A Renfrew County judge is warning that gaps in the system show that “we are losing the ability to care about other people.”
“We live in a world where vulnerable, disadvantaged, addicted and mentally ill individuals are marginalized, criminalized and treated as subhuman,” Justice Jeffrey Richardson wrote in a recent ruling.
“Essential services are withdrawn, eliminated, or nonexistent, particularly in small centres.”
And when we stop caring for people, “we lose the ability to value their liberty.”
“When we lose the ability to value their liberty, we can hardly expect our own liberty to be valued.
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
Richardson wrote those words in the case of “BK,” a 39-year-old Quebec woman with an alcohol problem identified only by her initials in the court documents.
BK was arrested in February after police responded to complaints at a Pembroke-area hotel.
A background check by police showed that she was under a release order in Quebec to “refrain from using alcohol or other intoxicants.”
She appeared in court before Richardson at 4 pm on February 24 after six days in custody.
The Crown attorney and defence counsel recommended in a joint submission that Richardson sentence her to one day in jail in addition to the six days she had already served…
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