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| Ron Dalton |
We spoke of plans to get together in Winnipeg in early June when the University of Manitoba was scheduled to confer an honorary degree on David and had invited me to read his citation during the ceremony.
As usual David also wanted to talk about a couple of the latest cases he was working on and our plans for a media event to maintain pressure on the federal government to act on its promise to establish an independent, publicly funded commission to review claims of wrongful conviction.
David was an extraordinarily generous and sweet man who lived a creed passed along from his mother, Joyce, who taught him you can not do nothing if there is something you can do to help. Good advice for us all but I don't know anyone who lived it to the degree David did, he seemed incapable of saying no to the numerous requests which came to him from afflicted individuals, first and foremost those claiming wrongful conviction.
I have been the recipient of David's benevolence in the past as had other members of my family and I had the privilege to witness first hand the impact David had on the lives of many wrongly convicted men and women in our country.
Canadians have a general sense of the unjust treatment David received at the hands of our collective justice system but few know details of his suffering. David was not one to hold pity parties for himself, yet he was capable of tremendous empathy for the sufferings of others.
Following the inspiring example his mother set, David devoted his post-exoneration life to actively working to free other innocent individuals and to tackle systemic reform of our justice system. As a fellow exoneree and a member of Innocence Canada I was blessed to have had the opportunity to work alongside David in some of those efforts, it was an honour and an inspiration.
I was shaken to receive the news of David's passing on Sunday and my personal sense of loss has only deepened in recent days, his death is a tragic loss to the innocence movement in this country, but the outpouring of condolences received suggests his influence will continue to be felt by a grateful nation for many years to come. He made a major contribution to improving the working of our justice system and advanced the interests of true justice by turning his suffering into a lifetime of helping others. We should all be so noble as to aspire to emulate his example.
As we take David to his final resting place we mourn with his family and friends and acknowledge that our country is a bit poorer today for the loss of his voice, but we will continue to hear the echo of his voice in our ongoing efforts to achieve a better and more equitable society.
I will miss my friend
In 1988 Ron Dalton was a 32-year-old bank manager when he was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. It took the next 12 years to prove his innocence, restore his freedom and return him to his family, including the couple's three children. Since that ordeal Dalton has tried to reintegrate into family life, earn a living, and he is co-chair of Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization working to free other wrongly convicted individuals.
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