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Family going national with fight to change YOA
Family going national with fight to change YOA- Economist & Sun/Tribune - Tuesday, January 11, 2000
by Jennifer Brown - Staff Writer
Their families have been scarred by violence, their children beaten, brutalized or murdered.
They say the law of the land favours young offenders and gives criminals more rights than their victims.
But they refuse to be silent.
Yesterday, representatives from three Canadian families took their message to the national media , demanding the federal
government make the Young Offenders Act tougher and more accountable to society.
Leading the push are Newmarket residents Joe and Lozanne Wamback, whose son Jonathan was attacked in their neighbourhood park
last summer.
Since the beating that left their son in a coma for three months, the Wambacks have been circulating a petition demanding
changes to the Young Offenders Act. Today, that petition boasts almost a half a million signatures.
The petition refers not only to Jonathan's case, but that of slain teens Matti Baronovski of Toronto and Clayton McGloan of
Calgary.
Offering their headquarters for the news conference, the Toronto police association announced that it, too, had thrown its
weight behind the petition, pledging the signatures of all 7,000 members and their familities.
"Our members share the belief of everyone on this podium. The victims of youth crime are real and lasting. The Young
Offenders Act is not working. We must make it responsive to victims and their communities and friends," said Craig Bromell,
president of the police association.
Assisted by his father, Jonathan Wamback walked to the podium under the glare of television cameras, wearing a Leaf sweater
signed by Tie Domi and an Argos cap signed by both Pinball Clemons and Adrion "Pee Wee" Smith.
"I want to introduce you to my hero, my son, Jonathan " an emotional Joe Wamback told the crowd of reporters. "Since he has
awakened from his coma, he has never looked back. He has never asked for revenge. "
Joe Wamback said his family is not alone in its plea for change. Joining him at yesterday's new conference were
representatives of two families who, like, unlike the Wambacks, no longer have their sons with them.
"Our demands are very simple" he said. "We want victims to have the same rights as criminals in this country. We want them to
be treated as adults under the law. We want changes to the Young Offenders Act to reflect today's society."
"This is truly a national campaign to change what is a harmful and inappropriate piece of legislation," he said, adding the
YOA changes now being considered by the federal politicians will make the act weaker, not stronger.
While the Wambacks await the trial of the three teens charged with Jonathan's attempted murder, another family also waits.
Unlike Jonathan though, their son did not survive the attack.
Tim Reich told the story of 17-year-old Clayton McGloan, killed at a Hallowe'en house party in Calgary in 1998.
McGloan was killed when two teens broke a liquor bottle over his head and then stabbed him repeatedly in the back with the
jagged, broken bottle.
Reich explained that Clayton ran for his life, but was chased by the group of teens and lay defenceless, face down in the dark
close to his home.
He was repeatedly stabbed in the back and upper neck, inflicting 14 wounds.
Some of Clayton's friends found him bleeding and having trouble breathing. They rushed to his parents home. His parents
rushed to the scene. But his spinal cord was severed in the attack and he died two days later.
Two brothers, aged 15 and 17, were charged with second-degree murder and are awaiting trial.
"As of last month, the (adult court) transfer hearing has ground to a halt," said Reich. "There has been tremendous pressure
in the community to go to adult court, but that decision won't be made until Feb. 10."
The Wamback and McGloan complaints came as no surprise to Theresa McCuaig of Ottawa, a grandmother who said she knows all too
well the injustice of Canada's Young Offenders Act.
Her 17-year-old grandson, Sylvain LeDuc, died in 1995 after he, his two female cousins and a friend were kidnapped at gunpoint
by a group of young offenders.
They were forced into a van and taken to an apartment building, where they were tortured. Sylvain was kicked to death, dying
from asphyxiatin as his attackers stomped on his chest and back.
McCuaig said that the youths were part of a street gang involved with drugs and prostitution. One of Sylvain's cousins had
become part of the gang but when she tried to leave they began targeting her family.
His cousin was tied and blindfolded, then tortured and raped with a hot curling iron. She was in hospital for three months
and doctors feared she would die from the infection. The other girl was placed in a large storage closet where she awaited
her fate.
An apartment resident had called 911 after seeing the kidnappers take the fours victims inside the building. But it took
police twenty minutes to arrive - enough time for the attackers to do permanent damage.
Of 11 people involved in the attack, five were young offenders and all had criminal records. In the end, they served between
18 months and three years in custody for the attacks, with at least part of that time served in a halfway house instead of
jail.
Already, two of the youths who killed Sylvain have been charged with other violent crimes.
The three adults were found guilty of murder and sentenced to 25 years in jail. They will be eligible for early parole after
serving 15 years.
The Wambacks have little hope their cases will be tried in adult court, even though the three youths are charged with
attempted murder.
In 1997, only one out of 58 YOA cases of attempted murder was transferred to adult courts. EDITORS NOTE: See Statistics of Young Offenders on this website. It is expected the Wamback charges will be
reduced to aggravated assault.
But Joe Wamback says his fight is not for his own cause, but for change in the future.
"We are asking everyone to join us to help make Canada a safer place to live in. We are no longer a frightened, fractured,
quiet voice in the dark. We are one very loud voice, " he said.
The changes demanded by the three families seek to ensure youths be held accountable for their acts. They include:
- A national program established in the public school system for early identification, intervention and rehabilitative
action aimed at violent youth.
- All violent offenders must be prosecuted as adults, with no provision for transfer to youth court.
- An organized crime status be applied to gang-related crimes, including swarming.
- Mandatory counselling for all incarcerated violent offenders, with the goal of eliminating repeat offences, assisting in
rehabilitation prior to reintegration into society and identifying dangerous offenders.
- Minimum bail set for violent offences, public identification of all violent criminals, regardless of age, and consecutive
sentencing for violent crimes committed with weapons.
Supporters on hand yesterday included Toronto Argos Mike "Pinball" Clemons and cornerback Adrion Smith and boxing champion and
640 radio host Spyder Jones.
The petitions can be signed through the internet at www.jonathanwamback.com or www.friendsofclayton.com.
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