Aboriginal? (almost) Free Pass

"If ever there was a case where the systemic factors affecting aboriginals in this country, as experienced in the life of an aboriginal offender, played a role in bringing that aboriginal offender before the court, it is this case.
"Surely society writ large must share some of the moral culpability associated with this terrible crime.
"How can we expect a child raised in an environment of alcohol and drug abuse, physical and sexual violence, neglect, poverty, hunger and instability to grow into a psychologically healthy adult with good impulse control and judgement?"
Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Aitkin

Manon Doyon holds a photo of her son, Dominic, outside court Tuesday. Dominic’s killer, Toby Little Otter Land, was convicted of second-degree murder for the May 2009 killing. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Land to life in prison, but made him eligible for parole in 10 years, the minimum allowed by law. Photograph by: Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen

 

First Nations communities, without a doubt, are plagued with familial dysfunction. They experience far higher rates of suicide, particularly among the young, than other groups within Canadian society; violence against aboriginal women and girls, high incarceration rates, drug and alcohol abuse are rampant on aboriginal reserves.

Such familial dysfunction is not a monopoly of First Nations; similar backgrounds flaw the lives of other children who are brought up in squalid backgrounds with parents whose values leave their offspring without social guidance, and they are exposed to alcohol and drug abuse, and become sexually abused and victims of violence, no less than those within aboriginal communities.

When this occurs it can be construed as a general failure of society as a whole. But is there any way to prevent these things from happening? There are social welfare agencies, child welfare groups, all manner of monitoring protocols in an attempt to ensure that children are not abused, are not victims of any kind of inhumane violations. Certainly not all are successful.

And it's well enough known that for some individuals their innate character is sufficiently robust to allow them to surmount those early experiences, to enable them to live normal, decent lives. Young people who grow up in exemplary households, cared for and lovingly guided, sometimes reject the path chosen for them and choose instead to act out and live less than meaningful lives.

Human nature is complex and outcomes cannot ever be adequately predicted. On the other hand, when individuals who have committed atrocious crimes and are so unrepentant that they repeat or attempt to repeat those crimes, should they be excused from responsibility on the basis of their unfortunate upbringing and exposure to vulgar, demeaning and brutal conditions?

The laws of the land make it abundantly clear that criminal offences will have consequences. Toby Little Otter Land killed Dominic Doyon, a friend with whom he had a violent difference of opinion, and he killed him in a particularly barbaric manner. Land attacked Doyon with a hammer. Doyon suffered no fewer than 87 separate wounds, stabbed as well with a Samurai sword by another friend who joined in Land's attack on Doyon.

"In attacking Mr. Doyon, Mr. Land was acting as the accuser, the judge and the executioner in the space of a few minutes, without giving Mr. Doyon any chance to defend himself in any meaningful fashion", said Justice Aitken. Land was spontaneously responding to rage over seeing Doyon with a 15-year-old girl, in a compromising situation. Judge Aitkin pointed out that Land's parents were both sexually abused as children, both drank to excess, and their son was sexually abused by his father.

Extenuating circumstances that went far to explain that "an underlying rage surges to the surface and takes over his actions", according to Judge Aitkin. "Those he attacked became his father's surrogates and suffered the brunt of his rage." Justice Aitkin explained that Mr. Land required long-term intensive counselling. Since his murder of Mr. Doyon he was convicted of attacking another prison inmate he believed was a sex offender.

In sentencing Toby Little Otter Land for the murder of Dominic Doyon, Justice Aitkin felt he should be eligible for parole after ten years, taking his abysmal aboriginal upbringing into account, since he was subjected to sexual abuse, neglect, racism and poverty. On that basis perhaps a whole lot of people can be excused by society and the law for the damage they inflict upon others.

Manon Doyon, Dominic Doyon's mother, has not appreciated the fact that her son's murderer will be handled differently than someone who isn't of aboriginal background. Although her own son who was murdered by the convicted man was himself aboriginal. "From the start, she had empathy more toward (Land)", she complained of the Judge's actions. "My son will never come back to me."

Of course, it isn't only the judge who weighs justice in such a manner; the law itself encourages special dispensation and consideration for those of aboriginal descent who commit criminal acts, under a provision named the Gladue effect under the Criminal Code that encourages special consideration for aboriginals.