Media Interviews and Reviews March 3, 2004 - CKNW Radio – with host PETER WARREN In interview with Wallace Gilby Craig, author of: Short Pants to Striped Trousers The life and times of a judge in Skid Road Vancouver Excerpt  Peter Warren First of all let us go back to the year 2001 – these are the words of a judge: “… I was no longer obliged to hear any more cases. It was a twilight zone of inconsistent qualities. It was a time of contradictions.  . . . One the one hand, I had no interest in hearing any more cases, and I didn’t need the title of judge, its honorifics or the kowtowing afforded it.  . . .” Those are the words of a Vancouver self-proclaimed Skid Road Judge. Let me give you another paragraph: “My values and beliefs were shaped by my experiences as I grew up, and these values and beliefs became entwined with my experience as an ordinary lawyer in Vancouver. I did not shed them when I became a judge at age forty-four. On the contrary, I took them with me each day I went into court to judge a fellow citizen. During my twenty-six years in court I sensed that the criminal justice system, and particularly the judiciary, was dispensing justice without any real sense of law and order, leaving our fair city at risk of being Canada’s drug capital . . .” The book is called Short Pants to Striped Trousers, The life and times of a judge in Skid Road Vancouver.   Wallace Gilby Craig is in studio with me. He says just call him Mr. Craig but I’m not going to do that because he’s still Judge Craig. Sir, first of all, in between some brilliant, funny and very touching memories, you’ve painted a picture of yourself in your mid-70s as somebody who is extremely disappointed with the justice system as we see it: somebody who is making noises that I’ve been hearing from Joe Six-Pack for ten years. W. G. Craig Well that’s true, I --- what you read is exactly what I intended to say – it was said with a great deal of forethought. But --- you know when you’re in my situation, basically approaching the mid-70s, I’ll be 73 tomorrow, and I spent 46 years in the justice system – it would be remiss on my part to leave without saying something. And to say it properly is to write a book and sometimes that is a bad mistake. I’ve done it and I’ll live with it and I’ll live with what I’ve said. But what I have said is not original, it has been said by ordinary people. I’ve talked to many and they say the same things. Now when you ask the judges how things are going they circle the wagons and they tell you they’re doing a good job – and that’s why I say we have justice without law and order. How can that be? Well let me just give you an example. If you look at the headlines that have been appearing in the Vancouver Sun in the last little while I think it is borne out. And I take them at random: From October 27, 2003 Property crime rate worst after Miami On January 22, 2004 We’re the bank robbery capital of Canada On February 24, 2004 Vancouver is Canada’s drug ‘warehouse-distribution centre’ Two days later U.S. says Vancouver is a hub for people smuggling. Well if those headlines are the tip of the iceberg then what is the judiciary doing about it? Warren I’ve saved you one from today’s paper. Craig I’d like to hear it. Warren This one is a man who grabbed his wife at the end of a 30/30 rifle – took her to a pit – and beat her for two solid hours, then had sex with her. He was drunk. He pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawfully possessing a firearm and unlawful confinement. This is the mother of his two children. (All he got was) Probation. There is uproar from the women in this community because of the beating – a complete uproar. And this has unfortunately come under the law where the judge has to consider the aboriginal heritage – and people are now saying there is a law for one race and a law for another race. Craig Well leaving that aside for the moment – on the facts of that case it can’t be anything but a jail sentence that would be appropriate – a severe sentence. The message that goes out after a sentence like that (probation), is that women continue to be the victims (of assault) and will receive no consideration from the courts. Warren . . . this book – its got a lot of good memories in it as well as the strength of what you’re trying to tell us. You’ve pointed at one thing saying “. . . to leave our fair city as the drug capital of Canada.” We are the drug capital of Canada – you are right in that. Craig Of course. To finish that off: The mayor now and the mayor before him, the Attorneys-General, they talk about Vancouver having a problem and they use the very mundane expression, (as it was characterized by NBC Dateline), “the Downtown Eastside.” Well that’s a bunch of crap: Its Skid Road! Skid Road is the description of what used to be a very benign part of this city. But it’s not that anymore, it has been described by NBC Dateline as a Victorian Hell. And let me finish: Sixty-five women went missing over ten years during the watch of at least two if not three mayors and several chiefs of police. There was a march a short time ago in memory of these people. I didn’t hear that any dignitaries, upper echelon dignitaries were there in the front row of the march. It shocks me that these women, the most vulnerable of citizens we have, the ones we should circle around and protect, were left to be picked off the streets one at a time. And we seem to put it aside and say, “well we have a problem there, but maybe just safe injection sites will solve the problem.” But you know that’s not going to work.  Warren Judge, I read through this book a deep understanding and, if you will, a deep support for the majority – not all – for a majority of mental health workers, police officers, court workers – which you don’t normally hear from a person in your position. Craig I’ll just turn back a moment and put this book in perspective. What I did was write about life in Vancouver since 1931. That happens to be the year I was born and seemed to be a starting point. It is a city that I remember that had no problems of the kind we have now. There are always problems, there were drugs and there was violence but nothing like we have now. I took the reader of my book through the ‘30s, ‘40s ‘50s and then I took a look at downtown Vancouver where I worked from 1955 to 1975. This is absolutely the most beautiful city in the world and out of that I get a great deal of delight – and I’m sure that my friends who remember all these things with me get the same enthusiasm for Vancouver. This is a city I love! This is a city that I’m not going to give up! And this is a city that requires those who are able to, to stand up and do something to save it from the direction it is going! Warren But haven’t we lost it already. Craig No! Warren Hell’s Angels -- -- we’ve lost the fight there. Craig No, we haven’t put up a fight. Warren Well – we haven’t? You’ve got me one up. Craig This is the problem – they say “We’ve had a war on drugs and it didn’t work.” There never was a war on drugs! The federal government has never put enough money; never put enough police officers into the field to deal with drugs in Vancouver and they can’t fob it off on the Chief of Police in Vancouver and the Mayor and Council of Vancouver – and of course the police force – and say “Well it’s your problem boys.” But that’s not the case: Under our constitution it is the federal government’s right to legislate what is a crime and what isn’t. They choose to make drugs illegal! They choose to make it a crime to traffic in them! They know this is the centre of drug trafficking for our country! Warren Should we not also blame some of your colleagues in striped trousers? Craig Well I’m one of them and I’d have to take the blame too. End of excerpt