Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to rise today to speak in favour of this bill. It is Zachary's bill. I want to focus on some circumstances around the case, which has brought the issue of detention in custody to the forefront. It is a case that has shocked and shaken the confidence many people have in child protection services and the justice system.
In particular, I want to look at some of the findings of the Turner child death review conducted by Dr. Peter Markesteyn for the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate in Newfoundland and Labrador. In doing this, I intend to provide members of the House with some additional background information about this case and emphasize the need to make changes such as those being proposed here today.
Andrew Bagby was studying at Memorial University when he met Shirley Turner, a fellow medical student 12 years his senior. They dated for about a year before leaving Canada to practice in the United States, she in Iowa and he in Pennsylvania. According to reports, in the week before Andrew Bagby was killed, he told Turner that their relationship was over.
On the day before Andrew Bagby's murder, Turner drove the 950 miles to confront him. They agreed to meet in a park after his hospital shift. The next day, a park visitor found Andrew Bagby's body in the parking lot. He was shot five times. Zachary Turner was born after his father's death as his mother fought extradition to the United States, where authorities wanted to try her for the murder of the child's father, Dr. Andrew Bagby.
Shirley Turner was let out on bail. A judge determined that Turner had presented no indications of a psychological disorder that would give concern about harm to the public. This was done despite no psychiatric evaluation being ordered by the court and the Crown did not present any evidence collected by the U.S. authorities on what they described as Turner's emotional instability.
While out on bail fighting extradition, Shirley Turner walked into the icy waters of Conception Bay while holding Zachary Turner. Both drowned. The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate in Newfoundland and Labrador appointed Dr. Peter Markesteyn to conduct the child death review into the case in 2005. Dr. Markesteyn is very qualified and has extensive experience in conducting child and adult death reviews. He had worked as a consultant to the federal Department of Justice on several cases and he taught at the faculty of medicine at several Canadian universities.
Dr. Markesteyn conducted interviews and read various documents about Turner and found many cases indicating that she had personality and emotional problems before committing the murder of her son. The findings of the report, which was released in October 2006, are shocking.
In reference to Zachary and Turner's daughter from another relationship, the head of the review noted, “Nowhere did I find any ongoing assessment of the safety needs of the children”. The child advocate for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador at the time of the release of the report summed it up by saying that, “Zachary Turner's death was preventable” and that “Zachary was in his mother's care when he should not have been”.
While the terms of reference under which the review was conducted did not examine how Turner was able to obtain bail from the Newfoundland Supreme Court, Dr. Markesteyn did raise questions about how bail was granted and recommended that a separate review of the justice system's handling of the case be conducted.
I want to pay respect to Zachary's grandparents, Kate and David Bagby, who have been very passionate spokespeople for the change in the bail process and have travelled to Canada several times from their home in the United States to help keep this issue before the public. They demonstrate their love for their grandchild through the whole process.
The couple travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador to be with baby Zachary while his mother was accused of murdering their son. They looked after the child for a period and had to share custody with the mother who eventually murdered their grandchild. Through all of this, they continue to show their love for their grandchild and their son by fighting for changes to this legislation. I also want to commend the member for Avalon, who has brought this issue forward to the House of Commons.
This case forces us to re-examine aspects of our justice system and ask how they can be improved, especially issues around detention in custody and the provision of bail for people who are charged with serious crimes. Another issue which arose in the aftermath of this case was the provisions to ensure that people who are posting security for those on bail understand the process, the implications and that they are able to meet the obligations.
In Canada there are three grounds for detaining an accused prior to sentence. Primary grounds involve detention to ensure the accused's attendance in court. Secondary grounds involve detention for the protection or safety of the public. The third grounds involve the seriousness of the offence and the apparent strength of the prosecution's case, and the circumstances surrounding the offence, such as if a firearm was used. In retrospect, any of these grounds could have been applied to this case to keep Dr. Shirley Turner in custody.
As others have said, Zachary's bill is really about the protection and safety of minors remaining in the custody of individuals charged with serious crimes, and that the minors be considered during bail hearing proceedings. It is about judicial decision makers who must be attentive to the necessity to protect minors who remain in the custody of individuals charged with serious offences. It is about a decision to deny bail to an accused may be appropriate for the intended protection of the rights and safety of minors in the custody of the accused.
The case of Zachary Turner is, by any account, a tragedy almost beyond imagination. It is a case that shocks us and saddens us. It is a case that shakes our belief about human nature. If anything good can come from such a situation, it may be that we as a society can learn. We can learn from the way we failed Zachary. We can commit ourselves to making changes that will hopefully prevent such tragedies from happening again.
In conclusion, I ask all members to support this amendment to the Criminal Code, which would provide justification for detention in custody in cases similar to the one I have just described.
