Letters from the Front Lines: Vancouver Riot

“You stole so much that you can never truly make it right again”

I’m glad you are doing the right thing now, and hope more will do the same, but I’m just curious, would you have done the right thing if that famous picture of YOU totally out of control was posted all over the world? Or is it that you are sorry you got caught?  Or did you just post the letter for the Judge that will be sentencing you?

To me an apology includes acknowledgment of what you have done, how your actions have truly affected others, and an explanation of WHY you did it. I would be interest to know why, what was going through rioter’s heads?  Your head?  How did you justify your actions at the time?  What made that fun?  At no time did smashing glass, kicking cars and buildings, flipping cars and lighting them on fire look like fun. 

For all the Vancouver victims, which not long include those physically hurt and treated in hospital (thanks to the wonderful medical staff that treated all the people including the rioters), but also the shop owners and building owners that are financially out of pocket.  Who is going to pay the deductibles for all those insurance claims?  Are you doing to put your pay all these people back?  Did you think of how much insurance costs are going to rise for those businesses and everyone one else in Vancouver to pay for this repair?  Insurance companies won’t lose the money, it will be passed onto the customers.  It will be past on to your parents and all those friends and co-workers that you care so much about. 

Your actions also destroyed one of the most valuable possessions we had.  Our safety.  Feeling safe in one of the largest cities in the world in gone for so many.  You stole our pride in our home, and took away from a sport we loved.  No one is even talking about the game that you pretended to love, or the hockey team that we supported through years of loses that made it to game 7.  #2 in the league, that’s great team!  You stole so much that you can never truly make it right again. 

You endangered the lives of the police officers, the firefighters, the paramedics.  These people have family, friends and co-workers that love and care about them.  Did you think of the wife and family of the riot police officer who was at home crying as she watched the whole thing up fold on TV?  Crying wondering if her husband was the one reportedly killed in the riot? Put yourself in her shoes.

I hope the judges that hear these cases will remember all those effected by these crimes.  That they not only give jail time, but also community service for years.  That these individual rioters be sentenced to go a talk to their peers, their co-workers, the school to educate other people about the consequences of their behaviour.  That they be forced to clean the street and repair the cost of the damage.  This should never happen again!

Again curious, how much time did you spend cleaning up in Vancouver?  What exactly are you going to do to make it right?

— Worker from the correctional system.