We are living in an Alice in Wonderland world. I noticed it after our youngest daughter played Tall Alice in Alice in Wonderland for six performances at our community’s Arts Centre Theatre. In the penultimate moments before the last scene of the play (when the Queen of Hearts is wanting the King to order the cards to chop off Alice’s head for the crime of causing the Queen to lose her temper) Small Alice, Alice, and Tall Alice are all onstage asserting their reason for being.
“I’m Alice.”
“I’m Alice.”
“I’m Alice.” They each assert their normalcy over the cacophony of the cards, the Queen, the March Hare, the White Rabbit, the flowers and all the other characters.
In the same way, recently we’ve seen the City of Hamilton, Ontario reject facts and evidence in order to declare that pro-life billboards which said abortions are allowed in Canada throughout all nine months of pregnancy were “deceptive” and too “controversial.”
The Advertising Standards Council (ASC), which oversees the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, upheld the three complainants in this case and the decision of the Hamilton City Council.
The ads showed a pregnant woman with the words: “Nine months. The length of time abortion is allowed in Canada. Abortion: Have we gone too far? " www.AbortionInCanada.ca.” The ruling, which silenced this pro-life educational campaign in the Hamilton area, during the 20th anniversary, last January, of the Morgentaler decision to strike down the law regulating abortion in Canada, came as a result of only three complaints made by Hamilton residents. However, the ads were displayed in more than 50 communities across Canada without complaint.
The Hamilton Right to Life filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission against the City. As a result of this complaint, the City of Hamilton announced that it would be revising its rules so as to allow pro-life advertisements to be displayed in city bus shelters and other similar city-owned advertising spots. In future, these rules will allow both religious and advocacy messaging.
Then there is the Human Rights complaint against Maclean’s magazine and writer, Mark Steyn, brought by Mohamed Elmasry, head of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), who is often represented by three Muslim law students. Will this radical Muslim activist and three young adults succeed in silencing the print media in Canada? Steyn and Maclean’s Magazine are charged under the same law which allowed the former divorce lawyer and Alberta Human Rights Commission appointee, Lori Andreachuk, to issue a ruling against Red Deer, Alberta, Pastor Stephen Boissoin who had published a letter against homosexuality in his local newspaper. In her ruling, Andreachuk found that there was no direct victim of Pastor Boissoin’s printed comments in the local paper, but she fined Pastor Boissoin $5000.00 to alleviate the “suffering” of the complainant, Darren Lund, a University of Calgary Professor, an anti-Christian activist, who had experienced some “public censure” for making his complaint. In effect, Mr. Lund was given a tax free award for filing the complaint even though he had experienced no personal damage from Rev. Boissoin’s comments. Rev. Boissoin was also ordered to pay the expenses of up to $2,000.00 for a witness of Professor Lund.
Andreachuk also permanently destroyed Pastor Boissoin’s freedom of speech by ordering him to cease publishing or making “disparaging” remarks about homosexuality. Yes, even in his church, or in his personal emails - not hate speech or anything illegal - just “disparaging remarks”, for the rest of his life. And not just about the subject of his original topic, homosexuals and homosexuality, but also about his accuser, Professor Lund. Andreachuk also ordered that Pastor Boissoin was to issue a written apology to Lund, and that this written apology be published in the Red Deer Advocate. In effect Rev. Boissoin is required to publicly abandon his deeply held religious beliefs. As stated by Ezra Levant, former publisher of the Western Standard news magazine, also accused in a human rights case of his own (for publishing the infamous Danish cartoons): “So Pastor Boissoin doesn't just have to issue a false apology, he has to publicly humiliate himself, by declaring his contrition -- contrition he does not feel -- and his abandonment of his deeply held religious beliefs. A second-rate government bureaucrat has ordered a Canadian pastor to publicly renounce his religious beliefs.”
Yes, Canada is certainly getting “curiouser and curiouser”.
Not surprisingly, Rev. Boissoin has announced that he is appealing this appalling decision of the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
To begin to understand what is happening here, I highly recommend Dr. William Gairdner’s newest book, Oh,Oh, Canada, for summer reading, reviewed at page 14. Once again, Dr. Gairdner’s learned, but eminently readable style provides a real explanation of how we arrived at this madness we are enduring today.
Until next time.
Laurie |
