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Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Cruel and Unusual Punishment

cruel and unusual punishment: Both phrases were telling. As Justice Mactavish of course knew, Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms reads that "Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment." These exact words -- "cruel and unusual punishment" -- resonate in history. They were written into the English Bill of Rights in 1689 and were then repeated in the 8th amendment to the United States Constitution: "Cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted." These are not words used loosely, according to Rabble. If a policy is cruel and unusual, if it outrages our standards of decency, what do we make of those promoting it? It not as if the policy to deny health care is unique in the annals of Harperland. On the contrary, just in the past weeks at least two other government positions seem to reflect some pretty unusual cruelty and indecency: one related to Omar Khadr, the other to prostitution. But nor is the refugee health care issue yet over and When Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court struck down the Harper government policy to slash medical care for refugees earlier this month, she described it as "cruel and unusual treatment" that "shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency." The concept of decency also plays a signal role in American history, though whether the judge was aware of this is not known. It was the very word that launched the final fall of Senator Joe McCarthy and the shameful "Communist" witch hunts known as McCarthyism, when lawyer Joseph Welch attacked McCarthy for his latest smear of a perfectly innocent American: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator; you've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.