YOU'RE RIGHT CHRISTY … those are things most British Columbians support

How serious is the Christy Clark government about ensuring the safety of the people of BC?

When she was running to replace Gordon Campbell, as leader of the BC Liberal Party, she told News 1130 that the courts needed to hand down harsher sentences to high-profile criminals.

"When we find criminals that are out there selling drugs, we should put them in jail and we should keep them in jail. I think this revolving door of justice is an absolute disgrace."

Now let’s fast forward 9 months (September 2011) ... we have one story after the other coming out in the news media about Joseph William Hammer (a cocaine dealer in Prince George), who had his case thrown out by Provincial Court Judge Michael Brecknell.   

And why was that?

His (Judge Brecknell) interpretation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was that a person had the right to be tried within a reasonable time … and that should be within 18months.  A lack of resources were the reason it had taken over three and a half years to get a verdict in the case of cocaine dealer Joseph Hammer, and because of that, Hammer was to be released. 

He went on to say an "unrepentant drug dealer" should "now be able to be free of the consequences of this very serious offense... should alarm and concern the community.”

"We’re standing up for equal treatment for Canadians before the law."

Commercial fishermen, including BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins were in the news yesterday (Globe and Mail Update -- Tuesday June 14th, 2011) with regards to a court case heard a few weeks back,

The court case revolves around a government mandated native only fishery, which many believe goes against the equal rights allocated to all Canadians in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It appears the commercial fishermen in this case, including John Cummins, have been given the right to appeal a recent conviction against them

The Globe and Mail story said that:

The fishermen were convicted of unlawfully setting fishing gear, as well as fishing and possessing salmon, at a time when federal regulators had closed the commercial fishery. Despite the closure, certain aboriginal groups were allowed to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes.