EXHIBIT SHOWS LATIMER AS ONE OF JESUS' "MERCIFUL"
by Dave Reynolds,  Inclusion Daily Express
October 30, 2000

EDMONTON, ALBERTA--Disability rights advocates are demanding an apology from
the Provincial Museum over an exhibit's depiction of a convicted killer as a
modern-day example of "mercy". The groups are also asking that a video
presentation, which puts Robert Latimer in the same category as Nelson
Mandela and Mother Theresa, be edited to remove any reference to the man who
admitted killing his daughter in 1993.

"I am actually appalled that a public institution would put the murder of a
child with a disability in the context of the Beatitudes of being blessed as
merciful," Zuhy Sayeed, of the Canadian and Alberta Association of Community
Living, told a reporter last Friday.

Latimer admits that on October 24, 1993, he rigged his pickup to pump
exhaust into its cab. He also confessed to placing his 12-year-old daughter
Tracy, who had cerebral palsy, into that cab, and then watching from the bed
of the vehicle while she died. Latimer has been convicted twice of the
murder.

His case is currently being reviewed by the Canadian Supreme Court which
will decide whether he will serve a mandatory 10-year sentence for the crime
or, have his sentence reduced to one year, because of "special
circumstances". Some of Latimer's supporters feel he "suffered" during the
girl's 12 years of life, and that he killed her to "save her from
suffering".

But disability rights advocates see the death of Tracy Latimer, and the
support her killer has received, as an example of society's intolerance of
disabilities and general perception that the lives of people who have
disabilities are disposable.

The museum is refusing to change the exhibit, arguing that its intent was to
show that certain issues that are important today were just as relevant
during Jesus' life two thousand years ago. The issue is now being reviewed
by the Ministry of Community Development.

Edmonton's Global TV Online ran this brief summary, along with a video clip
about the exhibit:
http://edmonton.globaltv.com/ca/news/stories/news-20001027-193143.html

For the last several years, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities has
hosted "Latimer Watch", a website dedicated to sharing information on the
Latimer case. This website gives valuable information about Tracy Latimer,
the history of the case, and perspectives of those who see her death as a
"wake-up call" to advocates everywhere:
http://www.pcs.mb.ca/~ccd/lwintro.html
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Posted by:
Dave Reynolds, Editor
Inclusion Daily Express
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