Canadian courts have been busy recently. Two high profile cases have come before the courts this week and the federal court of Canada has urged action by the government on another. Other than being high profile, the cases are very different; one trial is that of a man likely to be considered not criminally responsible for a murder he definitely committed, another is that of the inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekański and the last concerns a convicted Canadian in the United States who is facing the death sentence.

Even if you were living in the woods this summer (as I was), you probably still heard about the murder of Timothy McLean, the 22-year-old beheaded on a Greyhound bus. He was killed by Vince Li, a schizophrenic who had refused to seek treatment. In this case, there was no question that Vince Li had committed the crime, he beheaded McLean in front of approximately 30 other passengers; the question was whether or not he was criminally responsible for the crime. Right when I heard the story, it was clear to me that Li had lost his mind, no criminal would take the risk of killing someone in front of 30 witnesses, it was obviously due to a mental disorder. Two psychiatrists for the crown confirmed this fact this week and it's very likely that Li will not be considered criminally responsible and will most likely be sent to a mental institution for care instead of a prison. This of course does not mean he got off "scot-free", he won't be let out unless specialists judge that he has been rehabilitated. There's also no doubt that Mr. Li feels guilty for what he's done since an officer told the court that Li declined to have a lawyer assigned to him, proclaimed his guilt and asked to be killed. McLean's family however feels that he should be put away for life, whether in a mental institution or a correctional facility and are attempting to lobby the government to change its laws in order to do so.

In the second case, Robert Dziekański, a Polish man attempting to immigrate to Canada was killed by four RCMP officers by being shot numerous times with a taser. Paul Pritchard, a bystander at the scene of the incident shot this video of the event because Dziekański was visibly anxious; he had gotten lost and disoriented in the airport for hours because he couldn't communicate with the airport staff since he only spoke Polish (WARNING: It's quite graphic):



Dziekański died after this incident. Despite the brutality exerted by the officers, after the incident, the Toronto Star reported that the B.C. crown had decided not to prosecute anyone in the case due to lack of evidence. At the public inquiry this week, the man who fired the taser until Mr. Dziekański died, 32-year-old Const. Kwesi Millington, said he had done nothing wrong and tasered the man because he feared that he and the other three mounties were in danger. He claimed that Dziekański only fell to the ground when tackled and was combative until the end. It's obvious from the video that this was not the case and that he and the other mounties used excessive force. From the reports I've seen, I can say that he clearly showed no remorse for his actions and he even said he didn't watch the video of the incident until recently because he didn't think it was important.

In the last case I'll be writing about for this post, Ronald Allen Smith, a Canadian, shot and killed two aboriginal men who offered him a lift while he was hitch-hiking. The state of Montana convicted him of murder and per the laws of that state, he was given the death sentence. Ottawa no longer wants to ask the US for clemency in such cases, but the federal court has decided that they have to.

It seems strange to me that Li feels guilty, but won't be found guilty or killed as he asked to be, four mounties who were documented killing an innocent man, at least one of whom feels no remorse whatsoever will probably get away without charges or maybe at the worst will be suspended with pay for a little while and a man who killed two innocent people who were trying to help him will possibly get his sentence reduced because the federal court has decided that our government has to make a special request for clemency. These may not be the wrong decisions, but there's something weird when you look at these cases side-by-side.