Sorry to delay this update on the Christopher Husbands story. There has been a lot of backing and filling on the part of the City of Toronto, its Keystone cops, Ontario judiciary and Canadian immigration. Sorting out the truth of what happened...or didn't happen...has taken time. Here's what we know now.
Christopher Husbands is an immigrant from Guyana, who is accused of murdering a Somali immigrant in a hail of bullets at Toronto's Eaton Centre mall on Saturday afternoon. Half a dozen bystanders -- notice I didn't say innocent -- were wounded.
Both the shooter and shootee are black, hardly a surprise to anyone who knows Toronto. Both belonged to the same gang, which has been terrorizing Regent Park -- one of Toronto's "at-risk neighbourhoods" -- for some time, in spite of the diligence of the Toronto cops' "guns 'n' gangs" squad. Yet the boys in blue keep insisting the shooting was "not gang-related". Maybe Husbands and the victim were off duty.
Husbands wasn't supposed to be at the Eaton Centre, or anywhere else except work. He was under house arrest, you see, on bail on a charge of sexual assault dating from 2010. Bail was granted in spite of at least one drug conviction dating from 2008, because a couple of members of the black community said they'd keep an eye on him, make sure he didn't run away to Guyana or Jamaica -- as if -- and so on.
Did the sureties (for that's what they were) put up any money? Did they supervise Husbands as promised? Errr, apparently not. Will they be required to forfeit or pay any bond money? Will they be held to account in any way? Don't hold your breath.
But there's more. Turns out Mr. Husbands actually had a job! For more than six months he'd been working as a "counsellor" at the Stan Wadlow Clubhouse, an after-school children's centre in another "at-risk neighbourhood" -- the PC term for what Americans would call a "project".
The Stan Wadlow Clubhouse is run by, errr, the City of Toronto, which of course has a policy of requiring police background checks on all prospective employees who will be working with children. Did Husbands pass the check? Errr, no. Did he even apply for a police clearance? Well... errr... he did apply but somehow his application "fell through the cracks", and he was allowed to start work and continue working well beyond the three-month "grace period" normally allowed because, errr, doing background checks is not a high priority for Metro's finest.
Walt wonders if allowing Husbands to take the job in spite of his previous record, in spite of being on bail, in spite of not having had the background check, had anything to do with political correctness or affirmative action. Suppose the City had told Husbands he wasn't eligible? Wouldn't that have been a classic example of the "systemic racism" that all the liberal hug-a-hoodie types whine about?
The whole affair seems to be a terrible embarrassment to all concerned. The Rosedale liberals, the police, city councillors, His Largeness the Mayor, and the Toronto media are all wringing their hands over the revelation that guns and gangs are a problem in Toronto. But they steadfastly refuse to talk about the elephant in the room -- the African elephant.
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