{"id":2862,"date":"2018-07-19T14:27:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T14:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2018-10-23T20:14:22","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T20:14:22","slug":"tracy-latimer-my-sister-in-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/07\/tracy-latimer-my-sister-in-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracy Latimer: my sister in spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tracy Latimer: my sister in spirit \u2013 July 18, 2018
\n<\/strong>Taylor Hyatt \u2013 Policy Analyst & Outreach Coordinator,\u00a0<\/strong>Toujours Vivant-Not Dead Yet<\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 11, 2018, a number of news outlets revealed that Robert Latimer was seeking either a new trial or a complete pardon<\/a> for the second degree murder conviction in the 1993 death of his daughter, Tracy. The conviction and life sentence he received (with a mandatory minimum of ten years before parole could be considered), were upheld by the Supreme Court in 2001. Latimer \u201cwas granted day parole in February 2008 and full parole in November 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most Canadians are aware of his crime: in October 1993, Mr. Latimer put 12-year-old Tracy in the cab of his truck and piped in exhaust fumes. His motive? He \u201cloved his daughter,\u201d who was thought to be in severe pain, and \u201ccouldn’t bear watching her suffer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cause of Tracy\u2019s alleged pain and suffering was her cerebral palsy. I was born with the same disability in May 1992, about a year and a half before Tracy\u2019s death. As a result, I\u2019ve always felt a connection when I\u2019ve heard her name in the news. I can\u2019t remember how old I was when I finally understood what had happened to her \u2013 probably around age 10 or 11. (For reference, I was 18 when Latimer was granted full parole in 2010. Among my fondest memories of high school law classes are the discussions my classmates had about how sickening<\/em> his actions were!)\u00a0 Hearing about Tracy\u2019s fate sent shivers down my spine\u2026and years later, it still does. The sense of kinship I felt with her, and the disgust I felt at the thought of her murder, has stayed with me. If I had to put it all into words, it would read something like \u201cShe\u2019s like me, and her father resented having to care for her and feared for her future so much that he killed her<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are at least two major differences between Tracy\u2019s life and my own. Like all families, mine has had its share of squabbles and drama. Yet as intense as some of these conflicts have been, none would have put me in physical danger. As well, a medical label is just about the only thing our conditions have in common. Because my speech and cognition are unaffected by CP, it would have been easier for me to reach out to others if I were in a dangerous situation at home. Authorities would also be more likely to take my complaints seriously. Due to deep-rooted biases in our legal system, accounts of crimes put forward by people who communicate using assistive technologies or who have cognitive disabilities are more likely to be disbelieved.<\/p>\n

As I wrote a few years ago<\/a>, life with a disability does not seem too <\/em>strange to the Canadian public right now. Walkers and wheelchairs like the ones used by Tracy and I are common sights. However, the internalized prejudice and fear surrounding disability that played a role in her murder is just as prevalent now as 25 years ago. Legal euthanasia and assisted suicide now offer a socially-sanctioned escape from those negative messages; the procedures are prompting a startling shift in our country\u2019s view of disability, death, the definition of \u201csuffering\u201d and how much<\/em> of it someone can live with. Just as some physicians have begun to view suicidal behaviour as \u201can expression of refusal of medical treatment<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Robert Latimer\u2019s lawyers are now arguing that society\u2019s new acceptance of assisted suicide<\/a> makes his actions more understandable. Therefore, the case against him should be re-examined.<\/p>\n

However, the lawyers are missing a few important points. First, as a minor, Tracy would not have been able to consent to her own death. Her father had a responsibility to protect his daughter, care for her, and help her to thrive \u2013 a task which he clearly rejected. Second, Tracy\u2019s own thoughts about her life were not taken into account. At best, no one asked Tracy what she thought about her life because they lacked a consistent way to communicate with her. At worst, the obvious joy that she found in life with family and friends was dismissed<\/a> \u2013 in part because she was disabled, young, and female.<\/p>\n

The questions remain: does Canada value its citizens with disabilities less than it did 25 years ago? Will my sister in spirit continue to get the justice she deserves?<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n
\nRead Taylor’s thoughts on what it was like to grow up hearing about Tracy Latimer in the news.\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “Tracy Latimer: my sister in spirit”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “Tracy Latimer: my sister in spirit”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[122,43,130,117],"class_list":["post-2862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-blog","tag-euthanasia-en","tag-latimer","tag-suicide-2","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2862"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3381,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions\/3381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}