Government Agency Revictimizing Battered Women

Revictimizing Battered Women

In her article "Battered Women Revictimized by Secret Government Protection Process to Change Their Identities," Margaret Akulia tells the story of Candace, a woman who "unwillingly enrolled" in a "secret government protection" program for battered women who faced possible death at the hands of their violent partners. These women were given new identities and anticipated more promising futures. Little did they know that they were leaving one abuser in order to embrace another.

Candace lived underground for a number of years through NIVA (NEW IDENTITIES FOR VICTIMS OF ABUSE) and has bravely offered to tell her story to spare other women from revictimization. She agrees NIVA or a similar program is essential for battered women whose lives are in danger, but she believes that the process needs to be revamped so that it is “adequately funded, properly administered and regularly audited for abuse and misuse.”

Candace stated that she was coerced into joining by a senior Federal Government program officer in charge of NIVA. "This happened despite my repeated assertions and protests to the Senior Federal Government Program Officer and some Barristers and Solicitors advising him about and/or handling the identity change that I did not want to enroll in NIVA." She and other women in comparable situations were very "vulnerable, isolated and beaten down emotionally and physically and still recovering from effects of abuse they experienced from partners when the Senior Federal Government Program Officer continued the cycle of abuse by manipulating, bullying, intimidating and cajoling them into enrolling in NIVA... He entered the women’s lives, gained their trust and then took total control of their lives, just like the abusers and bullies the women were fleeing," Candace told Margaret.

Instead of going into NIVA, Candace wanted to investigate prosecuting her abuser through the criminal justice system. Instead she was pressured to enroll in NIVA and to abandon legal action against her abuser. "If I had been allowed to take my abusive partner to court and exhaust all legal avenues first, I would not have had to resort to the extreme measure of getting new identities for myself and my daughter and been so severely injured as a result…The Senior Federal Government Program Officer made me believe that I did not have a choice but to enroll in NIVA and it was the only way I could protect my daughter. He instilled so much fear in me that I believed that I was in grave danger…and had no option but to change my identity and that of my daughter by enrolling in NIVA.

"When I tried to back off from the Senior Federal Government Program Officer, he became aggressive like my abusive partner…I did not meet conditions stipulated in the Change of Identity Procedure and should not have been pressured, manipulated, scared and intimidated by the Senior Federal Government Program Officer into resorting to the extreme measure of changing my identity and that of my daughter."

Margaret Akulia asked Candace what measures she wanted the government to take now in response to her being "unwillingly enrolled and bullied" into participating in NIVA. "I want accountability and our old identities back," Candace replied. Margaret wasn't sure if it was possible to regain an old identity for Candace and her 13-year-old daughter, who “have sustained severe damages and injuries as a result” of their forced participation in NIVA, while her abusive partner has never been charged or prosecuted.

To add insult to injury, Candace consulted a lawyer who told her that her current NIVA identity is not even legal! Moreover, she doesn’t have sole custody/no access, which is necessary for her to obtain a new identity. Consequently, it is possible legally that the abusive father could track Candace down and apply for custody of their child.

Candace has appealed to Members of Parliament, lawyers and police officers. She needs our help. Please visit Holly’s Site for Justice: http://www.fightforjustice.blogspot.com/ and e-mail Holly at hollyhawk30@gmail.com to offer assistance.

After so many years of torment, Candace deserves safety, her old identity, and assurance that she and only she will raise her daughter, not to mention accountability from the government workers and agencies that mistreated her. She should also be advised of her legal rights now if she were to take action against her abuser.

To read a longer version of Candace's story, please visit Margaret Akulia’s site at http://www.akulia.com/OtherStories.html.

False Confession in JonBenet Ramsey Case?

On Thursday, John Mark Karr, an American school teacher living in Thailand, claimed that he was with JonBenet Ramsey on the night that she was murdered in December of 1996. He confessed to killing her but said that her death was "an accident." 41 year-old Karr is currently in custody and en route back to the United States to be investigated.

There are several problems with his confession:

-- Karr's ex-wife states that he was not in Colorado at the time of JonBenet's death but rather with her in their home in Alabama.

-- Karr said that he drugged JonBenet but the autopsy revealed no evidence of drugs; there was an indication that a stun gun may have been used based on marks left on the six-year-old's body.

-- Karr claims that he had sex with the child -- i.e., raped her -- but there was no semen at the scene of the crime.

It's possible that Karr is delusional and believes that he murdered JonBenet; that he has a perverse obsession with the case; that he is seeking attention; or that he actually did kill her. DNA can tell for certain if someone did NOT commit a murder, whereas it is not 100% accurate in terms of implicating individuals who DID commit a murder. Thus, if Karr is ruled out by
DNA, which has already been taken from him in terms of a mouth swab, we can rest assured that he wasn't involved in JonBenet's death. But if the DNA is positive, it will not be conclusive. His lawyer will no doubt argue that the evidence has been mishandled over a 10-year period.

Much to-do will probably be made of the new assertion that Karr sought a consultation at a sex change clinic in Thailand. This was confirmed by Dr. Thep Vechavisit, a doctor at the clinic, and by a staff person.

It also seems clear that Karr is a pedophile who has been teaching grade school on and off.

As if the devastating assault and murder of their precious, beauty pageant child wasn't enough, John and Patsy Ramsey and their son were the main suspects in the case for many years. Instead of receiving international sympathy like the parents of Adam Walsh and Polly Klass, and being allowed to grieve, the Ramseys were viewed suspiciously, and were forced to defend themselves in print and on public television.

They were frequent guests on the Larry King show and wrote a book called
The Death of Innocence. After I finished reading their book, I was convinced that they were not guilty and I wrote them a letter of support.

Sadly, Patsy passed away earlier this summer, on June 24, of ovarian cancer but she was aware that an imminent arrest was to be made. It's hard to tell if John Mark Karr is the man that we have been looking for, but so far, it doesn't look likely. However, the news has reported that Karr seems to know specific facts about the case that were not released to the media, so he must be checked out.

John Ramsey has urged everyone to reserve judgment and that's precisely what I'll do.

Sigridmac

Letter to President Bush

My friend's husband just wrote this letter to George Bush. Wonder what he'll say in return ;)

Sir.

I was appalled today to hear you claim that Israel had won a victory over Hezbollah. You must be aware how shallow and inflammatory a statement like this is?

There was a cease-fire. No one was victorious in this conflict. A cease-fire is a chance for peace. Do you think your comment is conducive to this goal?

Since you took office, I have seen this country become less safe than it was before. You have used the events of 9/11 in order to further your personal and family agenda, and in doing so you have put the people of the United States at greater risk from terrorism than at any other time in our history.

Your goal of a US dominated Middle East will obviously fuel terrorism and create an environment that you will use to your advantage by creating fear among the citizens of this country.

Under your incompetent administration, the world has become a far less safe place.

I am also very suspicious of the whole spin your administration put on the events of 9/11. Your familys close ties to Saudi Arabia and the Bin Laden family can only make one question the events as related by your administration. Allowing the Bin Laden family to leave the country on 9/11 also make one question where your true loyalties are.

Your refusal to give testimony under oath to the 9/11 commissions was outrageous. Anyone who is telling the truth would not refuse to take a simple oath, which could only improve the credibility of the testimony.

Sir, I truly believe that you and your administration are the greatest threat to this country and to global peace that has ever existed. You have also attempted to undermine the US constitution, and in doing so you have violated one of your greatest responsibilities to this nation and to the world.

You claim to be a man of God, but I can see no evidence in this based on your actions. Your actions seem to be more like what one would expect of an Anti-Christ. Do you really believe that Jesus would condone any of your actions? You are not fooling me, and Im sure you are not fooling most intelligent people of the world.

Your actions and statements regarding the lead up to the Iraq invasion were lies, and I believe you knew them to be lies at the time you made the statements. The blood of thousands of innocent Iraqi people is on your hands. Meanwhile Iraq has become a terrorist training ground, and your actions have given the terrorists a true cause to fight for. Iraq was never a real threat to this country, and Saddam Hussein only existed as a leader because of US support over the past few decades.

As a citizen of this country I am deeply saddened and appalled by all that you have done, and I believe that history will show you as a dangerous and devious president who constantly lied to the people of the world in order to allow the neo-con agenda to drive the nations foreign and domestic policies.

America is now more hated around the globe than ever before. Consequently we will now be the target of extremists and terrorists to a degree never before seen.

This will be your legacy.

Robert Lawrence
Oregon

Change of Venue for Teague Murder?

The newspaper reported today that lawyer for Kevin Davis, the man who has been arrested in the September 2005 slaying of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague of Barrhaven, Ontario, may request a change of venue. Understandably, the lawyer, Michel Bisson, is concerned that pretrial publicity may have already adversely affected his client. Confessions tend to do that.

Bisson is waiting for more information from the Crown before he even considers such an application. He told the Ottawa Citizen that change of venues are rare and infrequently granted, but information that was released by the police at a press conference about Davis's confession may have biased too many people in Ottawa for Davis to receive a fair trial here.

Agreed. Everyone deserves a fair trial. I haven't spent 14 years working for the wrongly convicted for nothing! There are such things as false confessions and we really need more concrete evidence against Davis; however, the police did report earlier that Davis seemed to know things about the murder that were not publicized, and that fact will work against him.

Davis made a brief court appearance via video.

Sigrid Mac

***Update -- July 29. Bisson will definitely file for a change of venue and intimated that Police Chief Vince Bevan was out of line by providing too many details to the public about Kevin Davis's involvement in the Teague murder.

Police Chief Bevan Retires

Ottawa police chief Vince Bevan retired yesterday. He gained notoriety in the nineties when he oversaw the investigation of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, two of Canada's most infamous sexual serial predators and killers.

The Ottawa Sun newspaper quoted Bevan as saying that sometimes all people need is one good break in a murder, but writer Jorge Barrera pointed out that Bevan missed his big break in the Bernardo case. His team failed to find explicit videotapes in Bernardo's house near St. Catherine's, Ontario, that clearly implicated him in the murders of schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffey.

As a result of the team missing the tapes, the Crown cut a sweetheart deal with Karla, who has now served her time and, to the dismay and outrage of the public, is out of prison, living somewhere in Québec.

Bevan may have also missed his cues in the murders of Ardeth Wood and Jennifer Teague in Ottawa. Chris Myers of Sudbury was only arrested in the Wood case when some clever cop in North Bay recognized Myers from the suspect sketch that had been hanging in the walls of various police stations all around the province.

Bevan didn't have to do much work in the Teague case either, although Barrera stated that the search for Jennifer Teague's killer took more than 10 months and cost approximately $400,000. But in the end, the suspect, Kevin Davis, was so overwhelmed with guilt that he became intoxicated on psilocybin, ran into the streets naked, and confessed to the murder.

It can't be easy being the chief of police. The responsibility of that position is daunting to consider, however, it doesn't seem as though Vince Bevan was anywhere near the top of his game during these tragedies. As he passes the torch, I wish the best of luck to his successor.

Sigrid Mac

91-year-old woman raped in Ottawa

Some crimes are more horrific than others. Last week, a 91-year-old woman in my town of Nepean, Ontario (part of Metropolitan Ottawa) was raped in her own apartment. The building has security and a surveillance camera, but no one saw anyone unusual entering the apartment. However, when the Ottawa Citizen newspaper investigated, they found a back door wide open. So much for security.

Despite the trauma, the woman sounded strong and feisty, and said that she was not afraid to return to the apartment that she had lived in for years.

It is nearly impossible to imagine the mentality of someone who would rape a 91-year-old. Of course, it's hard to fathom that someone would do that to a nine-year-old child and bury her alive, which is what convicted child molester Couey is being tried for right now in the tragic death of Jessica Lunsford.

I've never been a proponent of the death penalty, but stories like these make me wonder.
It is not very reassuring for people like me to know that the perpetrator is still out there. The Baseline Road apartment is probably less than a mile from my house.

Sigrid Macdonald

Ed Teague Offers Forgiveness

Ed Teague, father of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague who went missing from Barrhaven, ON and was found murdered back in September of 2005, told Earl McRae of the Ottawa Sun that if he were able to say anything to Kevin Davis, who was recently arrested for the crime, he would say that he has forgiven him. Tough words to relate to from a beautiful, Christian man who has lived with unimaginable pain and uncertainty since last fall.

Teague would also ask Davis , who has confessed to murdering Jennifer and given police details that only the killer could know-- why he did it. Why? It's a question that torments us all, particularly people who knew Jennifer (which doesn't include me), and her family.

Ed said that he found the behavior of some of the bloggers to be incomprehensible when they were speculating that he had killed his own child. Other Internet people seemed to be attention seekers, claiming to have been Jennifer's best friend. Sad and pathetic. We need to take responsibility for our words in virtual space and only say the same thing here that we would say in a room full of 10,000 people.

What I would say now to Ed Teague if I could speak to him is, I'm sorry. I don't understand violence, especially something that seems so arbitrary and random because we don't have the answers as to why Kevin Davis fatally injured your daughter and what his motives were.

I also don't understand the cruelty and unfairness of this life where an 18-year-old can be snuffed out before she had a chance to begin her journey. Why Jennifer? Why now?Ed, I'm glad that you have the religious faith that I lack and I hope that it sustains you and your ex-wife in your darkest moments.

Sigrid Mac

The Neglected Garden

Please check out my newest link called The Neglected Garden. It's about a wonderful book by Alberte Villeneuve about how she survived an abusive marriage. The book was originally written in French under the title Le jardin neglige.

Alberte speaks to many women's groups to help other women come to terms with violence in their lives. WTG!

Sigrid Mac

Kevin Davis Had Always Been a Person of Interest In the Jennifer Teague Murder

Today, journalist Joanne Laucius from the Ottawa Citizen, pointed out similarities in arrests made in the Jennifer Teague case and the Ardeth Wood case. In both instances, the men who were eventually arrested had been on the police list of suspects or "persons of interest" since the beginning of the investigation.

Kevin Davis was interviewed only two days after Jennifer went missing but he claimed to know nothing about her disappearance and said that he had been home that evening.

Laucius wrote: "In both cases, endless hours of investigative time and hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent, only to have the final piece of the investigative puzzle fall into place by what a high school literature teacher might call the deus ex machina -- an unexpected or improbable device that resolves the plot, but leaves observers feeling unsatisfied by the way the loose ends have been tied up."

Fortunately for the police, the community and the Teague family, Davis got high on magic mushrooms earlier this month and was found wandering naked on Fallowfield Road. He was taken to the Queensway Carleton Hospital, according to Police Chief Vince Bevan, after telling several people that he had killed Jennifer Teague. When he recovered from his drug episode, he denied the veracity of the claim. However, he repeated it several days ago, for whatever reason -- speculation is that he was feeling too guilty to carry the secret any longer; however, he's gone for almost a year without spilling the beans. One wonders what prompted him to do so now.

We can only hope that this is a true confession that will provide answers for the family and the town of Barrhaven, which remains traumatized by Jennifer's murder.

Sigrid Mac

Kevin Davis arrested for murder of Jennifer Teague

24- year-old Kevin Davis of Ottawa was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jennifer Teague. 18-year-old Teague disappeared en route to her house in the late hours of the night during September of 2005. Apparently, Davis has confessed to killing Jennifer several times in the last month or so, starting out one night when he was high on psilocybin and treated for drug-related issues at the Queensway Carleton hospital.

Yesterday, he approached neighbors and asked for help; he even told them to call the police and spoke to a police officer himself about his involvement in the murder, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

Davis lived close to the area in Barrhaven where Teague was abducted.

Sigrid Mac

Al Gore Is Getting Hot!

Last night, I stood in line to see An Inconvenient Truth. My friends and I arrived 40 minutes early, which was a good thing, because every seat in the theater with a capacity of 660 sold out.

Global warming doesn't sound like a fascinating topic but this 98 minute documentary held my attention from start to finish. Previously, Gore was strongly criticized on the campaign trail as being too stiff and humorless. He failed to convey enthusiasm and his warmth didn't shine through when he ran for office, or at least that's what voters said. Frankly, I'm far less interested in a politician's personality and physical appearance -- although I do concede that Gore is a fine looking specimen! -- than I am with his or her POLICIES.

At heart, Al Gore is a scientist and science gets him excited. He was in top form in AIT describing the disastrous effects of toxic emissions, the abundance of carbon dioxide that we spew into the atmosphere, its effect on the ecological system, animal species, and climatic changes such as an increase in hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons and tsunamis. (Think Katrina.)

Gore talked about his older sister who died from lung cancer and his young son who was involved in a serious car accident. Discussing both incidents served to humanize the former Vice President, as did his use of humor and cartoons throughout the film.

Aside from watching projections of Greenland melting, one of the things that scared me most about this movie was the fact that Americans have been given not one but TWO chances to elect Al Gore as president and they failed dismally both times. Instead, they put in two men with strong ties to Saudi Arabia and big oil.

We can all do our little bit for global warming -- use compact fluorescent light bulbs, reduce our air-conditioning or heating systems, drive less but ultimately, the only solution to this problem is political. The United States produces more than 30he world's toxins and they have yet to sign the Kyoto agreement. People -- take your dissatisfaction to the polls (although I have my own paranoid suspicions that the polling stations are no longer reliable! And that's something that needs to be addressed way before 2008).

Find out what you can do at www.climatecrisis.net

Jennifer Teague -- New Photos on Police Web Site

Recently, the Ottawa police posted 24 new photographs of potential witnesses in the Jennifer Teague case. 18-year-old Jennifer Teague disappeared from her home in Barrhaven, Ontario last September. Her body was found about 10 days later and police are still trying to track down her killer.

They have posted new photographs on their web site of people who were in a convenience store on the night that Jennifer disappeared. The police have received 38 calls in response to these new pictures. Let's hope that some new witnesses come forward to shed light on this tragic situation. Her family deserves answers and closure.

If you have ANY info about potential witnesses, please call the Ottawa Police Jennifer Teague tip-line at (613) 236-1222 extension 5477 or contact police by e-mail at infojennifer@ottawapolice.ca.

Sigrid Mac

** Update: By June 1st, 8 of these people have been removed from the list because police have already interviewed them.

Younger Men Pursuing Older Women Online

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Carleton University's newspaper, the Charlatan, reviews D'Amour Road

Lisa Xing, a reporter for Carleton University's newspaper, the Charlatan, wrote this wonderful review of D'Amour Road.

"Sigrid Macdonald makes an astonishing entrance with her sophomore publication, D'amour Road. I've recently found it quite difficult to get through all of my existential philosophy reads and explanations into relativity, so it was refreshing, to say the least, when I picked up the book and couldn't put it down.

Macdonald does an amazing job of setting the background for the action, especially in portraying Tara, a 40 year-old woman going through a mid-life crisis. With no sexual desire for her husband, she channels her frustration to the virile young man working at the local Loeb, Alain.

She feels disconnected from her teenage son and has some serious reservations on her "older woman/motherly" image. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her best friend, Lisa, disappears suddenly.

Tara's internal monologue and first person narration is entirely believable and realistic. Her bleak worries on her age and desire for Alain is hilarious, infused with sarcastic and almost cynical stream of consciousness that helps the reader identify with her. This makes her the perfect 21st century crisis-wreaked heroine.

The story brings us back to the age-old concept of conflict - man vs. nature, man vs. man and man vs. himself. Well, in this case, woman.

With D'amour Road, Macdonald covers all these bases extensively as Tara falls apart following Lisa's disappearance, fighting waning feelings of self-worth, contempt for others and fear of losing someone she loves.

Throughout the ordeal and daily searches for Lisa, Tara fights to stay together, but her situation at home with Mark, her husband of 15 years doesn't help. Tara describes him in an unattractive, contemptuous way.

In turn, she gets increasingly obsessive with Alain that she makes a point to apply makeup and choose attractive outfits when grocery-shopping.Alain joins the search for Lisa. When this happens, I didn't know whether to think that something between them would happen or not.

Although Tara is emotionally unstable throughout the novel, her narration is oddly reliable and gives a solid foundation for the rest of the plot. I was surprised to see what a compelling character she was and after finishing, I actually felt disappointed to know that she was a fictional character.

After reading this book, centered on Lisa's mysterious disappearance and backed up by some sub-plots, I immediately though of the recent Jennifer Teague case. The Barrhaven teenager was leaving work on Jan. 8 when she disappeared. Another similar case also comes to mind - Ardeth Wood, an Ottawa woman who was murdered two years ago. There seem to be eerie similarities in the cases, and the Wood case is even mentioned in the novel.

Macdonald addresses these issues sensitively but also candidly, raising public awareness while creating fiction that is accessible and entertaining."

New tips

Ottawa police have received 85 new tips about the Jennifer Teague case since their press conference on Thursday where they released a composite sketch of a potential suspect. Police are now saying that Jennifer's murder was "sexually motivated." If you have any information about Jennifer Teague -- something that you remember or something that you fear may be unimportant -- or think that you recognize the man in the drawing, please call 236-1222, ext. 5477 or e-mail infojennifer@ottawapolice.ca. The investigators need all of our help.

Sigrid Mac

Teague reward may be as high as $100,000

At the press conference this afternoon, police introduced a sketch from a witness who they said just came forward a few weeks ago. The sketch portrays a white man, somewhere between age 18 to 30 with a "thin or medium build." He was "wearing a dark ball cap and dark clothing when he was seen along the Moodie Dr. area," the Ottawa Sun reported.

The newspaper also noted that the person who murdered Jennifer Teague probably acted strangely immediately after her disappearance and the large-scale publicity blitz. Hopefully, the sketch combined with the reward incentive will get neighbors, acquaintances, and employees thinking about anyone who may resemble the photo and might have acted peculiarly right after Jennifer disappeared.

Wendy's Canada have informed the public that they will be putting up a generous $50,000 reward. Police Chief Vince Bevan said he will ask the police services board to double the amount to $100,000.

Sigrid Mac

Teague press conference scheduled for Thursday

Police are planning a press conference today with Jennifer Teague's parents and reps from Wendy's in Barrhaven, ON where she worked. Jennifer had finished her late night shift on September the 9th, 2005 and was walking home sometime around 1:30 am when she disappeared. An off-duty Ottawa police office found her body 10 days later on an NCC trail off Moodie Drive.

Apparently, the police now have a composite sketch, which was assembled by talking to a witness who had not previously told his story along with feedback from Jennifer's friends. There was some talk about a "person of interest." But her friends have been quoted as saying that the sketch is vague.

Police found quite a bit of evidence at the scene of the crime, which has been tested at the forensics lab in Toronto. But they're not sure they have all of the items Jennifer Teague had with her that night -- including her Wendy's uniform.

Today's Ottawa Citizen stated: "Police believe she knew the person, or persons, who picked her up as she made her way home along Jockvale Road, although they cannot be certain she went willingly.

"Mr. Teague also thinks his daughter knew her killer.

'I believe someone who knew Jennifer is definitely involved in this,' Mr. Teague said days after his daughter went missing. 'She would never approach a car with strangers.'"

The Ottawa Sun said that they think that Wendy's Canada will offer a reward -- "believed to be $50,000" -- to entice someone to come forth with pertinent information.

Hope we're getting one step closer to solving this tragic mystery. If you have *any* news about the case, please call the Ottawa police at (613) 236-1222.

Thanks. Sigrid Mac

Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky

A grateful Jill Carroll returned to Boston today after leaving Germany on Saturday. She was finally reunited with her parents and her twin sister after spending 82 days in captivity in the hands of Iraqi terrorists.

Carroll strongly denied comments that she had made while being held prisoner and asserted that she had been "repeatedly threatened," according to Glen Johnson of the Associated Press.

Jill Carroll was pleased to see a copy of the Christian Science Monitor on her airplane; the newspaper will be covering her story in greater detail later on but would like to give Jill some time right now to regroup and appreciate her freedom and her family.

Sigrid Mac

Welcome Home to Jill Carroll!

When Elizabeth Smart was discovered after her lengthy disappearance in Utah, it was a miracle. The public was ecstatic. Elizabeth had beat the odds.

That's exactly the way I felt this morning when I discovered that Jill Carroll, the 28-year-old freelance writer on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, had been freed by her captors. Just last night or the night before, I had seen her twin sister on CNN, pleading in a calm tone for her sisters' release. I thought, how terrible and how pointless. She will never return.

But I was wrong! Carroll, who was seized in Baghdad on January the seventh in a violent ambush that killed her translator, was dropped off near the Iraqi Islamic Party Office, according to Yahoo News. She went inside and the people contacted American officials.

"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Carroll said in a short interview on Iraqi TV. Few details about the kidnapping have been released but we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief that she's back.

Sigrid Mac

P.S. It's important to keep in mind that the most likely kidnap victims in
Iraq are Iraqis "with an average of 10 to 20 taken hostage every day for nearly three years, a U.S. official in Baghdad said Thursday." (source - Associated Press.)

Lydia Cornell

Please visit my latest link to the official web site of Lydia Cornell. Lydia is an award-winning comedian, writer and actress. She starred as Sara, Ted Knight's daughter and the granddaughter of Audrey Meadows, in Too Close For Comfort , a top rated ABC series that has been in worldwide syndication for years. She performs her own material in theaters and did a one-woman show at Century City Playhouse with a feminist bent. She has also written Venus Conspiracy for theatrical release in 2004. Other projects include Clash of the Wills, Falling Up and Recovering Blonde.

Moreover, Lydia is a dedicated political activist. She runs a fascinating and controversial blog where she is not afraid to state unpopular opinions about the war in Iraq and American foreign policy. Check her out in my link section right below Laci Peterson.

Sigrid Mac

Speech at Carleton University

On November 16, 2005 I was part of a panel speaking at Carleton University on Violence Against Women. My speech was about missing women and I focused in on the missing and murdered sex trade workers in Vancouver and Edmonton.

I've made several attempts to upload the speech here on the blog but whenever I do, it knocks out my entire link section. So, if you'd like to read the article, Bekkie of Seen Me Lately has kindly posted it on her web site about sex trade workers.

http://www.seenmelately.ca/sextradeworkers.html

As usual, I've stated some controversial views. Those who know me and read this blog regularly know that I welcome disagreement and debate. If you have any thoughts after you read it, please come back and make comments here on the blog or in my guestbook.

Thanks :-)
Sigrid

Reward offered for information on Jennifer Teague

Earl McRae of the Ottawa Sun reported that an anonymous donor has stepped forward to offer a "substantial" amount of money -- possibly as much as $50,000 -- as a reward for anyone who has information on the death and disappearance of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague of Barrhaven, which is part of Metropolitan Ottawa.

McRae also noted that many readers were curious as to why the police had not released any details about the cause of death. He posited some explanations: sometimes people who are unstable or just wish to cause trouble may falsely confess to a crime. If police withhold specific information, it makes it much easier to rule out those false confessions. Moreover, all of the forensics are not in. It's possible that the police still are uncertain of the exact cause of death.

Apparently, 10 investigators have been working diligently on the Teague case and will continue to do so until they find her killer. To quote the end of McRae's column today:

"If you have information, no matter how minor it seems, that might help find the killer of Jennifer Teague, the police want and need to hear from you -- confidentiality guaranteed. E-mail: infojennifer@ottawapolice.ca -- phone (613) 236-1222, ext. 5477."

Sigrid Mac

The Rules by Ellen Fein & Sherrie Schneider - Book Review

Reading The Rules was like sitting in the dental chair - it was painful! I forced myself to read the book because last year I read He's Just Not That into You. I expected to hate that book, too, but I didn't. It was just so laugh-out-loud funny that I couldn't help but like it. Also, the message was clear, albeit simplistic; if a man isn't calling you, he's just not interested.

The Rules is definitely retro. I've heard it described as a book that advocates women going back to the fifties. True enough, but not the 1950s -- the 1850s! I could easily imagine Jane Austen writing this book and young women waiting for their gentleman callers in their mother's parlor.

For those who are not familiar with the material, The Rules are a set of guidelines for women to follow that are designed to prevent them from enduring heartbreak and rejection in love. They consist of the following suggestions:

-- Don't speak to a man first in a social setting. Don't ask him to dance, don't stare at him and definitely, don't call him on the phone! A Rules girl needs to play hard to get.

-- After a man calls you up, don't accept a date unless he's given you ample notice. And don't return his phone call if he happens to get your voicemail. You don't want to seem too eager.

-- Clearly, having sex is not an option. You must wait several months, meanwhile seeing the man no more than two to three times a week. And you will be certified as a suicide relationship bomber if you initiate sex! Don't pay for the date, don't meet him halfway and -- get this -- don't talk on the phone for more than 10 minutes every time he calls you. Pretend to have something else to do so that you seem busy.

-- If you want a man to marry you, don't live with him. Hold out for that ring.

Now, before you dismiss all of this as preposterous, as I was tempted to do, keep in mind that the purpose of the book is to prevent women from suffering. The authors argue that men and women are biologically different and as a result, men need to pursue women. If men don't initiate, they will lose interest. If women don't play hard to get, they will never instill a sense of chronic longing in their man. Moreover, The Rules encourages women to be busy and independent, so that they won't view their man as the center of their existence.

As a longtime feminist who has broken all of the rules all of my life, I must concede that some of them may have merit. Whether it's biological or sociocultural, men are different from women. There is still a double standard in society. If a guy goes after a woman for a year and she shows no interest in him, he is simply persistent. If a woman does the same thing, she's desperate. There's no term for a man who "chases" women because that's what a guy is supposed to do (I'm not talking about a womanizer or a stalker. I'm talking about an ordinary guy going after an ordinary girl/woman.) Why is the word "chase" always used in reference to women, kind of like the words "loose" or "easy?" (Heard of any men who were called sluts recently? I rest my case.)

Now, I think that the double standard is completely wrong and that's why I've always violated it. However, the end result has often been that I have pursued men who were not interested in me, or who have ended up being quite passive later on in the relationship.

In my book, D'Amour Road, my main character has an unrequited crush on a younger man. That scenario resulted directly from my interest in this topic of women pursuing men. Theoretically, it's a good thing. The sexes should be equal. In all of my interactions with men, I always try to treat them the same way that I treat females. But the sad fact is that they're not females, especially when it comes to sex and romance.

If The Rules sound antiquated, they are. But that doesn't mean that they may not be effective. I can't imagine following them all religiously, particularly the one about not returning a man's phone call, which seems incredibly rude. But I can see embracing a modified version of The Rules for self-protection and to simplify my life.

Let's face it. If a guy is interested in me or in you, he can pick up the phone. How hard is that? If we as women keep making the first move -- which should be our right -- how will we know if the man was interested beforehand? Is he just responding to our friendliness? Fein also cautions against revealing too much about yourself during the first month or two. Sounds Stepfordish but if you think about it, why do we need to tell anyone who is brand-new in our life all about the baggage that we carry around day in and day out? That's true of new female friends, new male friends or budding relationships.

Yes, The Rules are at least 150 years out of date and they are extremely irritating and disheartening to anyone with a feminist or postmodern perspective, but I found them to have *some* redeeming value. And I'm going to test them out, just for the hell of it.

Sigrid Mac

Tribute to Jennifer Teague

36-year-old Todd Sterling from Elliot Lake is a songwriter, who was deeply moved by the tragic disappearance and death of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague from Barrhaven, Ontario. So moved, in fact, that Sterling wrote a song about her called "Jennifer's Song."

Earl McRae of the Ottawa Sun described the process that Sterling went through when he took his song down to Nashville and sold it to professionals under the name "September's Child." Despite the name change, Todd Sterling maintained that the song was for Jennifer, and he gave a copy of it to her father, Ed Teague, who was deeply moved.

You can listen to Jennifer's Song at www.soundclick.com/toddsterling.

Right on, Todd. How beautiful of you.

Sigrid Mac

P. S. Still no arrests or suspects in the case.

Update on Jennifer Teague

The police sound more optimistic about locating Jennifer Teague's killer, according to her father, Ed, who was quoted in the Ottawa Sun newspaper. Earl McRae reported that there are three field investigators and 18 other people working on Jennifer's case. That's comforting.

I know that when Louise Ellis went missing in Ottawa in 1995, I was part of the search team that looked for her. She was "gone" for three months and to me, it seemed as though the police were doing nothing during that time. Ha! Was I mistaken. All along, they were diligently gathering information which eventually implicated her partner.

It's hard to say if there is a suspect in the Teague case right now because police are being quiet about it. "I have a feeling they (police) have more than they're prepared to disclose," Ed Teague was quoted as saying. Let's hope that that's not just a desire on his part to hear good news but rather an intuitive sense that he is receiving from the police.

OTOH, I can't help but feeling that the arrest of Chris Myers in the Ardeth Wood case had more to do with luck than skill.

Sigrid Mac

Redefining friendship

How do we define friendship? That used to be an easy question for me. Friends were people who I saw regularly, trusted and confided in. There were my close friends and my less intimate friends. Some were separated by geographic distance but not by devotion; I had many friends who lived in other provinces or states. We may not have talked for months or even years but when we did connect, an "instant karma" kind of rapport was present.

Then there were my acquaintances, usually people who I worked with or knew from various clubs or political organizations. Maybe I'd gone to high school or college ("university" to you Canadians!) with them and we didn't socialize on a regular basis, but I knew them fairly well. Or perhaps I did see those people frequently but we didn't have a lot in common, hence, I didn't call them "friends."

But the world has changed, largely as a result of high-tech innovations and the democratization of communication via the Internet. I've been reading a lot about globalization lately because someone I know turned me on to the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. I read that and another by Lessig -- both highly recommended -- and am currently reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman.

One point that all of these books makes is that the world is getting smaller and nation borders have become less important. As a result of chatting with so many folks via e-mail, discussion boards, my blogs, and instant messaging, I have slowly noticed a change in the way that I define friendship. There are some people on About.com thyroid that I've been talking to for five or six years. I consider them to be my friends. Likewise with people who I've met on my blogs, who post comments or talk to me every week. Admittedly, they're not my best friends but I would be hard-pressed to dismiss some of them as mere acquaintances.

I've encountered a number of wonderful women on a spiritually oriented web site called Boomer Women Speak where I participate in discussions on their writers' forum. I think nothing of signing my private messages to these people (or to my sister's New Age friends whom I have never met), "Love, Sigrid." And I routinely use the sign off "YF," which means "your friend." Sometimes, I use it as a statement and other times I use it as a question -- i.e. "Wanna be friends?"

This has all made me rethink my relationship with Louise Ellis, the woman who disappeared in Ottawa in 1995 and was murdered by her partner. The woman who inspired my book, D'Amour Road, and to whom it is dedicated. The woman who was a member of my David Milgaard Support Group and who I have called "my acquaintance" in almost all of my references to her.

Were Louise and I really acquaintances or were we friends? If our relationship had taken place on the Internet instead of the phone, would we have been in touch more often? Is frequency a determining factor in defining friendship or is it the nature of our feelings towards the person? Because I love Louise Ellis.

When she was alive, I liked her very much but since her life was cut short, I have been unable to stop thinking about her, so my feelings have grown. I've developed a preoccupation with missing women. I lie awake at night wondering what kind of a person Louise was. Did she have a sense of humor? How did she pass her free time? What did she value most? And what kind of a person would she have been today if she lived until age 56? I wish that I had known her better or made some social overtures in her direction when I had the chance because now it's too late.

I miss her. I care about her. And I have remorse about the fact that we never met in person because our relationship took place on the telephone; we talked regularly over a two-year period. I would have wanted to be her friend.

This morning, a woman who I know fairly well but have not yet classified as either a friend or an acquaintance, invited me to do something that I'm not particularly keen on doing. But I like this woman and it would be great to see more of her, so I accepted her invitation. I don't want to live with guilt about things that I didn't do and people that I didn't cultivate well enough when they were here and I had the opportunity. What's a little sacrifice compared to a lifetime of regret?

Sigrid Mac

More Police Errors in the Ardeth Wood Case

A 76-year-old former RCMP Officer saw Ardeth Wood on the day that she disappeared. She was on the bike path and he had been cycling. He said to her that it seemed awfully hot out and she agreed. Then she continued on with her biking and the former officer, Al Dzikowski, noticed a younger man on a bike who followed Ardeth. He thought nothing of it at the time but after he read about Ardeth's disappearance, he called the police right away and left a message on their answering machine.

What did they do? They ignored him. This did not deter Dzikowski, who contacted the Wood family directly. In turn, they called the police but police still did not meet with the former RCMP man or request that he look at a lineup of suspects or mug shots.

In fact, it took the police more than two years to contact Dzikowski, who now believes that Chris Myers was the man on the trail. When the police finally did call Dzikowski in September of this year, they conscientiously took down his name, address and phone number. Only problem is that they took down the phone number incorrectly, so they never called him back! Sounds like a Monty Python skit except that it's not funny.

As if it wasn't bad enough to extradite Myers from Arnprior to North Bay without realizing that he bore a resemblance to the composite sketch, Ottawa Police have managed to compound their error by incompetently handling a tip from a man who actually spoke to Ardeth Wood on the NCC path!

What I have said previously about eyewitness testimony being unreliable notwithstanding, things are looking bad for Chris Myers. The original description of the suspect in the Wood case was a man in his mid to late twenties but Dzikowski always maintained that the person he saw looked much younger -- somewhere between 18 to 23. That would fit in with Myers' profile since Ardeth Wood was murdered in 2003 and Chris Myers is 25 right now.

Police Chief Bevan has a lot of explaining to do.

Sigrid Mac

Chris Myers suspected in Sudbury murder

25-year-old Chris Myers of Ottawa, who was arrested the other day and charged with the murder of Ardeth Wood, is now a suspect in the death of Laurentian University student, Renee Sweeney. 23-year-old Sweeney was a history major who was stabbed to death one night on January 27, 1998 when she was working alone in a video store. The store was robbed of less than $200, the Ottawa Citizen reported, and evidence was discovered at the scene of the crime including footprints in the snow, a pair of gardening gloves, a bloodstained jacket and DNA.

But Sweeney's father is dubious about this possibility. He reminded Sudbury police that Chris Myers would only have been 16 years old at the time and he lived in Ottawa not Sudbury.

Once again, Myers is being suspected of involvement in this case based on the composite sketch. I find that to be somewhat unnerving. To begin with, when I looked at the composite sketch in the newspaper and compared it to the picture of Chris Myers, I didn't see a resemblance. Secondly, when Ardeth Wood was killed back in 2003, I clearly remember the police were looking for a suspect who was tall with sandy colored hair and had an eagle tattoo. Chris Myers has dark hair and no tattoo. He also does not appear to wear glasses whereas the composite sketch from Sudbury had a guy wearing glasses; and that man looked considerably older than 16 or 17 years of age!

I'm not saying that Myers had nothing to do with the tragic death of Renee Sweeney. I know nothing about that case except what I read today. What I am saying is that it's dangerous for people to base their reactions around a composite sketch, which may now be having a snowballing effect (e.g. Sudbury police read that North Bay police think that Myers matches the picture of the Ottawa sketch, therefore, Sudbury suspects him in their own unsolved murder).

Recently, I read that about 40% of all of the Death Row cases that have been overturned were convictions that were originally based on eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable! The only thing that might be more unreliable than eyewitness testimony is a composite sketch!@! We have to be damn careful about jumping conclusions here.

This is in no way meant to be any kind of defense of Chris Myers, who appears to be a serial rapist and may indeed be involved with the murder of Ardeth Wood. But before I reach that conclusion, I would like to see some evidence.

Sigrid Mac

Seen Me Lately?

Sex trade workers keep disappearing in droves. First Vancouver. Then Edmonton. Now Calgary. Where will it end?

A group of concerned women have started an innovative project called Seen Me Lately. They're getting the phone numbers or contact info for women on the street and making sure that each person checks in with somebody else everyday. That way, if an individual goes missing, it won't take months for other people to figure it out.

For example, on September 13, a 40-year-old woman in Edmonton disappeared off the radar. Her friends and cohorts could not find her so Seen Me Lately put out an SOS. 10 days later they discovered that she was in the hospital. What a relief! Meanwhile, the group posts details about the people that they're concerned about on their web site. They have a live chat, a group discussion forum, and lots of cool links to aboriginal women's sites, sex trade workers of Canada and sites that are devoted to missing people and children. Check them out at http://www.punkrockprincess.ca/.

Sigrid Mac

25-year-old man arrested in the Ardeth Wood case

This morning, my mother said to me, "They've got Ardeth Wood's killer!"

"Really?" I asked. I was excited. After 26 months, I thought that the police had finally discovered the brute that sexually assaulted and murdered 27-year-old university student, Ardeth Wood. But when I queried my mother in more detail, I realized that the police had arrested a suspect. As those of us who work in the field of wrongful convictions know, that is not the same as "finding the killer."

Chris Myers of Ottawa was arrested yesterday and appeared in court today after a North Bay detective was led to believe that Myers was involved in Wood's death. Police will not reveal the evidence against Myers except to say that he has also been charged with four other sexual assaults in Ottawa -- three of which occurred after Ardeth's death -- and another assault in Gatineau.

North Bay Detective Constable Noel Coulas recognized Myers from a composite sketch that was devised and circulated throughout the country in the aftermath of the Wood murder. Coulas encountered Myers when he investigated him in May as a suspect in a sexual assault in North Bay. Ironically, Myers was sent to North Bay by the Ottawa police, who picked him up in Arnprior, and thought that he might have been involved in the attack in North Bay.

Why didn't it occur to the Ottawa police that Myers may have been involved in Ardeth Wood's death? If Coulas noticed a resemblance between Myers and the composite sketch, why didn't the Ottawa police see that same similarity? Surely, they must have the composite sketch plastered on the walls of their offices. In addition, Myers was one of the 1700 people who were interviewed in the Wood case, and he has been charged with five or six sexual assaults in at least three locations, including Ottawa, Gatineau and North Bay.

Coulas was very modest about his role in identifying Myers in the sketch. Ottawa Police Chief Vince Bevan said that often "hard work and luck" paid off. Bevan has never recovered his reputation after bungling the Paul Bernardo case. (It took the police almost two years to analyze Bernardo's DNA; meanwhile, he was out murdering schoolgirls.)

Bevan and the Ottawa people could have been a lot more proactive here. Essentially, they found a man who was on their list of suspects -- sorry, "persons of interest" -- in the Ardeth Wood case AND they handed him over to North Bay! Moreover, this took place in May and we are now almost at the end of October. What transpired during those five months? Why did it take so long to pick Myers up? A lot of questions remain unanswered.

Chris Myers maintains his innocence. You can read more about this breaking news at http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=a296cc8c-7407-4947-ae7d-f9e7689b7bc8.

Apparently, Ardeth Wood's brutal murder and the search for her killer has been one of Ottawa's most costly investigations; so far, it has cost approximately $675,000. That is just the financial toll, which doesn't include the horrific pain and suffering of the Wood family.

Since I've been working in the field of wrongful convictions for approximately 13 years, I urge you to reserve judgment on this arrest until we hear the actual evidence. I would like to jump for joy by concluding that perhaps we have the real killer after all this time, when it had been looking so hopeless. But without a confession or a statement from the police as to the nature of the exact evidence against Myers, I will try to maintain a neutral position. All I can conclude at the moment is that it definitely sounds as though this man is a serial rapist. He rides a bike, he was seen on 24 separate occasions on the bike path that Ardeth Wood traveled on, and he left the Ottawa area several weeks after her murder. He could be our man but we'll have to wait and see.

Sigrid Mac

Should We Legalize Prostitution?

Linda Slobodian of the Calgary Herald wrote a fantastic article on Sunday called "Taking Prostitutes off the Streets." It describes the current debate in Canada's Parliament over whether or not to legalize or decriminalize prostitution. In earlier posts, I have advocated legalizing the sex trade industry but there were certain things that I was not taking into account that Slobodian pointed out.

Firstly, other countries such as Australia, Holland and New Zealand have legalized their red light districts, but instead of making the occupation safer for women, the result was that organized crime took over. In addition, many of the brothels took a large part of the salaries of the workers.

Secondly, former policeman Ross McInnis asked what would happen to prostitutes who were underage, addicted to drugs or who had STDs. Would their work be decriminalized? Of course not. Consequently, we would continue to have a black market composed of the youngest and most vulnerable members of the sex trade while those who do massage or work at escort services are protected.

New Democratic Party MP Libby Davie believes that sex trade workers should have the right to work out of their homes. But reports from the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women in Australia suggest that legalization would further exploit women and encourage the sale and slavery of children.

This issue is nowhere near as simple or straightforward as I had once imagined. I can understand arguments on both sides of the debate. It will be interesting to see how Parliament resolves the dilemma. Many thanks to Slobodian for her extensive research and thought-provoking article.


Sigrid Mac

I've got HP6!

Although it sounds like a mutant strain of the herpes virus, HP6 actually stands for Harry Potter Six, otherwise known as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I started out tonight with the intention of writing about Taylor Behl, the bright and beautiful 17-year-old who was murdered recently in Virginia. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't face the thought of talking about one more dead girl. One more wasted youth. One more senseless tragedy.

I started to think about how overwhelming the news has become. Earthquakes, hurricanes, subway terrorist threats. Millions of people evacuating their homes and images of dogs roaming in packs, desperately trying to survive the fallout from Katrina, lingered in my mind. I used to be a news junkie. I read two newspapers a day. My TV was permanently set on CNN, since I grew up in the US.

Now, I find myself watching Comedy Central and shying away from shows like CSI and Law and Order. I'm spending more time reading lighthearted books and talking to people on the phone. I need to get away from death and destruction because life is all about balance. We never read headlines that say, "Woman left home at 7:30 a.m. and arrived back at her apartment safely as usual that evening." Of course, that's the norm but it's not newsworthy. Even those who are affected by violence -- or should I say, especially those who are affected by such horrors -- need some humor in their lives. Something creative, fun, different and not terribly cerebral.

More than 25% of JK Rowling's fan base is adult. I began the Potter series in order to have something to discuss with my young nephew, but I quickly became addicted and I've read all six books. One thing about the Half-Blood Prince that impressed me is that there was a lot of media hype about one of our favorite characters dying at the end of the book. HP6 was released on July 16 and I was convinced that someone would spoil the surprise by telling me which one of my Hogwarts' favs had departed. (Yes, I can't escape death even in Harry Potter!) But I must say that no one was rude enough to ruin the book, so it came as a shock when I learned that #@#@#@#@# had magically passed on.

All of you Potter fans know the sheer joy of escaping to Diagon Alley; for those who have never traveled on their broomstick or apparated, I would highly recommend it. My only complaint about Rowling is that she tends to be quite wordy, but I'm usually content to let her ramble and sad as hell when her magnificent stories end.

Sigrid Mac

My first Magazine Review by She Unlimited

The Review Diaries "D'Amour Road by Sigrid Macdonald", October 7, 2005
Reviewer: She Unlimited Magazine "Veronica Marie Kettler" (World Wide) - See all my reviews
The Review Diaries D'Amour Road by Sigrid Macdonald
She Unlimited Magazine Review by Veronica Marie Kettler

A Powerful book Based on a true story, taking place in Ottawa Canada. Sigrid Macdonald vividly makes us aware of this growing and ignored epidemic. Missing Persons is an epidemic ignored by many, and as this story unfolds, it is amazing how our eyes are open wide shut.

The title of the book is a masterful description which clearly depicts the pages ahead. Based on a true story, it is an astounding book on women's passage in society based in modern Ottawa. One women's life, but many are still missing. I closed the last flap of the book feeling empathy, and compassion for those unfound and the painful footprints left in those still looking.

The characters are real and the story is profound. It is original with a roller coaster ride that explores the reality of a social problem everywhere. Macdonald establishes D'Amour Road, the road of love, also a road to tragedy and unsaid mystery as the search begins for Lisa.

Still looking for Tamra Keepness

Good news. Apparently, the police are still looking for little Tamra Keepness, a five-year-old Native girl who disappeared from her home in Regina in July of 2004. I haven't read anything about Tamra for the longest time, so I'm glad to hear that she is not a "cold case file."

According to the Canadian Press, specially trained cadaver dogs from Calgary are supposed to search certain areas of Regina this weekend. Lara Rostad of the Regina police said the search is not based on any new information, but rather is a part of the ongoing investigation into Tamra's disappearance. Rostad said the Calgary team would spend "three days searching Wascana Lake, Wascana Creek and north Winnipeg Street with dogs trained to locate bodies and human remains."

There have also been comprehensive searches inside the family home and surrounding area, and air searches of the city, along with a search of an area near Echo Lake on the Pasqua First Nation. CP stated that six investigators have been assigned to the case. That's very encouraging.

I'm not hopeful about finding Tamra, although stranger things have happened. Who would have thought that Elizabeth Smart would have emerged from her kidnapping ordeal? Until proven otherwise, we must assume that Tamra may still be alive. Either way, her family deserves to know what happened to her. Let us hope that this intensified measure helps to bring some closure to a terrible situation.

Sigrid Mac

When Love Is Not Enough

In Missing Sarah, Maggie de Vries writes a provocative and heartbreaking story about her sister, Sarah, who was one of 69 women who went missing from the Eastside of Vancouver in the 1990s. Shockingly, Sarah's DNA was discovered on Robert Pickton's farm, yet that evidence was not sufficient for the police to charge him with her murder.

A professional writer, Maggie goes back in time to give us a detailed portrait of her sister in the earlier years. A child of mixed racial descent, Sarah was adopted into a Caucasian family; she was taunted at school and mocked for her ethnicity. Although the family adored Sarah and vice versa, this devotion was not enough to surpass the pain from the racist insults that Sarah received. She became a troubled teenager, feeling that she did not belong anywhere. Sarah began to run away, and eventually felt more comfortable in group homes and in her own low-rent apartment than she did with her family.

Maggie traces Sarah's journey into drugs and prostitution. She also analyzes different factors that have decreased the safety of sex trade work. According to Maggie, between 1960 and 1974, only one prostitute was the victim of a violent death in British Columbia. From 1975 to 1980, the number increased to a total of three women. It started rising in the 90s, resulting in 24 dead sex trade workers in B.C. before the maniacal actions of Robert Pickton.

This is an important book. Not only do we get to know Sarah de Vries as a person, rather than a faceless, drug addicted prostitute, but we also get a sense of how terribly wrong it is for our hypocritical society to push sex trade workers into the deepest and darkest corners of the city where they will inevitably be easy prey for perverts and malevolent men. Policymakers as well as the general public should take heed. Sex trade workers, who are often only teenagers, need our protection.

Missing Sarah makes a strong argument for the decriminalization of drugs since many prostitutes cannot leave the job because they need to work to feed their habit. It also advocates the legalization of sex trade because this would provide the workers with a safe physical location. That way they don't have to solicit on corners and get into cars with strangers who may beat, rob, rape or kill them.

Robert Pickton is currently behind bars but there's a dangerous serial murderer stalking prostitutes in Edmonton. What are city officials there doing about it?


Sigrid Macdonald
Book Review, posted on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca

Our Native Sisters

Over the last 10 to 15 years, hundreds of Aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing in Canada. Some sources say that the figure is close to 500 but others say that's debatable. Regardless of the exact figure, the situation is alarming. Imagine if we were talking about white women! Premiers would be declaring an epidemic. Members of Parliament would be lobbying for better law enforcement and accountability. Parent groups would be organizing to make their communities safer. But because we're talking about a group of people who are already marginalized; at a higher risk for poverty and family violence; more likely to be abused sexually and physically; and more prone to ending up in prison or working in the sex trade than their Caucasian sisters, no one is terribly upset.

As many of you may know, 69 women have gone missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Approximately 27 have been confirmed dead and notorious serial killer, Robert Pickton, the modern-day equivalent of Jack the Ripper, is behind bars. According to Wayne Leng, approximately 17 of the missing women in Vancouver were Aboriginal and two were of mixed race. Wayne runs an incredible web site entitled Missing People Net as a tribute to these women, so that they will not be remembered as simply "prostitutes." They were people and each one was unique. He has posted a picture of every woman on his site to remind us of their individuality.

Today, Wayne sent me an article that was published in the Vancouver Sun. It said that last year, the Missing Persons Unit in Vancouver received 3847 complaints. A large number of these were about runaways but 315 had to do with unsolved homicides. Apparently -- hope that you're sitting down for this one -- there is ONE person operating the Missing Persons Unit in Vancouver! Gosh, I hope that he takes large doses of vitamin C. If he were to come down with a common cold, the entire department could be crippled. Worse, this one individual is also the liaison to the coroner's office, so he can't completely devote the little time that he has to the job at hand.

Clearly, we need to restate our priorities. White women who go missing get their pictures flashed all over TV until something more exciting like a big hurricane comes along.

Little Tamra Keepness disappeared from Regina last year when she was five. She has never resurfaced but I have yet to hear updates on her story on Canada AM. And Tamra was just a cute little girl. She wasn't a sex trade worker with a heroin habit, which would make her absence even less interesting to the major media.

Right now, I'm reading the book Missing Sarah by Maggie de Vries. Sarah was one of the unfortunate souls whose DNA was found on the Pickton pig farm but for some inexplicable reason, that doesn't seem to be enough evidence to convict him of her murder. When I'm finished with this emotionally charged and illuminating book written by Sarah's author sister, I will post more about it here. Suffice to say that it is well worth reading and remembering the continuing role that color plays in our multicultural and supposedly accepting society.

Sigrid Mac

Alberta Justice

We Canadians talk a lot about Texas Justice, which gives us the opportunity to feel superior to the Americans, but our own justice system is in pretty sad shape. Not only do we have wrongful convictions but oftentimes, guilty parties go free.

Holly Desimone knows all too well about the failings of the Alberta justice system. Back in 1990, when she was 29 years old, Holly went over to her friend's house one night for dinner. She met her friend's brother, Ali Rasai, a seemingly nice guy who was a newcomer to Canada. She thought nothing about inviting him back to her apartment since she had no idea that he had fled a rape charge in Australia. Rasai sexually assaulted Holly, who feared for her life.

It took her more than three months to report the rape due to the emotional trauma and fear of not being believed. When she finally came forth, she discovered that Rasai had been charged with sexually molesting two other women in Alberta -- one in Red Deer and one in Edmonton. After he was charged, he was granted bail and his victims were never notified.

Worse, Rossi skipped town. He left the country and it took years for him to be located. Holly launched a tireless campaign to find him, similar in many respects to Joyce Milgaard's one-woman "gumshoe" campaign for justice. She worked in tandem with Rasai's other rape victim from Red Deer, and made the painful decision to go public in order to find this man. Most rape victims are covered by rape shield laws and do not have to disclose their identity to the press but Holly decided to give up her anonymity.

She appeared on America's Most Wanted and has been written up in Reader's Digest. After struggling for years, finding dead ends and dealing with bureaucratic red tape that allowed Rasai to stay in countries like Norway, Holly finally found some measure of justice when Rasai was apprehended. Nearly six years after the rape, he was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison. Too little, too late, but at least he's behind bars now after having slipped out of police custody so easily here in Canada to live abroad.

You can read more about Holly's courageous story on my link entitled Holly's Fight for Justice. She has a large web site with extensive links and resources for crime victims. Check it out! Then come back here and post your comments.

Sigrid Mac
crossposted to D'Amour Road and my Milgaard Inquiry blog

The Teague investigation begins

Police have received approximately 400 tips regarding the murder of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague. She was discovered in a marshy swamp off Moodie Drive. Jennifer had been walking home late at night from her job at Wendy's and was on a National Capital Commission walking path.

Two years ago in August of 2003, graduate student Ardeth Wood was on an NCC biking path when she was murdered. The Ottawa Sun asked if we have one serial killer on the loose or two separate killers -- two equally undesirable situations.

Aside from both young women being strong, independent and athletic, and both of them traveling on NCC paths, their deaths seem to have little in common. Ardeth was abducted during the day whereas Jennifer was last seen around 1 a.m. She finished her shift at Wendy's at 12:30 a.m. and called her mother to ask her to lay out her pajamas on the chair. Then she hung out with her friends for a while and began walking home around one o'clock. The suburban streets were dark and deserted but the area was well populated with homes. In fact, Jennifer's job was on the same street that my doctor's office is on! It's not an area where anyone would feel threatened.

According to reporter Lisa Lisle, Jennifer was a "spunky" teenager who was a terrific goalie. She had an interest in the environment and worked so hard and well on a particular project that she and her team won a David Suzuki award. Apparently, Jennifer had a web site where she listed her favorite things. Instead of going on about music or clothes, she cited her six best friends as her favorite things.

It's hard to know what responsibility Wendy's has in this matter. Is it right for them to employ young girls on the night shift and then to lock the doors of the restaurant before these girls have been picked up? Do they have a moral or ethical responsibility to their young staff? Wendy's has said that they are going to look into their policy about having young people working the night shift. That's good but it's a little late for Jennifer Teague.

I'm not blaming Wendy's. And I certainly wouldn't blame Jennifer for walking home alone at that hour, although in retrospect, it's easy to see that wasn't such a clever thing to do. The real fault lies with her killer and it's a big concern as to whether or not he will be found since Ardeth Wood's murderer is still at large.

Andrew Seymour of the Ottawa Sun quoted a U.S. Department of Justice study that claimed that about two thirds of all female victims of violence know their attackers. Aside from the men in Jennifer's life from school, I wonder if one of her customers was watching her. It sounds as though someone knew her hours; maybe someone had been checking her out and was aware that she walked home alone in a desolate area late at night.

Will see if those tips to the police pan out. The least that we can do for the Teague family now is to find the perpetrator.

Sigrid Mac

P. S. I'm updating this on September 22 and police have received close to 800 tips now. Please add your comments and thoughts to this post. I welcome discussion and discourse.

Betty Ann Adam Rocks!

I'm very excited!

I wrote to Betty Ann Adam of the Star Phoenix last week to tell her about my novel, D'Amour Road. D'Amour Road is loosely based around the disappearance and tragic death of Louise Ellis, a member of my Milgaard group. As many of you know, I was the former co-coordinator of the David Milgaard Support Group here in Ottawa.

Louise was a freelance journalist who was interested in writing a book about David. Consequently, she attended the Supreme Court hearings to get more information about his case. It was there that she had her fateful meeting with Brett Morgan, a jailhouse informant, who testified that Larry Fisher had confided in him when they were cellmates; apparently, Fisher had boasted that he had once killed someone but someone else was doing the time for it. Louise admired Brett for coming forth with this information, which was dangerous for a convict.

No one likes a tattletale and I'm sure that it didn't make him very popular in prison. She struck up a correspondence with Morgan and traveled back and forth to see him at the penitentiary. Louise took money out of her own pocket to hire lawyers to get Morgan out of prison early. He was in for manslaughter -- should have been murder -- because he had killed a woman by the name of Gwen Telford in Edmonton (In many newspaper articles, Telford is only referred to as "a prostitute" which really pisses me off!)

Louise and Brett fell in love. She took him into her house when he got out of jail. He got a job and about nine months later, Louise went missing. I was part of the search team that went looking for her. Since Brett was actively involved in the search and vehemently proclaiming his innocence, it was awkward for all of us who were looking for her.

I met with Brett once in person and spoke to him several times on the phone. If I hadn't known that he had killed one woman and that his girlfriend was missing, I would've thought that he was charming. He was earnest and personable and appeared to be perfectly normal.

Brett led a private detective directly to Louise's body about three months into the investigation. He was charged with first-degree murder and was convicted largely on circumstantial evidence. He died of Hep C in prison; can't say that I shed too many tears over that. I was profoundly affected by the death of my cohort, Louise Ellis.

My novel is not biographical. I did not trace the exact relationship of Brett and Louise; instead, I asked myself what the situation would have been like if Louise and I had been best friends. How would I have felt then? What would I have done differently? How hard is it to balance the presumption of innocence with the realization that I don't want to be an idiot and overlook the fact that male partners are often involved in female disappearances; ex cons are even more suspicious!

In my book, I tried to make the male character a cross between Scott Peterson and Brett Morgan. The book is told mainly from the perspective of the best friend of the woman who disappears. It takes place in Ottawa and I examine issues like the presumption of innocence, the ever present possibility of a wrongful conviction, violence against women, midlife issues and unrequited love. You can read a preview of the book at http://www.lulu.com/content/117949 or find it directly on Amazon.

Keep your fingers crossed that Betty Ann Adam likes it and that the Star Phoenix will review it. She has been writing about Milgaard for years and was not aware of this spinoff from the case. In fact, she told me that the inquiry only heard about Morgan on Monday when one of the ex-cops suggested that it would be nice to have Morgan testify (from Six Feet Under?)

David Asper also has a copy of my book and is trying to get it reviewed for me in between his scrapes with the Blue Bombers. LOL.

Sigrid Mac

Crossposted to my D'Amour Road and Milgaard Inquiry blogs.

Tragedy

Police have confirmed that a body that was discovered yesterday on Moodie Drive is that of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague, who had been missing for 11 days. This is the news that we dreaded to hear and residents of the suburban community of Barrhaven were shocked and saddened. (I live in Nepean, Ontario and technically, Barrhaven is part of Nepean.)

That was all the information that I could glean from the evening news -- nothing about cause of death or any possible suspects yet.

Carol Ann Meehan of CJOH TV asked a store owner in nearby Stittsville if kids are required to be home by a certain hour under the curfew law. He didn't know but that hardly seems relevant to me. 18 years old is not a kid -- it's a young adult. And she wasn't out loitering; she was walking home from her late night shift at work! I don't see how a curfew could've been helpful or even appropriate in this instance, however, CJOH did show some interesting martial arts clips to instruct people, especially women, about what to do if they were apprehended.

Jennifer, you should have had five or six more decades. Your life was only beginning. My heart breaks. RIP

Sigrid Mac

Jennifer Teague -- missing for 10 days

An 18-year-old by the name of Jennifer Teague went missing here in Ottawa about 10 days ago. She lives in Barrhaven and was coming home from her job at Wendy's at about 12:30 a.m. -- 1 a.m. in the morning.

In a front-page article in the Ottawa Citizen today, journalist Ian MacLeod asked why the police would presume foul play (My response -- DUH!!!) He suggested all kinds of scenarios that might explain Jennifer's absence and said that the best case scenario would be that she had run away.

Of course, I know that not all women who disappear are harmed. But here's a girl who was on her way home from work late at night. Really, if you're going to stage your own disappearance, why not go somewhere at two in the afternoon when you have a decent amount of energy? According to her parents, nothing unusual was going on in her life and she had plans to do stuff like take her cat to the vet, and play in a big soccer game.

Sounds a lot like the situation with Alicia Ross in Markham except that Alicia's been missing since late August. Alicia had just been promoted at a job that she really loved. She was excited and looking forward to going to work the day that she disappeared. I think the police suspected some admirer or former boyfriend but I lost track of that case.

Here in Ottawa, we still have the unsolved murder of Ardeth Wood, which occurred several years ago. Ardeth was a beautiful and brilliant doctoral student who came home to visit her parents one day to take a break from her studies in Waterloo. She went off on a bike ride on the Aviation Parkway and never returned. Her killer is still at large. MacLeod wondered if perhaps that man had resurfaced.

What could have happened to Jennifer Teague? She could have voluntarily left town, she could've taken off with someone that she knew, she could've been apprehended by a stranger, she could be held somewhere now against her will. Or God forbid, she could have been irreparably harmed.

The police have been conducting a massive search by ground and air but have called it off in order to focus on more than 300 leads. Fingers crossed that some information about this missing girl surfaces ASAP. My heart goes out to her family and I pray that they are not left in limbo.

Sigrid Mac

Read more on Stupid Angry Canajun at
http://stupidangrycanajun.typepad.com

Kalpoe Brothers

The Kalpoe brothers were re-arrested on Friday along with another individual named Freddie, a friend of Jordan van der Sloot's. Police suspect that the brothers may have drugged and sexually assaulted Natalee (it's unclear as to whether or not Freddie was involved).

Satish, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21, were arrested along with van der Sloot (now 18) but the two brothers were released in July after a judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to connect them to Holloway's disappearance.

Nancy Grace said that there were rumors about use of the date rape drug Rohypnol, otherwise known as "roofies." She suggested last night that the boys' conversations could have been taped because the police now have new facts and evidence to justify the re-arrest. Grace also mentioned that Joran van der Sloot has now officially presented 23 different versions of what happened that evening!

Hopefully, this turn of events will shed some light on a puzzle that had been looking quite insoluble.

Sigrid Macdonald

Our Fascination with True Crime

I have lost count of the number of days that poor Natalee Holloway has been missing. Like many other people, I fear that her case may remain a mystery unless her body washes up on shore or one of the guys gets drunk and says something idiotically incriminating. It's a tragedy, however, the more I see of Natalee and her family on TV, the more worried I become about the way that we report the news.

There is such a fine line between reporting and sensationalizing. Long ago, both network and cable TV realized that true crime was profitable. Viewers are fascinated. People tuned in in droves to watch OJ's famous car chase. I can hardly remember the car that I drove 12 years ago but I will never forget OJ's Bronco!

As sad as the disappearance of Natalee Holloway is, how did it manage to displace Africa or Iraq in the news? Why is it more important than the bombings in London? Is it because the news itself is so horrific, overwhelming and unbearably depressing that we would prefer to focus on one single individual rather than to mourn for the multitudes? There is a phenomenon called "compassion fatigue." That's what happens when people are subjected to too much sorrow or bad news. They can't respond appropriately anymore; they have to numb themselves out a bit.

Perhaps it is easier to compulsively follow true crime stories such as Laci Peterson, Lori Hacking, Elizabeth Smart, JonBenet Ramsey, and Cecilia Zhang. That way we can relate and identify with that one individual. We can collect data and follow the facts day in and day out, so that we try to be amateur detectives. Does this explain the popularity of shows like Law and Order or CSI and authors like Ann Rule?

I'm not saying that Natalee doesn't deserve media attention. She does, however, the publicity that she is receiving is way out of proportion to her place in the world.

OTOH, we seem to have very ambivalent feelings about true crime. For example, the recent movie about Karla Homolka, and her sociopathic husband Paul Bernardo, was banned at the Montreal film Festival. I know that the families of the victims did not want that movie to be made and I sympathize with them. Truly, my heart breaks for the Frenchs and the Mahaffeys.

However, the movie MONSTER was a blockbuster hit in the theater earlier this year. It was all about one of the first female serial killers. What about movies like Hotel Rwanda or Schindler's List? Are people only allowed to make movies about war and murder if there is some redeeming social value to them? Ridiculous! We can't pretend that these events never happened like the Holocaust deniers. Better to analyze them out in the open so as never to forget what the dark side of human nature can do.

You may not agree with my opinion. I welcome dissent and discourse. Please sign my guestbook or make a comment on my blog. Thanks!

Sigrid Macdonald

Mrs. Missing

There are a number of different ways that women can disappear. They can be kidnapped and murdered, or they can leave town or get married! Excuse me for being facetious tonight but this afternoon I made 32 phone calls trying to track down an old friend of mine from grad school.

Firstly, women disappear because Bell Canada encourages them not to list their full first name in the phone book. When I lived in Toronto, Bell wanted me to list my name as S. Macdonald but I refused because there were dozens of S. Macdonalds in the phone book. I knew that no one would be able to find me that way whereas everyone would find Sigrid immediately because it's so distinct.

Secondly, women fade into that huge Bermuda Triangle once they get married since they usually take on their husband's name. I seriously doubt that my good friend from grad school has been abducted by aliens, and I have ruled out her listing herself by her initial by my 32 ambitious phone calls. Thus, she either moved, had a sex change operation or got married.

I have nothing against marriage but it's awkward for everyone when women give up their maiden names -- or even their names from their first marriage -- because it makes them so damn difficult to locate. WOMEN - Sign up with classmates.com so that all of your old friends can find you!

Sigrid Macdonald

Taking people for granted

I have a friend in Winnipeg who will be turning 103 at the end of October. He is the "younger" friend of my late grandparents. We have been communicating by phone or by e-mail for the last six years since he was 97. Because of his advanced age, I am diligent about keeping in touch with him. I make a point of calling him up even though I may feel too busy, and it's hard to talk to him because he can't hear well. I find the time to write notes to him. After all, he's 102! How much longer can he last? In the back of my mind, ever since I met him in 1997, I've been worrying that he might pop off. I make him a priority.

I wish that I could say the same for the rest of my friends and family. There are so many times when I don't feel up to contacting people. I have too much work. I have a headache. I'm too tired. There's always tomorrow. I have all of the time in the world. Or do I?

D'Amour Road is dedicated to an acquaintance of mine who went missing and never resurfaced alive again. We don't expect people in their forties to disappear and die. Most of us in the First World expect to live well into our seventies and eighties. But are we living lives of quality where we have ample time for reflection and relaxation?

When I was doing my undergraduate work in psychology, I remember reading a book by Alvin Toffler called Future Shock. It postulated that in the future -- i.e. now -- everything would be automated. People would have so much free time that they wouldn't know what to do with it.

HA! I don't know anyone who has free time. Most people I know are working 50-70 hours a week, raising kids or traveling as part of their job requirement. Many businesses are now open 24 hours a day. Employees used to be able to take a break on the weekends or when they were on vacation. Now we have cell phones, Palm pilots, e-mail, pagers and fax machines. People feel pressured to be available when they really should be off duty.

It's hard to take time for ourselves. Some things have become antiquated like writing thank you letters or staying in touch with elderly relatives. Not everyone can decide that they will spend more time with their kids or skipping stones across a pond because they are being held hostage by their jobs. But all of us can take a hard look at the way that we spend our time because it's a fallacy to assume that our loved ones will always be there.

Recently, I heard of two people in their forties who died suddenly without any warning. Actually, one died and the other one is currently on life support, but has been pronounced brain-dead. We never know when our number is up or when we could lose the most important people in our lives. I would like to believe that I can start treating most, if not all, of the people in my life the same way that I treat my 103-year-old friend: as precious and temporary, thus, to be treated with great love and respect at all times.

Sigrid Macdonald

50 days and counting

Not knowing is worse than knowing. The poor Holloways are being tortured, waiting for news about their missing daughter, Natalee.

Today a strand of blonde hair wrapped in duct tape was found on the beach but we don't know if it belonged to Natalee. There have been so many false leads in this case including a supposed confession and retraction and blood found on a mattress, which was later discovered to be dog's blood. If nobody talks and a body does not wash up, this case could drag on forever.

Normally, I do NOT agree with Nancy Grace. In fact, I think she is an overreacter who goes on the presumption of guilt (e.g. she jumped all over the Runaway Bride's fiance without any evidence that he'd been involved), and she's slow to say "sorry" or admit that she was wrong. [The fact that her book OBJECTION is number 424 on Amazon is shocking! Clearly, Nancy has a lot of fans who are not keen on civil rights.] But in this instance, I concur that it looks bad for Joran van der Sloot.

If he's innocent, why did he have to invent several different stories? What happened? He wanted sex, Natalee refused, and he got rough with her? He and his friends drugged her, assaulted her and disposed of her with the help of the boat guy? He did not leave her on that beach alone at 2 a.m. Not credible. Nor did she willingly disappear. No way.

I pray that we discover the truth about Natalee's disappearance soon for the sake of her poor distraught family.

Sigrid Macdonald

The civil rights of the uncivilized

Canada's most notorious female criminal, Karla Homolka, was released from prison yesterday. She granted a rare interview to the press in Quebec, trying to reassure the public that she is no longer a menace and deserves to live a life free of harassment.

For those outside of the country who have not heard of Karla, she and her husband Paul Bernardo kidnapped, sexually tortured and murdered several teenagers back in the nineties. Karla also "gave" her younger sister Tammy to Paul because Paul wanted to take Tammy's virginity. In addition, he took her life.

Fortunately, Bernardo was given a life sentence. However, Homolka led the court to believe that she was a battered woman who was under Bernardo's influence, and that she only went along with the kidnappings because she was afraid for her own safety. Right after Karla signed a sweetheart deal with the Crown, videotapes that showed Homolka's active participation in the killings surfaced. But it was too late. Karla was sentenced to 12 years in prison. She served her time and now she's out. Rumor has it that she has been corresponding with an inmate who has a history of manslaughter, and that the two of them have a romantic relationship. What reason do we have to believe that Homolka has changed?

She was an exemplary prisoner, she claims, and served as a counselor to help other women. She wants to live in Quebec because she believes that the media there presented less sensational coverage of her story, so there may be a chance for her to establish a second life.

Meanwhile, Homolka has been receiving death threats. People on the Internet have been talking about her like she is the lowest form of humanity. And she is, but the question remains: How do we treat people who have served their time? Does Homolka deserve police protection if her life is in danger? Should we care about Karla Homolka or should we turn our backs and hope that someone takes care of her the way that someone took care of Jeffrey Dahmer in the slammer?

This is a no-brainer for me. I despise what the woman did although I recognize that to some extent she was a victim of Bernardo's. (Handsome, charismatic Paul Bernardo was also the Scarborough Rapist before he graduated to murdering high school girls in St. Catherine's, Ontario. He was a tyrannical and domineering partner to Karla.) But being under his thumb does not make her any less culpable in my eyes. Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy and Tammy Homolka would be alive today if it weren't for the sick, codependent, "I'll Do Anything to Please My Man" attitude of selfish, sociopathic Karla Homolka.

Having said that, two wrongs don't make a right. The only time vigilante justice is cool and exciting to watch is on old movies like Billy Jack and Walking Tall. In real life, we make a decision as to whether or not we are a humane and just society. If we are, then we must concede that through a legal loophole, Karla served her time. No matter how despicable her actions were, she needs police protection if her life is in danger.

Homolka is still young. She may live among us for many more decades. Harassing and persecuting her will only creates stress that may cause her to become alcoholic, drug addicted or to re-offend by becoming involved with another male criminal. She's out. Let's leave her alone.

Sigrid Macdonald