Woman's Treatment After Brutal Sexual Assault is Enough to Make us All Gag

*this blog post is an edit of an article written by Don Braid and is credited below*

This latest case of Angela Cardinal is so offensive to natural justice that it can literally make you gasp, or gag. If this can happen in our courts, what can't happen? 

THE STORY 

Angela Cardinal, 28-year-old Indigenous woman whose real name can't be used because of court order, was the victim of brutal sexual and physical assault. Despite this, Angela was locked in the Edmonton Remand Centre for five nights during the preliminary hearing into the charges against her assailant, whom had savagely stabbed and beaten her, and yet she still found her self being hauled into court in leg shackles. 

ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH 

Angela had enough. She knew what the justice system was doing to her was wrong and decided to stand up for herself. In front of the court, she exclaimed, "I'm the victim, and look at me, I'm in shackles", "aren't you supposed to commit a crime to go to jail", she asked. The judge responded by ordering her back to her cell.

ANGELA'S TREATMENT IN PRISON

It seems as though you do not need to commit a crime in order to go to jail, at least according to the Alberta justice system. Angela went off to the slammer, where she was sometimes confined in a cell close to her attacker. She was also driven with him to court in the same vehicle. 

WHAT WAS DONE?

By the time anyone realized that victims shouldn't be shackled and jailed by a system meant to protect them, Angela Cardinal had already died from an unrelated incident. Unfortunately for Angela, it was too little, too late. 

References

Braid, D. (2017, Jun 06). Woman's treatment after brutal sexual assault is enough to make us all gag. Calgary Herald http://ezpoxy.lakeheadu.ca/login


--

My Suggestions on How to Improve This Content for Digital Purposes

Social media and online platforms have essentially taken over the way people get their news. This means that writers and editors must adapt to these changes in order to provide their viewers with the best, and most accessible, content possible. 

For this specific article, I have a few suggestions on how to improve the content in order to make it more suitable in a digital context. 

• Create a mini documentary on the life of Angela Cardinal that sums up her story. It would be much more engaging that reading a short article like the one above. It doesn't have to be long at all, but a 2-5 minute video summarizing this article would be suitable and actually preferred for some viewers. 
• Include photos! Perhaps just for clickbait, but also to appeal the visual senses. This could be done in a variety of ways. Photos could be displayed in slideshow format, or there could be photos scattered throughout the text with captions below them. Either way, photos help draw the viewers in and help them understand the story. 
• Have a media sidebar that links viewers to content about what is being done about this situation. A lot of people are going to get upset about this situation and are going to want to know what's being done. Accessibility is key here. Give them the content they want, with the click of a button.