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DISABLED RIGHTS ACTIVIST MARK PICKUP

PRESS RELEASE October 27, 1997
WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR ROBERT LATIMER SEEN BY
CHRONICALLY ILL MAN AS HOSTILITY TOWARD THE
DISABLED CONTACT: Mark Pickup 4417 - 51 Street
Beaumont, Alberta., Canada T4X lC8 Tel/Fax: 403-929-9230

I have been shocked by events at unfolded around the Robert Latimer case in the killing of his 12 year old handicapped daughter, Tracy. I am not alone. The disabled community in Canada was shocked not only by the deed of Robert Latimer-and it vas a horrible betrayal of parental trust -but we were staggered at the outpouring of public support for Robert Latimer. At the time of his original trial, a trust fund was established to help Robert Latimer pay legal bills. It attracted tens of thousands of dollars in donations from coast to coast. When he was convicted of second degree murder, thousands of Canadians signed a petition asking the federal government to shorten his 10-year sentence. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association asked the federal Justice Minister to revoke Latimer's sentence. The Edmonton Journal (18/11/94, A1) ran the frontpage headline "Latimer to appeal conviction that many call unjust". One man on the street commented: "This man [Robert Latimer] did a favour for his daughter." Many people thought that Robert Latimer "did what he thought was best for his daughter" and that he should not have been charged with murder. The revelation of such wide spread support for the killing of a handicapped child was like a slap across the face of people like me by the justice system, and our fellow able-bodied citizens.

Lesser citizens:

Why? The case of Tracy Latimer brought to surface a seething societal hostility toward imperfect human life. We, the disabled of Canada, the imperfect, heard loud and clear that we are worth less than healthy citizens. No! Let me be blunter: imperfect life is as cheap as grass, to be mowed down to tidy up a country that wishes we were not here. Indeed, I was horrified that so many of our able-bodied, fellow Canadians held the disabled in such low regard. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities published a poster. On one side was a picture of Tracy Latimer, on one side said, in part: "We all live under the same sky! We all live under the same law! An ablebodied person murders an ablebodied person .... MURDER is cried from the rooftops!! An ablebodied person murders a disabled person ... MERCYKILLING is whispered in the streets?" Indeed! It's a scary time to be disabled..'

Afraid of my own Country!

I am afraid of a Canada that embraces physician-assisted death in law, public policy or public opinion. Such a shift in cultural ethos would irrevocably change the character of Canada and place people like me at risk of assisted death. I am disabled with chronic, degenerative multiple sclerosis. My next address may be a nursing home. I have nothing to offer society.

Defining moment

Many of us within the disabled community will be watching the re-trial of Robert Latimer (which begins today) with keen interest as a defining moment in Canadian law: Are we "equal before and under the law" with ablebodied Canadians? Can we expect "equal protection as our Constitution declares? Is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms a pretty document to hang on a wall-but a legal sham?

Mark Pickup

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