The following letter was published in the
Ottawa Citizen and the Toronto Star:

Sunday [ Jan 18, 2004 ] marks three years that Robert Latimer has been in prison for causing the death of his pain wracked daughter, Tracy.

Although the Supreme Court agreed that Mr. Latimer acted purely out of concern for his daughter's suffering, it felt unable to overturn his life sentence with no chance for parole for ten years. The Supreme Court did, however, comment that application of the government's prerogative of mercy would be appropriate in this tragic case where justice and the law are in conflict.

To date, the government has not acted on this suggestion, hiding behind the fact that Mr. Latimer has not "applied" for "Mercy." Mr. Latimer seems to feel that an application for mercy may be tantamount to admission of guilt which would be hypocritical on his part. So we have an impasse.

There is no legal requirement for a person to apply for mercy. The requirement for application is just an administrative arrangement which the Prime Minister can override at will. It is time for our government to act charitably and release Mr. Latimer on parole without his having to apply for it.

Yes, this may create a "precedent" but it would be one of compassion.

The Latimer family has suffered enough.

Paul Zollmann

Almonte ON