Pubdate: Tue, 27 Sep 2005
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 The Edmonton Journal
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Tim Naumetz, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Roszko (James Roszko)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

SLAIN MOUNTIES' FAMILIES WANT CRACKDOWN ON GROW-OPS

'We're Drawing The Line Here,' In Call For Mandatory Jail Time

OTTAWA - The families of the four Mounties shot dead near Mayerthorpe 
appealed to Parliament and all Canadians on Monday for support in their 
campaign against drugs and organized crime.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and Prime Minister Paul Martin ducked 
opposition demands to bring in tougher sentences for cannabis grow 
operations, but said the government won't press MPs to push ahead with the 
controversial bill to decriminalize marijuana.

The families, still scarred by the slayings on March 3 of this year, called 
on the government to scrap the marijuana bill and introduce mandatory 
minimum jail sentences for those who grow cannabis on a commercial scale.

"We have to draw the line and we're drawing the line here," said Don 
Schiemann, pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Stony Plain, whose 
son Peter was among the officers killed by James Roszko.

Roszko, who had a history of violence, was known to the local RCMP 
detachment, and 283 marijuana plants were found in his Quonset hut.

Schiemann, with help from Alberta Conservative MPs Rona Ambrose and Rob 
Merrifield, whose riding includes Mayerthorpe, held a news conference to 
ask Canadians to put pressure on the government.

The families want households across the country to switch on their front 
porch lights between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the evening of the third of 
every month, beginning in October, until next March 3, the anniversary of 
the killings.

"Every day we live with sadness because of their untimely deaths," 
Schiemann said. "As we have put the puzzle together we also live with a 
fear that this could very easily happen again if present conditions do not 
change."

He called for a minimum sentence of two years in prison for anyone 
convicted of running a grow-op, and decried the lenient sentences that have 
been handed down for drug growers and dealers.

"I'm sure the Roszkos of this world are laughing at us," Schiemann said.

Cotler sidestepped questions about minimum jail sentences for grow-ops.

"I know that grow-ops are a scourge across the country. It is a matter that 
has to be addressed, and it has to be addressed not only through the 
criminal law, though the criminal law is clearly one vehicle for that 
purpose, and an important one," he said, noting the marijuana bill, C-17, 
also contains tougher penalties for grow-ops.

But Cotler appeared to wash his hands Monday of the once-heralded 
decriminalization bill, saying it's up to the Commons justice committee to 
decide what to do with it.

"We brought it forth, it's now a matter of what the committee will do with 
it," he told reporters. "They will make their own determination as to when 
and in what order that bill will be addressed. The committee is a master of 
its own procedures."

Cotler denied the government wants the bill -- first introduced under 
former prime minister Jean Chretien -- to languish.

"We didn't introduce it because we wanted to shelve it; we introduced it 
because we wanted it to pass," he said, adding the government has six 
criminal justice bills it wants passed in this Parliament.

In the Commons, the prime minister recalled his presence at the Edmonton 
memorial for the slain officers, but, replying to questions from 
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, said the government has already 
indicated its commitment to combat drug trafficking and violent crime.

"I can assure the families and I can assure the honourable member that the 
government takes the issues he has raised very, very seriously."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom