# Ontario Workplace Safety Board Rules In Favour Of Policeman's Family For PTSD



## Bruce Monkhouse

http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mark_bonokoski/2009/01/25/8139281-sun.html
Peace, justice at last
WSIB decision clears cop's name

By MARK BONOKOSKI
Last Updated: 25th January 2009, 7:18am

 On an October day back in 2005, nine days before his 58th birthday, Eddie Adamson, son of former Toronto Police Chief Harold Adamson, went to a motel in Simcoe County and took his own life -- his room reportedly littered with his police notebooks of the day that changed his life forever, and the newspaper clippings of that day's horrors. 

While it was definitely a gun that ended Eddie Adamson's nightmares, what loaded that bullet into its chamber was the cumulative impact of what happened on March 14, 1980 -- the day Toronto Const. Michael Sweet, a father of three young girls, was shot, held hostage, and allowed to bleed to death by the notorious Munro brothers during a botched robbery of George's Bourbon St. bistro at 180 Queen St. W. 
Sgt. Ed Adamson headed up the Emergency Task Force on that day. He wanted to storm the restaurant, knowing that Sweet had been shot and was in critical condition. 
But he was ordered to stand down. 

And obeying that order -- after arduously arguing against it -- haunted him to his grave. 
By the time Adamson was given the good-to-go, and he stormed into the tear-gas soaked pizza joint with Gary Leuin of the ETF, and Barry Doyle of 52 Division, bullets flying everywhere, Michael Sweet had already slipped away. 

But there was Adamson, so overcome by the tear gas that he eventually had to be hospitalized, but trying nonetheless to give mouth-to-mouth rescue to a fellow officer who was already lying dead on the kitchen floor. 
The imagery is overwhelming. 

Now, after years of fighting the system for closure through truth, Eddie Adamson's family has finally been told by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) that it had finally accepted the true cause of Adamson's death. 
And it was not suicide. 
It was post traumatic stress disorder. 

"What we did in pursuing the WSIB was not just for us. It was more to help the widows and widowers of other police officers who may one day take their own life," said Eddie Adamson's daughter, a detective on another police force. "And it was for my father's good name. 
"What happened to his life is just tragic." 
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino was a Toronto homicide cop back then, and at the scene when the drama unfolded, and Craig and Jamie Munro somehow lived through the assault after taking in a hail of gunfire. 

Jamie Munro, in fact, has three-quarters of his stomach blown away, yet today he still lives and breathes. 
As Fantino wrote in his book, Duty, The Life of a Cop, "Why they would live and Michael Sweet would die, I will never know. It's a question I've asked myself a thousand times." 
It is a question, however, that Eddie Adamson had the answer to, and it was an answer that destroyed him. 

"Eddie always felt that if he had not followed that order, Michael Sweet would be alive today," says Fantino. 
"And he carried that to his grave." 
Reached at his office in Orillia, Fantino said he supported the Adamson family's application to the WSIB -- the reasoning behind its recent decision protected by privacy law, said a WSIB spokesman, and therefore not open for comment. 
The reasoning, however, is obvious to those who were there that day, and to those who knew Eddie Adamson. 

"You must remember, Eddie Adamson was a very brave man," says Fantino. "But he deteriorated greatly following that incident. It was a pivotal point in his life -- that 'what if?' 
"It nagged him. It consumed him." 
Edward William John Adamson "retired" from the Toronto Police Force on Jan. 31, 1994 after 26 years and seven months of service, and 14 years of post traumatic hell. 
He had "just burned out," says Art Lymer, former president of the old Metro Toronto Police Association. 

It was Lymer, in fact, who assisted in initiating the process -- way back in 1993 -- of helping Eddie Adamson or convince what was then the Workers' Compensation Board that his "burn out" was not just some figment of his imagination, but a direct and clinical result of what happened (and didn't happen) at George's Bourbon St. 
It had truly broken Adamson's psyche. 
From that day onward, Adamson was never the same and, eventually, the solace of a drink was never far away. 

"I had a lot of time for Eddie Adamson," says Fantino. "But, no matter how many times I saw him, no matter how many times we talked of other things, that day would always come up in our conversations. 
"He could never put closure to it." 
To this day, even Adamson's family cannot shake the Munro brothers and, as a result, Adamson's daughter, for one, does not want her name published. 
While Craig Munro, the 56-year-old triggerman, is still in prison serving life for first-degree murder, his younger brother, Jamie, got parole and slipped off to Italy in 1994 under an assumed name, and is today vying for his unwanted return. 

"These individuals have been a threat to my family since that night and, of course, I will always have concerns for my family's safety," the daughter says. 
Eddie Adamson's widow, Linda, meanwhile, requested that former police union president Art Lymer speak on her behalf. 
"I'm just not up to it," she says. 

According to Lymer, the WSIB's decision will produce merely a "minor adjustment" in the spousal pension. 
"But that is not the reason we fought for this. It is not the reason it was done. The money is insignificant," says Lymer. 
"It was done to clear Eddie Adamson's name, and that mission has now been accomplished. 
"Finally he can be at peace with himself. 

"It's justice at last." 


Amen, RIP Sgt.Adamson


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## Bruce Monkhouse

Honour for cop overdue
Trauma ultimately took his life

By MARK BONOKOSKI
Last Updated: 15th February 2009, 3:18am

 "We offer our profound gratitude and respect to those officers who paid life's highest price to fulfil the Service's motto, To Serve and Protect." 

-- Toronto Police Honour Roll 

Perhaps the time has finally come to add one long-overdue name to the 38 Toronto Police officers already on that honour roll -- that of the late Sgt. Edward Adamson. 

And, come May, to add his name to the Ontario Police Memorial on Toronto's Queen's Park Crescent. 
And then, come September, to the Canadian Police and Peace Officer's Memorial in Ottawa. 
His penance in his own private purgatory should be over. 

As reported here two Sundays ago, back in October 2005, nine days before his 58th birthday, Eddie Adamson, son of former Metro Toronto police chief Harold Adamson, went to a motel in Simcoe County and took his own life -- his room reportedly littered with his police notebooks from the day that incalculably changed his life forever, and with the newspaper clippings that documented that day's horrific events. 

While it was no doubt a gun that ended Eddie Adamson's life, what loaded that weapon was the cumulative gravitas of what happened on March 14, 1980 -- the day Toronto Const. Michael Sweet, a father of three young girls, was shot, held hostage, and allowed to bleed out by the infamous Munro brothers during a fumbled robbery of George's Bourbon St. bistro at 180 Queen St. W. 

Sgt. Ed Adamson headed up the Emergency Task Force on that day. He wanted to storm the restaurant, knowing Sweet had been wounded and was likely on death's door. 
But he was ordered to stand down. 
And obeying that order haunted him to his grave. 
This can no longer be denied. 

As was outlined here, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board finally caught up with the 21st century by ruling a few weeks ago that Eddie Adamson's death was not simply brought on by a bullet from a gun but from post traumatic stress disorder triggered by the guilt he felt each day for the last years of his life for not disobeying the order to stand down and, instead, storming the bistro to save 30-year-old Michael Sweet's life. 

By the time Adamson was given the good-to-go order, and led the assault on the restaurant with Gary Leuin of the ETF, and Barry Doyle of 52 Division, the sound of gunshots filling the air, Michael Sweet had already slipped away. 

But there was Adamson, nonetheless, so overcome by the tear gas that he eventually had to be hospitalized, trying to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a fellow officer who was already lying dead because they had gotten there too late. 

It was a horror he could never shake. 
Old-school terminology wrote him off as suffering from "burnout" or "battle fatigue," and promoted the fallacy that it could be shaken off if one's mind were put to it. 

But, this time, WSIB appeals adjudicator Mark Evans ruled definitively that Eddie Adamson "suffered an acute post-traumatic reaction" from being too late to save Const. Michael Sweet's young life because of that "stand down" order being obeyed and that, from that day onward, the slippery slope to his suicide was medically understandable, clinically explainable, and therefore virtually predictable. 

According to Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash, however, "the rules defining the (Toronto Police) honour roll are that you must have died in the line of duty and, at this point, that's where we stand." 

There are exceptions to rules, of course, and it could be argued Eddie Adamson did die in the line of duty because, for all intent and purpose, the life he knew died on that day in March 1980 along with Michael Sweet. 
It just took 25 years for his heart to stop beating. 

Staff-Sgt. Don Sweet, Michael Sweet's nephew, is on the robbery squad at Ottawa Police Services, as well as on the board of directors of the national Canadian Police and Peace Officer's Memorial. 
And he would like to see Eddie Adamson's name added to the list of almost 700 Canadian officers whose lives have been lost ... "They are our heroes. We shall not forget them." 

Every year for the last 17, in fact, Staff-Sgt. Sweet has been master of ceremonies at the annual national tribute, held on the last Sunday in September, his first experience being the reading of a prayer for his fallen uncle. 

"Seeing Eddie Adamson's name on the memorial would be good for the Adamson family and good for the Sweet family," he says. "In the end, it would see some good coming out of all of this." 

Early last week, the Sun has learned, Toronto Police Association president Dave Wilson submitted the necessary letter, complete with all the WSIB documentation, to the appropriate committees that oversee all three honour rolls. 

"Eddie Adamson deserves to be recognized, and given the proper homage," Wilson says, noting that most officers on the force, even if it happened before their time, are well aware of "the historic significance" of that day when Michael Sweet died and Eddie Adamson was ordered to stand down. 

"We also now know so much more about post-traumatic stress than we did years ago, and so much more about what it can do to good people," he says. 
"The WSIB decision regarding Eddie Adamson is cutting edge. Back in the day, (police officers) were simply told to suck it up, and get on with it. 
"If only it were that easy," Wilson says. 

"But it isn't."


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## mariomike

WSIB now recognises the "Cummulative Effect" of trauma on ambulance crews, even though it is part of the job. 
A final "reaction" is considered to be the cumulative effect.


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## Bruce Monkhouse

I'll give him his friggin' "freedom".

Minimum security, kiss my a@&.


http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mark_bonokoski/2009/02/22/8481611-sun.html
Prison break
T.O. cop killer makes bid for freedom 29 years after murdering Const. Michael Sweet

By MARK BONOKOSKI

Last Updated: 22nd February 2009, 3:30am

On Thursday morning, inside the minimum-security Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village near Mission, B.C., notorious Toronto cop killer Craig Munro will stand before a parole tribunal for the very first time. 
Despite being in prison a few days shy of 29 years, and despite having applied for parole hearings in the past, he has always abandoned his applications in mid-stream -- the last in 1997 when he walked away from his "faint hope" parole attempt after a Toronto Sun story threw so much light on the case that Munro, through his lawyer, said it would have been impossible for him to get a fair hearing. 

No decisions or documents from the National Parole Board therefore exist. 
This week, however, the now 58-year-old Munro hopes to finally get his get-out-of-jail papers, somewhere along the way having purportedly been converted by the teachings and traditions of the Red Road, the generic term for the First Nations' religious guide to living a principled life. 

At his hearing Thursday, according to National Parole Board spokesman Patrick Storey, Munro will be entitled to have his own native elder from the prison as counsel during the hearing which will be conducted in a circle formation, much like traditional First Nations sentencing circles. 
The parole board tribunal will also have an elder present to provide guidance and insight. 

The hearing will begin with either a ceremonial smudging of sweetgrass and/or a First Nations prayer. 
Kwikwexwelhp (pronounced Kwee-kwee-kwelp) is a 50-bed minimum-security correctional facility formerly known as the Elbow Lake Institution, and is located in a remote mountain setting 37 kms east of Mission, B.C. 

Driving directions provided by the NPB are two pages in length, with dire warnings that the long dirt road leading to Kwikwexwelhp is "very narrow, winding and steep." "Watch for ruts and potholes and use caution at all times of the year," reads the directive. 
While Kwikwexwelhp is an aboriginal-focused facility, with an emphasis on spiritual and cultural teachings, non-aboriginal inmates are not exempt. 

"It is available for any offender who wants to access the programs that are available there," said correctional services spokesman Dave Lefebvre. "While it is an aboriginal healing village, any offender of any race is allowed to participate." Back in March 1980, the drug-addicted Munro, along with his younger brother, James (Jamie) Munro, shot Metro Toronto Const. Michael Sweet, a 30-year-old father of three young girls, during the botched robbery of George's Bourbon St. Bistro on Queen St. W. -- allowing Sweet to bleed to death during a controversial 90-minute standoff with Toronto's Emergency Task Force that reverberates to this day, and during which time the elder Munro was allowed by senior police negotiators to fetch the cache of heroin that he had stashed in his car. 

A year later, Craig Munro was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder and sentenced to the automatic term of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. 
His younger brother, convicted of second-degree murder, was paroled in March, 1992, and high-tailed it to Italy following his release where he has been living ever since under the name of Massimo Marra. 

The coincidental timing of Craig Munro's first real attempt at parole, however, could not have been more stinging. 
As reported exclusively here last Sunday, the Toronto Police Association recently submitted the necessary paperwork to have the name of the late Sgt. Eddie Adamson added to three honour rolls paying homage to police officers who have died in the line of duty -- the Toronto Police Honour Roll, the Ontario Police Memorial on Toronto's Queen's Park Crescent and, come September, to the Canadian Police and Peace Officer's Memorial in Ottawa. 

While there is no question that Adamson, son of the late Metro Toronto Police Chief Harold Adamson, took his own life back in 2005, there is also no question that the bullet that ended it was loaded into his gun by the complexities triggered by the events the Munro brothers launched back in March, 1980, when, as head of the ETF unit at the scene, Adamson reluctantly obeyed a staff inspector's order to "stand down," and not storm the Bourbon St. Bistro, knowing full well that Michael Sweet's life was likely ebbing away. 

As was outlined here, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board finally caught up with the 21st century by ruling a few weeks ago that Eddie Adamson's death was indeed brought on by post traumatic stress disorder, the cumulative effect of the guilt he felt each day for the last 25 years of his life for not disobeying the order and instead storming the bistro to save Michael Sweet's life. 

It was Adamson, after all, who could hear Craig Munro through the restaurant's walls -- hear him taunting Michael Sweet about his wounds, about his wife and his kids, and about how he would never see them again. 
By the time Adamson was given the good-to-go order, however, and led the commando-style assault on the restaurant with Gary Lewin of the ETF, and Barry Doyle of 52 Division, the sound of gunshots filling the basement, Michael Sweet was gone. 

But there was Adamson, overcome by the teargas yet trying nonetheless to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a fellow officer who was already all but officially dead. 
It was an image he would take to his grave. 

Old-school psychology wrote Adamson off as suffering from "burn out" or "battle fatigue," and promoted the fallacy that it could be shaken off if one's mind were put to it. 
But WSIB appeals adjudicator Mark Evans has now ruled definitively that Eddie Adamson "suffered an acute post-traumatic reaction" from being too late to save Const. Michael Sweet because of that "stand-down" order being obeyed and that, from that day onward, the slide towards his eventual suicide was medically understandable, clinically explainable, and therefore virtually predictable. 

And now, four days from today, Michael Sweet's killer, and Eddie Adamson's emotional millstone, will be asking for a pass out of the prison system. 
While the National Parole Board will not state who will be speaking against Munro's parole, it is known for certain that OPP commissioner and former Toronto Police chief, Julian Fantino -- on the scene as a member of the Toronto homicide squad at the time of Sweet's death, has written a letter arguing against Munro's release. 

And so, too, has Eddie Adamson's daughter, a detective on another police force who still fears for her family's safety so much that she asked that her name, and the name of her police force, not be published. 
Linda Adamson, Eddie Adamson's widow, has also prepared a victim-impact statement to be read at Munro's hearing, but said she has difficulty remembering her exact words, so agonizing was the ordeal. 
"I worked on it for two weeks, and for two weeks I never slept," she confessed. 

While none of the above will be attending Munro's parole hearing, police union president Dave Wilson, along with association vice-president, Doug Corrigan, will be going to Kwikwexwelhp, as will a representative from the force itself, Staff-Supt. Glenn DeCaire. 

And so, too, will Michael Sweet's widow, Karen, who will reportedly speak directly to the parole tribunal. 
While Wilson et al cannot give oral presentations, they can -- and will -- submit written presentation arguing for Munro's continued imprisonment. 
"We will also be there as moral support for the Sweet family," said Wilson. 
"When officers' lives are lost, we have to hold the system accountable. 
"It's important to the community at large, important to the police community, and important to the Sweet family. 
"The Munro brothers -- and Craig Munro (in particular) -- must be held accountable for their actions." 

News photographs taken at the time of Michael Sweet's murder are graphic, but none, of course, were taken inside the teargassed, dimly lit basement of the Bourbon St. Bistro where the young constable, his annual pay tabbed back then at $21,782, was dying from two gunshot wounds to the chest. 
Instead, there were photographs of the bloodied Munro brothers -- Craig Munro being hauled from a police cruiser at the hospital, and his brother, Jamie, being loaded onto a stretcher by uniformed police, his body riddled with 14 pieces of assorted shrapnel from ricocheting bullets and debris. 

A year later, long after the gunfire ended and the ETF assault was over, court would be told that Craig Munro remembered very little of the hours that changed so many lives -- the contention being that the combination of heroin snorted, and looted restaurant booze drank, while watching Michael Sweet die, had blacked out his memory. 

GUNSHOT WOUND 

The injuries Craig Munro suffered, however, amounted to little more than a gunshot wound to the hand. 
Const. Michael Sweet, meanwhile, was buried on March 18, 1980, following a funeral service at Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church on Lawrence Ave. E., the oldest of his three daughters only six years old, the youngest 18 months. 

Twenty-five-plus years later, on Oct. 12, 2005, chapel services were held for Edward Adamson, the 58-year-old grandfather of a then 8-year-old boy, at the McDougall and Brown Funeral Home on Kingston Rd. 
His death notice simply said that he had "passed away." 

Fast forward now to Dec. 3 of this year, and Craig Alfred Munro, killer of Michael Sweet and surrogate killer of Eddie Adamson, will be celebrating his 59th birthday, if the creator wills it -- possibly having already walked out of Kwikwexwelhp on a day four days from today, and down the Red Road to a conditional freedom. 

MARK.BONOKOSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA OR 416-947-2445


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## Bruce Monkhouse

and hopefully the victims family, friends, and colleages get treated better than this.

http://www.ucco-sacc.csn.qc.ca/pregenerate/cmsFrameContent_EN_RegionsPacific_N0805N703242J0907PM.html?Lang=EN&ParentID=RegionsPacific&H=800&V=600&SectionID=N0805N703242J0907PM

So where does CSC put the concerns, is it on the offenders, native tradition, where?

Recently there as a parole hearing held at the healing village, they actually hold them in the lodge, it is a large building with a dirt floor, and the only heat is two medium sized air tight stoves, and it takes hours to get the dampness and chill out of the room.  

There were four to five victims attending this hearing, they traveled a very long distance at their own expense and were not told of the conditions of where the parole hearing was going to be held, as some were wearing shirts and shoes. The staff member who escorted them to the lodge, assisted in their seating in the parole hearing.  The lodge was cold and chilly, so the officer called up to the institutional kitchen to see if someone could bring down some coffee for them to warm them up, as they were chilled to the bone.  And to the officer s amazement was told that the institution does not have a budget for supplying coffee for these hearings. 

So the officer called the duty office, as there is a coffee fund all officers chip in for, and the local union donated a pound of coffee and cream while another officer arranged to get them cups.

How embarrassing for them it must have been, as some of them came dressed very nicely expecting to be seated in at least a warm room and to be treated like this, the duty office staff, apologized and did whatever they could to make them comfortable.

Just goes to show you that management’s priorities are not where they should be, and that is on the public/victims.  It is sad that they will leave, thinking god knows what, but they will remember that at least the officers were caring enough to make them comfortable.


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## geo

How pathetic can this get ???
Not even a lousy cup of coffee for the victims who chose to attend.

Shame on you CSC, SHAME ON YOU!


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## mariomike

In 1962 one of our Metro policemen was shot on the Danforth. He was conscious in the ambulance and died after arrival at East General Hospital. His murderer was hanged in the old Don ( not far from the crime scene ) by Christmas of that same year. 
He, and the man hanged back to back with him, were the last to hang in Canada. 
Whatever your opinion is on capital punishment, it shows how times have changed.


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## geo

I think that there has to be the hope of rehabilitation somewhere in the criminal justice system BUT having said that.... I do think that there is a need to face reality at times - confirm that the individual is a hopeless case & the government should cut it's losses.


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## chris_log

geo said:
			
		

> I think that there has to be the hope of rehabilitation somewhere in the criminal justice system BUT having said that.... I do think that there is a need to face reality at times - confirm that the individual is a hopeless case & the government should cut it's losses.



Especially in this case, as the younger brother broke his parole and ran off to Italy we can't expect much better from this one. 

'Native Healing Lodges' my foot. I had to sit through a semester in a class that went on and on about the benefits of this dribble. Every single offender in there (including white prisoners who are 1/1000 native and somehow manage to weasle into these FAR for comfortable facilities) only finds the 'path to healing' for as long as they need to so they can get paroled. Big whoop, smudge some charcole on your face and suddenly you're a better person?  :


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## Bruce Monkhouse

Thanks to the media for keeping this jerk-off behind bars, because if this had been the normal [except for victims, of course], run of the mill type parole hearing, that did not hit the papers, Munro would be out on the street and maybe living next to you...............

Friday, February 27, 2009
Cop killer denied parole

By MARK BONOKOSKI
Last Updated: 27th February 2009, 3:42am

On a day when the justice system suffered a gut shot as two alleged killers in Toronto walked out of jail as free men following the collapse of the Crown's case, notorious Toronto cop-killer Craig Munro was denied parole hours later out west for a murder that still haunts an entire police force.

For Craig Munro, who has already spent 29 years in prison, the last few spent in the minimum-security Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village near Mission, B.C., it means the National Parole Board did not buy into this non-native killer's purported conversion to the tenets of the Red Road, the First Nations' path of a principled life.
What they saw, instead, was a cold-blooded murderer who, if future parole bids keep being denied, could end up dying behind bars since there is no mandatory release date for convicted first-degree killers.

Life imprisonment can mean just that -- life in prison. To OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, who was a Toronto homicide detective back in March 1980, and who used Munro's murder of the young Toronto constable as an emotional focal point for his recent biography -- Duty: Life of a Cop -- the killer's conversion to aboriginal traditions in an attempt to sway the national parole board was laughable.
"The whole thing is a joke," said Fantino. "The guy was doing nothing more than playing the system.
"Really? Finding Indian spirituality in the 11th hour?
"Give me a break," he said.

Back in March 1980, the drug-addicted Munro, along with his younger brother, James (Jamie) Munro, shot Metro Toronto Const. Michael Sweet, a 30-year-old father of three young girls, during the botched robbery of George's Bourbon St. Bistro on Queen St. W. -- the two allowing Sweet to bleed out during a controversial 90-minute standoff with Toronto's Emergency Task Force.

A year later, Craig Munro was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder and sentenced to the automatic term of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.
His younger brother, convicted of second-degree murder, was paroled in March 1992, and allowed to move to Italy following his release where he has been living ever since under the name of Massimo Marra.

Despite being in prison a few days shy of 29 years, the now-58-year-old Craig Munro applied only once for parole considerations -- that one time being back in 1997 when he made a "faint hope" parole attempt, only to abandon the application after a Toronto Sun story threw so much publicity on the case that Munro, through his lawyer, said it would have been impossible for him to get a fair hearing.

This, therefore, was the heartless cop-killer's first realistic chance at freedom, having served four years past the minimum time before being eligible for parole.
And he was heartless.

Remembered by every cop who has heard the story, and remembered particularly by the late Sgt. Eddie Adamson, then in charge of the ETF unit at the scene, and who heard every word, Munro showed no mercy for the dying officer.
Through the walls of the Bourbon St. Bistro, Munro could be heard mentally torturing young Michael Sweet -- taunting him about his wounds, about his wife and his kids, and about how he would never see them again.

According to National Parole Board spokesman Patrick Storey, who attended the hearing at the medium-security Mountain Institution -- bad weather keeping it from being held at Kwikwexwelhp 35 km to the west -- there were 17 observers at the hearing.
As was written here last Sunday, some of those observers included Toronto Police Association president Dave Wilson, along with union vice-president Doug Corrigan, as well as a representative from the force itself, reportedly Staff-Supt. Glenn DeCaire.
While Patrick Storey said he was not privy to give names, it is believed that Michael Sweet's widow, Karen, gave a verbal victim-impact statement to the parole tribunal.

PRESENTATIONS

Wilson, along with the Toronto force's rep, could not give oral presentations, but were allowed to submit written presentations arguing for Munro's continued imprisonment. So, too, did OPP Commissioner Fantino.
As Fantino put it upon hearing the news, "those who care about what happened that day can breathe a brief sigh of relief.
"Craig Munro still presents a threat," he said, "and the parole board accurately saw the risk he poses."

According to police union boss Dave Wilson, who was reached as he was leaving the hearing, the parole board "saw right through Munro -- particularly when he tried to minimize his role in (Michael Sweet's) murder, and place blame on the police for how they handled the situation.
"The man is still a credible risk, and the board knew it," said Wilson. "And they kept him where he belongs."
Thanks to a recent federal court ruling, however, Craig Munro can reapply for parole within six months.

And every six months after that.

MARK.BONOKOSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA OR 416-947-2445


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## Zer0

I'm sorry but I can't stand to hear the simple one-sided opinion of the subject. Remember that Craig Munro has spent 29 years behind bars, which can make significant changes to a person, and is not 1/1000 Aboriginal he is actually 1/8. Also to properly inform it wasn't a last minute decision made by anyone it was never an opportunity presented to him until moving to BC.

I think it is safe to say that perhaps Craig Munro has decided to discover another spiritual side, might I also mention that he had become religious over 15+ years ago (not a "last minute" attempt at parole).

I think it is important to state that I do not condone his actions and I am no supporter in any way of murdering police officers, what I am saying is that perhaps some people, yes even Craig Munro have had justice laid upon them and deserve a second chance.


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## Zer0

and to clarify another comment made, Jamie Munro didn't just "break parole and run off to Italy", it is a little more detailed than that, but to keep it short he was cut a deal by the judicial system and perhaps wanted to start life again. Lastly Massimo Marra lives in peace with his wife and two children to this day and has since 1992.


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## J.J

Zero,
I am going to make an assumption about your comments....

You have close personal ties to those cold blooded killers and you feel the need to defend and protect their horrendous act. I can understand you wanting to protect them, but taunting a dieing man that he will not see his wife and children is beyond reprehensible.
I am not a strong supporter of the death penalty as there is always mistakes, but in this situation I would have participated in the execution of those scumbags!
I am glad "Massimo" is now a problem for Italy and not Canada. People like that never change.
Get a reality check...


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## Zer0

There are also assumptions that can be made about yourself but instead let me congratulate you on your two seconds of spotlight... 

I simply wanted to clarify certain points made in this forum and perhaps give a "reality check" rather than get one. I did not have the intention of starting any hate posts, but this is however a forum. In no way do I mean to protect anyone or deny their actions, I strongly believe that both Jamie and Craig got what they deserved and if you or anyone else says that they deserve the death penalty then you are disrespecting our Canadian laws and values. It's because of our laws and regulations that separate Canada from the other pieces of *** countries in the world.

By the way I don't appreciate certain comments made against me for voicing my honest opinion, as you are entitled to your own.

Also "people like that" do change it is evident on some accounts.


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## J.J

Please expand about your assumptions on me?
Please enlighten us all on what you know about this case and these violent sociopathic men? 
You are well spoken, but you seem not to have a lot of "worldly knowledge". There people in this world that have given up their right to live free by their actions and they should not walk among those that give back to society. Whether that is lifetime incarceration or the death penalty that is up to the state and the morals of society.
I gave you my opinion and I apologize if it goes against your liberal rose coloured view of society.
I am curious on what your relationship with the Munro brothers are?


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## mariomike

I'm old enough to remember when the murderers of Metro policemen, such as P.C. Sweet, were hanged at the Don Jail. Within the same calendar year that the murder occurred. It sent a strong message to the underworld that Toronto was tough on crime.


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## Zer0

I chose not to expand upon my assumptions as they might have been unfair (as were yours), which I am not. I find it amusing that you relate me to the brothers Munro and how you have coloured my views of society rose; I am simply a Pte. in the CF who knows a great deal on both sides of the subject (how is another matter), which is beside the point. 

Again, the brothers got what they deserved, one was given a second chance and has become a better person rather than a problem. Perhaps the other who, by his own will, has served a longer sentence and had much time is a better person as well. Please let's keep this above the belt even if opinions are strong.


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Zer0 said:
			
		

> I chose not to expand upon my assumptions as they might have been unfair (as were yours), which I am not. I find it amusing that you relate me to the brothers Munro and how you have coloured my views of society rose; I am simply a Pte. in the CF who knows a great deal on both sides of the subject (how is another matter), which is beside the point.
> 
> Again, the brothers got what they deserved, one was given a second chance and has become a better person rather than a problem. Perhaps the other who, by his own will, has served a longer sentence and had much time is a better person as well. Please let's keep this above the belt even if opinions are strong.


Make all the opinions you want, but don't dare to come here and lecture or critisize whatever views others hold. Canadian laws? What about our democratic right and the majority rules then. I dare say that the vast majority of the people here would rather have seen the Munros hanged by the neck until they were dead. You're beating a dead horse if you think we believe in any sort of breaks for these cops killers. I think if you need to get anything off your chest and want any kind of self servig gratification that your kin are nice guys, Amnesty International might be a better spot for you to climb onto your self righteous podium.
May they both rot in hell.


----------



## Zer0

You're entitled to your opinion.

So basically what you're saying recce is that anyone can criticize my views but I can't voice my opinion, right? Seems a little hypocritical to me.


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Zer0 said:
			
		

> You're entitled to your opinion.
> 
> So basically what you're saying recce is that anyone can criticize my views but I can't voice my opinion, right? Seems a little hypocritical to me.



Go ahead and voice them. Here they mean about as much as a fart in a windstorm. Most people play to the crowd they know. The majority here just don't agree with you and have no reason, therefore, to really listen to you. But hey, if it feeds your PC, namby pamby , everyone is entiled ego.......fill your boots. I see no reason to consort with the defenders of cold blooded murderers, and as such will leave you to your ramblings.

So far as sounding hyocritical, I really don't care, given your defence of the dregs of society, what you really think. We are not even remotely on the same wavelength.


----------



## tango22a

Read somewhere that his request for Parole was DENIED!!


tango22a


----------



## Zer0

recceguy said:
			
		

> Go ahead and voice them. Here they mean about as much as a fart in a windstorm. Most people play to the crowd they know. The majority here just don't agree with you and have no reason, therefore, to really listen to you. But hey, if it feeds your PC, namby pamby , everyone is entiled ego.......fill your boots. I see no reason to consort with the defenders of cold blooded murderers, and as such will leave you to your ramblings.
> 
> So far as sounding hyocritical, I really don't care, given your defence of the dregs of society, what you really think. We are not even remotely on the same wavelength.



I'm surprised at how quick I'm being attacked by a majority that have no reason to listen to me and I apologize if my windstorm farts aren't as biased and/or contradictory as yours. I must thank you for putting in the time and effort to reading and responding to my ramblings which aren't even on your wavelength. How thoughtful of you.

I feel proud that I am bold enough to speak my mind with some intelligence and perhaps compromise on this subject, whilst in the centre of some who resemble a primitive mob armed with pitchforks. I think I've made my point.


----------



## tango22a

Well I can see that you definitely live up to your name. I ALSO think I've made my point!


tango22a


----------



## 1feral1

tango22a said:
			
		

> Read somewhere that his request for Parole was DENIED!!
> 
> 
> tango22a



Good!

The next time he leaves gaol should be in a hearse.

About for a recent Zer0 post who mentions one of these cowardly murderers got a second chance at life, the Cop murdered did not, and try telling that to his family.

To even show one gram of sympathy for any cold blooded murderer is in my opinon plain bad taste.

29 years later, lets hope he remains behind bars until his heart quits beating.

The 'rot in gaol' (of course with heat, air-conditioning, cable TV, and  3 square meals a day, socialising with other criminals, sitting on one's bum smoking cigarettes) factor has got my vote 110%.

OWDU  

EDITed for spelling


----------



## Zer0

My heart goes out to the family of Constable Sweet. I think that's where most of you are mistaken, even though I mention my thoughts of the whole outcome. It isn't news anymore that his parole was denied. Other than that I'll wait until someone posts a legitimate response...


----------



## 1feral1

Zer0 said:
			
		

> ...It isn't news anymore that his parole was denied. Other than that I'll wait until someone posts a legitimate response...



A legitimate response?

And yours is? It sounds very supportive of cold blooded killers.

Tell me whats so 'legit' about that?


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Zer0 said:
			
		

> I'm surprised at how quick I'm being attacked by a majority that have no reason to listen to me and I apologize if my windstorm farts aren't as biased and/or contradictory as yours. I must thank you for putting in the time and effort to reading and responding to my ramblings which aren't even on your wavelength. How thoughtful of you.
> 
> I feel proud that I am bold enough to speak my mind with some intelligence and perhaps compromise on this subject, whilst in the centre of some who resemble a primitive mob armed with pitchforks. I think I've made my point.



Whether you're speaking with intelligence is strictly a matter of opinion.

Daniel in the lion's den? Primitive mob? Who is labelling who for their opinions now? Rather hypocritical is it not? 

Made your point? Only to assauge your own ego and concience perhaps. I saw nothing substantial in it.


----------



## mariomike

To illustrate how bad things can get politically in Toronto, our mayor, John Sewell, to his everlasting shame, decided not to attend the funeral. P.C. Sweet was shot only a block away from City Hall, and later died at Toronto General Hospital, also a short distance away.


----------



## Bruce Monkhouse

"Yup, all better now Boss" :


A psychological assessment done last month for the parole review diagnosed Munro with antisocial personality disorder.

“The board determined that you were still minimizing your role in your account of the crime, as well as your general demeanour and criminal values at the time,” the board says in documents released Tuesday.
“You seem not to understand the full meaning of the anti-social personality disorder you have been diagnosed as having.”


“Fully accepting responsibility for your crime is still an issue and true empathy was not evidenced today,” the board says.
“Even though you repeatedly admittedly the harm you had caused it was perceived as impression management rather than true affect. Hence your credibility is questionable.”


----------



## Zer0

So many of you just read this post now, did your google search, and all of a sudden are educated upon the subject. Please; don't make me laugh. I'm finished fighting a battle I obviously won't win against some who are too narrow, simple minded, don't even understand my posts, and try to see their point across by adding insults to the equation. Tell me, if by chance Craig Munro does get parole what will you do? Protest? Or just rant and rave like the forum vets that you are?


----------



## mariomike

Zer0 said:
			
		

> So many of you just read this post now, did your google search, and all of a sudden are educated upon the subject.



I didn't need to Google this one.  
I wasn't there, but I spoke to the ambulancemen who were. They figured P.C. Sweet would have survived had gotten to him sooner.


----------



## Bruce Monkhouse

Zer0 said:
			
		

> So many of you just read this post now, did your google search, and all of a sudden are educated upon the subject. Please; don't make me laugh. I'm finished fighting a battle I obviously won't win against some who are too narrow, simple minded, don't even understand my posts, and try to see their point across by adding insults to the equation. Tell me, if by chance Craig Munro does get parole what will you do? Protest? Or just rant and rave like the forum vets that you are?


Nobody is laughing Sunshine. I [and I think I can speak for the we] don't give a flyin' f@&* if any of these clowns became the new Virgin Mary, they should have been put down a long time ago.


----------



## tango22a

ZerO:

Sure are a whole lot of (quote) "simple-minded" people on this thread who believe in the idea of "do the crime...do the time". I just wish that the judiciary agreed!

tango22a

(quote) edited


----------



## 1feral1

Zer0 said:
			
		

> So many of you just read this post now, did your google search, and all of a sudden are educated upon the subject. Please; don't make me laugh. I'm finished fighting a battle I obviously won't win against some who are too narrow, simple minded, don't even understand my posts, and try to see their point across by adding insults to the equation. Tell me, if by chance Craig Munro does get parole what will you do? Protest? Or just rant and rave like the forum vets that you are?



I will politely and briefly chime in...

Zer0, 

Listen in mate, you've touched a nerve with me, so hopefully you will take some real time and have a quick read.  Don't worry, I won't insult you, thats against forum guidelines.

Forum Vets?

Educated on the subject?

Narrow minded?

Simple minded?

Well ole chum, back on the Thanksgiving weekend of 1977, I had a schoolmate murdered in cold blood in Saskatchewan.

He was Richard Alan Proud, of Regina.

Unlike us, he never had a chance to have a full time girlfriend, fall in love, grow up, get married and have a family, enjoy a successful career and have his family be proud of him and all of his success. He was only 17 years old.  

Life ended instantly in a back alley, point blank via both barrels from a Baikal 12 gauge shotgun, and his car keys for his 1963 white two door Chev were still clutched in his hand. 

His killer got 2 yrs less a day claiming mistaken identity- he claimed to have shot the wrong person. Rick was guilty of taking a short cut through a back yard.

I suggest you get some real life experience in regarding to actual genuine loss (shy of granny in her coffin) before making such foolish irresponsible statements. You have the option of hiding here on the INet, and therefore have plenty of 'courage' to spout such nonsense.

Rick never had a chance to finish his education, and accomplish any of his goals, like some of us 'forum vets' have done.

His family lost a brother, a son, and I lost a good friend.

I am sure 29 yrs ago the murdered Constable lost just as much and more, while his cowardly murderers lost only their freedom. Craig Munro is a murderer, and a life sentance should mean LIFE. A leopard does not change its spots, and he does not deserve any freedom outside his guarded exercise area.

So, before you gob off, kindly don't lecture us on the subject matter you obviously know SFA about.

Since 1977 ( I am 49), I have lost a host of friends to unfortunate incidents in peace and war, and many on here have had the same through their occupations and life travels, be that LEO and military or whatever.

I think its pathetic you possess such an attitude,  and that tells me you got some serious growing up to do.

Here is Rick's grave.

Kindly feel free to remove the size 14E combat boot from your mouth anytime.

Regards from a tropical winter's day,

OWDU

Just another simple minded 'forum vet' and Iraq vet.

Oops- edited yet again for silly spelling mistakes


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Zer0 said:
			
		

> So many of you just read this post now, did your google search, and all of a sudden are educated upon the subject. Please; don't make me laugh. I'm finished fighting a battle I obviously won't win against some who are too narrow, simple minded, don't even understand my posts, and try to see their point across by adding insults to the equation. Tell me, if by chance Craig Munro does get parole what will you do? Protest? Or just rant and rave like the forum vets that you are?



You have some serious priority problems buckwheat. 

What will I do? Hope and pray he gets flattened by an eighteen wheeler as he steps out of the gate, or how ironic would it be if he was mugged and shot to death by some gun wielding punk as he savoured his first Starbucks.


----------



## Zer0

Overwatch Downunder said:
			
		

> Don't worry, I won't insult you, thats against forum guidelines.
> I suggest you get some real life experience in regarding to actual genuine loss (shy of granny in her coffin) before making such foolish irresponsible statements. a life sentance should mean LIFE
> don't lecture us on the subject matter you obviously know SFA about.
> that tells me you got some serious growing up to do.
> Kindly feel free to remove the size 14E combat boot from your mouth anytime.


Sorry, I'll admit I'm probably the youngest on this thread, but I don't think I'm the one who needs growing up; at least I'm trying to be somewhat mature. As for getting real life experience I've lost a parent as well due to crime on the streets so don't talk to me about genuine loss. The fact that I can forgive someone, I think, shows that I'm not as narrow minded as others, regardless of a hate that takes years to overcome. I tip my hat off to you for serving overseas and to anyone else for that matter (it would be a dream of mine) but if you had the balls to say that to someone's face a 14E combat wouldn't have to be removed from my mouth, trust me. I'm glad no one has gone against forum guidelines for insulting me.


----------



## George Wallace

Zer0 said:
			
		

> Sorry, I'll admit I'm probably the youngest on this thread, but I don't think I'm the one who needs growing up; at least I'm trying to be somewhat mature. As for getting real life experience I've lost a parent as well due to crime on the streets so don't talk to me about genuine loss. The fact that I can forgive someone, I think, shows that I'm not as narrow minded as others, regardless of a hate that takes years to overcome. I tip my hat off to you for serving overseas and to anyone else for that matter (it would be a dream of mine) but if you had the balls to say that to someone's face a 14E combat wouldn't have to be removed from my mouth, trust me. I'm glad no one has gone against forum guidelines for insulting me.



Excuse me, but you have been confrontational ever since you joined this site.  Perhaps you should seriously reflect on your last post and decide if your words actually ring true.


----------



## 1feral1

Zer0 said:
			
		

> Sorry, I'll admit I'm probably the youngest on this thread, but I don't think I'm the one who needs growing up; at least I'm trying to be somewhat mature. As for getting real life experience I've lost a parent as well due to crime on the streets so don't talk to me about genuine loss. The fact that I can forgive someone, I think, shows that I'm not as narrow minded as others, regardless of a hate that takes years to overcome. I tip my hat off to you for serving overseas and to anyone else for that matter (it would be a dream of mine) but if you had the balls to say that to someone's face a 14E combat wouldn't have to be removed from my mouth, trust me. I'm glad no one has gone against forum guidelines for insulting me.



Zer0,

Talk is cheap, you've made that more than obvious.

With the attitude you have presented since you first come on here, what you have said above means NOTHING, especially the 'lecture'.

This is the INet afterall, and just as I predicted, you responded as I thought you would.

I am sure you'll go far in the CF.



OWDU

EDITed for spelling


----------



## Bruce Monkhouse

http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mark_bonokoski/2010/03/11/13198086.html

News Columnists / Mark Bonokoski
Stress is a killer
By MARK BONOKOSKI, Toronto Sun

Last Updated: March 11, 2010 4:44pm
 Within the next two weeks, Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack plans to sit down with Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and, if all goes well, the force will hopefully take a huge step into the 21st century.

And it will begin with the name of the late Eddie Adamson, son of a former Toronto police chief, being added to the Toronto Police Honour Roll as having died in the line of duty, and with the post-traumatic stress disorder that ultimately killed him finally losing the career-stifling stigma that keeps it in hiding.
As reported here last year, Eddie Adamson, son of former Metro Toronto police chief Harold Adamson, went to a motel in Simcoe County in October 2005 and took his own life — his room littered with his police notebooks from the day that incalculably changed his life forever, and with the newspaper clippings that documented that day’s horrific events.

While it was no doubt a gun that ended Eddie Adamson’s life and forced his early retirement, what truly loaded that weapon was the cumulative effect of what happened on March 14, 1980 — 30 years ago this Sunday —when Toronto Const. Michael Sweet, a father of three young girls, was shot, held hostage, and allowed to bleed out by the infamous Munro brothers during a fumbled robbery of George’s Bourbon St. bistro on Queen St. W.
One of those brothers, triggerman Craig Munro, has another parole hearing scheduled for next Tuesday.
What sad irony is that?

Sgt. Ed Adamson headed up the Emergency Task Force on the day Sweet died. He wanted to storm the restaurant, knowing Sweet was wounded and likely on death’s door.
But he was ordered to stand down.
And obeying that order haunted him to his grave.

This can no longer be denied.
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board finally caught up with the 21st century itself by ruling last year that Adamson’s death was not simply brought on by a bullet from a gun but from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) triggered by the guilt he felt each day for the last years of his life for not disobeying the order to stand down and, instead, storming the bistro to save 30-year-old Michael Sweet’s life.

By the time Adamson was given the good-to-go order, and led the assault on the restaurant, the sound of gunshots filling the air, Michael Sweet had already slipped away.
But there was Adamson, nonetheless, so overcome by the tear gas that he eventually had to be hospitalized, trying to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a fellow officer who was already lying dead because they got there too late.

It was a horror he could never shake.
Old-school terminology wrote him off as suffering from “burnout” or “battle fatigue,” and promoted the fallacy that it could be shaken off if one’s mind were put to it.

But WSIB appeals adjudicator Mark Evans ruled — and ruled definitively— that Eddie Adamson “suffered an acute post-traumatic reaction” from being too late to save Const. Michael Sweet’s life because of that “stand down” order being obeyed and that, from that day onward, the slippery slope to his suicide was medically understandable, clinically explainable, and therefore virtually predictable. 
As police assocation president Mike McCormack said, “Eddie Adamson’s case is a template of a death brought on by work-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He should be honoured with his name on the wall.”

Two weeks ago, the Globe & Mail dedicated almost a full page to “the untold perils of policing,” and how the Toronto Police Service is now starting to address the post-traumatic stress disorders that “quietly afflicts” so many police officers.
Last month, Chief Blair addressed the issue of mental health and posted it on the force’s internal network — stating the time had come to adapt to the “changing needs of the organization, with an enduring commitment to health and wellness.”
Suicide among police officers is not rare and, although not all can be directly attributed to PTSD, many are.

According to a recent article by retired Toronto cop Colin Davies, posted on the police retirees’ website, there were 22 recorded Toronto Police suicides between 1975 and 2006 and then, in 2007, there were four — two officers, one civilian employee, and one auxiliary officers.
This does not mean, of course, that all — or any — deserve to have their names on the police honour roll.
But none can arguably compete with the special circumstances that added up to Eddie Adamson’s death.

Two weeks ago, at a police service east of Toronto, a 29-year-old officer, a father of two young children, took his own life in the gun-storage room of his detachment.
His story, of course, did not make the news.

mark.bonokoski@sunmedia.ca


----------



## Steel Badger

Bruce et al,

I can only hope that this new interest recognizing in the stress suffered by our polizei spills over into the world of corrections. I cannot speak for any province other than Ontario, but more help was offered on decompression leave in Cyprus than to any CO in Ontario that I am aware of...........  even ( and especially) those who have been through traumatic incidents......

SB


----------



## mariomike

On 23 March, 2010 at 2:00 PM at Queen's Park:
"DiNovo calls for protection of front-line workers:
NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo is calling for amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to address the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for front-line paramedics, firefighters and police officers.
“Under current rules, front-line workers are forced to go through painstaking steps in order to receive WSIB benefits based on post traumatic stress obtained at work,” said DiNovo, who is introducing a Private Members’ Bill to amend existing legislation.
Post-traumatic stress refers to an anxiety disorder that develops after exposure to a traumatic event or experience with symptoms that may include flashbacks, nightmares and intense feelings of fear or horror.
Under DiNovo’s reforms, the Act would be amended to create presumed causation before the WSIB in cases relating to post traumatic stress disorder.
“As with many Health and Safety issues in the workplace, post-traumatic stress disorder is impossible to predict and can occur to anyone at anytime. These changes assure that PTSD would be recognized as an occupational disease that occurred due to the nature of a worker’s employment,” added DiNovo. 
NDP MPP and WSIB critic Paul Miller added his support, stating that “it is a necessary step to protecting workers on the front-line.” 
These reforms build on the initiative launched by NDP MPP Andrea Horwath in 2006 which sought to create presumed causation relating to cancer and heart disease common to firefighters."


----------



## Steel Badger

Thanks for the update MM....

Though I notice CO's were excluded.....  wether by intent or oversight I am not sure......


----------



## mariomike

Steel Badger said:
			
		

> Thanks for the update MM....
> Though I notice CO's were excluded.....  wether by intent or oversight I am not sure......



Correctional Officers should be included. I've seen the work they do.


----------



## Steel Badger

I thought you had gathrered from my atrocious spelling that i IS a CO >


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Steel Badger said:
			
		

> Thanks for the update MM....
> 
> Though I notice CO's were excluded.....  wether by intent or oversight I am not sure......



They're just rolling out a Critical Incident Stress Management program over where we work. They're starting with the peer training shortly. I don't know if it's going to cross Ministries or not. They finally figured out that looking at people ground up in machines or pulled through 8 inch openings may affect some inspectors. It's going to be mandatory to touch base with an inspector after they've attended a critical or fatality. You don't have to talk to them, but the team still has to contact you to make sure that your not left flapping. I don't have a huge amount of detail, we just took the afternoon "Here's what the programs about" training last week. If you or Bruce want to call me, I'll tell you what I know.


----------



## the 48th regulator

A phenomenal foundation that has been working to educate the WSIB, with regards to OSI's is the Tema Conter Memorial Trust.

Many front line workers are fighting for Mental Injuries with the WSIB, and the insurers.

Bloody shame, so it is.

dileas

tess


----------



## Bruce Monkhouse

recceguy said:
			
		

> Critical Incident Stress Management



We have a volunteer run program in this Ministry, its about time you folks got one.

I actually went to one today about the search issue..........course getting up at 1200 between night shifts is going to make tonight not a whole lot of fun. :crybaby:


----------



## the 48th regulator

mariomike said:
			
		

> I worked sometimes with Vince, when my partner was off. He ( Vince ) was easy to work with.
> I'm sorry he left the Department. It was the best thing ever happened to me.



I am confused MM, by your post....


dileas

tess


----------



## mariomike

Tess, in case you did not know, this is Vince's story.:
http://www.tema.ca/news.php?news_id=17
He left the Department and founded the Tema Conter Centre.

It is only in the last few years that "cummulative" mental disability in the emergency services has been recognised. Unlike the earlier Adamson case, which was traced to a specific call. This was never easy to do, because the employer would say that the employee had attended other horrific calls in the past, and not put in a mental disability claim. 

This private member's Bill is not about getting couch time with the Departmental brain specialiststaff psychologist.
It's not about C.I.S.M. either. CISM has been pretty much de-bunked anyway. 
Although, it still has its enthusiasts.:
http://www.emsresponder.com/publication/article.jsp?pubId=1&id=2026

The NDP wants to ammend the Act "to create presumed causation before the WSIB in cases relating to post traumatic stress disorder." 
That is, if you make a mental disability claim in future, WSIB will presume it was caused by the job.

If, those three "front-line" professions are approved, no doubt there will be a lot of other occupations, including 9-1-1 Call Receivers, saying "us too".
We saw this with Ontario Bill 206: "An Act to revise the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Act" for police officers, firefighters and paramedics. 

It will likely have to include retired 9-1-1 slaves workers, because WSIB set precedent with heart/lung/cancer for retired firefighters.  Even if they are diagnosed *after* retirement.
Example:
"Municipalities will be faced with potentially significantly increased costs as a result of the expansion of the firefighters presumptive legislation.":
http://www.hicksmorley.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=536

This proposed mental disability "presumptive legislation" will not come cheap to the municipalities either, especially if retired coppers, firemen and ambulance crews who show signs and symptoms of mental stress after retirement are made eligible. 
I will be keeping my eye on this one for sure!:

*It will certainly be interesting to see what effect this Bill, if it passes, is going to have on car counts and response times in this city*.

They will have a hard time even finding people to answer the phones.
I think a Bill such as this has always been management's worst nightmare. 
They'll have to come out and do the calls themselves.  ;D
I can hear it now:
"Answer your @#%&ing radio, or do I have to put you out of service, come down there, and do the ^$#@ing call myself! Oh, excuse me, you *are* out of service! On my waaaaay, Chief! 10-4!" hahaha

Incidentally, the originator of this Bill is NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo. 
This story in the Star regarding one of her constituents ( I happen to be one too ) from November 24, 2009 seems to be what inspired it.:
“With the help of a lawyer, _she contacted her MPP Cheri DiNovo _and together they redrafted the legislation concerning WSIB claims to include cases of PTSD for frontline workers.”:
http://thestar.blogs.com/mentalhealth/2009/11/conceptually-speaking.html

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo:
http://ontariondp.com/node/2206

I don't think WSIB will have a problem with, but, the NDP will be in for a heck of a fight with the AMO ( Association of Municipalities of Ontario ). They had this to say regarding presumptive legislation:
"The all-party supported legislation which granted firefighters retroactive presumptive occupational disease costs will result in significant labour cost increases for municipalities. This recent move by the WSIB is but the tip of the iceberg."


----------



## mariomike

Yesterday at Queen's Park:

Ontario MPP Cheri Dinovo ( NDP High Park-Parkdale ) introduced a Bill that "Post-traumatic stress disorder should be presumed as being caused by work for all front-line workers." 

"First of all, on a point of order, Mr. Speaker: I'd like to introduce members of paramedics teams across Ontario from CUPE and OPSEU, and behind them the Police Association of Ontario and the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association as well, who helped with this bill. Thank you all, gentlemen and women."
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?Date=2010-03-23&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#PARA687

"Time limits do not apply: 
(5) The time limits set out in subsections 22 (1) and (2) do not apply to the filing of a claim in respect of post traumatic stress disorder."

First reading was carried. 

Regarding the thread subject of police suicide. 
Joseph Wambaugh wrote a book called "The New Centurions" around 1972. 
There was a scene in the movie where a recently retired - but still relatively young - patrolman shot himself. The reason appeared to be that he missed the place:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNl6hjDjTZQ


----------



## mariomike

Some WSIB Ontario PTSD links for reference regarding the new policy in regards to Emergency Services. 
Posted for reference:

"Traumatic Mental Stress":
https://ozone.scholarsportal.info/bitstream/1873/6889/1/10303546.pdf
http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wopm.nsf/Public/150302
http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wopm.nsf/PublicPrint/150302
http://www.filion.on.ca/uploads/File/pdf/caselaws/Traumatic%20Stress.pdf
http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wsibsite.nsf/LookupFiles/DownloadableFilePolicyReport15_2/$File/PR1502.pdf


----------



## Bruce Monkhouse

I won't post the article,[too long] but a good read in regards to PTSD in the Sun today.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mark_bonokoski/2010/04/13/13564586.html


----------



## mariomike

Mark B. put out another one in his series on the subject today:
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/2010/04/14/13587411.html

The theme seems to be how much more enlightened the Emergency Services are now compared to the early 1970's. That may be so. But, whenever I hear that, I ask myself, "What else could they have done?"
_Somebody_ had to do the calls. You can't change what's out there. 

We got our first staff psychologist where I worked  in the early 1980's.  
Prior to that, if you were unhappy with your job they transferred you to the Works Department for a hard hat and shovel spreading asphalt, or the sewers, ( or Parks Dept., if you were lucky ), for a "rest cure". Nobody got fired. Your old job was waiting for you when you got back.


----------



## mariomike

Update.
June 16, 2010
Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP):
"WHEREAS the Police Association of Ontario is calling upon the Government of Ontario to allow for presumptive legislation with respect to PTSD claims": 
http://www.oacp.on.ca/content/resolutions/view_resolution.html?id=127

"Police constable experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder should have been accommodated on the job: In a decision on June 16, 2010, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that the Toronto Police Services Board discriminated against a new recruit, Ariyeh Krieger, by not accommodating his mental disability to the point of undue hardship.":
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/issues/mental_health/Krieger

June 2010:
"POLICE PUSH TO MAKE CHRONIC STRESS COMPENSABLE":
http://www.ohscanada.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000373186&type=Print%20Archives


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## mariomike

Police Association of Ontario PAO
Summer 2010
"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: What you need to know!"
by Larry Molyneaux, President
( page three )
http://www.mygazines.com/issue/11754/6

"For example, a police officer assigned to traffic duties who is then reassinged to fraud invstigations for several years, may experience a delayed onset of PTSD after witnessing a serious car accident while on vacation. This triggers a reminder of a previously very traumatizing car accident that he had investigated while assigned to traffic duties."

He also describes "Cummulative" PTSD. ( See below. )


Ontario Professional Firefighters Association OPFFA ( page 19 ):
"Many of our members suffer from what is referred to as post traumatic stress disorder or cumulative stress.":
http://www.cbupub.com/intrepid/vol9_no2/vol9_no2.pdf


2008
WSIB Stress Claims:
"A recent article in the Toronto Star, using data obtained from the WSIB, found that “accepted stress-related injury claims went up about 30 per cent in Ontario workplaces between 2000 and 2004.” With depression predicted to become the leading cause of disability by 2020, this issue will likely not go away.":
https://www.cowangroup.ca/cigl/pages/resources/newsletters-bulletins/cbcl-bulletin/pdf/2008-mar-bulletin_en.pdf

"Compensation for Mental Stress: Is Current Law and Policy in Ontario’s Workers’ Compensation System Too Restrictive?:
A suicidal man has locked himself into his house with several chemicals capable of starting a fire. Paramedics are called to the scene. The standoff lasts for several hours, during which time the man douses himself with gasoline.
Paramedics are not informed about the gasoline. An explosion eventually occurs, and the man is screaming and badly burned when the paramedics treat him. One paramedic on the scene later develops Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She reports shock at not being told about the presence of the gasoline.":
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/workplacesafety/pdf/Compensation_for_Mental_Stress_June_2006_final.pdf


"Cumulative effect: 

Due to the nature of their occupation, some workers, over a period of time, may be exposed to multiple, sudden and unexpected traumatic events resulting from criminal acts, harassment, or horrific accidents. If a worker has an acute reaction to the most recent unexpected traumatic event, entitlement may be in order even if the worker may experience these traumatic events as part of the employment and was able to tolerate the past traumatic events. A final reaction to a series of sudden and traumatic events is considered to be the cumulative effect. 

The WSIB recognizes that each traumatic event in a series of events may affect a worker psychologically. This is true even if the worker does not show the effects until the most recent event. As a result, entitlement may be accepted because of the cumulative effect, even if the last event is not the most traumatic (significant).

In considering entitlement for the cumulative effect, decision-makers will rely on clinical and other information supporting that multiple traumatic events led to the worker’s current psychological state. Also, there may be evidence showing that each event had some effect or life disruption on the worker, even if the worker was not functionally impaired by the effect or life disruption.":
http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wopm.nsf/Public/150302


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## mariomike

Last year, with the support of the police, fire and paramedic unions, the NDP introduced an "amendment to ( the ) Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to include post traumatic stress disorder.":
http://www.opseu.org/bps/health/ambulance/march-26-2010-amendment.htm
Re:   Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), 2010:
http://www.opseu.org/bps/health/ambulance/march-17-2010-letter.htm

Update.
Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police OACP
Feb 2011:
"For the unions, they can see their holy grail – presumptive legislation – within grasp, especially in an election year.
While some in the Ontario Government might be inclined to move ahead with presumptive legislation, MOL officials are well aware that they are heading toward unleashing a financial tsunami upon not just on municipalities, but the Ontario Government itself (since the OPP will also be bearing the potentially massive costs for presumptive legislation)."
Page 4:
http://www.oacp.ca/upload5/news/Eye_on_Queens_Park_February_2011.pdf

"WHEREAS there is an increase of claims for PTSD involving police personnel and this is creating an economic hardship and staffing problems for police employers"

"WHEREAS the Workplace Safety & Insurance Act and Operational Policy 15-03-02 was never intended to be interpreted in such a manner that police officers and police personnel were not expected to be faced with traumatic events"

highlight mine - mm

I have heard the very same concern expressed in EMS.


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## mariomike

> Perhaps the time has finally come to add one long-overdue name to the 38 Toronto Police officers already on that honour roll -- that of the late Sgt. Edward Adamson.



November 2015

Honouring the Fallen – Death by Suicide
"The issue of honouring a first responder that has died by suicide is a complicated and contentious one.

The death by suicide of retired Toronto Police Service Staff Sgt. Eddie Adamson and the discussion surrounding whether his name should be included on Ontario and Toronto police memorials is an example of the sensitivity and complexities surrounding the topic. We were advised that the spouses of some of the officers killed in the line of duty have threatened to take their spouse's names off memorials if the names of members that have died by suicide are included."
http://ombudstoronto.ca/sites/default/files/Ombudsman%20Report%20-%20TPS%20-%20November%202015.pdf
page 51

2012
"Eddie Adamson, police officer who killed himself after tragic rescue attempt denied spot on police memorial"
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/officer-who-killed-himself-after-tragic-rescue-attempt-denied-spot-on-police-memorial

"This week, in a bid to legitimize the debilitating mental health danger of PTSD for police officers, Staff-Sgt. Adamson’s family filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, accusing the force and the police union of discrimination on the grounds of mental illness."


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