SMES THA eh? Pe TE THE COURTS have done it again. In the name of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms convicts are to have the vote, courtesy the Federal Court. One can see it now. Clifford Olson, child killer, and various rapists and robbers meeting in solemn conclave to decide whom to vote for. And MPs going to the jails to make speeches in favor of shorter sentences. Ottawa is thinking about appealing the matter. But so far they are only thinking. Even if they do appeal, there is no guarantee that our top judges will do the right thing. As lawyer Patrick Brode of Ontario has pointed out in a Mackenzie Institute booklet, the Charter of Wrongs is the criminal’s best friend. Too often, he states, guilt doesn’t count. What matters is the game. Meaning the law game. In the infamous Elijah Askov case, it was ruled that the accused, a violent Montreal gangster, had not been tried in a reasonable . time. This even though his lawyer had asked for several trial delays. So he got off scot free. Result? About 50,000 accused persons in Ontario alone never even saw the inside of a court- room, let alone a jail. Olson must be chuckling. Like the judges, he’s big on prisoners’ rights, too. Especially his rights under the Charter. If there were any real justice, of course, he would have been hanged by the neck until well and truly dead. According te a report from Canadian Press he now sees him- self as a poet, an artist, a satirist, and a budding lawyer. He was in Federal Court . because the prison authorities had tuled he should be denied contact with the media, one of his main pastimes being publicity. So this unfairly treated mon- ster, who tortured and raped his on the other hand small victims before killing them, is suing to have the gag order lift- ed. He also wants $50,000 in damages. Only in Canada, you say? Meanwhile, he has completed his Grade 12 education and been accepted into the criminology pro- gram at Simon Fraser University. Be a child-killer and get a degree. Wouldn’t surprise me if he turned up one day as Professor Ry atering to cri Dour Collins Olson. Don't laugh. He could be out on parole ina couple of years. First-degree murderers can be released after serving 15 of the 25 years to which they are “sen- tenced.” It’s all part of the 180-degree turn in attitude introduced in 197] by Jean-Pierre Goyer, your friend- ly Liberal solicitor general, who stated: “We have decided to stress the rehabilitation of individuals rather than the protection of society.” Later, thanks to philosopher king Pierre Trudeau, we got the Charter that gave unelected judges power over Parliament. Which means, more than ever, that what you want doesn't matter a damn. All too often, common sense goes out of the window and is replaced by the “game.” The law is too important to be left to judges. As a British critic has pointed out, there is no more reason to let them make the law than there is to allow generals to decide when a country is to go to war. We have had dozens of funny Dirrmonad Change LONSDALE QUAY ff NORTH VANCOUVER 988-6321 RRSP Tip #6 Start a spousal RRSP to maximize Nancy Farran’ Investment Advisor For your {ree RRSE tao Kits Janniné TAAL ux today: We Still your after-tax income when you retire. Two equal RRSPs can lower your marginal income tax rates. Deliver! ® Fresh from the Dairy * Convenient Weekly Service rulings based on the Charter. Three hoodiums walked free because detectives had asked them to sit in the police car for ques- tioning. That was seen as “arbi- trary detention or imprisonment.” But on the evidence they were guilty. Mr. Brode describes how a big- time drug smuggler got off even though the police caught him at an airport red-handed. Why? Mainly because the police had not told him what they were looking for. Yet one member of the Supreme Court stated that the accused “was unquestionably guilty of importing a sizable amount of heroin.” When the Charter became law, many of those who voted for it had no idea what they were doing. It’s the same with immigration and practically everything else that afflicts us. And what can be said of a soci- ety in which the rights of a per- verted professor-prostitute are vigorously defended while other men can go to jail for messages they leave on their phones? HEA Gi Usui Michael Becker News Editor 985-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie Sports & Community Editor 985-2131 (147) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address and telephone number. Via internet: trenshaw @ direct.ca COMPUTER BBS 920-8027 User 1D; mailbox Password: felfers Further instructions found in News conference. READ THE NEWS ON THE INTERNET AT http:/Avww.nsnews.com 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Submniasions are welcome but we cannot DRAPERIES BY S. 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