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We don’t really know what day they died on. Extrapolating from the brutal details can only end with speculation. No solid fact. What is a fact, technically speaking, is that they could have died on two different days. It was almost certainly in two separate moments…

It has been five years of many separate moments.

The moment when the crown attorney assured me that the crime met the definition of first degree murder. And another when just before the trial we were told they would be accepting a plea of second instead.

The moment when the defense stated that arson was the most egregious of the aggravating factors.

And another when the sentencing judge congratulated them for sparing the court’s resources by reaching this plea.

Another when I was informed by mail after the trial that the chance for parole would be years sooner than what they printed in the headlines.

The moment this summer when C.S.C. called to inform me that they moved him to a lesser secure prison. When I questioned the decision they told me it was their policy to inform victims only after such moves were made. Then an hour later they called back to tell me they did not in fact move him.

There was the moment when the government voted against talking about Cassie and Molly’s Law. The same people who planned to make hate speech illegal – to legislate a human emotion – said it was too tricky to differentiate between the choice of a woman and the choice of the person that murders her.

And all the moments of exclusionary detailing by the media that prevented any criticism aimed at the lawmakers who shut down the conversation.

Then the moment those same people were chosen to govern again…

In this moment, on this terrible anniversary, I feel sad for my country. I brace myself for the moments that are yet to come.