Karla Homolka is a killer. Video evidence showed her sexually assaulting her victims and other evidence suggested that she played a part in killing them. She reached a controversial plea deal in 1994 that saw her serve only 12 years in prison, which is even more infuriating given the fact that she was later denied parole and deemed a high risk to re-offend. Since her release and reintegration into society in 2005, she has been the focus of perpetual easter egg hunts by media. Rumours and reports of her whereabouts and pseudonyms have been popping up throughout the years. A few days ago, scandal starved reporters revealed that Karla Homolka was living in a town called Chateauguay, just outside of Montreal, under the name Leanne Teale. Not only did they reveal her name, tell Canadians where her children go to school and then muster up as much outrage as possible, reporters spent weeks knocking on doors in Chateauguay and informing people about Homolka's presence by asking them how they felt about it. Eventually, it became another despicable Homolka story laden with commentary by outraged residents who suddenly felt inconvenienced by Canada's soft justice system. All of this makes for a sad day when someone has to defend Karla Homolka. If I had my way, Canada would still have capital punishment and I wouldn't be writing this.
This isn't about Karla Homolka being an innocent angel deserving of privacy. This is about Canada's justice system and the people who soften it with their votes. This comes in light of the Supreme Court striking down two Conservative crime laws that would have made bail more difficult and created mandatory minimum sentences for some crimes. This comes in light of a massive Liberal majority, with huge support in Quebec – the province where Karla Homolka now lives and faces possible lynch mobs of inconvenienced leftist voters. This is about the people who consistently choose a softer justice system and then complain when serial killers, child predators and psychopaths end up living in their neighbourhoods.
The fact of the matter is, Karla Homolka went through the motions of Canada's criminal justice system and was released fair and square. If you have a problem with that and you voted Liberal, NDP or Bloc, you'll need to deal with it. You are a part of the problem. If a serial murderer ends up living in a house next to you, before assembling lynch mobs to have them removed, take a look in the mirror.
In 2015, voters in Chateauguay-Lacolle voted overwhelmingly for left-wing policies. It'd be unfair to say that all voters vote on the single issue of crime and punishment, but Quebec has generally been a province that always chooses leniency over effective punishment. In Chateauguay-Lacolle, the only party running on stiffer punishments and less leniency was the Conservative Party, and they only won 11% of the popular vote. In 2011, Chateauguay-Saint Constant voted overwhelmingly for the NDP with 52% – the party that touts rehabilitation for people like Homolka, Omar Khadr and Vince Li. The rest of the constituency voted Bloc (26%) and Liberal (9%). Conservatives only won 10% of the popular vote that year.
Unless the parents and residents expressing their outrage about Homolka all voted Conservative, their outrage is misplaced. During the year Homolka made her plea deal and received her tiny 12 year sentence, Chateauguay had a Bloc Quebecois MP named Maurice Godin and Canada had a Liberal majority. At the time, the Bloc stood for the very same social democratic values as the NDP, minus the federalism.
The people of Chateauguay are liberals and socialists who have been inconvenienced by their own personal views. They never expected a serial killer to end up right next door. When they spent all those years advocating empathy and rehab, they didn't mean empathy and rehab in their own backyards. They thought the criminals and psychopaths they wanted to rehabilitate would end up in someone else's backyard – like maybe a conservative's backyard, so they could laugh and quip about how morally bankrupt and mean-spirited we are.
The residents complaining about Karla Homolka in Chateauguay need to accept the justice system they helped create.
It's the Liberal media's pathetic criminal justice system that gave Homolka a 12 year sentence for murder and then put her in Chateauguay to terrorize the poor residents who voted for the policies that allowed it to happen.
When these journalists aren't trolling people with stories about gay wedding cakes and transgender bathrooms, they're busy tracking down serial killers and pedophiles that they were happy to see released. It's almost like their liberalism is designed to create outrageous news stories to help them win the ratings war.
The reporters who chased Homolka to Chateauguay should be ashamed of themselves for being the equivalent of yellow press sleaze.
Unlike Homolka, her children did nothing wrong. In this age of anonymous trolling and online harassment, it's less likely her children will find peace. The vile hatred and barbarity that takes place on social media is an example of how much humanity has failed to evolve since Romans watched lions tear apart fellow citizens in the Colosseum. That barbarity will be amplified in the lives of Homolka's children because the media decided to replace criminal justice with mob justice.
Uncivilized adults with an ax to grind are the least of their worries. Homolka's children will now be subjected to the cruelty of unrefined adolescent judgement. The students they attend school with, who don't yet know who they are, will find out. Taunts about their mother being a serial killer will douse them in a stigma they'll never be able to wash off. Any signs of unrelated defiance or acting out will be linked to Karla Homolka. “They're psychos, just like their mother,” they'll say. Others will avoid eye contact and grant them the equally painful punishment of alienation.
Had Homolka stayed in jail, maybe there would be no media frenzy and her children would be living under different names, with different guardians. In a perfect world, scandal starved journalists wouldn't be hunting down high profile serial killers, and residents of a sleepy community wouldn't be lashing out at a system they created.
If you think it's unfair to paint an entire community and media establishment with one brush, think again. What's unfair is the fact that so many communities let mob justice take over when criminal justice fails. What's unfair is the collateral damage that consumes the lives of the innocent people involved, just because you want a good tabloid story.
