Speaker 1: Wilkie, Saskatchewan, sits in the heart of Canada's prairie farmland,
Speaker 1: about one hundred and sixty kilometers northwest of Saskatoon. It
Speaker 1: was named after Daniel Robert Wilke, president of the Imperial
Speaker 1: Bank of Canada, and was officially incorporated as a town
Speaker 1: on the sixth of January nineteen eleven. The Canadian Pacific
Speaker 1: Railway chose it as a hub for four branch lines
Speaker 1: and nicknamed it the Pivot of the Canadian West. In
Speaker 1: the years that followed, Wilkie became exactly what prairie towns
Speaker 1: were meant to be, a place where farming families worked
Speaker 1: the land and where neighbors helped neighbors bring in the harvest.
Speaker 1: The railway brought prosperity, and grain elevators dominated the skyline.
Speaker 1: Young Men left to fight in two World Wars, their
Speaker 1: names edged on the cenotaph in Memorial Park. The dust
Speaker 1: Bowl of the nineteen thirties tested the communities resolve, but
Speaker 1: the town injured. By the early nineteen nineties, population had
Speaker 1: stabilized at around fifteen hundred people. The railway had long
Speaker 1: since scaled back operations. Agriculture remained the economic foundation as
Speaker 1: it always had been. RCMP Corporal Terry Wasniak said of
Speaker 1: the area, it's a very nice community. It's a very
Speaker 1: tightly knit community. They all know each other. About a
Speaker 1: half hour drive from the town at the Latimer Farm,
Speaker 1: a sprawling twelve hundred and eighty acre operation where Robert
Speaker 1: and Laura Latimer raised their four children. Their eldest daughter, Tracy,
Speaker 1: was severely disabled and required constant care. On the morning
Speaker 1: of Sunday, the twenty fourth of October nineteen ninety three,
Speaker 1: Laura prepared to take three of the children to church
Speaker 1: in Wilke. Robert stayed behind on the farm with Tracy.
Speaker 1: He told Laura he had work to do. The family
Speaker 1: left for church shortly before ten o'clock. It was around
Speaker 1: eleven thirty am when they returned home. When they arrived,
Speaker 1: Robert was their waiting. Everything seemed normal, nothing to suggest
Speaker 1: anything was wrong. Robert Latimer was born on the thirteenth
Speaker 1: of March nineteen fifty three in the area around Wilke.
Speaker 1: Farming was in his blood. In nineteen seventy six, when
Speaker 1: he was just twenty three years old, he brought the
Speaker 1: family form from his father. It was a sprawling twelve
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty acre operation growing wheat and canola, located
Speaker 1: about half an hour drive from the town of Wilkee.
Speaker 1: The work was hard, the hours were long, but it
Speaker 1: was honest work. In nineteen seventy eight, Robert married Laura,
Speaker 1: a former teacher from British Columbia. She was intelligent, kind
Speaker 1: and shared Robert's values of hard work and family. Together
Speaker 1: they built a life on that farm. Their first child
Speaker 1: arrived on the twenty third of November nineteen eighty. They
Speaker 1: named her Tracy Lynn Latimer. She was born at the
Speaker 1: hospital in North Battleford, around fifty kilometers from the form
Speaker 1: It should have been a routine delivery, but something went
Speaker 1: seriously wrong. During the birth. Tracy's heart stopped beating. The
Speaker 1: hospital's fatal heart monitor, the device that would have alerted
Speaker 1: doctors to Tracy's distress, was broken. By the time medical
Speaker 1: staff realized what was happening, Tracy had been deprived of oxygen,
Speaker 1: brain cells were dying. Damage was being done that could
Speaker 1: never be undone. The doctors managed to revive her, but
Speaker 1: Tracy began having seizures almost immediately. She was rushed by
Speaker 1: ambulance to the Royal University Hospital, where specialists work to
Speaker 1: reduce the swelling in her brain and control the seizure activity. Eventually,
Speaker 1: with medication, the seizure seemed manageable. Robert and Laura took
Speaker 1: their daughter home, but the oxygen deprivation at birth had
Speaker 1: caused severe cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy in itself isn't fatal,
Speaker 1: nor does it worsen, but the diagnosis would divine Tracy's
Speaker 1: entire life. Doctor Richard Snyder described Tracy as among the
Speaker 1: ten percent of people who have the most severe form
Speaker 1: of the affliction. Children with her severity of cerebral palsy
Speaker 1: often die before the age of five, and only about
Speaker 1: half are still alive by the age of ten. Tracy
Speaker 1: would never walk or talk. She had little to know
Speaker 1: voluntary control of her muscles. Her tiny body would remain
Speaker 1: forever frozen in a state of dependency. She wore in
Speaker 1: continence pants. She required constant care. Laura later said she
Speaker 1: cried every night for the first five years of Tracy's life.
Speaker 1: Tracy's intellectual development was also profoundly affected. By this time
Speaker 1: she was twelve years old, Tracy had the mental capacity
Speaker 1: of a three month old baby. She couldn't speak and
Speaker 1: needed to be hand fed, but Robert and Laura didn't
Speaker 1: give up on their daughter. They provided what her doctors
Speaker 1: would later describe as excellent care. They learned to read
Speaker 1: Tracy's needs, to interpret her expressions, to understand what brought
Speaker 1: her comfort and what caused her distress. They adapted their
Speaker 1: lives around her care, lifting her, bathing her, feeding her,
Speaker 1: loving her in the only way they knew how. The
Speaker 1: family doctor, Kissing Barrow, said of Tracy she could smile
Speaker 1: at times. He'd been their doctor for ten years, but
Speaker 1: said he wasn't sure if Tracy ever recognized him. In
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, the Latimers had a second child, a
Speaker 1: son they named Brian. In nineteen eighty five, they welcomed
Speaker 1: their third child, Lindsey, and in August of nineteen ninety three,
Speaker 1: their fourth child, another son named Lee, was born. While
Speaker 1: Laura was pregnant with Lee, Tracy stead at a group
Speaker 1: home for the summer. The respite care helped to take
Speaker 1: the pressure off Laura, who gave birth a few weeks
Speaker 1: before Tracy came back home. One of the social workers there,
Speaker 1: Cathy Johnson, suggested that Tracy be placed in the group
Speaker 1: home permanently, but Robert refused. She later recalled he didn't
Speaker 1: feel it was urgent. Back at home, the household was busy,
Speaker 1: and Tracy was at the center of it all, requiring
Speaker 1: more attention, more care, more patience than any of her siblings.
Speaker 1: Tracy attended school regularly in Wilkie, enrolled in a developmental
Speaker 1: program alongside her brothers and sister. She traveled on the
Speaker 1: school bus in a specialized wheelchair. Teachers and aides who
Speaker 1: worked with Tracy described her smile, her love of music,
Speaker 1: her reaction to horses at the circus. Those who knew
Speaker 1: her said she responded the visits by her family, her
Speaker 1: face lighting up, looking happy to see them. She loved
Speaker 1: special days and events at school. She enjoyed aquatics, pet therapy, bombfires,
Speaker 1: watching television, especially the hockey. She spent time outdoors with
Speaker 1: her peers, enjoying walks, sleigh rides, and waener roasts. Those
Speaker 1: who knew Tracy said she showed her life and dislikes,
Speaker 1: and smiled and laughed with others, But beneath those moments
Speaker 1: of joy led a dark reality. Tracy lived in constant pain.
Speaker 1: She had seizures, breathing and swallowing difficulties. She went through
Speaker 1: a stage of vomiting every single day. During her life,
Speaker 1: she underwent multiple surgeries when she was for her muscles
Speaker 1: and tendons in her hips were cut into and she
Speaker 1: was left with a flail limb she could no longer move.
Speaker 1: The purpose was to strengthen them, but Tracy could only
Speaker 1: move her head in one arm. Other surgeries were to
Speaker 1: grex severe scoliosis, in which two stale rods were inserted
Speaker 1: into her back to stabilize her pain. That surgery allowed
Speaker 1: Tracy to sit up, but only in a rigid position.
Speaker 1: She suffered extreme pain because her hip kept dissocating. Each
Speaker 1: operation brought its own recovery period, its own agony. By
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three, Tracy's right hip had become dislocated. It
Speaker 1: had been now a place for months, causing excruciating pain.
Speaker 1: Her only way to express pain was to cry. Her
Speaker 1: orthopedic surgeon, doctor Druce, would later recall what she observed
Speaker 1: during Tracy's medical visits. She recalled seing Laura holding Tracy's
Speaker 1: right leg in a fixed flexed position with her knee
Speaker 1: in the air. Any time anyone tried to move that leg,
Speaker 1: Tracy would cry out in pain. The problem was that
Speaker 1: Tracy couldn't take painkillers. The anti seizure medication she required
Speaker 1: to control her violent seizures meant that standard pain medication
Speaker 1: was off the table. Combining the two could lead to
Speaker 1: renewed seizures, stomach bleeding, constipation, aspiration, and aspiration pneumonia. Her father,
Speaker 1: Robert would later say the family wasn't aware of any
Speaker 1: medication other than taylan All that could be safely administered
Speaker 1: to Tracy. Doctors had suggested inserting a fading tube into
Speaker 1: Tracy's stomach. It might have allowed more effective pain medication
Speaker 1: to be administered. It might have improved her nutrition and health,
Speaker 1: but Robert and Laura found the idea too intrusive, so
Speaker 1: they declined. Then, in October of nineteen ninety three, doctor
Speaker 1: Druce delivered more difficult news. Further surgery was necessary. Tracy's
Speaker 1: disslocated right hip had to be addressed. Depending on the
Speaker 1: state of her hip joint, the procedure might be a
Speaker 1: hip reconstruction, or it might involve something more drastic, removing
Speaker 1: the upper part of her thigh bone entirely, leaving her
Speaker 1: leg connected to her body only by muscles and nerves.
Speaker 1: The anticipated recovery period was one year. Doctor Druce warned
Speaker 1: that the post operative pain would be incredible. The only
Speaker 1: short term solution would be an epidural to uneas the
Speaker 1: tize the lower part of Tracy's body while she was
Speaker 1: still in hospital. After that, Tracy would face months of agony,
Speaker 1: and the doctor made it clear this wouldn't be the end.
Speaker 1: Further surgeries would be likely required in the future to
Speaker 1: address pain emanating from various joints throughout Tracy's small body.
Speaker 1: The surgery was scheduled for the nineteenth of November nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety three. Robert and Laura faced an impossible choice. Their
Speaker 1: daughter was in constant pain. The upcoming surgery promised only
Speaker 1: more pain, more suffering, more mutilation of her small, broken body,
Speaker 1: and at the end of it all, Tracy would still
Speaker 1: be trapped, still unable to walk, talk, or live independently.
Speaker 1: She would still be suffering. Laura would later say she
Speaker 1: told Robert she thought that Tracy would be better off
Speaker 1: if she died. She even mentioned doctor Jack Ofvorkiane, the
Speaker 1: American pathologist known for assisting terminally ill patients in ending
Speaker 1: their lives. She recollected she was just sitting in her
Speaker 1: wheel chair, slumped all the time. She had lost interest
Speaker 1: in what was going on around her. I never saw
Speaker 1: her sleep. The Latimers knew that children with Tracy's condition
Speaker 1: typically had a short life expectancy. Doctor Kemp, the family doctor,
Speaker 1: believed that Tracy could live into her four days, but
Speaker 1: the quality of her life was another matter entirely. On
Speaker 1: the morning of Sunday, the twenty fourth of October nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety three, Laura prepared to take Brian, Lindsay, and Baby
Speaker 1: Lee to church in Wilkie. It was a routine Sunday.
Speaker 1: Robert stayed behind on the farm with Tracy. He told
Speaker 1: Laura he had work to do. The family left for
Speaker 1: church shortly before ten o'clock. Laura settled in to appew
Speaker 1: with the three children, Baby Lee quiet in her arms.
Speaker 1: The service proceeded as it always did. The congregation movie
Speaker 1: through prayers and songs of richeal. They performed countless Sundays before.
Speaker 1: Back at the farm, Robert remained alone with Tracy. Round
Speaker 1: eleven thirty, Laura and the children returned home. The drive
Speaker 1: from Wilkie took about thirty minutes, the truck bumping along
Speaker 1: the rural roads When they arrived, Robert was there waiting.
Speaker 1: Laura busied herself in the kitchen preparing lunch for the family.
Speaker 1: The children played. Baby Lee needed attention. It wasn't until
Speaker 1: later that Laura went to check on Tracy. She walked
Speaker 1: into her daughter's bedroom and approached the bed. Tracy was
Speaker 1: lying there, perfectly still, too still, Laura reached out to
Speaker 1: touch her. Tracy's body was cold. Laura's scream brought Robert
Speaker 1: running together. They stood over their daughter's bed, staring at
Speaker 1: the small, motionless form. Tracy appeared peaceful, as if she'd
Speaker 1: simply slipped away in her sleep. There were no signs
Speaker 1: of distress, no indication of struggle. Their eldest daughter was gone.
Speaker 1: They called paramedics and police detectives arrived at the family's
Speaker 1: farmhouse to speak with Robert. He was emotional as he
Speaker 1: explained what had happened. Tracy must have died in her sleep.
Speaker 1: He said she'd been in her bed all morning while
Speaker 1: the family were at church. When Laura checked on her
Speaker 1: after they returned, she had already passed away. It was tragic,
Speaker 1: but perhaps not entirely unexpected. Tracy's condition had been severe,
Speaker 1: her life expectancy was uncertain these things happened, especially with
Speaker 1: children as medically fragile as Tracy. Robert then made two requests.
Speaker 1: He wanted to have Tracy cremated as quickly as possible,
Speaker 1: and he asked that an autopsy not be performed. Constable
Speaker 1: Nick Hardle listened carefully. Something didn't sit right with him.
Speaker 1: Those requests were unusual. The circumstances felt off. He couldn't
Speaker 1: put his finger on exactly what was wrong, but his
Speaker 1: instincts were screaming at him. He began to suspect that
Speaker 1: Tracy had been killed by her own father in a
Speaker 1: mercy killing. Robert was informed that an autopsy would need
Speaker 1: to be conducted. There was no way round it. When
Speaker 1: a child dies suddenly at home, an autopsy's standard procedure,
Speaker 1: even if that child was sick. The Constable then warned
Speaker 1: the coroner to be aware of the possibility when examining
Speaker 1: Tracy's body, to look for signs to be thorough. The
Speaker 1: autopsy was performed on the first of November. The RCMP
Speaker 1: received the toxicology reports. Tracy hadn't died in her sleep,
Speaker 1: She had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Her blood was
Speaker 1: eighty percent saturated with carbon monoxide. A fifty percent saturation
Speaker 1: is life life threatening. Tracy's level was far beyond that.
Speaker 1: The sudden death investigation was reclassified to homicide. Whatever had
Speaker 1: happened on that Sunday morning, while Laura and the children
Speaker 1: were at church, whatever Robert had done while he was
Speaker 1: alone with his daughter, the truth was about to come out.
Speaker 1: On the fourth of November, a week after Tracy's death,
Speaker 1: two planes closed RCMP officers knocked on the door of
Speaker 1: the Latimer farmhouse. Sergeant Comlin and Sergeant Lyons asked Robert
Speaker 1: to come back to North Battleford with them for questioning.
Speaker 1: When confronted with the toxicology report, Robert Latimer confessed. He
Speaker 1: said he had killed his daughter at around ten thirty
Speaker 1: in the morning. Robert said he had carried his twelve
Speaker 1: year old daughter from her warm bed, Tracy Wedge just
Speaker 1: thirty eight pounds, her small body led in his arms.
Speaker 1: He took her outside and placed her in the cab
Speaker 1: of his Chevy pickup truck, the same truck that had
Speaker 1: taken her to school countless times, to camping trips, to
Speaker 1: medical appointments. He propped Tracy up with some old rags
Speaker 1: he had taken from his storage shed. Then he closed
Speaker 1: the door. Robert had spent the previous days preparing. He
Speaker 1: had considered other methods a volume overdose, shooting her in
Speaker 1: the head and burning her body, but he settled on this.
Speaker 1: He attached a hose to the truck's exhaust pipe and
Speaker 1: fed it through a narrow opening in the CAB's rear window.
Speaker 1: He then started the engine. In seconds, the enclosed space
Speaker 1: began filling with carbon monoxide. Robert climbed into the truck box.
Speaker 1: He sat on a tire in the back and watched
Speaker 1: through the rear window. He watched his daughter for at
Speaker 1: least thirty minutes, timing it carefully. He later told police,
Speaker 1: I was timing all this stuff. I was sitting there
Speaker 1: watching through the back window. He said the detectives that
Speaker 1: if Tracy had started to cry, he would have taken
Speaker 1: her out, but she didn't. In his words, she just
Speaker 1: fell asleep. Tracy Latimer died from carbon monoxide poisoning while
Speaker 1: her mother and siblings sat in church pews singing hymns praying,
Speaker 1: unaware that everything was just about to change. When Robert
Speaker 1: was certain that Tracy was dead, he turned off the
Speaker 1: engine and disconnected the hose. He carried Tracy's body back
Speaker 1: into the farmhouse and placed her in the bed, positioning
Speaker 1: her carefully so it would appear that she had died
Speaker 1: in her sleep. He put away his paraphernalia. The hose
Speaker 1: would later be burned. Then he waited. Later that morning,
Speaker 1: Laura and the children returned from church. Laura made lunch,
Speaker 1: and then she found her daughter dead in bed. Laura
Speaker 1: believed that Tracy had died in her sleep, a tragic
Speaker 1: but perhaps merciful and to years of suffering. She had
Speaker 1: no idea what her husband had done, no idea that
Speaker 1: their daughter had been killed. Robert told detectives that his
Speaker 1: actions were motivated by love for Tracy and a desire
Speaker 1: to end her pain. He described the medical treatments that
Speaker 1: Tracy had undergone and was scheduled to undergo as mutilation
Speaker 1: and torture. He asked, with the combination of a fading tube,
Speaker 1: rods in her back, the leg cut and flopping around,
Speaker 1: and bed sores, how can people say she was a
Speaker 1: happy little girl. RCMP Sergeant Bob Conlin had heard from
Speaker 1: almost everybody who knew the family that Robert dedicated his
Speaker 1: entire life to his daughter. He told him cry if
Speaker 1: you want, it's okay, and Robert did cry. At the
Speaker 1: end of the confession, he turned down offers of counseling.
Speaker 1: He then drew a sketch of an elaborate series of
Speaker 1: pipes and hoses used to vent the truck's exhaust fumes
Speaker 1: into the cab. After the confession, detectives returned to video
Speaker 1: of the crime scene with Robert present. He pointed out
Speaker 1: the truck, the rags, and how he positioned his daughter.
Speaker 1: He then broke down as he said, my priority was
Speaker 1: to put her out of pain. I'm much happier for
Speaker 1: her now. The next day, Robert was charged with the
Speaker 1: first degree murder of Tracy. His defense attorney applied for Baale.
Speaker 1: He provided the court with an affi David from the
Speaker 1: family's doctor, saying that he was mentally well and not
Speaker 1: a danger to his family. His wife also provided one,
Speaker 1: expressing her wishes for her husband to return home. His
Speaker 1: defense attorney, Richard Gibbons, said that while some people might
Speaker 1: conclude that Robert was a monster, that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1: He said that Robert wasn't trying to be a murder
Speaker 1: and pointed out that a person facing first degree murder
Speaker 1: charges could be convicted of the less serious charge of
Speaker 1: second degree murder. He refused to refer to the case
Speaker 1: as a mercy killing and said he hadn't discovered a
Speaker 1: similar case in Canada. He said the subtle and complex
Speaker 1: human issues have been overlooked. He said specifically, people should
Speaker 1: realize the strained stresses and tremendous pressure experienced by a
Speaker 1: family caring for a person with multiple handicaps. He revealed
Speaker 1: as well that much of the Wilkie community was supporting
Speaker 1: Robert in the family, each person had their own personal
Speaker 1: views of the ethics and morality of the situation. Then,
Speaker 1: on the thirteenth of November, Robert was released from jail.
Speaker 1: He was required to put up ten thousand dollars worth
Speaker 1: of property to the court. This is similar to posing
Speaker 1: a cash bond, which is then forfeitted if the person
Speaker 1: doesn't return to court the next week. Gibbons quit as
Speaker 1: Robert's defense attorney and he hired Mark Breefort. He said
Speaker 1: that Robert but was going to plead not guilty and
Speaker 1: elect for a trial by jury. He said that if
Speaker 1: hypothetically the case boiled down to the accused killed his
Speaker 1: daughter because she was literally in a vegetive state and
Speaker 1: was undergoing tremendous pain. There wouldn't be a lot of
Speaker 1: president law to help a judge or jury. He then said,
Speaker 1: what superficially might appear to be a crime may not
Speaker 1: be once twelve jurors sit down and apply their common
Speaker 1: sense to it. Robert spoke with Star Phoenix the next month,
Speaker 1: and he thanked the community for their support. He said
Speaker 1: that people had been offering financial support as well. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised with the emotional support because a lot
Speaker 1: of people were aware of the situation. Robert also spoke
Speaker 1: with CBC radio reporter Amy Joe Ellman. He detailed all
Speaker 1: of Tracy's problems and said that she was in constant pain.
Speaker 1: When he was asked whether when he goes to bed
Speaker 1: at night, he wished it were a year earlier before
Speaker 1: for his daughter's death, he replied, no, I wish. I
Speaker 1: definitely wish her condition wasn't what it was. Preliminary hearing
Speaker 1: was held in May and it was determined that there
Speaker 1: was enough evidence for Robert to stand trial for the
Speaker 1: murder of his daughter. The case sparked widespread interest from
Speaker 1: advocates for the disabled and thrust Robert into the center
Speaker 1: of a national debate that was already raging across Canada.
Speaker 1: The timing couldn't have been more significant. Just twenty four
Speaker 1: days before Tracy's death, the Supreme Court of Canada had
Speaker 1: delivered its decision in one of the most closely watched
Speaker 1: cases in Canadian history, Rodriguez versus British Columbia, dealt with
Speaker 1: the question of whether a terminally ill person had the
Speaker 1: right to physician assisted suicide. Sue Rodriguez was a forty
Speaker 1: two year old mother from Victoria, British Columbia. In August
Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety one, she had been diagnosed with amiotrophic
Speaker 1: lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or leu Gering's disease.
Speaker 1: It was a death sentence delivered in slow motion. The
Speaker 1: disease causes progressive muscle paralysis, stealing control of the body
Speaker 1: piece by piece. She knew what awaited her. She would
Speaker 1: lose the ability to swallow, speak, walk, and move without assistance. Eventually,
Speaker 1: she would be unable to breathe without a respirator or aid,
Speaker 1: except through a fading tube inserted into her stomach. She
Speaker 1: had been told she had between two and fourteen months
Speaker 1: to live. Sue didn't want to wait for the disease
Speaker 1: to claim her life. Neither did she want to commit
Speaker 1: suicide prematurely while she was still physically able to do
Speaker 1: so on her own. She wanted the right to choose
Speaker 1: the timing of her death with the assistance of a physician.
Speaker 1: In a videotaped address to Parliament on November twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two, so he asked a question that would
Speaker 1: resonate across the country. If I cannot give consent to
Speaker 1: my own death, whose body is it? Who owns my life?
Speaker 1: Her case challenged section two four one BAY of the
Speaker 1: Criminal Code, which made it a criminal offense to assist
Speaker 1: a person to commit suicide, punishable by up to fourteen
Speaker 1: years in prison. She argued that the law violated her
Speaker 1: constitutional rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
Speaker 1: specifically her right to life, liberty and security of the person.
Speaker 1: On May twentieth, nineteen ninety three, her case was heard
Speaker 1: by the Supreme Court of Canada. On September thirtieth, the
Speaker 1: court delivered its decision in a narrow five to one ruling.
Speaker 1: The Supreme Court rejected Sue's arguments. The majority held its
Speaker 1: society's obligation to preserve life and protect the vulnerable outweighed
Speaker 1: Sue's individual rights. However, the closeness of the decision suggested
Speaker 1: considerable support for decriminalizing medically assisted suicide. Several judges even
Speaker 1: suggested that Canada's laws might need to be changed to
Speaker 1: help people like Sue. Sue refused to accept defeat. On
Speaker 1: the twelfth of February nineteen ninety four, with the assistance
Speaker 1: of an anonymous doctor and in the presence of n
Speaker 1: d P m P. S Van Robinson, who had championed
Speaker 1: her cause, Sue ended her life. The Sue Rodriguez case
Speaker 1: had dominated headlines for months. Most of the debate about
Speaker 1: euthanasia had revolved around whether a doctor could help a
Speaker 1: terminally ill person die, someone who could give informed consent,
Speaker 1: someone who had mental capacity to make that decision themselves.
Speaker 1: Tracy Latimer's case was fundamentally different. Terresey was twelve years old.
Speaker 1: She had the mental capacity of a three month old baby.
Speaker 1: She couldn't give consent, and she couldn't speak. She couldn't
Speaker 1: express a wish to die. This wasn't euthanasia or physician
Speaker 1: assisted suicide. This was a father deciding unilaterally that his
Speaker 1: daughter's life was not worth living. For disability rights advocates,
Speaker 1: the Latimer case represented their worst nightmare, the dangerous idea
Speaker 1: that people with disabilities were better off dead, that their
Speaker 1: lives had less value, that killing them could be an
Speaker 1: act of mercy rather than murder. The Council of Canadians
Speaker 1: with Disability and People in Equal Participation immediately mobilized. They
Speaker 1: sought and were granted intervener status in Latimer's legal proceedings.
Speaker 1: They argued that killing a disabled child like Tracy was
Speaker 1: no different from killing a non disabled child and should
Speaker 1: carry the same penalty. To do otherwise, they insisted, would
Speaker 1: devalue the lives of disabled people and increase the risk
Speaker 1: of more such killings by their caregivers. David Martin, Provincial
Speaker 1: coordinator of the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities, who
Speaker 1: himself lived with spinal muscular atrophy, expressed the fear that
Speaker 1: many in the disabled community felt. The greatest fear of
Speaker 1: disabled people, he said, wasn't that they'd be kept alive
Speaker 1: against their will. It was that they'd be allowed to
Speaker 1: die or actively killed based on social value judgments. About
Speaker 1: the worth of their lives. The media coverage was from
Speaker 1: the perspective of disability advocates, deeply troubling. When children without
Speaker 1: disabilities are murdered by their parents, the coverage focuses on
Speaker 1: the victimization of the children, on their lost futures, on
Speaker 1: the horror of the crime. But in the lattermer case,
Speaker 1: much of the media and public immediately identified with Robert,
Speaker 1: not Tracy. Sympathetic profiles appeared, describing him as a hard
Speaker 1: working farmer, a loving father driven to desperation by his
Speaker 1: daughter's suffering. Tracy's perspective was largely ignored. For many, it
Speaker 1: seemed Tracy was insane as a real child, simply because
Speaker 1: she had a disability. The case became polarizing in ways
Speaker 1: that cut across traditional political lines. Ironically, some of the
Speaker 1: most pro Tracy coverage appeared in conservative publications like Alberta
Speaker 1: Report and b C Report, which included the views of
Speaker 1: disability rights advocates. Meanwhile, many progressives and civil libertarians sided
Speaker 1: with Robert, viewing his prosecution as overly harsh. Public opinion
Speaker 1: polls showed overwhelming sympathy for Robert. Hundreds marched in demonstrations
Speaker 1: supporting him. In some cases, protesters carried signs that read
Speaker 1: Latimer did the right thing. Money poured in for his
Speaker 1: legal defense. It reached one hundred thousand dollars. The first
Speaker 1: degree murder trial began on the seventh of November nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety four. During opening statemens, prosecutor Randy Kerkin laid out
Speaker 1: their case. He said that Robert had killed Tracy in
Speaker 1: the truck with carbon monoxide poisoning. He then carried her
Speaker 1: lifeless body inside and put her in the bed. When
Speaker 1: detectives arrived, he said that she had died in her sleep,
Speaker 1: but the autopsy revealed the truth. He then presented the
Speaker 1: video of Robert at home, detailing what he had done
Speaker 1: to detectives. Defense attorney Mark Brayford told the jury about
Speaker 1: Tracy's complex needs. He said, this child could not roll
Speaker 1: over on her own. This child would be in diapers.
Speaker 1: The testimony got under way with kissing Biro, the family's
Speaker 1: doctor of ten years. He detailed Tracy's cerebral palsy, describing
Speaker 1: how she needed constant care and suffered from seizures. He
Speaker 1: said she wore diapers her entire life. The jury her
Speaker 1: testimony about Robert's confession to Sergeant Conlin and Corporal ken Lyons.
Speaker 1: Lyons said he sympathized with the anguish that Robert felt.
Speaker 1: He told the courtroom he told Robert, this is not
Speaker 1: something you wanted or planned to do. You loved your
Speaker 1: daughter very much. There was testimony that Tracy probably passed
Speaker 1: out within minutes of inhaling the fumes and then died
Speaker 1: soon after. Doctor Andrews testified next and said that Tracy
Speaker 1: faced a blake future. She had operated on Tracy in
Speaker 1: ninety ninety and had examined her several times after her
Speaker 1: back surgery. She said that in the months before Tracy died,
Speaker 1: her quality of life was deteriorating. The doctor said that
Speaker 1: Tracy had surgery planned to correct her dislocated hip just
Speaker 1: days after she was killed. Defense attorney Brayford asked if
Speaker 1: the surgery would have cured the pain. She responded, cure
Speaker 1: is a difficult word to use. It may have alleviated
Speaker 1: the symptoms in the right hip, but there could have
Speaker 1: been of their problems, and we couldn't tell what was
Speaker 1: going to happen to the left hip in the future.
Speaker 1: The courtroom fell silent as the next witness approached the
Speaker 1: stand Laura Latimer. She recalled both tender and heartbreaking moments
Speaker 1: of Tracy's short life. She said to the court her
Speaker 1: birth was way sadder than her death. We lost her
Speaker 1: when she was born. She said that she and her
Speaker 1: husband always grieved for their daughter, that always provided her
Speaker 1: with the best care possible. Laura admitted that she worried
Speaker 1: about surgeons who would end up changing Tracy's already contorted
Speaker 1: body beyond what would be considered acceptable. She said, they
Speaker 1: were going to start mutilating our little girl. Laura said
Speaker 1: that Tracy was always loved and valued member of the family.
Speaker 1: The trial came to an end with closing arguments. Defense
Speaker 1: attorney Breeford said to the jury, if my client has
Speaker 1: committed any sin against God, God will judge him. He
Speaker 1: urged the jury to consider Robert's love for his daughter
Speaker 1: because it raised a reasonable doubt about whether he was
Speaker 1: a murderer. He said the situation cried out for action.
Speaker 1: He added that jurors should ignore suggestions that an acquittal
Speaker 1: would start a slippery sloop towards mercy killings. He said,
Speaker 1: nothing about this case per se legalizes euthanasia. According to
Speaker 1: the defense attorney, Robert Latimer was faced with no real options.
Speaker 1: Tracy would have died years earlier from infection were it
Speaker 1: not for major operations to fix her contorted body. He
Speaker 1: said that she seemed destined to suffer intolerable pain with
Speaker 1: more surgery that was scheduled. He said that Robert couldn't
Speaker 1: bear the thought of his daughter spending the rest of
Speaker 1: her life in a group home. He said medical science
Speaker 1: had kept his daughter alive. He urged the jury to
Speaker 1: bring a verdict that they could be proud of. Prosecutor
Speaker 1: Randy Kirkham disagreed. He said that Robert had no right
Speaker 1: to wipe out a precious life. He said to the jury,
Speaker 1: it is not open season on the disabled. The prosecutor
Speaker 1: said that Robert's concerns about the surgery merely disguised a cold,
Speaker 1: calculated and heartless killing. He stated it is not up
Speaker 1: to Robert Latimer or any one else to play god.
Speaker 1: After that, the jury were sent off to consider their verdict.
Speaker 1: Outside of the court house, Laura remarked, we're just praying
Speaker 1: for a good verdict. Four hours later, the jury returned
Speaker 1: with their verdict. They found Robert Latimer guilty of second
Speaker 1: degree murder. He was then sentenced to life in prison,
Speaker 1: with parole eligibility after ten years. After the sentence was
Speaker 1: handed down, the judge said, there's no joy in this
Speaker 1: for any one. Criminal law is unremitting when it comes
Speaker 1: to taking a life. He said that life hadn't been
Speaker 1: kind to Tracy, but said it was her life to
Speaker 1: make of it what she could. He then asked if
Speaker 1: Robert had anything to say. He looked stoic as he said,
Speaker 1: I still fail. I did what was right. I don't
Speaker 1: think you people are being human. After the sentence, Laura
Speaker 1: walked to the prisoner's box and hugged her husband and
Speaker 1: then began to cry. Police then led Robert away, but
Speaker 1: he wasn't in handcuffs. Outside of court, Laura said, whatever
Speaker 1: hell they put him through will not begin to match
Speaker 1: the hell that our little girl went through. When Tracy
Speaker 1: threw up, he would bathe her. He sat with her
Speaker 1: and rocked her on his knee. For ours and ours.
Speaker 1: The reaction to the verdict was deeply divided, exposing fault
Speaker 1: lines that would only widen in the years to come.
Speaker 1: Many people expressed sympathy for Robert. Marilyn Seguine of the
Speaker 1: National Organization Dying with dignity was swift in her condemnation
Speaker 1: of the sentence. She said, justice is not justice unless
Speaker 1: it show some mercy. Ten years in prison shows no mercy.
Speaker 1: She argued that Robert had already endured twelve years of
Speaker 1: punishment caring for Tracy, watching her suffer. In her view,
Speaker 1: that was enough. Tracy's mother, Laura agreed. She said to
Speaker 1: the Toronto Son, he's kind, gentle, he has courage, convictions,
Speaker 1: He's one hundred percent honest. He has the most integrity
Speaker 1: of anybody I know. He's a wonderful father. She said
Speaker 1: that the entire family, Robert included, thought that he was
Speaker 1: going to be acquitted. Laura said for the first time
Speaker 1: that she agreed with what Robert had done. She said
Speaker 1: that when she found her daughter dead that morning, she
Speaker 1: felt happy for her and that all she could think was,
Speaker 1: you don't have to deal with that terrible pain anymore.
Speaker 1: Her comments came just before what would have been Tracy's
Speaker 1: fourteenth birthday. She then added, I wouldn't wish her back
Speaker 1: the way she was. I'm definitely definitely relieved she's out
Speaker 1: of pain. Not a day goes by and I don't
Speaker 1: think about her. I miss her terribly. This whole thing
Speaker 1: is not about disabilities of handicap It's about pain. Justice
Speaker 1: Minister Alan Rock acknowledged the verdict and highlighted the need
Speaker 1: for politicians to come to grips with the thorny issue
Speaker 1: of euthanasia. The case, he noted, was part of a
Speaker 1: broader review of sanctions against euthanasia currently being conducted by
Speaker 1: a Senate committee. He said, it'll frame the principles, It'll
Speaker 1: give us a point of reference in terms of moral, medical, ethical,
Speaker 1: legal and social perspectives, and let parliaments come to grips
Speaker 1: with it once and for all. Liberal Senator Sharon Keirnstairs
Speaker 1: clarified that the committee was examining the possibility of legalizing
Speaker 1: euthanasia only in instances where person voluntarily consents. Its report,
Speaker 1: she made clear, wouldn't cover the Latimer case. Tracy couldn't consent,
Speaker 1: Tracy couldn't speak. But not everybody agreed with calls for leniency.
Speaker 1: Lorie Beachell of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities expressed
Speaker 1: what many in the disability community were feeling horror and fear.
Speaker 1: She remarked, what was distressing during the case was to
Speaker 1: have this portrayed as a mercy killing. We cannot accept
Speaker 1: that somebody taking someone else's life is justifiable. For many
Speaker 1: disability advocates, the verdict was correct, but the reaction to
Speaker 1: it was terrifying. The overwhelming public sympathy for Robert felt
Speaker 1: like a validation of the idea that disabled lives were
Speaker 1: worth less. The killing a disabled child was somehow more understandable,
Speaker 1: more forgivable than killing a non disabled child. The contrast
Speaker 1: became even starker when compared to other cases. Just one
Speaker 1: day after Tracy's murder, Susan Smith of South Carolina drowned
Speaker 1: her two young sons, three year old Michael and fourteen
Speaker 1: month old Alexander, by driving her car into a lake.
Speaker 1: She initially claimed they had been abducted, before eventually confessing.
Speaker 1: The media reported it as an unthinkable crime. A town
Speaker 1: and a nation railed in horror. When Susan Smith was arrested,
Speaker 1: angry and tearful mobs gathered outside the courtroom. Thirteen months later,
Speaker 1: she received a life sentence. Many, including the children's father,
Speaker 1: had hoped for the death penalty. By contrast, Robert only
Speaker 1: spent a few days in jail after he was convicted.
Speaker 1: He applied for bail. After the sentence was handed down
Speaker 1: was approved, Robert was allowed to go home, pending on
Speaker 1: appeal of his conviction. The judge route mister Latimer's conduct
Speaker 1: was not motivated by animosity, resentment, or frustration with Tracy.
Speaker 1: His desire to relieve her from unrelenting pain appears to
Speaker 1: be the principal motivating factor. His neighbor, Wilson Barker, had
Speaker 1: posted a ten thousand dollars Surely as Bill the difference
Speaker 1: disability advocates pointed out was obvious Tracy was disabled. Michael
Speaker 1: and Alexander Smith were not. The public outpouring of support
Speaker 1: for Robert was unprecedented for a convicted murderer. Within weeks
Speaker 1: of his conviction, grassroots campaigns sprang up across the country.
Speaker 1: Janet and Jamie Bassett of Christopher Lake started a campaign
Speaker 1: to have the Governor General either suspend or reduce Robert's sentence. Otto,
Speaker 1: a real estate lawyer, started a petition calling on federal
Speaker 1: government to use provisions in the Criminal Code that allowed
Speaker 1: sentences to be shortened on compassionate grounds. By the tenth
Speaker 1: of January nineteen ninety five, less than two months after
Speaker 1: the conviction, A national petition urging a federal pardon for
Speaker 1: Robert had gathered seven thousand signatures, with ten thousand more
Speaker 1: petitions in circulation. The Lattimers received one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in donations for the defense fund. By April of nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety five, they were receiving between fifty one hundred letters
Speaker 1: a day, and all but one out of every one
Speaker 1: hundred offered support. Robert remarked the support is good. It
Speaker 1: keeps you going. He was happy to be home, back
Speaker 1: with his wife and three children. He was on house arrest,
Speaker 1: but he was home. With the appeal pending, disability rights
Speaker 1: organization scrambled to mount the legal response. On the third
Speaker 1: of January nineteen ninety five, People in Equal Participation reported
Speaker 1: in the Winnipeg Free Press that it had raised five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars to intervene in Robert's appeal. Representative stated they
Speaker 1: needed twelve thousand dollars to cover intervention costs. President Teresa
Speaker 1: de charm said, we want the same respect as everyone else,
Speaker 1: and we want that conviction upheld. We want the law
Speaker 1: to protect the disabled so that people won't get off
Speaker 1: for compassionate murder. Just the month before another tragedy had
Speaker 1: unfolded that seemed to underscore disability advocates worst fears. Sixteen
Speaker 1: year old Ryan Wilkison was murdered by his mother, Kathy,
Speaker 1: in Hamilton, Ontario. Ryan had cerebral palsy. Kathy killed him
Speaker 1: using carbon monoxide, the same method Robert had used to
Speaker 1: kill Tracy before she took her own life. Michael Valpi,
Speaker 1: riding in the Globe and Mail, suggested the connection seemed apparent.
Speaker 1: He wrote, we can assume some link to some influence
Speaker 1: from the trial and second degree murder conviction three weeks
Speaker 1: ago of Robert Latimer. A friend of Kathy, Gloria Christiansen
Speaker 1: told reporters that she had warned the Ontario Social Service
Speaker 1: Minister on November nineteenth, three days after the Latimer conviction,
Speaker 1: that this tragedy was coming. The disability community's fears were
Speaker 1: being realized. The message that the Latimer case was sending,
Speaker 1: they argued, was dangerous, that people with disabilities were better
Speaker 1: off dead, that killing them could be an act of
Speaker 1: love rather than murder. On the twentieth of February, the
Speaker 1: Council of Canadians with Disabilities, the Voice of People with
Speaker 1: Disabilities and people in equal participation were granted intervener status
Speaker 1: in the appeal, they were only allowed to submit written arguments.
Speaker 1: The judge expressed concern over creating multiple prosecutors if he
Speaker 1: granted them full status. On the twenty third of February,
Speaker 1: Robert's appeal was heard. His defense lawyers argued that jurors
Speaker 1: were told to follow the law too strictly in rendering
Speaker 1: a guilty verdict. They said that Robert wanted to prevent
Speaker 1: the greater crime of his daughter's pain. They said that
Speaker 1: it was a mercy killing motivated only by love. One
Speaker 1: of the grounds of his appeal was particularly chilling to
Speaker 1: disability advocates. Robert's lawyers argued the trial judge aired in
Speaker 1: law in not charging the jury that he had the
Speaker 1: legal right to decide to commit suicide for his daughter
Speaker 1: by virtue of her complete absence of physical and intellectual abilities.
Speaker 1: It was the introduction of a new legal concept, surrogates suicide,
Speaker 1: the idea that a parent or guardian could decide to
Speaker 1: commit suicide on behalf of somebody who couldn't speak for themselves.
Speaker 1: As disability advocates pointed out, this was simply a clever
Speaker 1: way of saying that parents should be legally allowed to
Speaker 1: murder the very people who must trust them with their lives.
Speaker 1: Crown Attorney Carol Snell argued that Robert's conviction and sentence
Speaker 1: should stand. She stated there isn't any option for any
Speaker 1: lighter level of culpability. On the eighteenth of July, the
Speaker 1: court upheld Robert's second degree murder iction and his life sentence.
Speaker 1: They wrote, as a self appointed surrogate decision maker, he
Speaker 1: was not entitled to take criminal law into his own
Speaker 1: hands and terminate her life. However, Chief Justice Edward Beda
Speaker 1: filed a dissenting opinion that would give Robert's supporters hope.
Speaker 1: He argued that the sentence was too long despite the
Speaker 1: Criminal Code provisions. He viewed the mandatory minimum sentences inconsistent
Speaker 1: with Robert's rights under Section twelve of the Charter of
Speaker 1: Rights and Freedoms, which prohibits cruell and unusual punishment. Robert
Speaker 1: turned himself into the RCMP in Wilkie to begin serving
Speaker 1: his sentence. He said, at the time, I thought they'd
Speaker 1: do better. I don't really understand what happened, but Robert
Speaker 1: didn't remain behind bars for long. He was released just
Speaker 1: the next day after the court extended his braille for visions. Then,
Speaker 1: in October of nineteen ninety five, a bombshell revelation emerged
Speaker 1: that would change everything. It was revealed that, at the
Speaker 1: request of prosecutor Randy Kirkham in November of nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 1: the RCMP had interviewed perspective jurors about their belief on religion, abortion,
Speaker 1: and mercy killings before the trial. Some of those involved
Speaker 1: eventually served on the jury, yet the prosecution didn't tell
Speaker 1: the defense this. This was jury tampering, a serious violation
Speaker 1: that called into question whether Robert had received a fair
Speaker 1: hearing before an impartial jury. In June of nineteen ninety six,
Speaker 1: Randy Kirkham was charged with attempting to obstruct justice. Deputy
Speaker 1: Justice Minister Brent Cotter told The Globe and Meal, what
Speaker 1: makes this case different and exceptional is that it's alleged
Speaker 1: he was misconducting himself while performing his duties as a prosecutor.
Speaker 1: Robert Latimer's legal team now had groans for a new trial.
Speaker 1: On the twenty seventh of November nineteen ninety six, the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court of Canada heard Robert's appeal While he was
Speaker 1: awaiting their decision, Robert accused justice officials of torture by
Speaker 1: continuing to prosecute him. He said, they have no limits
Speaker 1: on how you can torture a person, and they will
Speaker 1: carry forward with it. To me, they are a bunch
Speaker 1: of backwoods, bloodthirsty butchers. He said that prosecutors didn't understand
Speaker 1: how much Tracy went through in her life. He said,
Speaker 1: how much is Tracy supposed to suffer just to please
Speaker 1: these people? The Supreme Court announced their decision in February.
Speaker 1: The next year, Robert's conviction would be set aside and
Speaker 1: a new trial ordered. Because of the irregularities in the
Speaker 1: jury selection process. The case would start again from the
Speaker 1: very beginning, and the entire nation would be watching. The
Speaker 1: second murder trial began on the twenties eighth of October
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven. This time there was a new prosecutor,
Speaker 1: Eric Newfield. He presented the same evidence as the first trial,
Speaker 1: including the videotaped confession. During his opening statements, he didn't
Speaker 1: directly address the issue of mercy killing, but made statements
Speaker 1: that were designated to override such a defense. He said
Speaker 1: that Tracy was a lovable little girl who could smile
Speaker 1: and was in no worse condition than any other disabled child.
Speaker 1: Defense attorney Mark Brayford said he would focus on two points,
Speaker 1: that Tracy was in pain in the last year of
Speaker 1: her life and there was no medical way to help her,
Speaker 1: and that Robert was a doting, loving father. He too
Speaker 1: presented the same evidence. Laura testified once more, telling the
Speaker 1: jury I said to him it would be better for
Speaker 1: Tracy if she died. I knew I didn't have the
Speaker 1: courage to do it, but I wished it for her.
Speaker 1: I was her mom, and that's what I wanted for her.
Speaker 1: She painted a heartbreaking picture of Tracy's life past couple
Speaker 1: of weeks alive. She was in constant pain, throwing up
Speaker 1: every day and unable to sleep. The last straw was
Speaker 1: when they were told that Tracy would need more surgery,
Speaker 1: even more pain. At the end of the trial, the
Speaker 1: jury reached a verdict. They found Robert Latimer again guilty
Speaker 1: of the second degree murder of Tracy. The mandatory sentence
Speaker 1: was life with a minimum of ten years. Once again,
Speaker 1: Robert was allowed to return home on bail pending an appeal.
Speaker 1: He remarked the jury obviously endorsed the option of cutting
Speaker 1: off her leg and putting a fading tube in her
Speaker 1: that that was something we couldn't do. With the combination
Speaker 1: of the rods in the back, the tube in the stomach,
Speaker 1: the leg cut off and flopping around, and the bed sores.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Some people think she was a happy
Speaker 1: little girl. I don't understand those people. The sentencing phase
Speaker 1: happened in December, and Robert's defense team argued that sentencing
Speaker 1: Robert to a minimum of ten years in prison would
Speaker 1: be cruel and unusual. As it turned out, the jury agreed.
Speaker 1: In a surprise move, the judge refused to impose the
Speaker 1: mandatory sentence of life with parole eligibility after ten years. Instead,
Speaker 1: he ordered Robert to serve one year in a provincial
Speaker 1: jail and a second year confined to his form. The
Speaker 1: judge ruled the evidence establishes mister Latimer was motivated solely
Speaker 1: by his love and compassion for Tracy and the need,
Speaker 1: at least in his mind, that she should not suffer
Speaker 1: any more pain. The disability rights community were horrified this
Speaker 1: constitutional exemption from the mandatory minimum sentence was exactly what
Speaker 1: they had feared. They said it sent the message that
Speaker 1: killing a disabled child carried a lesser penalty than killing
Speaker 1: a non disabled child. The Crown appealed the sentence. On
Speaker 1: the twenty third of November nineteen ninety eighth, the Court
Speaker 1: of Appeal delivered its decision in a unani miswrilling. The
Speaker 1: court set aside the constitutional exemption and reinstated the mandatory
Speaker 1: sentence life in prison without the possibility for ten years.
Speaker 1: The court found that the mandatory minimum sentence did not
Speaker 1: constitute krill and unusual punishment. Robert appealed to the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court of Canada in two thousand and one. The Supreme
Speaker 1: Court unanimously upheld both its conviction and the sentence. The
Speaker 1: court rejected the defense of necessity, finding that Tracy's upcoming
Speaker 1: surgery did not constitute an imminent emergency and that Robert
Speaker 1: had other legal alternatives, as the court bluntly stated he
Speaker 1: could have struggled on. On the eighteenth of January two
Speaker 1: thousand and one, Robert began serving his sentence at william
Speaker 1: Head Institution, a medium security facility located thirty kilometers west
Speaker 1: of Victoria, British Columbia. He remarked, I said I could
Speaker 1: lie in a dirty old jail cell easier than she
Speaker 1: could lie on the floor suffering life. She was, And
Speaker 1: I would have thought that the courts would have come
Speaker 1: to their senses or been somewhat honest, But I guess
Speaker 1: I was mistaken. Robert still had support. People even offered
Speaker 1: to help serve the sentence. There were more than one
Speaker 1: hundred people who said they would each serve one month.
Speaker 1: While in prison, Robert completed the first year of carbonry
Speaker 1: and electrician apprenticeships. He continued to operate the family farm
Speaker 1: with the help of a manager. On the fifth of
Speaker 1: December two thousand and seven, Robert requested day parole from
Speaker 1: the National Parole Board in Victoria. He told the parole
Speaker 1: board that he still believed killing his daughter was the
Speaker 1: right thing to do. He hadn't changed his mind. He
Speaker 1: expressed no remorse. He said it was a very personal
Speaker 1: thing and wasn't a big guilt trip. I still don't
Speaker 1: feel guilty now. I would expect she would not have
Speaker 1: wanted any more pain. I can only go on what
Speaker 1: I would have wanted for myself. The board denied the request.
Speaker 1: The decision stated that Robert had not developed sufficient insight
Speaker 1: into his actions, despite reports that said he was a
Speaker 1: low risk to reoffend. The three board members said that
Speaker 1: they were struck by Robert's lack of remorse and suggested
Speaker 1: he get some counselink. In January the next year, his
Speaker 1: lawyer filed an appeal arguing the board had violated its
Speaker 1: own rules by requiring admission of wrongdoing. On the twenty
Speaker 1: seventh of February two thousand and eight, a review board
Speaker 1: overturned the earlier decision and granted Robert de perou. They wrote,
Speaker 1: a delay in releasing you from imprisonment would be unfair. Accordingly,
Speaker 1: your appeal is allowed. On the thirteenth of March two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, Robert Latimer was released from William Head Prison.
Speaker 1: He was required to live in a half way house
Speaker 1: in Victoria five days a week and could live in
Speaker 1: his own apartment two days a week. He was allowed
Speaker 1: to spend Christmas with his family at the farm. Robert's
Speaker 1: reintegration progressed well. Parole board report Wurtz noted that he
Speaker 1: was a model resident who cooperated with all supervision requirements.
Speaker 1: He was ordered to continue counseling and was prohibited from
Speaker 1: ever having responsibility for or making decisions four anybody who
Speaker 1: was severely disabled. On the twenty ninth of November two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten, seventeen years after Tracy's death, her father, Robert,
Speaker 1: was granted full parole. That decision took effect on the
Speaker 1: sixth of December two thousand and ten. Robert Latimer was free,
Speaker 1: but the condition of his parole initially meant he faced
Speaker 1: travel restrictions. He couldn't leave Canada without applying for a
Speaker 1: limited time passport. He was also forbidden from ever entering
Speaker 1: a caregiver relationship with anybody with disability. In twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: after appeals and a federal court ruling, these restrictions were
Speaker 1: finally lifted. In March of two thousand and fifteen, the
Speaker 1: Parole Board of Canada's Appeal Division ruled that Robert Latimer
Speaker 1: could travel freely outside Canada. The case that had consumed
Speaker 1: Canada for over two decades was finally quietly coming to
Speaker 1: an end. The Robert Latimer CAIUS forced Canada to confront
Speaker 1: uncomfortable questions that had no easy answers. For some. Robert
Speaker 1: was a loving father, driven to an impossible choice by
Speaker 1: a daughter's unbearable suffering and a medical system that offered
Speaker 1: only more pain. Many saw a man who made the
Speaker 1: ultimate sacrifice, who carried the burden of an unthinkable decision
Speaker 1: to spare his daughter from torture. The thousands who donated
Speaker 1: to his legal defense, who signed petitions, who rallied in
Speaker 1: his support, believed he deserved compassion, not a prison cell.
Speaker 1: They argued that no parents should have to watch their
Speaker 1: child's suffer the way Tracey suffered, and that Robert acted
Speaker 1: out of love of in the most impossible circumstances imaginable.
Speaker 1: For others, particularly in the disability rights community, the case
Speaker 1: represented something form or sinister. It revealed society's deeply held
Speaker 1: prejudices about the value of disabled lives. It showed that
Speaker 1: when a disabled child is murdered, even by their own parent,
Speaker 1: the victim becomes invisible while the killer becomes a sympathetic figure.
Speaker 1: Tracy's voice, her preferences, her rights to life, were eraised
Speaker 1: in favor of what her father believed was best for her.
Speaker 1: The Council of Canadians with Disabilities and other advocacy groups
Speaker 1: argued that Tracy's murder was not mercy. It was the
Speaker 1: ultimate expression of ableism, the belief that a life with
Speaker 1: a severe disability is not worth living. They pointed out
Speaker 1: that Tracy attended school, that she responded to her family,
Speaker 1: that she was able to smile and laugh. She had
Speaker 1: a life, even if others couldn't imagine living it themselves.
Speaker 1: Doctor Dick Sobsey, a professor of educational psychology at the
Speaker 1: University of Alberta, studied violence against people with disabilities. He
Speaker 1: noted that research consistently showed people with disabilities faced a
Speaker 1: significantly higher risk of being killed by family members or
Speaker 1: caregivers than non disabled people. The Latimer case, he argued,
Speaker 1: sent a dangerous message that such killings could be justified,
Speaker 1: even celebrated. Others fell somewhere in between. They condemned Robert's
Speaker 1: actions while acknowledging the genuine anguish of parents caring for
Speaker 1: children with severe disabilities. They called for better support systems,
Speaker 1: better pay management, better resources for family struggling with impossible situations.
Speaker 1: They argued that the real villain wasn't Robert, but a
Speaker 1: society that failed to provide adequate help to families and crisis.
Speaker 1: The SIU Rodriguez case had asked whose life is it?
Speaker 1: Sue could speak, She could advocate for herself. She made
Speaker 1: her own choice, even if the law at the time
Speaker 1: didn't permit it. Tracy Latimer never had that choice. She
Speaker 1: was twelve years old when her father decided her life
Speaker 1: should end. She couldn't consent. She couldn't say yes or no.
Speaker 1: She couldn't tell anyone whether she wanted to live or die.
Speaker 1: Pat Danforth of the Council of Canadians with Disability said
Speaker 1: of the case, Tracy's pain wasn't continuous. It was intermittent
Speaker 1: and situational. Whether Robert acted out of love or desperation,
Speaker 1: whether he deserved punishment or understanding, whether the mandatory minimum
Speaker 1: sentence was justice or cruelty. These questions divided the nation
Speaker 1: then and continued to divide people now. The case left
Speaker 1: scars that would never fully heal. It exposed step divisions
Speaker 1: in Canadian society about disability, suffering, quality of life, and
Speaker 1: the value we place on those who are most vulnerable.
Speaker 1: It raised questions about parental rights versus children's rights, about
Speaker 1: who gets to decide when life is worth living, about
Speaker 1: whether compassion can coexist with accountability. More than two decades
Speaker 1: after Tracy's death, those questions remain unanswered. People still debate
Speaker 1: whether Robert was a murderer or a murder, whether he
Speaker 1: should have been imprisoned or pardoned, whether his actions were
Speaker 1: unforgivable or understandable. Well, that is it for this episode
Speaker 1: of Morbidology. It's always thank you so much for listening,
Speaker 1: and I'd like to say a massive thank you to
Speaker 1: my new supporters up on Patreon, Morgan and Deanna. The
Speaker 1: link to Patreon is in the show notes if you'd
Speaker 1: like to join In exchange for your support, I upload
Speaker 1: ad free in early release episodes as well as bonus
Speaker 1: episodes of Morbidology. Plus I also send out some cool
Speaker 1: Patreon exclusive merch and do behind the scenes of some
Speaker 1: of the episodes. Remember to check us out at morbidology
Speaker 1: dot com for more information about this episode and to
Speaker 1: read some true crime articles. Until next time, take care
Speaker 1: of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week. Temp