The Lynda Shaw Story on CTV

If those who are able to download CTV's video stream from W5 they should take the opportunity - it's about Lynda Shaw a 3rd year University of Western Ontario engineering student that was murdered 15 years ago - and how her murderer was let out on parole after 12 years for murdering a police officer and a witness.

This is a story that our new Justice Minister Teows will hopefully watch - although nothing has to be said to him to increase minimum sentences - he already knows.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about this. I didn't know Lynda - I only knew of her when I was secretary to the Dean of Engineering at Western. That year, I was asked to organize the Lynda Shaw Lecture Series that the faculty of engineering had each year in her honour.

I've since forgotten who the guest lecuturer was but I do remember having to familiarize myself with the file. At the faculty there was a hushed frustration and perception that the police weren't doing enough to solve it. Why was it taking so long?

For the series, I had to contact the media to send in the dates and times. I was contacted back to give a short statement. The police would publish a composite sketch of the two men thought to be involved. They would also give any new leads in the investigation to the press.

The Engineering Department at Western never forgot Lynda - nor did our community.

W5 will say that the composite sketch of the killer looks nothing like him. But to me at the time one of those composites looked like a neighbour - whose girlfriend was found dead in their apartment about a year before I began organizing the series. I was told I should keep quiet, that there was no connection - my supervisor was more worried than anything else and wanted nothing to happen to me. So I did.

It turned out that there was no foul play in that story - the girlfriend's death was self inflicted and the story forgotten.

I went about with the finishing touches of the series and liased with the students whom
I admired - especially the young women. They were bright, happy. They were so easy to relate to that they became my friends and we joked and laughed as we prepared for other annual events. It was so enjoyable working with them that they even made me want to become an engineer (I decided to stick to art).

I would have been proud if any one of them were my daughters or sisters. It's these women who will keep Lynda's memory and will nurture a similar smile that I recall on Lynda's mother's face as I brought her a bouquet of flowers to end the evening in her daughter's honour.

It's a memory I haven't forgotten.