OTTAWA, December 14, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) presented a petition with more than 60,000 signatures to the office of Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay on Thursday demanding clemency for Robert Latimer and an end to mandatory minimum prison sentences. Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer serving a minimum 10-year sentence for the murder of his disabled 12-year-old daughter Tracy, claims he acted out of mercy.
The Supreme Court ruled against allowing Latimer to avoid the minimum sentence, and disability activists praised the decision saying anything less would have devalued the lives of society’s most vulnerable. Latimer’s supporters are seeking a Royal Prerogative of Mercy, by which the Governor General or cabinet could lessen or cancel his sentence.
Disabled activist Diane Richler of the Canadian Association of Community Living pointed out that the CCLA was merely using the Latimer issue to push their agenda to get rid of mandatory minimum sentences. Indeed Justice Minister Anne McLellan responded to that very suggestion Thursday as she said, “We have very few mandatory minimums, I have no intention of ending the ones we have.”
The petition received broad coverage by the Canadian Press and CBC and newspapers across the country. Interestingly, a petition with over 31,500 signatures against granting Latimer clemency was ignored by the media. On November 29 LifeSite reported that the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) presented its petition entitled: Protecting People With Disabilities – The Supreme Court of Canada Latimer Decision to Liberal MP Paul Steckle.
See the CP and CBC coverage: https://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSLaw0112/13_latimer-cp.html https://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/12/13/latimer_011213