My colleague Moin Yahya posted yesterday on the state's robust self-image as a parent. And so the Senate thinks that it knows better about how to discipline a child than the parent of the child. Moreover, Tessier J. of the Quebec Superior Court assumed the power of judicial review (!!!) over parental discipline, overturning a father's decision to punish his 12-year old daughter by withholding permission for her to go on a school trip after she had posted pictures of herself on an online dating site. Such punishment, said the wise Justice Tessier, "excessive". It is not the parent's experience with the child that counts, nor (in the case of the 12 year old date-site-cruiser) the parent's concern for a child's safety, that matters. It is the Senators' experience and Justice Tessier's parental instincts that matter, and their concerns that trump.
While still chilling, this might be less objectionable at some purely instrumental level were the state actually a good parent. The case of "Jordan", however, shows that the state is, in its divided federal persona, equivalent to a couple of cranky divorced ex-spouses who have "moved on" to new lives and can't agree on who is going to pay for the kid's hockey lessons. Except, in "Jordan"'s case, the stakes were a little bit higher than PeeWee hockey.
"Jordan" was an aboriginal child who lived on an Indian Reserve at Norway House, Manitoba. His medical condition required that required hospitalization in Winnipeg in 1999. Two years later, his physicians and family determined that he could be cared for in a specialized setting closer to his home reserve. But who pays? "Not us", proclaimed both levels of government (who couldn't even agree on who would pay for a showerhead). The inter-jurisdictional blether stopped only when Jordan died, another two years later, still separated from his family, in a Winnipeg hospital.
Nice parenting, Messrs Chretien and Doer. (It's too bad no-one tried to suspend "Jordan"'s TV privileges. That, at least, might have attracted Justice Tessier's attention.)
