September 30, 2013
The Record
Kitchener, Ontario
Letter to Editor
RE: Ashley Smith Inquest
Notwithstanding the enormous cost of the Ashley
Smith inquest, it seems that its primary purpose is to satisfy media
demands.
It is apparent that each of the inquest lawyers is
searching for that part of the truth that suits his or her agenda while having
a pretense of knowing the solution, all the while denigrating the witnesses in
the process. The lawyers don't bother to acknowledge or commend the service to
the public that each one of the Grand Valley Institution staff, who are inquest
witnesses, has made or the enormous stress and hardship that each has endured
over the past six years.
Most or all of the staff and management at the
Institution are professionals who were overworked but who were solidly
committed to their responsibilities, the prison system, and each of the
inmates, including Ashley Smith. It appears, however, that the staff was expected
to take on the failings of the prison system as well as the ills of society all
at the same time.
The inquest will continue but there's not likely an
"expert" anywhere in the world who would have known definitively what
should have been done during Ashley's time other than that Ashley should have
been afforded care in a mental health facility. That should have been clear to
all right from the outset.
Any person can take his or her own life at any time
if that is their ultimate wish and, although we are encouraged to be our
brother's keeper, Ashley also had some minimum and basic responsibility to keep herself alive.
Yours truly
Jane & Randall More
