There may have been a more cruel and shameful prosecution somewhere in Canadian history - perhaps the one involving Viola Desmond of Nova Scotia, for sitting in a white section of a segregated movie theatre in 1946 - but for the recent past, the case of R v. Fonteece in Thunder Bay, Ont., may top them all as an example of the bullying of the weak by the strong.
Thankfully, a judge insisted on at least some humanity in the absurd prosecution, and Peter Fonteece was sentenced to probation and a community-service order instead of jail.
Mr. Fonteece, who is blind, took part in a suicide pact with his late wife, Yanisa, after she lost her job in the recession last year. He was charged with criminal negligence for failing to stop her. After she was dead, he tried - five times - to kill himself, even going out into the woods and trying to hang himself from a tree. This was not a case of a man failing in his duty to protect a vulnerable individual. This was a case of two desperately unhappy people with pasts more tragic than most, making decisions that were within their rights to make.
Ms. Fonteece had been sexually abused by her mother, and was put forward to be sexually abused by others. Mr. Fonteece had his own tragedies. Impoverished and friendless, except for each other, they made the decision to die. There was no legal principle at stake. The law has not walked in Mr. Fonteece's shoes and had no right to judge him.
This was a man who needed help to recover and get on his feet. He should never have been charged, nor should he have spent 70 days in custody, as if he were a threat to hurt someone or flee.
When Mr. Fonteece's wife killed herself, he lost everything he had in the world. "He grieves her loss," said Madam Justice Helen Pierce of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. "It is he who has suffered most from her death." She went on to say, "Had they enjoyed supportive friendships, perhaps they would not have felt so alone. Perhaps they would have not felt so desperate." She expressed hope that Mr. Fonteece could find supports in his life and meaningful activity. Her statements went some way toward redeeming a legal system that leapt on the weakest of the weak at the moment of his greatest tragedy.