Another Life Lost

Yesterday morning I awoke at 4:15am. I did not know what it was that had disturbed my sleep so I went about my scheduled routine. At 6am when we headed out to the gym we drove past a armada of police vehicles on the other side of the complex where we live. My natural curiosity grew as with each pass by during our routine that morning I noticed more vehicles and police tape marking off the area. Eventually just after 9am I reported the scene to our local paper the Expositor in hopes that their sleuths might find the answers to the developing mystery. Later that day my worst fears were confirmed when it was reported that Fallon Mason a 23 year old mother of 2 small children had been brutally murdered by a former boyfriend with a history of violence against her. He committed this act while he was out on bail awaiting trial on charges related to a previous break and enter and assault he had committed against her just last month. While we lived in such proximity I did not know Fallon but I cannot help but be touched by her loss. As a woman who made many poor choices in the company I kept at her age and who suffered domestic violence at their hands I can only feel that there but for the grace of god go I. For that reason this blog is dedicated to Fallon

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Look now for answers to questions we are too late in asking. As a lonely police car provides sentry to the now vacant Brantford home that was so brutally invaded while nobody defended it and a young life snuffed out within. How can it happen here we ask when our question should be how can it happen at all? How can our court system be so preoccupied with procrastination that even violent offenders are granted the luxury of sometimes years of bail while their cases are decided. Years to torment their victims further while justice crawls along blindly. In an enlightened society without a death penalty a 23 year old girl was executed in the wee hours of Tuesday for the sole crime of poor choice in love. We live in a world where picking the wrong mate can be the crime that is punished most severely. Yet while we ponder and wonder so many other victims in our own community will sleep a lot less tonight as the cold chill of the danger they face in their own long wait for justice becomes all the more real today. What solace can we offer them and who among us has the courage to speak and tell two small children why we failed to protect their Mother in her hour of need? Today a Brantford court will be presented with a murderer. No answers will be given and no justice metered out. The sole topic of conversation shall be whether or not he receives bail and when next we can bring him back to appear and reschedule another appearance before the court. For Fallon Mason justice will come far too little far too late.

Common Sense 101

After 6 months without a contract OPSEU decides to take a March Break strike throwing college students out of the classroom at a critical time in their year. Even if the strike is short lived the missed instruction time will be reflected in lower final marks and less confident graduates. Lectures with large class sizes are better than none at all. Shame on OPSEU and it's members for hurting the very students they claim to want to help.

Our local community colleges have been collecting tuitions and booking classes now since September knowing that they did not have a contract with their staff. They knew at any time the teachers that were booked to teach these courses could walk out. They have made little effort to settle this issue without a strike and have not made proper preparations to inform students about the potential for a strike and what to do. In essence they took payment in advance for a service they knew darn well they quite likely would not be able to provide. Shame on our Community College's. For every day that they fail to provide our students with the services they paid for they should be forced to refund a portion of their tuition. Perhaps then they would take avoiding strikes more seriously.

Ontario's students deserve better than this. Teaching at all levels should be considered an essential service so that bean counters and union bosses can't play chicken with people's futures anymore. In today's competitive world how can learning be considered to be anything but essential?