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A murderer of 3 women dies in prison. Is that justice? Not for some.

April 13, 2024

Update: The National spoke to Kirsten after the Ford government’s about-face on declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic. Watch here:

 

CBC spoke to Kirsten Mercer this week about whether the death in prison of a man convicted of murdering three women is a form of justice.

Mercer … said it would be a mistake to call Basil Borutski’s death justice.

“Although the system worked in the way that it’s designed to work, justice has not been served for Carol, Anastasia and Nathalie yet. And it won’t be until we bring an end to this epidemic that is in our midst and that we do have tools to end,” she said.

“We know better, and we need to do better.”

For Mercer, throwing offenders in jail or in prison is not a fix to the societal ill of intimate partner violence.

Most cases never see a courtroom, she said, and in the rare case that they do and a conviction is secured, most sentences aren’t long enough to make people safe for life.

Part of the solution is to intervene early, before perpetrators become fixed in this form of crime, Mercer said.

Mercer said she often wonders what would have happened if there had been a “meaningful” intervention with Borutski decades before the murders.

“I think we should all feel sad about the failings and what it cost us, and what it costs the community, and … the survivors of that man who still live in Renfrew County, and who probably until today woke up every day a little bit afraid that somehow he would get out and that somehow he would harm them,” she said.

Mercer also thinks often about a metaphor written by Warmerdam’s son, Malcolm Warmerdam. He compared sending abusers to jail with sticking a hornet in a jar, shaking it up, and setting it free again.

“Until we’re doing that prevention work … we’re dealing with the system that’s going to keep cycling through, and that’s a real problem,” Mercer said.

Mercer said Tuesday that governments still aren’t moving quickly enough “on the stacks of recommendations that exist,” but that there has been some progress at the local level.

Nearly 100 municipalities have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, while the province has not.

Mercer also said that some high-risk tables, which are groups of stakeholders from different sectors that come together when there’s a high-risk case, are functioning better.

“We know that more attention is being given and more space is being created for the front-line workers and the expertise that they bring to that process,” she said, adding that it’s been a powerful and hopeful surprise.

“[These communities] decided they weren’t going to wait around for government to pick it up.”

Read the entire CBC article here.

More coverage here.

Lawyers

Kirsten Mercer

Practice Areas

Inquests & Inquiries, Human Rights Law