Quotes from Silver Donald Cameron

The Acadians may not have been literate, but they were neither uncultured nor unsophisticated.

The cod collapse was an ecological and economic catastrophe that cost forty thousand jobs and gutted entire communities. A disaster of these proportions in Ontario would have been cosidered a national trauma. But there was no soul-searching about the cod. No heads rolled. There was no Royal Commission.

When justice is not seen to be done by the public,' read Diane McGrath, opposing bail for Dwayne Samson, 'confidence in the bail system and more generally the entire justice system may falter.' Confidence in the justice system. Really? Among the Acadians and the Mi'kmaq and the Scots, the miners and the steelworkers and fishermen of Cape Breton Island? Really?

Phillip was sort of a strange genius, because he figured out exactly where the holes were in the system, and he used them. He didn't 'fall between the cracks.' He lived in the cracks.

He showed me the chopper. He said, 'I'm going to cut all your traps.' He had the chopper in his hand. He wasn't an easy fellow, I'll tell you.' 'He wasn't what?' says Richardson, flummoxed again. On Isle Madame, 'not easy' means not easily pushed around, stubborn, forceful in pursuing what one wants.

and in a city, if you don't want to see anyone ever again, you can often dodge them indefinitely. Not so in Isle Madame. It didn't take long to see that privacy was not much valued here, and was not easy to obtain.

Ray,' I said, 'is everyone your cousin?' 'Well, I got ten uncles and aunts on my mother's side, and ten more on my father's. And one of my uncles had twenty-eight kids. I got a lot of cousins.

Meanwhile, the diocese had to raise $16 million. How would it do that? By borrowing $6 million and by pillaging its own parishes-- the very communities whose children had been violated by the disgraced priests. Parish bank accounts were vacuumed, parish properties were sold, parishes were merged.

A human life is an endless process of becoming, a constant dance between character and circumstance.

I sense that Chief Justice Kennedy has personally concluded taht the Crown has proven its case, that Craig is a credible witness, and that James is guilty of Murder 2...He doesn't say for instance, that 'Craig Landry has provided you with his account of what happened.' Instead he says, 'Craig Landry has told you what happened to Phillip Boudreau.

The truth is that the law enforcement system offers no effective protection for someone like Susan Butlin -- or Carla Samson. None.

The great irony of the Boudreau story is that the formal judicial system constantly scolded the accused for 'taking the law into their own hands' without ever recognizing that the accused had repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to persuade the authorities to deal with Phillip. The root causes of the tragedy include a systemic failure of the legal system itself.

The actors in the courtroom often assume, for instance, that the enforcement system is able to do things that it patently cannot do, like provide real protection to citizens in danger of being murdered.

The system has little capacity for self-criticism; it appraises others, not itself. It didn't even allow itself to hear the full story behind the actions it was judging, and it certainly didn't recognize that the legal system's own shortcomings were a significant contributing factor in the tragedy.

Pearl has known Dwayne since he was born, and is confident that he won't breach any bail conditions. Yes, she knows what Dwayne is charged with, and she understands her responsibilities. Dan MacRury wants to be clear about her role. 'Are you suggesting that he will come live with you?' he asks. Pearl looks puzzled, but she is not fazed. 'Well, he can if he likes,' she says.

Look, I know Phillip since he was five years old -- and even then you'd have thought he was six foot four and bulletproof, he was that mouthy. And bad? My Jesus Christ.