The Death of Paul Croutch – another casualty of Canada’s military misadventures

[ConcernedCanuk]

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The Death of Paul Croutch – another casualty of Canada’s military misadventures

I've been a street nurse in Toronto for 19 years. I have received the Atkinson Economic Justice Award which permits me to pursue my passions for nursing and working on homelessness and housing issues. In this newsletter I hope to report on my activities, create a link to a broader group of individuals who care about these social issues and encourage critical debate.

He was described as a 59 year old homeless man who met his brutal death while sleeping on a bench in Moss Park on a rainy August night in downtown Toronto.

In the strict and formal atmosphere of the courtroom, where three army reservists were recently tried for his murder, there was little to remind us of who Paul Croutch was, let alone why a 59 year old man in poor health was sleeping on a park bench on a rainy summer night.

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The 2007 Street Health Report notes that social policy decisions are responsible for worsening health status and growing homelessness.

Their findings, just two years after Mr. Croutch was murdered on a park bench, are sobering:35% of homeless people they interviewed had been assaulted or beaten in the past year

39% were unable to get a shelter bed

74% had at least one serious physical health condition (such as heart disease or arthritis)

56% had experienced serious depression in the past year

23 % had seriously considered suicide in the past year and

10% had tried to commit suicide in the past year

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Three army reservists Corporal Jeffrey Hall, Private Brian Deganis and Corporal Mountaz Ibrahim from the Canadian Forces’ Queen's Own Rifles, based at the Moss Park Armoury in Toronto, were charged with second degree murder, which was then elevated to first degree murder but dropped back to second degree. The three were also charged with assault on Valerie Valen, a woman who attempted to intervene in their attack on Mr. Croutch.


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Crown attorney Hank Goody solemnly and quietly read the list of Mr. Croutch’s injuries noted in the post-mortem examination: extensive bruises to the chest, 6 broken ribs on his left (five were broken in more than one place), 2 additional posterior ribs broken, a ruptured spleen, extensive haemorrhaging of tissues of the scalp and brain, a brain stem injury, severe blunt injury wounds to the head and facial area and upper torso, right eye bruised black, lacerations to the cheeks and in the mouth.

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Mr. Croutch died homeless in a park adjacent to the Moss Park Armoury. He was murdered by the very same people entrusted to protect the public.

Two of the reservists had signed up to go to Afghanistan
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If this is what our soldiers are capable of doing to our OWN citizens,

I am sureley ashamed and fearful of what they are capable and willing to do to Afghans or other non-Canadians.

We have become our enemies(and the Afghans WERE NOT our enemies)

(sigh)

[JohnyCanuck]

1. I am sureley ashamed and fearful of what they are capable and willing to do to Afghans

Doesn't bear thinking what these despicable specimens of humanity would have done to an Afghan taxi driver or farmer they suspected was a "terrorist".

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. What DOES bear thinking, is how many of their ilk are already in Afghanistan

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I'm afraid I can't fathom that this was a rare occurrence -

They just got caught . . .

There's them that won't get caught, or reported at any rate.

Sad to say, I am now relieved that I had no children of my own, although I always wanted them for decades - never happened, so I am "blessed" with not having to worry about their future.

Very sad state of affairs . . .

[BlueIris]

2. These stories hurt, and will only grow more numerous and heartbreaking.

Not looking forward to the rest of the century.