blogcutter

Before we leave March and International Women's Day too far behind us, I want to take some time to briefly revisit the progress women have (and haven't) made toward full equality. Two trials currently in the news have been a particular source of concern to me.

The first one is the trial of police officer Daniel Montsion, who is being tried in connection with the death of Abdirahman Abdi. Montsion's actions have been portrayed in the court of public opinion as a shocking example of police brutality and institutionalized racism and racial profiling, not to mention discrimination against the mentally ill. "Justice for Abdi!" the protesters proclaim. But what about justice for the six or seven women - and that's just the ones who've been brave enough to speak up - who were sexually assaulted by Abdi before he was restrained by police?

Apparently Abdi managed to grope or otherwise inappropriately touch six women in a Bridgehead coffee shop before the police swooped in and did their thing. In addition, a woman in her car who was stopped at a red light in the area was also victimized by Abdi, who reached into her car window on that fateful hot July day. I suspect there may well be other victims out there who didn't step forward, who just wanted to put the unpleasantness behind them, rather than reliving it all in court and being accused of somehow "asking for it"!

Now, it may well be that Abdi could not realistically be held responsible for his own actions - but if that was the case, then who and where were his "minders"? Should he not perhaps have been locked up somewhere, or put on more or different medication, or been otherwise cared for, both for his own safety and security and that of his family, friends and the public at large? I'm not normally a particularly fervent advocate for the police but it does seem to me that they lack the necessary resources to deal with situations such as that one.

The second trial now unfolding is that of Joshua Boyle, who has pled "not guilty" to 19 charges of assorted violent behaviour, most of it towards his estranged wife, Caitlan Coleman. We don't know who the second victim is because there's still a publication ban, but I certainly hope it's not one of his kids, all of whom are very young (and scarily, Boyle has said he always knew he wanted a large family). In this case, I don't think there's any doubt that Boyle was fully responsible for his own actions and I hope they throw the book at him and lock him up for a very, very long time.

In other news, there have been serious allegations of sexual abuse at Ottawa Community Housing. More broadly, managers of women's shelters have pointed out the dangers of social media and smartphones - apparently aggrieved ex-partners can easily track these women, and who knows where that may lead - will we see more Basil Borutskis and Russell Williamses in our midst?

I'm not in favour of the death penalty. So I think the most pressing question here would be: How can we rehabilitate these violent people (usually men), if indeed they CAN be rehabilitated? It's all very well to talk of sensitivity training and anger management classes, but the folks taking the training may be pretty adept at giving the answers and making the noises the teacher wants to hear, regardless of what their true feelings and beliefs may be. Moreover, they may simply not show up for the required training (as was apparently the case with Borutski) and there are no consequences whatsoever!

Societal attitudes clearly need to change - but that tends to be a longer-term thing. Meanwhile, we may need to stop the violence using more direct intervention. How do we achieve that balance between reactive and proactive measures?