The Mad Song

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

On December 13, 2017,  charges were dropped against Mustafa Ururyar after his conviction had been overturned. Mandi Gray said publicly that she never meant to vilify Ururyar and that she did not believe in prisons. She is the one who wanted to sign a peace bond while Ururyar resisted, but finally opted for sparing himself and his family, the expenses and hardship of a new trial. One has to wonder why he was dragged into court in the first place.

December 6th marks the 25th anniversary of the École polytechnique shooting also known as the ‘Montreal Massacre’ during which 25-year old Marc Lépine entered the school premises armed with a semi-automatic Sturm Ruger .223 he had obtained legally, and proceeded to shoot 27 people; 14 women died and 10 women and 4 men were injured. Lépine took his own life after the rampage.

At 10 a.m. on the morning of October 22, 2014, a lone shooter killed a Canadian soldier who had volunteered to stand guard at the National War Memorial, just a few blocks away from Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

On September 22, 2014, Gilles Pimparé, 60, was denied parole for the sixth time by the Parole Board of Canada following a hearing held at La Macaza Institution, a medium security penitentiary in the Laurentians. He first applied for parole in 2001 and has never succeeded in obtaining a release.

The name of Guy Paul Morin is always brought up by activists and lawyers when talking about wrongful convictions because of the text book mistakes made in his case.