Aug. 11/07, New Westminster, BC: FACT Community Forum

Opening address by David Toner

 “FACT accomplishments and social responsibility”

I’d like to thank everyone for coming out today and to welcome our honoured Speakers and guests…….. I see many old friends here… and some new allies as well.

First, a little about this group we call Families Against Crime & Trauma or FACT. What is FACT about? We are a grassroots group that is made up of those that have lost someone or been a victim of violent crime. We have taken our pain, and our anger, and our frustration with an inefficient, out-of-touch criminal justice system and turned into a positive force for change. My wife Sandra along with Nina Rivet, founded FACT to make these changes possible.

As an organization we have two basic goals

·       to advocate for victims rights

·       to lobby for changes to the justice system

Each of these tasks are very daunting, together they might seem insurmountable. But we have made astonishing progress in this past year.

When we started FACT a year ago, we had no idea how quickly it would grow, or how desperately needed this organization would be. We have now launched FACT branches in Edmonton and in Barrie Ontario, and Calgary and Winnipeg are not far behind. As far away as Nova Scotia, people are contacting us and asking for our help.

Calls for FACT come in from morning till night. Families like ours… families who have suffered a terrible loss, people who have been victims themselves and survived, and those that just want to see change.

I’d like to share with you some of the comments we’ve heard from people:

“Where the police victim services unit was limited with their help and willingness to give information, FACT was all about help and support, they are my guardian angels.”

“Before meeting FACT, we felt isolated and alone. After our meeting with them we no longer felt alone.”

“Special thanks to the people of F.A.C.T. They have been the only people that have helped our family a great deal.  I hope the government is ready for them!”

I’m amazed at the number of letters and e-mails we receive on a daily basis….. The number of people contacting us to join and share their experiences has been very revealing; what it’s revealed is a general lack of confidence in our justice system. People do not trust the courts. They watch criminals spinning in and out the revolving door of the justice system and ask, How can this be happening? What about our rights? What can we do about it?

This is where you come in….. All of you attending this Community Forum have an obvious interest in the issues of public safety, crime and violence in our society. Crime and violence has grown alarmingly in the past few years. Don’t let Statistics Canada fool you with their latest polls, crime, and in particular violent crime, is not going down, it’s steadily increasing.

How YOU can make a difference is to ACT on your beliefs…. Don’t wait for others to do it for you! Don’t wait until violence touches you personally, or takes a loved one or a friend from you. Social responsibility is the way to make a difference.

Canadian citizens who care about justice and care about their communities must stand up and make themselves heard. The government we elected to represent our interests must be reminded that they are accountable to protect the honest, hardworking people of this country.

Each one of us, as citizens of this great country, has to make a commitment to change:

·       We have to change our expectations of the system

·       We have to change our expectations of our leaders

·       We have to demand accountability

Let me tell you something that I’ve realized in the past year:

The geatest challenge we face in changing the system is not the politicians; three of them are here with us today in support of our cause. It’s not the police; every officer I’ve spoken with over the past two years agrees that the system is broken.

The greatest challenge we face to change in the Criminal Justice System is PUBLIC APATHY.

Too often we turn a blind eye to others in trouble… Too often we read about a gross miscarriage of justice and then shrug our shoulders and go on with our day…That apathy is not acceptable any more. That is what allowed the current situation we have in our Justice system to continue. I am here to tell you today that you CAN make a difference…. You CAN cause change.

Just over a year ago, before FACT came into being, I had a meeting with Translink. I suggested that there should be a 24 hour security presence at Skytrain stations because the crime doesn’t go home after the trains stop running…. Translink’s response at that time was that it was not their responsibility after the stations closed.

We learned that social pressure works… After the recent media campaign and petition signing we have taken part in, Translink has suddenly changed their tune and stated that they WILL be providing uniform presence at the stations, 24 hours a day, and they are actively working on that now. Obviously, we HAVE made a difference.

ALL of you have the power to make this work….. There is an old saying: “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

Start writing letters to the press, your local MLA’s, the Members of Parliament. Make your concerns heard. Be an arm-chair activist! Don’t rely on snail mail, the Internet gives you instant access to all levels of government.

By joining together, our combined voices can be heard, all the way to Victoria, and all the way to Ottawa. We are making a difference, and as we grow together and become larger and more influential, FACT will change the system.

I’d like to close today with a quote from Martin Luther King, words appropriate for this topic of social responsibility and the call to action that I have just made:

“I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren't fit to live. You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And if you refuse to do it because you are afraid. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You're afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you're afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot you or bomb your house. So you refuse to take the stand. Well you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”
 

“You died when you refused to stand up for right. You died when you refused to stand up for truth. You died when you refused to stand up for justice.”