It is a real life horror story. What is happening in a Kingston courtroom can leave no one unaffected.

Justice is taking its course, and the Shafias; father, mother and brother are under Canadian law presumed innocent of charges of murder.

The court will decide in its wisdom whether these were honour killings or not.

But in the meantime, one cannot help but wonder why no one acted decisively when the girls cried out for help.

Both school and child protection officials in Montreal knew something was very wrong at in the Shafia household

One of the girls ran away and sought refuge in a shelter.

The other girls clearly had troubles in school. One of them reportedly tried to commit suicide

Youth protection was called in but questioned in front of their parents, the girls quickly recanted their allegations of abuse.

And admitted things were getting better.But alarms were going off everything. The girls were afraid to be in their home But the file was closed.

We all know what happened next.Perhaps in retrospect, it is easier to lay blame but this is a tragedy that could have been avoided.

There must be better sensitivity to the issues facing new Canadians coming from different cultures and customs.

Sometimes children will say what they must just to feel safe. All they wanted was a chance to be Canadian, with the freedoms and choices we take for granted.


Fight in the stands 'not the way we do things'

And serious questions must be asked why the system clearly failed these girls in their time of crisis.

Don't know about you but I was more than a little horrified by what happened at the Bell Centre on Monday night.

This is not the way we do things in Montreal. A fan was clearly attacked and getting the beating of his life.

But police are not investigating and the crown seemingly is not thinking about charges this was clearly a crime.

Is this the sort of thing you want to see if your take your kid a game? Is this because there is certain sensitivity to the Canadiens in this city?

Perhaps an incident better left alone? Not sure, but if this happened on my street, I would hope police would take it more seriously.


Occupy the Big O?

In fact Montreal was overly patient with the downtown campers.

It is good that the city finally acted. It took its time.

The protestors made their point but they were like those annoying relatives who stay a little too long.

The wide eyed idealists did enjoy public support for about a week and half.

Then they were generally ignored while the homeless and drug addicts moved in began their squat at Victoria Square.

This is obviously not the last we have heard from the Occupiers. They will be back as sure as the robins in spring.

My modest proposal is welcome them back to a new location.

What about the Olympic Stadium? It will be the first time it would be occupied in years.