DEHJ>;HDB?<;"M;:D;I:7O":;9;C8;H(,"(&&-) Northern Life Year In Review JEFD;MIIJEHO JEFD;MIC7A;H #BCZBCEVDUJPOTIPDLTDPNNVOJUZ #VTESJWFSGVFMTDPOUSPWFSTZ BY LAUREL MYERS before the abduction took place. BY TRACEY DUGUAY [email protected] The mother of the abducted baby told [email protected] At 8 am on Nov. 1, a baby girl entered police a woman matching Batisse’s descrip- Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez the world at the Sudbury Regional Hospital. tion had attended her room on two different doesn’t consider Ottawa or Queen’s Park as Less than five hours later, the newborn was occasions. “senior” levels of government. abducted from her mother’s care, concealed “A woman appearing to be a nurse “Everyone always refer to the federal gov- by a sweater and smuggled out of the hospi- entered two times that morning,” Detec- ernment as the senior level of government. tal. tive Const. Sandra Dicaire read from the Somehow or another, the cities, the munici- A Code Yellow (Infant) alert was imme- mother’s statement to police during the bail palities, are sort of the poor children.” diately issued at the hospital. The police hearing. “The second time – wearing white The core of politics, he said, started at followed with an Amber Alert, putting the hospital scrubs – she asked to weigh my the community (ie. municipal) level. It only entire province on the look- baby.” stands to reason the balance of power should out. Pictures of the abduction The mother insisted on remain there too. pulled from the hospital’s accompanying “the nurse” “The senior levels of government are the surveillance cameras were to weigh her baby, but had cities because when the first settlers came, released to the public. to use the washroom first. they didn’t come to provinces and they cer- Eight hours later, the dev- Once inside the washroom, tainly didn’t come to the country of Canada. JOHN RODRIGUEZ astating incident was brought Batisse closed the door and They came to a community, a settlement. to an end due to the collabora- fled the room with the baby, “Don’t call us the children of the prov- Courtemanche’s motion worried it would tive work of the hospital staff, Dicaire read. ince. We’re the legitimate senior level of send the wrong message to people from other police, media and the com- Batisse wrapped the government.” nationalities that called Sudbury home. munity. The baby was found baby in her sweater “to con- That’s the main reason he gets so fired Snowplowing is another issue Rodriguez unharmed in Kirkland Lake, ceal it and hide it from the up when talking about the lack of infra- is taking a bit of heat on, especially with the Ont., – a 300-kilometre drive elements,” she said in her structure money floating down from these “lift at every driveway” legacy that dogs him north of the city – in the care statement. “senior” governments. BRENDA BATISSE to this day. of Brenda Batisse, 29, who In her second statement “We don’t get any share of the sales tax, He, along with the majority of council, was arrested and charged to police, the mother of two we don’t get a share of the income tax and voted in favour of a less expensive winter with abduction. said, “I wasn’t myself when I did this. I’m we certainly don’t get any share of the cor- operations budget for the 2007/2008 season. A psychiatric assessment following the not the type of person to do this. If I knew porate tax.” However, gambling on another mild winter, incident showed Batisse – the mother of then what I know now, how it would affect Get him started on these topics and fiery less money equals less service, and the suc- two girls, ages 8 and 5 – to be suffering from my girls, I never would have done it.” rhetoric ensues. It was Rodriguez’s gift for cess of the plan depends on the weather. a major depressive disorder. In a letter of apology to the mother of gab, along with his “mayor of the people” If the two major snowfalls to date are any The evidence presented at Batisse’s bail the baby, Batisse said, “My intentions were persona, that helped get him elected a year indication, council could end up tag-teamed hearing painted a vivid picture of deception never to hurt anyone but just to make my ago. by Mother Nature and Jack Frost in the form and premeditation. family whole again... My life has been quite The backing of labour and union orga- of a cold and snowy winter. Family and friends of Batisse had been cruel to me. I’ve had many losses and I just nizations, and the campaign “dream team” N led to believe she was pregnant and sched- wanted to bring home a beautiful baby to of former mayor Jim Gordon and former When it comes to the bus driver deliv- uled to deliver her baby by C-section on Oct. my girls... There was one point just outside mayoral candidate Paul Marleau didn’t hurt ering his agenda, he’s making pretty good 30 at the North Bay General Hospital. of Sudbury I wanted to turn around and either. time so far. As promised in his inaugural According to Batisse’s first statement to bring your baby back but I thought they’d The former Nickel Belt MP and teacher speech, within his first 100 days in office, he the police, she had been beat up in Kirkland take me away from my girls.” entered the mayoral race in July 2006. His appointed expert panels to look at the multi- Lake recently and soon after stopped feeling At her bail hearing held in Sudbury campaign was marked with promises of lift- use recreational complex, performing arts the baby moving in her womb. She allegedly court, Batisse was denied bail and returned ing plow shovels at every driveway, ending centre, health care cluster, and municipal went into her bathroom, delivered a five- to police custody to await her trial. How- homelessness and taking back the leader- mining revenues. month-old stillborn baby and cut the umbil- ever, defence attorney Berk Keaney applied ship at town hall. “I ran on these projects,” he said, “they ical cord with toenail clippers. She claimed for an immediate review of the proceed- “I’m the one now driving this bus...I’m were part of my platform.” to have taken the baby to the North Bay hos- ings. the leader” said Rodriguez during his vic- All the panels have made presentations pital and left it there for her aunt and uncle “The most significant factor to me is tory speech on election night. to council to show their work to date, with to pick up, in order to give the baby a proper that this woman has been demonized in the “I’m more than willing to work with the the exception of the mining revenue com- burial. However, the hospital had no record public since this incident occurred because councillors...but the leadership that’s been mittee, which is scheduled for early in the of her visit, and her aunt admitted she had no one understood her personal circum- missing will come from the mayor.” new year. no knowledge of it either. stances,” he said. His moniker of “J-Rod,” adopted by Rodriguez also takes pride in his first- Batisse let everybody believe she was “What about detention necessary to Sudbury residents during the election, year record when it comes to improving still pregnant, in particular, Trevor Sch- maintain the public’s confidence in the changed to “Bus Driver,” following this staff relations at civic square, most notably ram, her common-law spouse, because administration of justice,” argued assistant speech. But, as with the road he drives to get with the Year of the Employee initiative. “Trevor wanted a baby boy,” and the future Crown attorney Len Walker in his summa- to work, his journey has been marked with a His major goals for 2008 include going of the their relationship depended on it, she tions at the review. “The public had a great few potholes. after the mining revenues generated in said in her statement. interest in this case. The only thing you can N Sudbury that he argues shouldn’t be going Upon arriving in Sudbury on Oct. 31, do to make the public so involved and at Rodriguez created a minor furor not to the province. Batisse visited the hospital at one point and such a wide scale is to take a baby.” long after the election when he unilaterally The major is also joining forces with located the maternity ward. At the review, which was held before decided to hoist the Franco Ontarian flag in other Northern Ontario leaders to take on Videos from the hospital’s surveillance a Superior court judge, Batisse pleaded the courtyard of Tom Davies Square. the federal government and its sizeable sur- cameras, taken on the day of the abduction, guilty to the charge and was subsequently It wasn’t the first time someone sug- plus. He wants a piece of this pie in order showed Batisse in three different outfits, released on bail. She is scheduled to return gested flying the flag there. to put a dent in the city’s $480 million infra- the final outfit appearing to be white hospi- to court to determine her sentencing in Rodriguez’s mayoral predecessor David structure deficit. tal scrubs. Reports from three mothers, who January, after she has received psychiatric Courtemanche raised a motion to this effect During 2008, the mayor can be expected were approached by Batisse in their hospi- assistance.