For samples of Post-Columbine Hysteria in the United States see:
ACLU Challenges Suspension of Student in Latest Example of "Post-Columbine Hysteria"
NORTH STORMONT, ONT. - A teenager has been jailed for 30 days after writing a story in which the protagonist blows up his school to get revenge on bullies.
The 16-year-old from North Stormont, Ontario near Ottawa was charged with uttering death threats after reading his story aloud in class. He's been behind bars since Dec. 8.
According to his parents, the boy wrote the story shortly after he was attacked by a gang of 11 youths. They said he was pushed to the ground and kicked in the head repeatedly, leaving him covered in blood.
Reports say rumours began circulating that the boy had a bomb and a hit list after he presented his story. But the boy's lawyer said the only actual evidence against his client is the text of his story.
Frank Horn said the police response raises "a very grave civil liberties issue."
Said Horn: "This case has severe implications and people are very concerned. Does this mean writers will have to worry whether they're breaking the law with every sentence they write? Can their imagination break the law? We're in the middle of a hurricane here."
Horn said complaints by the boy's parents to the school and police regarding the vicious assault have gone unanswered.
The boy is to appear in court in Cornwall on Tuesday for a bail hearing. Four previous bail hearings over the past month were postponed.
The boy's brother, 14, was also arrested and charged with uttering death threats, allegedly after his life was threatened by bullies.
Copyright 2001, CBC News Online
Reprinted with permission of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CORNWALL, ONT. - The Crown says a teenager charged with uttering death threats was arrested, not only for writing violent fiction, but also for threatening three students.
The 16-year-old teenager was jailed on Dec. 8, two weeks after reading his Grade 11 drama class a story in which the protagonist seeks revenge on bullies by bringing bombs to school.
His lawyer, Frank Horn, alleges police have no other basis for charging the youth, and that the case raises serious civil liberties questions.
He also accused police of not following up on allegations by the teenager's parents that he was bullied at school.
But following a bail hearing Tuesday, assistant Crown attorney Elaine Evans said the 16-year-old did more than write about revenge, he made specific comments to three students.
"They all revolve around death, they all revolve around getting even,'' Evans said in an interview.
According to The Globe and Mail, the teenager now faces additional charges relating to those incidents.
The Crown wants the teen kept in jail for a psychiatric review. A Children's Aid Society worker testified for the Crown as well, but under a publication ban those comments can't be reported.
The bail hearing continues Wednesday.
In the meantime, writers such as Sean Wilson are supporting the teen. He said the case raises critical freedom of speech issues.
"Rather than becoming violent, he got creative," said Wilson, who organizes the Ottawa International Writers' Festival. "I think he should be applauded for that."
The boy's parents say he's a fan of novelist Stephen King and should be encouraged, not imprisoned, for his fiction.
Copyright 2001, CBC News Online
Reprinted with permission of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CORNWALL, ONT. - A teenage boy in jail for more than a month after his arrest for uttering death threats should be applauded, not charged, according to the head of a Canadian writers' group.
The case involves a 16-year-old boy who was arrested Dec. 8, two weeks after he presented an assignment to his Grade 11 drama class.
After four earlier dates had been postponed, Tuesday was the first day of his bail hearing.
The work of fiction, prosecutors believe, contains a veiled threat against other students at Tagwi secondary school in Avonmore, Ont. Those students had allegedly been bullying the accused.
"Rather than becoming violent, he got creative," said Sean Wilson, an organizer of the Ottawa International Writers' Festival. "I think he should be applauded for that."
The boy from North Stormont, Ont., southwest of Ottawa, can't be identified under the Young Offenders Act.
The story he presented to class depicts a teen tormented by bullies who plans to blow up his school.
Crown wants psychiatric tests
The Crown wants to deny the boy bail so he can have a psychiatric evaluation in custody.
Assistant Crown attorney Elaine Evans says the charges are not solely based on the story, but stem from actual threats made against three of the boy's fellow students.
But defence lawyer Frank Horn says those other students are the real threat. He says complaints by the family about bullying have been ignored by police.
Horn argued against imposing a publication ban on the hearing's testimony, something usually a matter of course for a bail proceeding.
He thinks the public should hear the allegations against the boy, and hear the boy's side of the story. He says the entire case has serious implications for civil liberties, and freedom of expression.
That's a view strongly agreed to by interested people such as Wilson.
"Punishing a child for the fact that he's got an imagination is a very, very scary and wrongheaded thing to do," Wilson said.
He says if the courts do that, then authors will shy away from some topics for fear of punishment.
The bail hearing continues Wednesday.
Younger brother faces similar charges
The boy's 14-year-old brother is also in jail, being held without bail, after he was arrested Dec. 21, also for uttering death threats.
Police say the younger brother, who attends a different school, was teased by other kids about his older sibling being in jail. He allegedly threatened to blow up the school himself.
He will appear in court on Monday.
Copyright 2001, CBC News Online
Reprinted with permission of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
This story last updated on Thursday January 11 2001 03:40:10 p.m.
Sandra Martin, the president of PEN Canada, says her organization does not approve of inciting violence. But she sees little evidence that the student did anything other than write a story.
TORONTO - PEN Canada, an organization representing Canadian writers, is condemning the arrest of a high school student in Ontario.
The 16-year-old boy from North Stormont, Ontario, was charged in December, after he wrote an assignment for his drama class in which the protagonist blows up his school to get revenge on bullies.
According to the boys' parents, he wrote the story shortly after he was attacked by a gang of 11 youths.
Sandra Martin is the president of PEN Canada, an arm of PEN International, which is a group that campaigns on behalf of writers around the world who are imprisoned for their work. Martin says: "We want young people to use words. We want them to express themselves. And to think that this child who wrote instead of acting out his frustration is being punished for it is really quite astonishing."
Martin says PEN does not approve of inciting violence. But she sees little evidence that the student did anything other than write a story.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival has also condemned the arrest
Copyright 2001, CBC News Online
Reprinted with permission of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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WebPosted Mon Jan 29 08:29:07 2001
OTTAWA - Some prominent Canadian writers, including Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, attended a forum Sunday to show support for a teenager who ended up in jail after writing a class essay.
The 16-year-old boy, who lives near Cornwall, Ont., was arrested last month after writing a story about a teen who tried to blow up his school as revenge for bullying.
The boy faces four counts of uttering death threats – including some that were allegedly directed at other students at his school.
He was released on bail Jan. 11, after spending 34 days in detention a period that included Christmas, New Year's and his birthday.
Sean Wilson, artistic director of the Ottawa International Writers Festival and the organizer of the benefit, said what the student needs is support.
"This boy has been a victim of the system and has been on every major newscast and in all the newspapers already," Wilson said. "What we're trying to do is bring it back to the central issue, which is freedom of speech and the story he wrote."
Plans for the teen to read his work of fiction, called "Twisted," at the event were cancelled. Organizers said the boy is under enough pressure already.
But the two-hour fundraising benefit went ahead as scheduled at Ottawa's National Arts Centre.
Michael Ondaatje told the audience how the ability to write out his feelings provided a vent for his own teenaged angst.
"I see myself as someone who's been saved by writing," he said. "God knows what I would have been, become, or how I would have ended up without it."
Margaret Atwood presented the boy with a book of childhood writings by famous authors. In her speech, she called for more understanding of the troubles of youth.
"One reason childhood can be hell is that as a child you can have no power, and you can have no recourse, and you can have nobody who actually believes you," she said.
Some students at the school, including three who attended Sunday's forum, said the facts of the case are being overlooked. George Bonkowsky, 16, was in the drama class when the teen read his story last November.
"It wasn't made a big, big deal," Bonkowsky said. "Afterwards, the alleged threats were made. Then it was made a big deal, because people tied the monologue in with the threats."
Author Tim Wynne-Jones was supposed to speak on the boy's behalf, but changed his mind. He feels all of this attention isn't a good idea.
"I bear nothing against this kid. . . but he's not a hero," he said. "And I was very afraid of seeing him become a martyr."
Copyright 2001, CBC News Online
Reprinted with permission of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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