Caledonia lawlessness will come to terms with their consciences. Richard Smoke did apologize to the Gualtieri family, and that is a step in the right direction. 

• Hamilton Spectator, Dec 03/11: Smoke apologizes to Gualtieri and family in court

It is, however, long past time for the OPP, Ontario government and Six Nations to set an example by offering their apologies as well. This would go a long way to turn the negative extremes of Caledonia’s dark past into King’s “positive extremes of a bright future.” 

We must recognize that the ‘enemy’ here is not native people or the sentencing judge or even Richard Smoke. No, the real enemy is our government which arrogantly thought it could institute racist policies to correct racism.

The National Post editorial board got it right:

“Judges can consider the unique circumstances of natives, but should remember that the rest of Canadian society must feel as though their court system takes lawlessness seriously, no matter the skin colour of the perpetrator. Locking Smoke up for less than two years sends precisely the opposite message.”

• National Post editorial board, Dec 27/11: More injustice from Caledonia

The Holocaust should have taught us all that racially-based justice is intrinsically evil and that no good can possibly come of it. Sadly, this seems not to be the case. The best thing we could do to provide some measure of meaning to Sam Gualtieri and his family’s suffering is to pressure the Canadian government to modify the Criminal Code of Canada to remove special treatment for aboriginal criminals, and continue to fight against the racial policing that created the conditions for his victimization.

POSTED BY:
Mark Vandermaas
Editor, VoiceofCanada
Founder, Caledonia Victims Project (www.CaledoniaVictimsProject.ca)
info@voiceofcanada.ca