Learning Stories
by
Mario deSantis
mariodesantis@hotmail.com
“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my country.” - -The Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, Canadian Bill of Rights, 1960
“The whole judicial system is at issue, it's worth more than one person.”--Serge Kujawa, Saskatchewan Crown Prosecutor, 1991
“The system is not more worth than one person's rights.”--Mario deSantis, 2002
Ensign Stories © Mario deSantis and Ensign
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People have created the Rule of Law as a tool to enforce their peaceful aspirations for living together. We must never forget that people come first, and that the Rule of Law is a creation of people. But in our rational societies our elitist leaders have taken over the Rule of Law in their own hands to curtail everybody else's freedom for their own laissez faire businesses. I am encouraged to notice that continuous small changes are occurring to restore our rights. Class action legislation has been tabled in Newfoundland and this will allow a group of people to band together and sue a company or a government for damages incurred. In Saskatchewan, we cannot yet band together and use class actions to sue our governments. However, I am pleased that lawyer Tony Merchant has taken the initiative to contact and eventually help people for the trouble they had with their water in North Battleford. An angry Keith Brousseau has explained that it is wrong to sue the city of North Battleford because "eventually taxpayers are going to have to pay the cost of all this." The recent Walkerton's E.coli accident caused the death of seven people, and we have polluted waters all over the country. Therefore, it is time that governments become responsible to the people, and Mr. Brousseau's argument for not suing the city doesn't make sense. We congratulate again the unconventional Tony Merchant for putting people's lives before money, for taking the courage to take again and again our governments to court, and for risking again disciplinary sanctions from the conventional Law Society of Saskatchewan. Some references Newfoundland to allow class action suits, CBC Canada, July 6, 2001 http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/06/lawsuits010706 Walkerton, Mike Harris' GDP and Social Capital, by Mario deSantis, June 30, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_300/desantis383/harris.html Law firm's actions questioned, CBC Saskatchewan, July 7, 2001 http://sask.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/05/lawfirm010705 The disgrace of the Residential School Programs: The initiative of lawyer Tony Merchant versus the work of our no-fault government, by Mario deSantis, March 10, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_300/desantis343/residentials.html Boil-water order remains in Sask. city, May 6, CBC Canada 2001 http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Canada&story=/news/2001/05/05/battlefor_mom_010505 |
