Book description
Rare views of human lives in turmoil are revealed in several hundred
trials conducted in 1890s Muskoka by Magistrate James Boyer of
Bracebridge. The charges and evidence show how raw life really was in
Canada's frontier towns, with cases ranging from nostalgic and humorous
to pitiable and deeply disturbing.
While dispensing speedy justice, Boyer, who was also town clerk and
editor of the Northern Advocate
, the first newspaper in Ontario's northern districts, kept a careful
record in his handwritten "bench book" of all these cases.
That bench book, recently found by his great-grandson, lawyer J. Patrick
Boyer, provides the raw material for Raw Life
.
This first-time publication of the these cases demonstrates how, in
Canadian society, some things haven't changed much over the years - from
early road rage to the plight of abused women, from environmental
contamination to punitive treatment of the poor.
"...
troubling but sometimes heartwarming."
J. Patrick Boyer, Q. C., is a former Member of Parliament and the
author of 20 books, including Just Trust Us, A Passion
for Justice, Direct Democracy in Canada, and The
People's Mandate. He lives in Muskoka and Toronto.
