|
|
 |
Living on Hope
Living on Hope - The Sunday Sun - August 22, 1999
by Rob Granatstein
Today is Day 55 of what could be a life sentence for Jonathan Wamback and his parents.
They're not the criminals, though. They are the victims, casualties of a cowardly attack that left Jonathan, 15, in
hospital with a coma with severe brain damage and little chance of recovery.
His parents, Joe and Lozanne, have slept by their beloved son's side - first at the Hospital for Sick Children and now
at the Bloorview McMillan Centre - every night for 54 nights, since the June 29 attack just steps away from their
Newmarket home. They refer to Bloorview as "our new home."
The three youths charged with attempted murder in the beating of Jonathan - he was kicked with steel-toed boots until
his skull was irreparably shattered in an attack that nearly ended his life - are all out on bail.
The Wambacks lawyers have warned them the sentence might not be much more than a slap on the wrist if the accused, two
17 year olds and a 16 year old, are convicted in youth court.
They appear in court September 9 to set a date for the trial and the Crown is applying to have them bumped to adult
court.
The rights of the accused are vigorously protected by the Young Offenders Act. They can't be identified. Their
neighbours know of the grisly beating but not who did it.
The boys have rights.
The Wambacks say they have none.
NO MORE RIGHTS ANYMORE
"We have no rights anymore" says Jonathan's Mom, Lozanne, 45. We don't have the right to freedom; we're prisoners of
this hospital. We can't leave, we can't go back home because we don't have our son with us. We have to be by his side.
"We don't have the right to happiness", she says, "I can't describe the pain."
"Yet these three boys - who were laughing in court, out of relief - they are happy. They have freedom. They're having
a wonderful summer," Lozanne says.
So Joe has made it his mission to change the Young Offenders Act. A friend has set up a website
(www.jonathanwamback.com) with an electronic petition that can be sent to the Minister of Justice with the click of a
mouse. In addition, Jean Chretien and other individuals involved with the Committee on Justice can be contacted
directly by Email with the click of a mouse. In the first 18 hours the site has averaged 120 Emails an hour.
The petition demands changes to the YOA so "predators, regardless of age, who deliberately inflict pain and suffering
to any innocent Canadians will be prosecuted as adults.
"We demaind that young criminals, now acting with apparent impunity and the freedom to injure and maim will be held
accountable for their criminal acts."
Failure isn't an option. Just like their care for Jonathan, only a positive outlook is allowed.
"The changes we are going to bring about will not help us or our son," says Joe,53, "I hope to God it will help the
next Canadian family that could be facing the same injustice."
Nothing can ever soften or take the edge off the pain and the fear that we live with day-to-day for our son" he said.
"Changes to the act, even seeing these boys incarcerated for the rest of our lives, will not take the pain away. It's
permanent, it's ours. We live with it. We have to. He's our boy and we love him."
Despite their pain, the Wambacks won't cry in front of Jonathan because he hears, and they believe that it affects
him.
But Joe and Lozanne are by their son's side 24 hours a day, every day, massaging his feet, rubbing his arms, talking
to him, trying to ease his pain.
A single-digit handicap golfer and skilled artist and writer, Jonathan was 162 pounds when he was attacked. His weight
is down to 128 pounds. He's still in a coma, his left arm is in a series of casts to prevent it from seizing up,
because his muscular system and his central nervous system are not working together. In fact, every muscle in his body
is misfiring.
He can only sit in his wheelchair, his head tilted to one side. His parents say he's in an incredible amount of pain .
He moans and cries. They believe he can hear them but he can't speak.
Sometimes there's a smile, a glimmer of hope. But it's a rollercoaster ride with more downs than ups, his devoted
parents say.
Doctors can't tell them if he'll ever recover.
" I want Jonathan back, but I'll never get him back" Lozanne says. " I have to say goodbye to Jonathan as he was. And
I miss him so much. "
His parents are smart, full of an endless amount of love for each other and, especially, their son. They say Jonathan
is the same way.
"We don't want sympathy," Joe says, "We want anger. We want the people of this country to change their lives and
change their children's lives. "
"We feel that it's time for a deterrent," Lozanne says.
The Wambacks will receive some help with their fight for a youth crime act this week at the annual Canadian
Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Hamilton.
The Conference will focus on youth crime - an area with an ever-expanding number of incidents like the senseless act
that has shattered the Wambacks' lives.
"We aren't looking to throw kids in jail and throw away the key" says Julian Fantino, chief of the York Regional
Police force. It's fine and dandy to be kind and charitable about your first-time offender, the kid who makes a
mistake.
"But we have some awful bad dudes, kids who are totally out of control, abuse the system and basically get immunity
from any meaningful consequence."
"Not everyone can be rehabilitated," Fantino said. "In a lot of cases these people need to be taught a lesson."
KIDS ARE DYING
The alarming change Fantino has seen in the last decade is the amount of violence. "Schoolyard fights are a thing of
the past. Now it's gangs and weapons. Kid's are dying in schoolyard fights," he says.
Fantino said the Youth Criminal Justice Act - the liberals planned replacement for the YOA, which will go to
Parliament this fall - is not the answer.
The Act would allow kids as young as 14 - instead of just 16 and 17 year olds - to be charged as adults for serious
offences, including murder. It would also apply to children who show a pattern of violent behaviour.
"It's nothing but tinkering" Fantino says. Fantino is demanding harsher penalties for repeat offenders, meaningful
incarceration.
For years the top cops have come up with resolutions at these annual conferences. An every year these ideas fall on
deaf ears.
"I'd feel I had a better chance if I prayed, " Fantino says.
|
|
|
