Precisely, but the AUTHORITIES mis managed the case and she got away with manslaughter.
By our laws, chosen mostly by us to protect us, she is eligible for a pardon. This is one of the last true forms of rehabilitation we have left in this country. We have it so that people who do time for this charge while drunk, or protecting someone are not forever burdened by a criminal record. There will always be cases where the justice system fails us, we should be aware and accepting of that. But,
Harper is using this rhetoric for a specific reason. He is actively trying to change our policies on Pardons and severely limit the ability to receive one. With no other choice but crime you then can guarantee those people will not become better citizens. He throws out numbers like a 99% approval rate (BULLSHIT) but fails to mention the huge numbers of uneducated, doing life on the installment plan types that aren't even aware that they can get a pardon.
This is the reason we see a high number of these cases of intelligent people who have committed horrible crimes getting pardons. Sure these people may have gotten caught, but they are typically much smarter than your average born to welfare street criminal. This isn't news. It's about as shocking as the sun coming up but Harper wants to stir up emotion and get people terrified at how many monsters HIS government is forgiving.
We cannot continue to restrict our good people because of examples of failure. We can try harder and we can hold those who make the mistakes accountable, it is possible. Our parents and grandparents and their parents did just that.
We've already taken away schooling and most other forms of rehabilitation on the Provincial jail level. This means every person in these institutions has nothing to do other than participate in and plan future crimes for 24 hrs a day for their sentence. That could be a day to as much as 729 days. If you're sentenced to 730 days or more you go to Federal prison where you can get a degree, real toothpaste, conjugal visits, better food, better safety (Provincial jails are notorious for being poorly run and they house everyone waiting to be sentenced, that means the shoplifter is housed right there with the murderers) and a whole plethora of other available ways to turn your life around.
Many times though these programs are ignored by inmates because they have already spent years in and out of Provincial jails and have resigned themselves to a life of crime. They eventually get sick of the Provincial jails and move on to larger and more profitable crimes, if they get away it's more money and if they get caught they go to a better prison.
Taking away schooling at the Provincial level was bad enough and in my mind a thinly veiled excuse to build more prisons and hire more jailers. We cannot just start restructuring or destroying our Pardon system because Stephen reminded us that it has flaws.
No one is going to forget her, if you read up her a bit you'll see she gets grief and is watched almost everywhere she goes. Bernardo is one of the filthiest inmates since medieval times and it's because his safety is in such jeopardy from the other inmates and even the guards that he chooses to just stay in his cell.
Don't buy into this fear mongering shit that has become the status quo in politics these days. It's always been there and it's a sad and transparent attempt at control every time they use it. We are adults and we are able to perform some self regulation, we don't need to give up more rights and freedoms every time a politician says something scary. That is just what Harper means to do here, roll out the worst cases and get you to throw away the key on anyone who ever breaks the law and in some way that is ALL of us. You've seen this stuff play out in our neighbors yard a thousand times lately, some politician screams: "TERRORISM!" and everyone rushes to give up more privacy and more rights instead of saying: "You're right, YOU screwed up. Now fix it or you're gettin the Kennedy treatment."