This sermonette written before the last election suggesting a path to truth for man-of-the-cloth Lorne Calvert and his slimey justice minister, Eric Cline, fell on sterile ground. Calvert won the election and turfed Cline from the justice post and appointed apprentice-in-slime Frank Quennell to the post

Injusticebusting Rabble-rousing Sermonette:

Calvert and Cline can still do the right thing!

Our message to the NDP government:

It is entirely possible that neither Premier Lorne Calvert or Justice Minister Eric Cline is properly briefed on the Foster parent case, the treatment of the Ross children or the Martensville case. They may well be relying on their advisors, like Jeff Bohatch, to keep them informed. It is entirely possible that they have been given a skewed picture of reality. They would both do well to look into these cases for themselves.

Public perception is everything. While aspects of these cases are before the courts, there is so much that is already public that for either Calvert or Cline to continue to remain silent is to commit political suicide.

We are delighted that the multimillion dollar lawsuit is proceeding to court, with all the plaintiffs and defendants intact and comprehensive briefs and evidence filed. Information which is the property of that action is sealed under the Rules of Court until September 8. Nonetheless, there is much that can be discussed between now and then.

Rewind to last June when John Popowich's $1.3M settlement came down. That same week, government lawyer Don McKillop and Saskatoon Police lawyer David Gerrand were in court attempting to have Richard Klassen struck from his lawsuit. The StarPhoenix reported that the government settled with Popowich because the pre-trial judge had noted that Popowich had a good argument to prove malice and the government did not want such precedent to be set.

That bit of information came from the mouth of then-justice minister Chris Axworthy. injusticebusters have since learned that by revealing the judge's comments, Axworthy violated the rules of court which bind participants in a civil claim to confidentiality regarding any comments made behind closed doors. Because of those same rules, we are not in a position to report on Judge Mona Dovall's reasons for keeping the Klassen/Kvello claim intact as it edges toward the trial date of September 8.

Popowich stated after his settlement that he was satisfied and he did not think further inquiry was necessary. His lawyer, Geoff Dufour told Richard Klassen that his claim was not worth nearly as much as Popowich's because Popowich was a cop and Klassen an unemployed painter. We would point out that Dueck is also a cop. We would further point out that the reasons for settling claims against public officials has little to do with the "worth" of the complainant and much to do with setting examples to be heeded by future officials tempted to frame innocent people to advance their careers. Darrell Night is suing Saskatoon police tried to kill him. Is his claim worth even less because he was a drunk? Hatchen and Munson have moved today into a half-way house after serving a few weeks in jail. The fact that they were punished is important. The malfeasant cop, social workers and lawyers in the Klassen/Kvello case should also be made to account for their actions. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong.

The StarPhoenix asked Gerrand and McKillop if they intended to settle the Klassen/Kvello lawsuit now that they had settled with Popowich. Gerrand refused comment but McKillop was candid: According to the SP report,

"His only consideration is taking the most cost-effective route. If there is a 'risk of an adverse judgement,' the government is more likely to settle, he said. . . .Other considerations, such as doing the right thing, are likely handled by the politicians, he said."(emphasis mine)

Here we are, eleven months later, and the politicians have failed to do the right thing. That is why we are going to camp on the legislature lawn.

In fairness to these politicians, let us state, as noted above that it is entirely possible that they (Calvert and Cline) have not been properly briefed. Before we arrive on the legislature lawn, they will have had ample time to familiarize themselves with this case -- without breaking any of the rules of court. Calvert, to his credit, is not a lawyer. He is a clergyman and is therefore in a better vantage point to distinguish right from wrong. Eric Cline is a lawyer as was his predecessor in the justice portfolio. Chris Axworthy had demonstrated his bias in this case as early as 1993 when he was provided with the videotapes of the leading interviews with the children and instead of watching them, turned them over to the RCMP who, in turn, along with their Saskatoon compatriots began hounding John Lucas who had provided him with the tapes. Axworthy's briefing notes should be viewed with suspicion.

Axworthy was a federal member of parliament at the time. A few years later, he returned to Saskatchewan with the intention of replacing Roy Romanow as premier. The Fifth Estate's "Scandal of the Century aired on the eve of the leadership election and Axworthy was defeated by Lorne Calvert. This case was primary, among other opportunistic bungles, in ending Chris Axworthy's political career.

As Saskatchewan is due for another election, the sitting politicians would do well to do the right thing: publicly and candidly acknowledge they were wrong and make proper restitution to all the citizens they damaged. That is their "one shot" at regaining public support. The entire justice system in Saskatchewan from the way police complaints are handled to Legal Aid through the way the Law Society conducts its business to Social Services' powers regarding the apprehension of children to public prosecutions and corrections needs to be scrutinized and fixed. Bob Mitchell, the justice minister before him and Axworthy followed a policy of piling on more layers of bureaucracy with powers of secrecy and building more prisons to house unwitting citizens who fell into the labyrinth. Saskatchewan correctional facilities are full of people who should not be there -- either because they are innocent or because they should be somewhere else (in school or in addiction treatment facilities.) The Klassens, Kvellos and Sterlings would be among them if not for public scrutiny. Those cases recieved the scrutiny because they were so bizarre. We know there are many other cases which did not receive such scrutiny because they were not so bizarre and ended in wrongful convictions.

The converse of the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies. The justice system is broken and cannot be fixed by covering up the places where it is broken.

The cost of fixing this will be a bargain compared to the alternative -- a harvest of bitter, cynical people who have been roughed up by the system. It will be a bargain compared to Spudco and interactive Bingo. The bonus is Saskatchewan people will get something for their money.

In the coming weeks we will be looking at concepts like fair play, egregious acts by public officials and measures which can be taken to prevent injustices such as these in the future. The Saskatoon Police and the Government of Saskatchewan are under our microscope. Interested people all over the country will be watching.

It has been a long ten years, this decade which saw Brian Dueck rise from Corporal to Superintendent while the Ross children grew from pre-adolescence to adulthood and those of us bringing the story to the public pauperized by the exercise. This decade saw two of the plaintiffs die: Dennis Kvello and Marie Klassen, shown at right with Peter a year before the charges were stayed in exchange for his coerced guilty plea. She died during his time at Bowden penitentiary where he served the full four years, denied parole because he could not re-enact crimes which didn't happen.

It has been a good exercise for us, though. We have learned a lot. We have learned that many lawyers in this province are hollow men lacking courage. We have learned that hard work and persistence is its own reward. We have kept up with technology and made use of this wonderful thing, the internet. The truth is the truth and covering it up does not dim its light.

The internet has enabled us to meet others in Saskatchewan who share our belief in full disclosure of facts which are in the public interest. We invite those we know already and those we have yet to meet to join us on our legislature's lawn on May 15.--Sheila Steele, May 6, 2003

Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.
William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell

Truth suppress'd, whether by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com

If you hold the mouth of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb

Truth crushed to earth will rise again. --William Cullen Bryant

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Who we are:

Publisher Sheila Steele

Co-founder: Richard Klassen

New: injusticebustersblog. Participate!

Our activism contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the civil trial.

Index to the stories on this website

This is not regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated

Index to Saskatoon Police stories

This is a pretty good scrapbook for the 1998-2002 period.

More Sermonettes

 

early commentaries mixed in with news reports

2001

January: Legal Treachery to keep Dueck's lies safe

September: Hatchen and Munson trial

2002

March, 2002 -- Gay Bashing still a legal sport in Saskatoon -- Even when it turns to murder

First conscious sermonettes

2003

 

Feb. 1: Where we stand

Feb. 15, 2003: Has Saskatchewan learned anything?

March 1: Connecting the dots

March 23, 2003: From Micro to Macro

March 25, 2003: About libel and malice

March 27 : Gangs of Saskatoon: the police and prison guards

April 28, 2003: The Naked Truth

May 5: How low will they go?

May 15, 2003: Come clean Calvert, Cline!

May 30: Still smearing Milgaard - defamation is alive and well on the lawn of the Regina legislature and Precendent has been set as we reclaim our institutions

June 11, 2003: --Eric Cline carries on a corrupt tradition

Nov 7: Courage -- the only reward is justice

November 20: Just following orders

November 24: Mayor Atchison, community policing and graffiti

November 25: Michael Jackson

November 30: Corrupt officials must be severely punished: otherwise they just keep on putting the administration of justice in disrepute!

December 1: Christmas comes early for injustice warriors

December 4: Wide open Saskatchewan?

December 16: Crawling through the tunnel of justice since 1991

December 24: The Crown keeps right on breaking the law

December 30: Who will find justice under their tree?

 

2004

 

January 1. 2004: Unprecedented publicity and Happy New Year

January 8, 2004: Malice still afoot

January 10, 2004: Shame and mugshots

January 14, 2004: Telling more truth about the undefamable: McKillop and Quennell, the static duo

January 17, 2004: Fifth Estate returns and A working class hero is something to be

January 22,23, 2004: Justice is still prevailing -- it is just taking longer and Bits and pieces are now coming together to tell the story of the century

January 27, 2004: Telling the truth about the undefamable, restoring reputations to the defamed.

February 5, 2004: Negotiations and strategies: getting an intransigent government to remedy its damage

February 10, 2004: How many lawyers does it take to ruin a province? and Lawyer continues to treat people's lives as a cruel game: monopoly?

Febrary 16, 2004: Calvert is not King Arthur

March 29, 2004: Counting down to the damages trial

April 16, 2004: The internet, the courts and now the movies -- We will so what it takes to get justice

May 1, 2004: If Frank Quennell is any example of what former Justice Minister Chris Axworthy called "evolving," Saskatchewan is ready to kiss justice good-bye!

May 27, 2004: Some observations on Saskatchewan and justice

June 7, 2004:Media coverage of Monique Turenne's story illustrates journalistic laziness

June 8:, 2004 -- The police not only failed to serve and protect Don and Lorna Smith and their children but set them up for false charges and community shunning

September 2, 2004: A tale of three cops: Dueck, Gobeil and Schinkel -- with an update on how they get away with criminal obstruction of justice

November, 2004: Wilfred Hathway, Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns -- RCMP stings offensive to community standards

November 11, 2004: Rogue Platoon? Identifying the rotten apples in Saskatoon Police Service and why we need a full public inquiry into our whole justice system

November 28, 2004: Can Justice Minister Quennell take a few more steps? The Prosecutors' office is still harbouring crowns who put the administrative of justice in disrepute

November 12, 2004: Saskatchewan Justice in chaos: The Stonechild report suggests it is.

November 28, 2004: The price for being a good judge or a good prosecutor

December 30: When the government interferes with the judiciary, we know a Police State is a dangerous possibility (The government appeal of the Klassen/Kvello decision)

 

2005

 

Jan 1, 2005: Chewed up digested and spit out

Jan. 5, 2005: More on chief Sabo

February 18, 2005: Tunnel vision: Darren Koehn, Wilf Hathway and Leon Walchuk

March 2: Fixing the system: Time to quit talking and implement previous commission recommendations

March 19, 2005 : Injustice as ShowBiz