Another Special Person
Another drunk driver, another innocent person run down, another life lost. Driving the wrong way on a one-way street, 26-year-old Maxime LeBlanc is now facing charges of criminal negligence causing death, impaired driving, and failure to provide a breath sample. It doesn't get much worse than that, does it? Driving homicidally.
A car becomes a deadly weapon when its driver is not in control.
And LeBlanc clearly was not, when he drove his black Honda Accord eastbound on a one-way westbound road. Fatally striking Alexandra Dodger as she was crossing St.Patrick Street at 3:00 am after having spent the evening with a friend whose company she had just left. LeBlanc saw fit to drink and then drive his vehicle. Alexandra Dodger had the misfortune to be his witless target.
Her death is a dreadful loss for two women, her only family. Her mother and her grandmother, who both raised her. And who were proud of her social conscience and her work ethic and her determination to make a difference in this world of universal inequalities. This was the year she graduated from McGill University law school.
She had experienced a varied and busy life, fully engaged in social justice activities. Apart from her political engagements, she did legal internships in Israel, the Palestinian territories, France and Belgium. Her grandmother said she was committed to helping people who struggled with poverty, no matter where they lived.
"She wanted to see the world, she wanted to see the poor people - how they are managing, what can be done", her grandmother explained. While her single mother and her grandmother lived in the Toronto area, Alexandra Dodger moved to Ottawa to begin an articling job with Amnesty International, familiar to her from her previous bouts of volunteer work with them.
In her young life she did experience much, did satisfy her curiosity to a certain degree, continued to be committed to her aspirations in her search for social justice for the poor and the disadvantaged. She will never have the opportunity to continue that search, to fulfill her life's self-appointed mission, to continue making her mother and grandmother proud of her.
She might have become another Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. Who, in recognition of her work with women, in helping to advance equality for women, is being recognized as an "internationally recognized advocate for marginalized, victimized and criminalized women". She is due to receive a Governor General's Award.
That award is her personal reward for her lifetime spent advocating on behalf of marginalized and victimized women across the country. She will be receiving an award commemorating the Persons Case. Which refers to the Alberta women who become known as the Famous Five after winning the 1929 court case that recognized Canadian women as persons under the law.
Alexandra Dodger, 27, was one very special person whom Dame Fortune - a fabled female personage who needs no help from anyone - failed.
A car becomes a deadly weapon when its driver is not in control.
And LeBlanc clearly was not, when he drove his black Honda Accord eastbound on a one-way westbound road. Fatally striking Alexandra Dodger as she was crossing St.Patrick Street at 3:00 am after having spent the evening with a friend whose company she had just left. LeBlanc saw fit to drink and then drive his vehicle. Alexandra Dodger had the misfortune to be his witless target.
Her death is a dreadful loss for two women, her only family. Her mother and her grandmother, who both raised her. And who were proud of her social conscience and her work ethic and her determination to make a difference in this world of universal inequalities. This was the year she graduated from McGill University law school.
She had experienced a varied and busy life, fully engaged in social justice activities. Apart from her political engagements, she did legal internships in Israel, the Palestinian territories, France and Belgium. Her grandmother said she was committed to helping people who struggled with poverty, no matter where they lived.
"She wanted to see the world, she wanted to see the poor people - how they are managing, what can be done", her grandmother explained. While her single mother and her grandmother lived in the Toronto area, Alexandra Dodger moved to Ottawa to begin an articling job with Amnesty International, familiar to her from her previous bouts of volunteer work with them.
In her young life she did experience much, did satisfy her curiosity to a certain degree, continued to be committed to her aspirations in her search for social justice for the poor and the disadvantaged. She will never have the opportunity to continue that search, to fulfill her life's self-appointed mission, to continue making her mother and grandmother proud of her.
She might have become another Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. Who, in recognition of her work with women, in helping to advance equality for women, is being recognized as an "internationally recognized advocate for marginalized, victimized and criminalized women". She is due to receive a Governor General's Award.
That award is her personal reward for her lifetime spent advocating on behalf of marginalized and victimized women across the country. She will be receiving an award commemorating the Persons Case. Which refers to the Alberta women who become known as the Famous Five after winning the 1929 court case that recognized Canadian women as persons under the law.
Alexandra Dodger, 27, was one very special person whom Dame Fortune - a fabled female personage who needs no help from anyone - failed.
Labels: Human Fallibility, Human Relations, Human Rights
posted by Pieface | 7:57 PM
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