I remember Pierre Trudeau's vision of a 'Just Society' and I can understand his deep sadness when he realized how we have been deceived by our own businesses, governments, politicians and legislators. Our businesses, our bureaucracies and our political leaders will not give us back our individual freedom we have lost with ongoing Tort Reform, and as mentioned in a previous article, we "must take individual and collective actions to stop our decadent authorities to cause further damage(3)."

In Saskatchewan, we don't have legal class actions, we cannot receive legal services through contingency fees(4), but thanks to our outgoing Premier Roy Romanow we have a no-fault government breaking the laws and committing human rights violations(5), while at the same time we pride ourselves of being the first province to establish the Human Rights Commission and of experiencing a peaceful non litigating society. This is the province where the political system is more worth than individual rights(6), a province which kept David Millgard's behind bars for 22 years for a crime he didn't commit, a province which was first in balancing the budget at the expense of the most indigent people of our society(7).

Until 1995 there was a trend for suing to receive compensation for damages directly incurred by the tort of another person or business, for suing to receive compensation for pain and suffering, for suing to receive punitive damages against the malicious and cruel behaviour of other people or businesses. In the area of wrongful dismissal, it is my understanding that the case Dixon v. British Columbia Transit (1995) was the last judgment where punitive damages were awarded. In particular, Justice Hamilton stated the following(8):

Transit's conduct in feeding the media information implying that Dixon was dismissed for cause when Transit was aware it could not prove cause was harsh and reprehensible. Transit's refusal to pay Dixon his severance when they knew it was owing and even after they admitted it was owing was vindictive and malicious... Such conduct by public servants should be deterred. One of the proper uses of punitive damages is to curtail the abuse of power... General and aggravated damages are insufficient to achieve the goal of punishment and deterrence. This is a proper case for the assessment of punitive damages. (Pp.148-149 B.C.L.R.)

In this same year of 1995, our own Saskatchewan Government, instead to protect the rights of the people, enacted the no-fault auto insurance legislation: no more proper compensation for losses incurred, no more compensation for pain and suffering, and no more awards for punitive damages! This is a far cry from the 'Just society' envisioned by Pierre Trudeau. And in 1997, David Harris, a lawyer specialized in wrongful dismissal, commenting on the judgement of Jack Wallace vs. United Grain Growers Inc. stated that since Mr. Wallace was denied punitive damages despite having suffered greatly, it is going to take an extraordinarily abusive firing to trigger punitive damages in wrongful dismissal cases(9). What is more than extraordinary but the corrupted behaviour of our Saskatchewan authorities?

Today we have a lawsuit against Dr. David Cassidy and the University of Saskatchewan, in which the plaintiff Dr. Emma Bartfay has stated that she was told to falsify the data for a research conducted by Dr. David Cassidy on behalf of the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI)(10).Further, in a meeting organized by the Coalition Against No-Fault Insurance(11), and in responding to an audience member who asked that the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) be charged for human rights violations, accountant Gordon Adair has stated "any time you have a government that's involved in fraud, it's very difficult to get after them." Today is the time to affirm Dr. Bartfay's right to justice, this is an individual right affecting all of us, and this includes the social right to ask for punitive damages against this same Saskatchewan Government which is breaking its own laws and violating human rights.

Let us become citizens once again, let us support punitive damages against our own corrupted governments, let us have back our own democracy, and let us work for the 'Just Society' so much cherished by the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

References/Endnotes

General reference: articles by Mario deSantis

1. We join the millions of Canadians mourning the sudden death of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau on September 28, 2000. An excerpt of the Statement by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, on the death of the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau "We were engaged, and frequently enthralled by this man who told us in his own words that in high school....I had already made up my mind to swim against the tide"

2. A trend in Tort Reform laws: No-fault, no individual freedom and no responsibility, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, August 14, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis210/torts.html

3. Our biased researches are only a symptom of our authorities' corruption: the only remedies are assertion of individual rights and judicial independence, by Mario deSantis, September 27, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis232/biasedresearch.html

4. A Case for Legal Class Actions and Contingency Fees against Saskatchewan's No-Fault Government, by Mario deSantis, June 29, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis186/classaction.html

5. Our Phoney Government: preaching Human Rights While Breaking the Law, by Mario deSantis, June 23, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis184/HumanRights.html

6. The system is not more worth than one person's rights, by Mario deSantis, July 27, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis204/system_individual.html

7. Honourable Eric Cline has not balanced the budget yet, he forgot our school-children, by Mario deSantis, April 3, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis155/notbalanced.html

8. WRONGFUL DISMISSAL, by David Harris of the Ontario Bar, Carswell, 1997-Release 4, §4.54 Punitive Damages. Pp. 4-247 to 4-250

9. Insensitive firings not tolerated, article in the Globe and Mail, Friday, October 31, 1997

10. No Gain, No Pain? Study Is Hot Topic. Research favoring auto no-fault collides with trial lawyers, Bob Van Voris, The National Law Journal, May 22-27, 2000 http://www.nlj.com

11. Transcipts Of Our Second Public Review Of No-Fault In Saskatoon!, PUBLIC REVIEW OF NO-FAULT INSURANCE IN SASKATCHEWAN, Coalition Against No- Fault in Saskatchewan, May 13, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan http://www.angelfire.com/nf/coalitionagainstnf/nofault.pdf

Credits: Today's illustration includes an image of Mr. Trudeau taken by Canadian Press and the quoation comes from page 22 of Brian Shaw's The Gospel according to Saint Pierre, published by Pocket Books of Canada, a division of Simon & Schuster of Canada, September 1969, Richmond Hill, Ontario.