Quebec City Mosque Shooting Victims
I will begin today's blog with the opening words of an article in yesterday's Globe and Mail newpaper:
The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously struck down the punishment of life without parole for mass murderers, retroactive to the time it was enacted in 2011 – giving a large number of sentenced killers hope of release some day.
The ruling, written by Chief Justice Richard Wagner, determined the punishment is cruel and unusual and therefore illegal under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it is “intrinsically incompatible with human dignity.”...
The decision came in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six Muslims at a Quebec City mosque in 2017. He now becomes eligible for full parole in 25 years.
But the ruling also effects at least 18 others who have been sentenced since 2011 to periods of parole ineligibility exceeding 25 years. Those who received 50 years or more, even if they have exhausted their appeals, have a clear right to ask a court to reduce their ineligibility period to 25 years. The top sentences thus far have had a 75-year waiting period for a parole hearing.
When I first heard that a decision by the nine justices of the Supreme Court was pending I tried to sort out my own feelings on the subject. At an emotional, gut level my outrage at the cowardly nature of these terrible crimes is such that I would claim that "the time should fit the crime" and that mass murderers deserve to put away for the rest of their lives. Then I considered that a first degree sentence is in fact a life sentence, but with the benefit of a hearing after the specific time frame of 25 years. To deny this is the “intrinsically incompatible with human dignity.” part of the ruling. The lengthier sentences,only meted out in recent years are essentially the death penalty, day by day by day.
Some of you know that during seminary I spent four months working as a chaplaincy intern in Kingston Penitentiary, a federal institution. I interacted with a fair number of inmates who had committed horrendous crimes, including multiple murders. Some of them were in denial about the gravity of their acts, while others were doing the soul-searching which led them to be "penitent", to acknowledge their wrong-doing.
While they talked with us as chaplains there was nothing they could say or do which would reduce their sentences. All they could hope for was the opportunity to at some point demonstrate that they were capable of change and re-entering society. Some of the most profound theological conversation I had through the years were with inmates who know they were miserable sinners in need of redemption.Those few months were life-changing for me.
I think of Sister Helen Prejean who has advocated for an end to the death penalty in the United States for decades. Her book Dead Man Walking was made into an excellent movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Prejean has often said that as humans created and loved by God “we are worth more than the worst act we commit.This is not an easy outlook to accept and if I'm honest I doubt that I would feel this way if a loved one was snatched away by a senseless crime. It does seems consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, whose self-giving love redeems us.
Yesterday's decision by the justices would have been made with painstaking deliberation, yet it was unanimous. I'll be paying attention to the commentary in the days ahead.
God be with those who lost loved ones to these crimes and must come to grips with this outcome.
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