What Justice?

The truck driver who plead guilty to causing the horrendous accident involving the Humboldt hockey team was given a sentence of eight years. On top of that, it is highly likely that he will be deported when his sentence is over. No sentence that he could have received that would have brought back any of the young men killed or for that matter allow some closure to occur for the families Eight years, therefore, seems reasonable - especially as it was an accident and he had not intentionally done anything to cause the accident (e.g. drinking alcohol). I would think the consequence of not being allowed to live in Canada would, for many people, seem like a very harsh sentence.

On the other hand, his boss who did nothing to ensure that his driver followed the law, that he was properly trained or prepared for the job was only fined $5,000.00. In fact, the owner of the trucking company systematically broke the laws - the very ones designed to monitor how long truckers drive and how much rest they get. It would seem to me that while clearly, the driver has responsibility for losing concentration and not being fully aware of his surroundings - surely the owner must bear some of the responsibility as well.

It is not clear to me why all of the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the truckers - especially truckers who at best have received the minimum amount of training and who may lack sufficient language skills to even ask other truckers for advice. It would seem to me that it is the boss who took advantage of the trucker, who used him and now gets off with a minimal slap on the wrist.

As I have stated elsewhere, the judge when choosing the appropriate sentence for any crime must consider a number of things, one of which is - will the sentence act as a deterrent, a warning to others to not make the same mistake? In many cases, I think it is foolish to assume that a criminal will consider how serious the consequence are before they commit a crime. In this case, however, if the fine had been substantial then perhaps other owners of small trucking companies would think twice before not following the rules.

As it is - owners can continue to flaunt the law and pay the minimal penalty. As so often the bosses get off easy and the worker pays the price.

Privilege

I am part of the elite. I am tall, male and white. That privilege was further enhanced because I grew up in Quebec in the 50s and 60s and spoke English. I never felt as if I was part of the elite. My family were at best working class, with constant reminders of how poor our parents had been as children and even more frequently, reminders of how close we were to still being very poor. We did not have a car until the summer I turned 12, I always seemed to be wearing pants that were too short for me but we could afford to buy new ones and while there was always lots of food to eat, my mother frequently reminded us about how difficult it was to make ends meet. I went to a poor school with at least some of the teachers being completely unqualified to teach. A school that had almost no library and the one lab did double duty as both a biology and a chemistry lab. The school system streamed the students into very specific program areas including assuming that 25% of the students would leave school by grade ten. The concept of providing anything stimulating outside of the classroom was a concept foreign to my parents, my teachers and the community as a whole. There were people better off than my family. We all knew who they were. I did not hang around with them.

If someone had asked me in 1966 if I was privileged - I would have answered no. Privilege then would have meant really rich people living in Westmount or the Town of Mount Royal or perhaps the queen. Certainly, it did not mean people like me who were raised believing they were poor, believing that opportunities were restricted.

I thought I was lucky. I caught the baby boomer wave and got into university (woefully unprepared and unable to get past my second year before I was asked to leave) and then had access to community college programs and then a number of community-based grants designed to hire all of the wandering around baby boomers. I built a career, had a family and did some interesting things. I am still doing interesting things and have within some limits - choices as to how I live my life. I now understand that those choices came to me because of privilege.

To be clear - I have worked my butt off. I have been cautious (frugal) about spending money, I have never taken a holiday where I flew to some resort. We lived in houses that were frequently substandard as we struggled to build or renovate houses and only once have I had a new car. There were times when I felt as if I had no choice but to continue to struggle. For month after month we didn't have enough money to pay our bills - certainly never enough to save anything. In hindsight, it feels as if there were years where I knew that we would never get ahead, that we would never be in full control of our lives or able to provide everything we wanted to our children. It never felt easy. It never felt as if I got something for free.

But in spite of that - we were privileged. I was working in a career of my choice, doing what I thought was important. If I occasionally felt stuck - it was a consequence of my choices. And almost always, there were other choices. There were even a few occasions when I quit a job because of a philosophical difference with my boss(es). The choices that seemed to just float my way happened in part because I worked hard, usually far more hours than I got paid for and I was good at what I did. But people noticed me, gave me the little bit extra room to shine, or to do something a little bit different - just because I said it might work - because I was tall, male and white. I earned every single dime I was paid, I worked hard to earn the trust of those who hired me but I was able to do get in the front door, to attract their attention because I was tall, male and white

There is no apology here. I never consciously used my sex, race or height to gain an advantage. But I need to acknowledge that it has been a presence in my life and that I have benefited from it. I also need to acknowledge it because only then can I realize how much more difficult it is for people who do not have such advantages and how much harder I need to work to ensure that the playing field is made level.

It is not that I got something I did not deserve or earn but rather other people without such privilege worked just as hard as I and still did not have the same opportunities. And that is wrong.