The Slope

I’ve been intrigued this past week with the developing story around Bill C-30. This Bill was touted as a necessary weapon against child predators as it would give government agents easier access to the private information of Internet users. Critics of the Bill argued that it is an infringement on our privacy, and would bring us another step closer to becoming a police state. I won’t harp about the spectacle that ensued once the tables were turned on the Public Safety Minister who introduced the Bill, and details of his divorce were widely circulated over the Internet in a case of cruel irony.

It is likely we have our own reference points to how the Bill could affect us in our daily lives. As a writer, in researching my story, I went online to obtain information  about the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU). This is a task force that was formed to combat organized crime, and in BC the CFSEU has targeted gang activity related to the drug trade. This agency plays a minor role in The Killer Trail, which is why I had gone online to gain additional information. Under Bill C-30, I wondered if my simple act of clicking on to a sensitive government agency such as CFSEU could be grounds enough to bring me to the attention of this agency and prompt an investigation into me. Unlikely, but it is a question that I wouldn’t have asked prior to Bill C-30.

As the days passed, I began to realize that one of the reasons that this Bill resonated with me was that it raises the question of how far we are willing to go in order to seek justice. I don’t have the quick and easy answer, but it is a question that I have always found interesting and one that the protagonist Chris Ryder struggles with in the Fighting Darkness series. Is Chris Ryder justified in resorting to unjust means to bring a killer to justice? Does the end justify the means? I imagine it becomes a slippery slope.

Fighting Darkness: The Killer Trail is a decidedly fictional story. However, as I was reminded this week, various themes running through the story have real life applications.