- Aug 6, 2012
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This is how conservatives must be. Humans, not Himmler wannabes.
He showed compassion when he didn't need to. He helped right a wrong for a man wrongly accused of rape and murder. THAT is leadership. He didn't hide, he didn't ignore, he didn't play for votes, he just gave a damn.
There is a reason he was chosen to conduct Reagans eulogy. We in the West, need to return to this type of leadership.
RIP
www.thestar.com
A month after that prison visit, Joyce was holding a vigil outside a Winnipeg hotel when Mulroney arrived.
“There was a carpet laid out from the street into the hotel for the prime minister, and a rope to separate his walkway from our group, the curious and the media,” Joyce recalled in her book "A Mother's Story: The Fight to Free My Son David," which I ghostwrote with her.
“The prime minister stepped out of his car, went halfway up the carpet, then turned and strode directly toward me,” Joyce recalled. “He took my hand and addressed me by name, looking me directly in the eye.”
Joyce said she thanked him, and then said David wasn’t in good shape.
Sex offenders are at the bottom of the prisoner hierarchy. During his imprisonment, which began in 1969 at age 16, Milgaard had been gang-raped, beaten and vilified.
Twice, Milgaard had attempted escape by fleeing custody, once to the GTA.
Twice he had attempted escape through suicide.
During their meeting outside the Winnipeg hotel in 1991, Joyce told Mulroney that David’s mental health was falling fast.
“He needs to have some peace of mind and I’m afraid that the case will not be reopened before David has lost his sanity,” she told him. "And, of course, the other question is anything you could do for a speedy review?"
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The prime minister told her he'd just checked in Ottawa the day before. "They’ll be taking a close look at it very, very soon," he told Joyce, before asking about her son.
"You mentioned his health?”
“He’s been in the hospital,” she replied, and they spoke of how David had sought a transfer to the Rockwood prison farm by Stony Mountain, or Collins Bay in Ontario.
The prime minister "could have easily turned away at that point,” Joyce said. “We had chatted a couple of minutes, and he had shown his concern for the cameras. However, he kept on talking."
“It’s hard on him?” he asked.
David was transferred to Rockwood within the month.
“Whatever was going on behind the closed doors of Justice, the tide was turning for us now,” Joyce recalled.
“Transfers from maximum-security prisons like Stony Mountain to minimum-security prison farms like Rockwood, which adjoined it, were almost unheard of, but now, after the meeting with Prime Minister Mulroney, David was getting one.”
He soon told her, “Mom, do you realize that I can go out and take a walk in the field.”
He showed compassion when he didn't need to. He helped right a wrong for a man wrongly accused of rape and murder. THAT is leadership. He didn't hide, he didn't ignore, he didn't play for votes, he just gave a damn.
There is a reason he was chosen to conduct Reagans eulogy. We in the West, need to return to this type of leadership.
RIP
Milgaard and Mulroney: When the PM’s compassion shone through for the mom of an innocent man
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney could have simply walked away from the mother of a convicted killer — but he didn’t. Years later, David Milgaard was exonerated.
www.thestar.com
A month after that prison visit, Joyce was holding a vigil outside a Winnipeg hotel when Mulroney arrived.
“There was a carpet laid out from the street into the hotel for the prime minister, and a rope to separate his walkway from our group, the curious and the media,” Joyce recalled in her book "A Mother's Story: The Fight to Free My Son David," which I ghostwrote with her.
“The prime minister stepped out of his car, went halfway up the carpet, then turned and strode directly toward me,” Joyce recalled. “He took my hand and addressed me by name, looking me directly in the eye.”
Joyce said she thanked him, and then said David wasn’t in good shape.
Sex offenders are at the bottom of the prisoner hierarchy. During his imprisonment, which began in 1969 at age 16, Milgaard had been gang-raped, beaten and vilified.
Twice, Milgaard had attempted escape by fleeing custody, once to the GTA.
Twice he had attempted escape through suicide.
During their meeting outside the Winnipeg hotel in 1991, Joyce told Mulroney that David’s mental health was falling fast.
“He needs to have some peace of mind and I’m afraid that the case will not be reopened before David has lost his sanity,” she told him. "And, of course, the other question is anything you could do for a speedy review?"
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The prime minister told her he'd just checked in Ottawa the day before. "They’ll be taking a close look at it very, very soon," he told Joyce, before asking about her son.
"You mentioned his health?”
“He’s been in the hospital,” she replied, and they spoke of how David had sought a transfer to the Rockwood prison farm by Stony Mountain, or Collins Bay in Ontario.
The prime minister "could have easily turned away at that point,” Joyce said. “We had chatted a couple of minutes, and he had shown his concern for the cameras. However, he kept on talking."
“It’s hard on him?” he asked.
David was transferred to Rockwood within the month.
“Whatever was going on behind the closed doors of Justice, the tide was turning for us now,” Joyce recalled.
“Transfers from maximum-security prisons like Stony Mountain to minimum-security prison farms like Rockwood, which adjoined it, were almost unheard of, but now, after the meeting with Prime Minister Mulroney, David was getting one.”
He soon told her, “Mom, do you realize that I can go out and take a walk in the field.”
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