Pervasive Corruption

Pervasive Corruption
Chapter 1

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.” — Elvis Presley, American celebrity entertainer (1935-1977)

Viewed from the air, on a cloudless summer’s day, this province, the province of Nova Scotia, is a site of splendor and awe. This fragrant, new Scotland, juts out into the Atlantic like an organic mat of emerald green surrounded by the rhythmic sparkle of a sapphire sea, and if you are fortunate, you may glimpse the white billows of a passing sailing ship gracefully slipping along the shoreline. No wonder this province has become the much sought after playground to the Hollywood stars.

Yet, if you dare to come down from this heavenly perch, and dig into the cool bowels of our Nova Scotia soil, you will unearth an ugly history fashioned from the tears that spilled from the sorrowed eyes of our children, children who were caught in the web of organizations sanctioned by governments, that professed to act "in the best interest of the child", or worse still, organizations ignored by our government while our children cried. Dig deep and you will uncover the shame of our "butter box babies", newborns who were killed because they were deemed inappropriate for adoptions, or Home Children (another link), children who were spirited away from other places and brought to our shore. And if you dare, dig deeper still and reveal the many more unvoiced, but whispered, stories of our past.

Then, as your fingers recoil from the stench of this decaying earth, shake the dampness from your fingers and tread the surface of this present soil. Give ear to the many plaintive tragedies of today that are still in the process of being written. My story is but one of many. And do not turn away in disbelief as I did, for like me, you may be next.

As I write these words, I feel like the weight of a thousand dreary demons are pulling on my neck, shackling my wrists and dragging on my ankles. And the ironic thing is that most of this weight emanates, not from my circumstances, horrifying as they are, but, from the numerous people who claimed, at one time or the other, to be helping me. Up until now, this weight has denied me the ability to write my story, but I believe, and I hope it to be true, that the writing of my story will be therapeutic for myself, helpful for others, and a useful weapon to wield against the demons - and the demons they are many, and their guises are deceptive.

How innocent I was! How unknowing! How stupid! This made me ripe for victimization. This kind of mindset makes us all ripe for victimization. How can we recognize the pitfalls of an environment we have never known before? We all like to think we are worldly, and so the worlds that we do not know we make assumptions about: courts are places of law, justice, and truth; Children's Services seeks the truth to help families and protect children; and psychological assessment services exist to reveal the truth.

Truth? These are all institutions that uphold and revere the truth . . . or do they? What if these assumptions are wrong? What if you are pulled into a nightmare where, in fact . . . you wake up to the truth - a truth that shatters your assumptions and sends you reeling?

Before my personal journey of victimization I had little knowledge of these systems and no idea how interconnected they were in their corruption. Naively, I believed they were everything they purported to be. I believed Children's Services cared about individuals and families and that they made decisions in the best interest of the weakest members of our society. I thought the negative stereotype of lawyers was spawned by disgruntled criminals and individuals jealous of their elevated lifestyle. As for psychological assessments, I knew from my university studies that interpretations could vary, but I was naive to the deliberate use of inappropriate tests and the intentional misrepresentation of client data. How could I have been so deceived?

It is wonderful to be confident in our social establishments but only if these establishments are deserving of our trust. If our institutions, and individuals within these institutions, are not deserving of this trust, this must be acknowledged and the flaws need to be publicly exposed. In doing so, it is hoped that people outside the circles of victimization, newly conscious of these serious blemishes, would be encouraged to add the strength of their voices to press for meaningful change. Else wise, people will continue to suffer, children will continue to lose valuable family connections, and individuals, unaware of the pitfalls of this "system", will continue to be drawn into the bottomless pit of victimization, alone in their struggles, and re-victimized by a lack of public support derived from ignorance and disbelief.

I, myself, am guilty of continuing this victimization. Before I began my own journey, a woman shared with me her strange and remarkable story. As her narrative began to unfold, I felt sympathy and concern towards her. She was notably stressed and extremely agitated, and, initially, I kept my judgment in reserve.

However, when she began to tell me that individuals within Children's Services were manufacturing lies against her, I felt a sudden shifting within me - away from this woman. What I was hearing, to me, was unbelievable! Suddenly I found myself questioning her mental state. After all, I told myself, she had been through some immensely traumatic situations. Could this not account for her apparent loss of mental stability? Then, as she continued her story, I began to question the validity of everything she was telling me.

Little was I to know that I was about to be pulled into my own personal journey with this same government department. This journey was a rude awakening that opened my eyes to the truth of this woman's story. This woman was not crazy. I was not crazy. If anything was in need of that label it was the Children's Services Department and the "system" that perpetuates its dysfunction.

My journey, like the many before me and the many still to follow, was, and continues to be, painful. It is a journey no person should have to endure. Yet I am grateful for the knowledge and the awareness I can now attest to. The scales have fallen from my eyes. I can see and now I believe. And what I see and what I have come to know, unlike Paul’s epiphany on the road to Damascus, is not good.

**********************

"Lying can never save us from another lie." — Vaclav Havel, Czech poet and political activist, first president of post-Communist Republic (b. 1936)

Just the other day, the lawyers of Canada announced a campaign to attempt to turn their negative image around. They would like the public to believe that they stand for lofty ideals such as truth and justice. How dare they! Have they not done enough to torture my soul and the souls of so many other innocent victims. Have they not been deceitful enough in their secret corruptions? Must they now continue their deceitfulness by proclaiming standards of practice for which they have no truthful aspirations. In their hearts they know they cannot hide from themselves their compliant contribution to the corruption of not only the justice system but also other government departments, the Department of Children's Services, as well as the field of psychology.

The media proclaimed this campaign could backfire. Where does the wisdom for such a statement originate? It originates from those who are well aware of the existence of this darkness. If darkness arises and calls itself good, it is only natural that an indignant backlash should spontaneously arise to expose the darkness. I know because that is how I felt - indignant.

"How dare you campaign to manipulate the public's opinion of yourselves. Respect cannot be gained through a campaign. Be righteous, be honest, and defend your clients honorably. Then you will rightly earn the respect of the people. Do you not see that such a campaign is a continuation of the dishonest manipulation that has earned you the reputation you deserve!"