When is a law not a law?

When do-gooder politicians fail to proclaim it

TORONTO SUN, By LINDA WILLIAMSON, October 1, 2006

Sometimes the good guys win, and it's great news.

The bad news is, sometimes just winning isn't enough.

Let's start with the good news first. After a last-ditch effort by a grieving mother and her legion of supporters, the Ontario legislature last week passed a private member's bill that we can all hope will help save young lives.

Bill 89, known as "Kevin and Jared's Law" and spearheaded by Conservative MPP Cam Jackson, was passed -- against all odds -- after Julie Craven, mother of 8-year-old murder victim Jared Osidacz, essentially shamed our legislators into it.

Jared's parents were estranged and he was on an unsupervised visit with his father, Andrew Osidacz, last spring when his dad stabbed him to death. The man was shot dead by police when he then turned his knife on Craven, cruelly telling her her son's last words were "Please, daddy, don't kill me."

Andrew Osidacz had a history of violence against Craven and never should have been given unsupervised access to his son in the first place. Bill 89 will, among other things, make an inquest mandatory in any case where a child is killed during a custody visit.

(The "Kevin" referred to in the law is Kevin Latimer, a toddler who died in 2004 after he fell out of a third-floor window during a visit with his father.)

The bill will also allow the victims' families to apply to have their legal costs in such an inquest paid for through the Victims' Justice Fund -- that multi-million-dollar fund raised by the province through fines, which is supposed to go to help people who've been wronged but too often seems to do little more than gather interest.

Families like the Cravens, who learned just over a week ago that the bill was in danger of being killed by the McGuinty government because of the projected costs, celebrated their victory last week -- thanks to Judy's public appearance at Queen's Park and her heartfelt plea to legislators, it was passed unamimously on Tuesday.

But they know the battle's not over yet.

Believe it or not, just because a bill is passed into law doesn't mean it will actually take effect.

Case in point: Another private member's bill that also sought to protect children, known as Bill 86.

This bill fights child prostitution by allowing police to seize underage hookers -- i.e., hold them in custody -- for up to 30 days, instead of the normal practice, which generally sees them right back out on the street after an arrest, with no hope of getting free of their pimps and the seedy lure of street life.

The idea is to protect these children by holding them long enough to get them care and support -- it's about giving them a chance to return to a normal life, not about jailing or punishing them. (In case that's not clear, it's called the Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation Act.)

YEARS OF LOBBYING

Other provinces, notably Alberta, have had such a law for years, and it has proven effective. In Ontario, where we have an estimated 1,200 child prostitutes, it took years of work and lobbying, but in 2002, the then-Conservative government endorsed and passed the private member's bill originated by MPP Rick Bartolucci, a Liberal.

Trouble is, it was never proclaimed -- not by the Tories and not by the Liberals since they came to power, even though it was the brainchild of one of their own. Amazingly, some youth outreach groups oppose the law as too "draconian" -- because, hey, why shouldn't a 14-year-old have the right to sell her body for cash?

So, Queen's Park has a bit of a sorry record when it comes to following through on private member's bills designed to help children. Supporters of Kevin and Jared's Law are aware of this and are urging everyone to keep pushing their MPPs until they set a date for royal assent and proclamation of Bill 89.

Good plan. But while we're at it, let's push them to do the same for Bill 86. Both are about protecting kids from abuse. Neither one does any good if it just sits on a shelf.