Poland in an Uproar after Coercive Abortion Pressure Put on 14-Year-Old by Planned Parenthood

By John-Henry Westen LifeSiteNews.com

WARSAW, June 10, 2008 () - Polish media is awash with the case of a 14-year old girl who is being pressured into abortion by the country's most prominent abortion activist, Wanda Nowicka of the Polish branch of Planned Parenthood.

The girl, who appears in the media under the nickname "Agata", found out she was pregnant by her boyfriend three months ago. However, rather than supporting her, her family directed her to Planned Parenthood to arrange for legal permission for an abortion.

Currently Polish law does not penalize abortion when the pregnancy is a result of crime. In such cases abortion is permitted till the twelfth week of pregnancy. Agata's case was qualified for non-punishable abortion since it involved sexual relations under the age of 15. She is now 10 or 11 weeks pregnant.

While permission was being secured by Planned Parenthood, the girl complained to a teacher that she did not want to abort her child. Hospitals in her home town refused to kill her unborn child, saying that the girl seemed to be pressured into the abortion by her mother and abortion activists. A priest friend and some pro-life activists offered support to the girl and all the help necessary to carry the baby to term.

Nevertheless, Agata was brought to a Warsaw hospital that agreed to abort her baby. There she spoke to a child psychologist who advised doctors to give the girl some more time to think. Despite that, Agata was told to prepare for the procedure the following day.

At that time, the girl gave conflicting testimony. In face to face conversations with friends, she would admit to being pressured into abortion. At other times she said she wanted an abortion.

In the meantime pro-life groups and prayer groups mobilized to save the girl and her baby from tragedy. The hospital received emails from pro-life advocates urging that the girl not be forced to abort. In addition, one pro-life activist filed an official complaint with the police accusing pro-abortion activist Wanda Nowicka of pressuring the teenager into abortion. Police began an investigation and the media picked up the story.

A court in the girl's hometown issued an order to place her in the custody of a priest at a juvenile center, where she would not be harassed by abortion advocates.

Mariusz Dzierzawski of Warsaw-based pro-life Pro Foundation said that the case demonstrated how the sexual revolution takes its toll on the young, causing a chain of tragedy in their lives. "Sex educators encourage kids to get involved in 'safe sex'. When kids get pregnant as a result, they are offered 'safe abortion'. This is how they destroy the life of the unborn child and of children who become parents too early," Dzierzawski said.

Pro-life activist Jacek Sapa commented: "It's time to break the social taboo and start talking about coerced abortion. Most abortions are forced on women by irresponsible partners, parents or abortion activists. If we are witnessing coercion into abortion, we must act. Sometimes a simple gesture of support and understanding is enough to save a mother and child from the tragedy of abortion."

Agata is now safe and offers of support are flowing in from all over Poland. However abortion advocates have not given up their efforts to convince the girl to change her mind and have the abortion. Reportedly, they are arranging for an abortion for the girl outside Poland.

The pro-abortion Polish major daily "Gazeta Wyborcza", advocated for Planned Parenthood with its coverage claiming that the girl had been raped and wanted an abortion, but was harassed by pro-lifers, who "gave her hell". The misinformation was picked up by far left politicians from a minor post-communist party who attempted to garner support to legalize abortion.

Pro-life women's rights activist Inga Kaluzynska said the case also highlights the harm of clauses in Polish abortion law which remove the penalties for abortion in cases of rape. "Why are we assuming that abortion is a solution for a pregnant woman in a crisis situation? Abortion is always against women," she said. "A victim of rape deserves our help, support and care, not another trauma. Besides, it is the criminal who should pay for the rape, not the innocent baby and its mother. To allow killing the baby conceived in rape is an act of utmost discrimination based on the person's parentage," Kaluzynska concluded.

Polish pro-lifers, especially the priest involved in the case, have come under attack, having received hate mail and death threats.

The case is being seen as the latest example of an scheme often used by pro-abortion activists to have pro-life countries legalize abortion. The scheme involves seeking out the youngest pregnant girl, preferably a rape victim and using her as a poster child to legalize abortion. Similar campaigns have been organized by pro-abortion groups in Nicaragua and Colombia.

To express your thoughts on the case contact:

Poland Minister of Health
Ewa Kopacz
Phone number: (+48 prefix 22) 831 23 24
Fax: (+48 prefix 22) 634 92 13
email: kancelaria@mz.gov.pl

Polish Embassy in the USA

The Embassy of The Republic of Poland in Washington D.C.
2640 16-th Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20009
phone: (202) 234-3800 ext. 2140
Email: polemb.info@earthlink.net

Polish embassy in Canada

Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canada
443 Daly Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6H3
Tel. (613) 789-0468
Fax. (613) 789-1218
Email: ottawa@ottawa.polemb.net

Polish Embassy in the UK

Ambasada Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
47 Portland Place
Londyn W1B 1JH
Tel.: 0 044 870 774 2700
Fax: 0 044 207 291 35 75 lub 0 044 207 291 35 76
E-mail: polishembassy@polishembassy.org.uk

MINORITY TARGETING: Planned Parenthood Goes after Native Americans

by Colin Mason Population Research Institute The American abortion lobby claims to be an equal-opportunity abortion provider, looking out for the needs and wants of all women. Not so. Big Abortion devotes an inordinate amount of attention to Blacks, Hispanics, and Alaska Natives who, in proportion to their population, have the highest abortion rates in America. Now, eager to add another scalp to its collection, it is turning its sights on Native Americans. The story begins with the Hyde amendment, which restricts abortion coverage in federal health programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Indian Health Services, although leaving open the typical exceptions: rape, incest, and life of the mother. In other words, the amendment recognizes that a huge portion of American taxpayers oppose abortion, and it respects that opposition by insisting that abortions not be covered by tax-funded health care programs. The Hyde amendment was attached to the Department of Health and Human Services appropriations bill, and passed in 1976. Although the abortion lobby has attempted to use legal loopholes to avoid these restrictions, the amendment has been able to keep federal funds from actively paying for abortions throughout the years. However, since it needs to be renewed each year with the annual appropriations bill, there is always the chance that the amendment could be weakened or even thrown out entirely. This is what the pro-abortion lobby intends to do with the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. This is what the Vitter amendment, proposed by Senator David Vitter (R-LA), aims to prevent. The Vitter amendment, approved by the Senate on February 26th, is an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act that prohibits the "improvements" to Indian health from including funding for abortion. This measure, bitterly opposed by House Democrats, would effectively codify the Hyde amendment into Federal law, making it removable only by an act of Congress. The abortion lobby, with typical upside-down logic, insists that it is inherently "racist" to deny Native American women the right to abortion. As usual, they have recruited Native American front woman to back them up. "It's a very racist amendment," insists Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center, in a statement to the Washington Independent. "it puts another layer of restrictions on the only race of people whose health care is governed primarily by the federal government. All women are subject to the Hyde amendment, so why would they put another set of conditions on us?" Planned Parenthood is predictably indignant, basing its opposition to the Vitter amendment in the fact that "under current policy, the Hyde Amendment forbids federal funding for abortion in almost all cases. IHS already delivers basic health care services in a manner consistent with the Hyde Amendment. In fact, 25 U.S.C. 1676 subjects IHS funds to restrictions by the Hyde Amendment. Sen. Vitter's amendment is simply a redundancy of current law and would not change current policy." If this is the case, then what is the big deal? If all that Vitter's amendment does is codify existing law, (and in this case, only in terms of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act), then why is it such a hot point of contention? Why doesn't the abortion lobby oppose all legislation restricting federal abortion funding, not singling out legislation that deals with a minority group like the Native Americans? In other words, this looks suspiciously like racial profiling. The abortion lobby is quick to label Vitter's amendment "racist," but they are not so quick to notice that they are essentially promoting federally funded abortion for one tiny ethnic group, and nobody else. But not all Native Americans are fooled by the abortion lobby's rhetoric, contrary to what Planned Parenthood would have us believe. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, CO, a long-time opponent of abortion, continues to urge voters in his archdiocese to vote against pro-choice legislation and candidates. As he said in a 2007 statement, "it's hard to have a future 'for our children and our children's children' without children, and Planned Parenthood specializes in the business of preventing them." Other Native Americans would do well to follow Archbishop Chaput's example; rejecting the inflated rhetoric of the pro-abortion left and accepting these efforts for what they really are—an attempt to target an already vanishing minority. Native Americans take pride in their people; we hope that they learn to oppose these measures that strike at the very heart of their future: their children. Colin Mason is Director of Media Production at Population Research Institute.

Sign up for the Weekly Briefing Here Media Contact: Colin Mason Email: colin@pop.org (540) 622-5240, ext. 209 _________ (c) 2007 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute widely. Credit required. _________ PRI is a 501(c)(3) educational organization. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to our Donations Page. All donations (of any size) are welcomed and appreciated. _________ The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation." Find us at www.pop.org. PRI, PO Box 1559, Front Royal, VA 22630 USA Phone: 540-622-5240

How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart

By Rebecca Walker

23rd May 2008 Read the whole story on Mail Online

She's revered as a trail-blazing feminist and author Alice Walker touched the lives of a generation of women. A champion of women's rights, she has always argued that motherhood is a form of servitude. But one woman didn't buy in to Alice's beliefs - her daughter, Rebecca, 38.

Here the writer describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a cultural icon, and why she feels so blessed to be the sort of woman 64-year-old Alice despises - a mother.

The other day I was vacuuming when my son came bounding into the room. 'Mummy, Mummy, let me help,' he cried. His little hands were grabbing me around the knees and his huge brown eyes were looking up at me. I was overwhelmed by a huge surge of happiness.

I love the way his head nestles in the crook of my neck. I love the way his face falls into a mask of eager concentration when I help him learn the alphabet. But most of all, I simply love hearing his little voice calling: 'Mummy, Mummy.'

It reminds me of just how blessed I am. The truth is that I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother - thanks to being brought up by a rabid feminist who thought motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman.

You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.

In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from 'enslaving' me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late...

Read the whole story on Mail Online

The Harper Government wishes to silence the Auditor General

by Ron Gray May 06, 2008

The Harper Government wishes to silence the Auditor General! Let’s see. Isn’t that the very department whose mandate is to keep the government accountable?

On 6 May, 2008 it was reported by the Canadian Press that there has been growing tension between the Harper Government and the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser. Fraser said she received a notice that the government wanted to vet her public communications. Should the Conservative government be successful in this venture, we Canadians would then only have access to information which the government approves. How convenient for them!

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada audits federal government operations and provides Parliament with independent information, advice, and assurance regarding the federal government’s stewardship of public funds. Because the position of the Auditor General of Canada is committed to transparency, and the highest, ethical standards in financial administration, Parliament must use Fraser’s reports to improve government management and accountability. It is the auditor’s role to examine the government’s performance and report to the Canadian public via Parliament. How can the Conservative Government even suggest such an action? It was their campaign speeches after all, which loudly proclaimed that they were going to make parliament more ‘accountable’—and now they want to conceal her findings? Muzzle the watch dog? Suppress the truth? What do they want to hide?

The CHP insists that as an officer of Parliament, the Auditor General must be able to maintain her independent status, or her role becomes meaningless.

For what scandal should we be bracing ourselves next? Makes us wonder.

Maclean's Responds to the Ontario Human Rights Commissioner

"Is it normal when declining a case (or, in this case, a complaint) for a commission, court or tribunal to then deliver a guilty verdict? For that's what the press statement, directly, or by forceful implication, did...."---CBC's Rex Murphy, quoted in the Maclean's editorial

Read the full editorial at Maclean's

Read Ezra Levant's Commentary on the same topic

Young People Glorify God on "American Idol"

Scientist David Archibald Predicts Global Cooling Soon

Addressing the "Greener Skies 2008" conference in Hong Kong, solar scientist David Archibald presented evidence that climate change is mostly dictated by solar cycles, not carbon dioxide levels. You can read his entire presentation here.
NOTE: Claims put forward in this paper are the opinion of the author. We thought it was interesting information and a useful backdrop to frantic global efforts to control carbon dioxide, population levels and other aspects of human social development.

Information gleaned from the WorldNetDaily

More Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda

If you live in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, you’ve no doubt received the latest report from MP Nathan Cullen (Spring Report ’08), highlighting his service and accomplishments for the region. I hope you got one because you did pay for it. This piece of shameless partisan literature comes out four times each year and gives the sitting MP of whatever political stripe an opportunity to get his message into every household with a mailing address and costs him and his party nothing. While it purports to be an information package (and indeed it does contain some useful resource links) it has “NDP” emblazoned on the first three pages, is printed in NDP colours, uses the NDP logo and carries an NDP message. It is political propaganda, plain and simple. It is extremely well done, mind you. Nathan and his team are efficient and talented. They recognize the value of this tool and make the most of the opportunity. It is well-written, well laid out and urges interaction from the voter, uh, I mean reader. It mentions what Nathan has done for you, what he can do for you in the future and invites you to contact him. I’m going to speculate that the direct and indirect costs of this brochure in Skeena-Bulkley Valley are in the neighbourhood of $8,000 each time or $32,000 per year. It could be more. This is pure speculation, mind you, based only on past experience with printing and postage. Ah, but Nathan may say, “There is no postage cost for correspondence between an MP and his constituents.” That would be NDP economics philosophy but in the real world, goods and services cost money and costs not paid in any other way come directly from the pocket of the long-suffering taxpayer. It’s not enough that the NDP receives direct deposits from the taxpayer each and every year to conduct expensive election campaigns. (Ottawa shells out about $30 million each year to the big four parties with members in the House.) On top of that, four times each year I am obliged to help pay the costs of this self-serving brochure which sounds so noble and leaves all the important things unsaid. So, according to the brochure, what did Nathan do? He spent taxpayers’ money---every time he says he “got” or “ensured” federal spending, he means that taxpayers paid for a project. Don’t get me wrong, some of these are good things. But government is about a lot more than doling out money and wringing it out of the taxpayer’s hide. Government’s primary role really should be to protect people, ensure their freedom and security and maintain a level playing field where they can prosper and succeed. He promoted Al Gore’s version of reality. Nathan has busied himself making sure that every schoolchild has seen “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s masterful misrepresentation of “climate change”. (The phrase “global warming” has already gone out of style because that pesky climate just doesn’t keep following Al’s creative predictions. With little real temperature change since 2001 and now the regrowth of Arctic ice, “climate change” has become a less risky concept. After all, that’s what climates do---change.) He visited people around the electoral district. Well I guess…In Skeena-Bulkley Valley, what comes with the territory is---territory! It’s good that during slow periods in Ottawa, Nathan can gas up at taxpayer expense and visit the people who put him in office. The details lacking in Nathan’s Spring Report are “What did he NOT do?” For one, he FAILED to defend life. It was so simple. C-484 was designed with him in mind. He could have voted to protect the Unborn Victims of Crime. But he and his colleagues got jittery about recognizing the unborn person and sided with the violent attackers of women instead. He FAILED to defend traditional marriage. When Stephen Harper put forward his pathetically weak motion, asking whether the House “wished to revisit the issue of same-sex marriage”, Nathan predictably said “No”. He FAILED to defend democracy and freedom of speech. Since 2005, I’ve been waiting for Nathan to speak one word in defense of courageous truth-speakers like Ron Gray and Chris Kempling who are being attacked on phony “human rights” grounds. All is quiet because Nathan and his supporters oppose the truthful messages that Ron and Chris are speaking. And when the Supreme Court violates the Constitution (1995 Egan case), nary a peep! He FAILED to defend taxpayers. How you spend taxpayers’ money is a moral issue. Every MP should be calling for government spending restraint and the paydown of national debt. Our massive interest payments today rob our children of resources for tomorrow. He FAILED to defend the Constitution, which asserts “the supremacy of God”. If every MP would seek to write legislation consistent with our mandate to submit to divine order in our homes, businesses and government, Canada would know the blessing of God to a degree we’ve not yet seen! So when the NDP or any other party puts out a brochure full of carefully selected items to win your hearts and then bills you for it through taxes---what do you do? The only thing you can do…first pay your taxes (“Render unto Caesar…”) and then go to work promoting the CHP---the ONLY pro-life, pro-family federal party and the ONLY one that supports the “supremacy of God” clause in Canada’s Constitution. Our freedoms are vanishing fast and they’re using YOUR money to promote a godless, self-centred, atheistic society for your children. Let’s hold them accountable for what they do and what they FAIL to do! By Rod Taylor March 21, 2008

A Righteous Man Who Refuses to Give Up

Video of Mike Huckabee in Plano Texas--Listen Up!

Ezra Levant Defends Himself Before the Kangaroo Court

Gay Activists to Speak in Ontario Elementary Schools

By Hilary White

OTTAWA, February 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Ken O'Day, chairman of the Renfrew County Family Action Council, has sent a letter to Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, asking for the cancellation of a planned visit by homosexual activists to an Ottawa Valley school, Goulbourn Middle School, in Stittsville, Ontario. A school newsletter confirms that an Ottawa-based homosexual lobby organization will send speakers to the school this year to bring the group's "diversity training" to grade 7 and 8 students.

Mr. O'Day asked the minister to ensure that "gay agendas in our schools will be stopped."

"Parents, teachers and anyone else with a rational mind," he wrote, "are against any program that normalizes homosexual behaviour especially within the confines of our educational institutions. Our children attend school to receive an education in academic subjects and all topics, except for the biological and physiological aspects of sexual education, [which] belong to the parents only."

O'Day told LifeSiteNews.com that he has sent the emails also to George Smitherman, the Ontario Health Minister, who is a political homosexual activist. O'Day said the purpose of the circulars, which were sent additionally to local family supporters and MP Cheryl Gallant, was "so that parents could check with their school boards and see if similar things are going on."

"[Health Minister] Smitherman and [Education Minister] Wynne have a history of activism with the homosexual community and a lot of people aren't aware of that and should be aware that their views may be biased."

Mr. O'Day said that he has received "nothing but resistance" from school boards, including the Catholic school boards.

Kathleen Wynne is Ontario's first openly lesbian cabinet minister, having lived with another woman for over 25 years. Wynne helped found a community fundraising group that has donated over $50,000 to homosexual youth organizations. In 2001, Wynne helped pass a measure encouraging public schools to purchase pro-homosexual teaching materials.

The organization scheduled to appear in the school is the latest government-sponsored effort in "diversity" training for young people. Jer's Vision: Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative, is a registered charity that began as a scholarship funded by a Human Rights Commission settlement in a case brought against an Ontario school board.

The organization provides speakers for lectures and seminars in the Ottawa area on issues of "diversity training" and discrimination. University student volunteers are sent into high schools to "educate high school youth on diversity and respect."

Since establishing itself as one of Canada's foremost homosexual lobby groups, Jer's Vision has moved into new areas, including "education about religious discrimination".

Jer's Vision, a registered charity, was started by a high school homosexual activist, Jeremy Diaz, who attempted to force school officials to adopt a "Positive Space" policy at his school. After the board refused to cooperate a petition that ultimately garnered only 15 per cent of student support was circulated in the school.

When Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario refused to cooperate with the programme that would have seen the active promotion of homosexuality as a legitimate "lifestyle", Diaz launched a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission against the school and the Algoma District School Board.

After three years, the Algoma District School Board offered a financial settlement, but refused to apologize or make changes in the district or the school.

Using the money from the settlement, Diaz, who is now a 21-year-old psychology and political science student at the University Of Ottawa, established a scholarship touted by his organization as "the first national LGBTQ scholarship for youth in Canada".

In 2006, the scholarship fund was changed to a national charity activist organization, of which Diaz is the executive director, that has since received support both from government and the homosexual activist community, including recently, a cheque for $1000.00 from Mr Leather Ottawa, an organization that holds an annual sado-masochistic sex show competition. In the same year, the City of Ottawa awarded Diaz its Youth Citizen of the Year award.

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Reporters Blow Whistle on Fox News

YouTube video shows Fox covering up for Monsanto.

Kangaroo Court

www.ezralevant.com

By Ezra Levant on January 11, 2008 5:04 PM

I have just returned home from my session at the kangaroo court, called the Alberta human rights commission. Here is my opening statement that I delivered at the interrogation. I will post more details about the interrogation soon.

Alberta Human Rights Commission Interrogation

Opening remarks by Ezra Levant, January 11, 2008 – Calgary

My name is Ezra Levant. Before this government interrogation begins, I will make a statement.

When the Western Standard magazine printed the Danish cartoons of Mohammed two years ago, I was the publisher. It was the proudest moment of my public life. I would do it again today. In fact, I did do it again today. Though the Western Standard, sadly, no longer publishes a print edition, I posted the cartoons this morning on my website, ezralevant.com.

I am here at this government interrogation under protest. It is my position that the government has no legal or moral authority to interrogate me or anyone else for publishing these words and pictures. That is a violation of my ancient and inalienable freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and in this case, religious freedom and the separation of mosque and state. It is especially perverted that a bureaucracy calling itself the Alberta human rights commission would be the government agency violating my human rights. So I will now call those bureaucrats “the commission” or “the hrc”, since to call the commission a “human rights commission” is to destroy the meaning of those words.

I believe that this commission has no proper authority over me. The commission was meant as a low-level, quasi-judicial body to arbitrate squabbles about housing, employment and other matters, where a complainant felt that their race or sex was the reason they were discriminated against. The commission was meant to deal with deeds, not words or ideas. Now the commission, which is funded by a secular government, from the pockets of taxpayers of all backgrounds, is taking it upon itself to be an enforcer of the views of radical Islam. So much for the separation of mosque and state.

I have read the past few years’ worth of decisions from this commission, and it is clear that it has become a dump for the junk that gets rejected from the real legal system. I read one case where a male hair salon student complained that he was called a “loser” by the girls in the class. The commission actually had a hearing about this. Another case was a kitchen manager with Hepatitis-C, who complained that it was against her rights to be fired. The commission actually agreed with her, and forced the restaurant to pay her $4,900. In other words, the commission is a joke – it’s the Alberta equivalent of a U.S. television pseudo-court like Judge Judy – except that Judge Judy actually was a judge, whereas none of the commission’s panellists are judges, and some aren’t even lawyers. And, unlike the commission, Judge Judy believes in freedom of speech.

It’s bad enough that this sick joke is being wreaked on hair salons and restaurants. But it’s even worse now that the commissions are attacking free speech. That’s my first point: the commissions have leapt out of the small cage they were confined to, and are now attacking our fundamental freedoms. As Alan Borovoy, Canada’s leading civil libertarian, a man who helped form these commissions in the 60’s and 70’s, wrote, in specific reference to our magazine, being a censor is, quote,“hardly the role we had envisioned for human rights commissions. There should be no question of the right to publish the impugned cartoons.” Unquote. Since the commission is so obviously out of control, he said quote “It would be best, therefore, to change the provisions of the Human Rights Act to remove any such ambiguities of interpretation.” Unquote.

The commission has no legal authority to act as censor. It is not in their statutory authority. They’re just making it up – even Alan Borovoy says so.

But even if the commissions had some statutory fig leaf for their attempts at political and religious censorship, it would still be unlawful and unconstitutional.

We have a heritage of free speech that we inherited from Great Britain that goes back to the year 1215 and the Magna Carta. We have a heritage of eight hundred years of British common law protection for speech, augmented by 250 years of common law in Canada.

That common law has been restated in various fundamental documents, especially since the Second World War.

In 1948, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Canada is a party, declared that, quote:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights guaranteed, quote

1. “ human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,

(c) freedom of religion; (d) freedom of speech; (e) freedom of assembly and association; and (f) freedom of the press.

In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteed, quote:

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

a) freedom of conscience and religion;

b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

Those were even called “fundamental freedoms” – to give them extra importance.

For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights and a Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values.

It is also deeply procedurally one-sided and unjust. The complainant – in this case, a radical Muslim imam, who was trained at an officially anti-Semitic university in Saudi Arabia, and who has called for sharia law to govern Canada – doesn’t have to pay a penny; Alberta taxpayers pay for the prosecution of the complaint against me. The victims of the complaints, like the Western Standard, have to pay for their own lawyers from their own pockets. Even if we win, we lose – the process has become the punishment. (At this point, I’d like to thank the magazine’s many donors who have given their own money to help us fight against the Saudi imam and his enablers in the Alberta government.)

It is procedurally unfair. Unlike real courts, there is no way to apply for a dismissal of nuisance lawsuits. Common law rules of evidence don’t apply. Rules of court don’t apply. It is a system that is part Kafka, and part Stalin. Even this interrogation today – at which I appear under duress – saw the commission tell me who I could or could not bring with me as my counsel and advisors.

I have no faith in this farcical commission. But I do have faith in the justice and good sense of my fellow Albertans and Canadians. I believe that the better they understand this case, the more shocked they will be. I am here under your compulsion to answer the commission’s questions. But it is not I who am on trial: it is the freedom of all Canadians.

You may start your interrogation.

What’s ahead in 2008?

by Ron Gray Let me say at the outset that I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; but sometimes I can read some of the handwriting on the wall: There may well be a federal election this Spring. The Liberals’ strategy of hiding in the bushes cannot continue forever. And the most likely strategy of the Ignatieff cabal is to precipitate a defeat under Stephan Dion’s leadership as the first stage in a palace revolt. Will a Spring election give the Conservatives their majority? Probably not. As the Harper government gains support from disaffected Liberals by avoiding the moral issues, it is at the same time alienating its social conservative base. Many Christians—those who are pro-life and pro-family—will stay home if they think they don’t have an alternative place to park their vote. For us in the CHP, that means we must build new Electoral District Associations and raise new candidates. Right now, we offer a moral alternative in about one-fifth of Canada’s federal ridings. That must increase—dramatically. It’s interesting to re-read the words of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, writing a majority decision about the role of smaller political parties in our democracy: "The ability of a party to make a valuable contribution is not dependent upon its capacity to offer the electorate a genuine “government option”. Political parties have a much greater capacity than any one citizen to participate in debate and they act as a vehicle for the participation of individual citizens in the political life of the country. All political parties are capable of introducing unique interests and concerns into the political discourse and marginal or regional parties tend to raise issues not adopted by national parties." Even without any elected MPs (yet), the CHP has had an impact on federal politics. And now that the Green Party calls itself “the smallest of the big parties”, the CHP is the biggest of the small parties. And growing! More important, the CHP is the only federal party that brings these important policy issues into the national dialogue about what kind of nation we’ll leave for our children: • The sanctity of life: only the CHP proposes adoption instead of abortion, and opposes euthanasia. • The sanctity of marriage: only the CHP continues to oppose the Liberals’ illegitimate imposition of same-sex “marriage” on an unwilling nation. • Only the CHP advocates Canada leading a global drive for abolition of slavery by limiting trade with nations that allow the use of slave and exploitative child labour. • Only the CHP has a plan for defending democracy and the Constitution against judicial activism. • Only the CHP has a child-care plan focused on strengthening families. • Only the CHP has a plan for increased productivity through labour peace. • Only the CHP has proposals for making home ownership accessible to more Canadian families. • And among federal political parties, only the CHP has spoken against the STD vaccination program that makes guinea pigs of young girls. These are only the highlights of the many policy distinctives that set the CHP apart from the other 15 or so federal political parties. Behind them all is one dramatic difference: • Only the CHP has shown it believes in the Constitutional statement that “Canada was founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.” That’s what will carry us forward into this coming year. And I hope to see you at the CHP convention in Regina in November!

Tsawassen Treaty Establishes Third Order of Government

by John Williamson, Federal Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation Who Pays and who gets to keep the money Tsawwassen to its own members on taxes Representative government is a two-way street that gives citizens authority to remove lawmakers. If citizens lose this right, but the state retains its ability to tax and spend the outcome is authoritarianism. When corruption is exposed in such dictatorships, its leaders insist self-rule trumps political accountability. Countries on this path tend to be governed by a self-appointed, well-heeled cabal and are often reliant on foreign money for survival. We call them banana republics and a parallel type of home rule is about to be ratified in Canada – call it the teepee republic. British Columbia’s Aboriginal Relations Minister Michael de Jong was in Ottawa this week to trumpet the Tsawwassen treaty along with Canada’s Minister of Indian Affairs Chuck Strahl. It is a sweeping agreement that will transfer provincial and federal powers to the reserve’s council and create a third order of government. The band will be handed over 700 hectares of land in Delta, south of Vancouver, 14-million dollars, and management over child protection, health services, education as well as control of land, resources, wildlife and the environment. Minister de Jong candidly calls it “powers of self-government.” Along with the cash handout and new governing authority, governments that negotiated the treaty are telling B.C. voters that band members will begin to pay tax. True enough – the exemption on federal income taxes will be removed 12 years after the treaty is law. Left unsaid is that taxpaying natives will not be sharing the cost of things like health care and defence along with other Canadian taxpayers. This is because income tax collected from the reserve will go to the band, not Ottawa. Moreover, a side agreement is expected for a similar share of GST revenues. Most Canadians will instinctively find these tax schemes objectionable. It is conceivable a sound argument could be made that bands such as this one need cash to develop economic infrastructure and help its members. And perhaps there is even value in the federal government diverting tax collected on reserves to band governments to establish the important principal that natives ought to pay taxes. But the tax requirements under this agreement are not limited to natives. Instead, federal taxes paid by non-natives living on the Tsawwassen reserve will also go the band government. Incredibly, these same taxpayers will not be permitted to vote in band elections, which mean they will lose the mechanism to remove lawmakers that waste money. Non-native citizens will suddenly become disenfranchised legal aliens, permitted to stay but without a direct say in the management of their tax dollars. This is hardly an exaggeration – the term our government bureaucrats use in native agreements to describe these non-natives is “non-citizens.” It is a disgrace public servants engage in these linguistic gymnastics to placate the cant of native sovereignty. Ottawa’s department of Indian affairs and B.C. treaty negotiators also suppose the ability to tax “serves as a means of government accountability.” They skip over the caveat that this statement is only true if citizens have an ability to remove government officials. Without that there is no real accountability – any despot can tax. A government is responsible only when it is answerable to the public. The Tsawwassen agreement will instill little accountability on the band council. According to The Delta Optimist, the 2006 Census showed of the 674 people living on this reserve 506 were non-natives. The band is already salivating over the fact it will collect $3 from non-voting, non-citizens for every $1 it taxes from people it considers bona fide citizens (i.e. natives). This is not about self-sufficiency but skewering a new cash cow. Conservative MP John Cummins (Delta-Richmond East) has reviewed the Tsawwassen tax agreements in advance of the treaty vote in Parliament. His findings have generated little interest. This treaty should be unacceptable to anyone committed to democracy, yet the Parliament of Canada is fixated on the Mulroney-Schreiber saga. Winston Churchill once said democracy is the worse form of government, except for all the others. Does the federal government think he was wrong? If you are supportive of this commentary, please consider becoming a supporter of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and add your voice to the campaign for lower taxes, less waste and more accountable government. Click here to become a supporter. --30-- For further information contact: John Williamson, Federal Director, CTF - Ottawa Ph: 1-613-234-6554

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Ron Gray Defends Freedom of Speech

Ron Gray, National Leader of the Christian Heritage Party, appeared on the Miracle Channel's Insight program, hosted by Paul Arthur. on Wednesday. Ron explained the urgency of defending freedom of speech and talked about the current situation with the Human Rights Commission. As he said so well: "If an agency of the government can tell a political party what it may or may not say, we no longer live in a democracy."

Listen to the interview here---Audio only--plays instantly

Watch the complete broadcast on video---Takes about 5 minutes to download on High Speed

Ron Gray Legal Defence Fund
Money will be needed for court costs and legal expenses. We’re asking every Canadian who believes in freedom and Biblical morality to help. As in all cases of this nature, taxpayers are forced to fund the case for the complainant but those who wish to defend freedom in Canada must pay their own costs. All donations to Ron’s legal defence fund, of any size, are important.

Please send cheques to:

Ron Gray Legal Defence Fund
c/o Ronald McDonald Law Office
406 Stafford Dr.
Lethbridge, AB
T1J 2L2

How Much Do You Know About Roe?

Take the Roe IQ Test
Sure, Roe v. Wade is American Law
but Canadian law is very close.

Sign a Petition to Eliminate the Human Rights Commissions

John Pacheco at Socon or Bust has a petition to get rid of the useless, costly and dangerous human rights commissions. You can sign it or comment on it here.

CHP Leader to Discuss ‘Human Rights’ Cases on Miracle Channel Wednesday

Does a registered federal political party have a right to promote the policies it has held for 20 years?

Does a Christian have a right to state publicly that he (or she) regards homosexuality as immoral, unnatural and unhealthy?

Ron Gray, National Leader of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada, will be interviewed on these and other questions relating to the ‘gay rights’ conflict in Canada, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 on the Miracle Channel’s Insight program, hosted by Paul Arthur. The main topic of the interview will be three human rights complaints brought against the CHP, one of its Electoral District Associations, and Mr. Gray .

The human rights allegations against the CHP bring into sharp focus the conflict between the rights of free speech, freedom of religious, freedom of conscience, and the political liberties guaranteed in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, on the one hand; and the ‘equality rights’ for sexual orientation that were deliberately excluded from the Charter by Parliament, but later forced into the Charter—unconstitutionally, Mr. Gray contends—by the Supreme Court, bypassing the role of Parliament and the provincial legislatures in amending Canada’s Constitution (of which the Charter is a part).

Mr. Gray and the CHP are merely the latest in a long line of defendants subjected to ‘human rights’ allegations by militant homosexual activists. Earlier victims of the purge of free speech rights have included Toronto printer Scott Brockie; Hugh Owens of Saskatchewan, in whose case a judge declared that citing Bible verses made his newspaper advertisements “hate”; an elderly couple in PEI who had to close their Bed & Breakfast establishment because they did not want two unrelated men sleeping together in their home; Craig Chandler of Calgary, who wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate denouncing the ‘gay agenda’; Dr. Chris Kempling, a BC teacher with a doctorate in counselling psychology, who was punished by his employer for advocating CHP policies about homosexuality, when he sought the nomination as a CHP candidate; Rev. Stephen Boissoin of Calgary, convicted by an Alberta ‘human rights’ tribunal for writing a letter to the editor expressing his concerns about homosexuality. Other victims of the ‘human rights’ campaign against free speech have included Mark Harding of Toronto, accused of fomenting hatred when he published a booklet complaining that Christian prayers were not allowed at his daughters’ school, but a room was set aside for Muslim prayers. And now, internationally renowned columnist Mark Steyn has been accused before the Canadian Human Rights Commission of ‘Islamophobia’.

“If an agency of the government can tell a registered political party what it can and cannot say in advancing its policies,” notes Mr. Gray, “Canada has gone a long, long way down the road to totalitarianism—to becoming a one-party (militant Secularist) state. What the human rights commissions and others forget is that Secularism is also a religion—perhaps the most intolerant in the world; it seeks to drive every other faith out of the public square.”

The Miracle Channel is available coast-to-coast by satellite; or on the Internet by live streaming at www.miraclechannel.ca

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING HOURS AND TIME ZONES

as a follow up to the previous email 're chp on television'

*Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 on the Miracle Channel’s Insight program, hosted by Paul Arthur.

10:00 PACIFIC STANDARD TIME

11:00 MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME

12:00 CENTRAL TIME

1:00 EST

2:00 ATLANTIC TIME

2:30 NEWFOUNDLAND TIME

Comments on the proposed Social Justice 12 Curriculum

by Rod Taylor

Background: the BC Ministry of Education, in cooperation with Attorney General Wally Oppal, made a deal with two homosexual teachers (Corren and Corren), which gave the two men unprecedented influence over the development of new curricula for use in BC schools. The following commentary points out several obvious problem passages for family-values advocates.

The following comments on the proposed Social Justice 12 “Integrated Resource Package” (Curriculum) are merely specific points in regard to this blatant attempt by the BC government to introduce significant philosophical changes to current public school curricula.

These changes lack the warrant of proper public dialogue, and do not conform to the specific wording of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and fail the dictates of common sense.

These changes, initiated by the Corren Settlement Agreement, whereby two citizens have been given disproportionate influence over the curricula of the BC Education system, seem designed primarily to foster change in the sexual attitudes and lifestyle choices of young people.

P. 37 contains an attack on “religion” as a negative influence on public policies and practice; then encourages thinking based on this premise and lays a groundwork for the dismissal of policies “originating” from these beliefs.

P. 38 throws “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” into a list of other personal identification characteristics, and suggests that these newly-contrived aspects of personhood might lead to marginalization or oppression, thus eliciting from sincere students a desire to become “agents of change”.

P. 39 injects further “moral impetus” for students to work to create new protected categories, insinuated by the authors, such as “addictions, secular worldviews (merely another form of religion that denies a personal God) and the environment (clearly a call for students to jump on Al Gore’s bandwagon).”

P. 41 clearly places all gender-orientation issues (personal lifestyle choices) in the same category as race and gender in terms of potential discrimination. This is contrary to logic.

The endless appeal to victimhood is not justified by history.

P.42 is full of heavily propagandized language designed to move students towards a worldview different than that of their parents and the historical and cultural roots of our nation. Prostitution (“sex-trade”) and animals are loosely thrown into a discussion purported to be about human rights as protected under Canada’s Charter. The assumption that all lifestyle choices—such as prostitution—are of equal value, and that animals should be protected by the Charter, are imaginative positions inconsistent with logic and history.

The authors go far beyond any legitimate effort to encourage students’ thinking, and here show that their true intent is to tell students HOW and WHAT they should think.

Finally, the invitation for students to write a positive commentary on how the Civil Marriage Act (the 2005 endorsement of same-sex marriage forced upon Canadians by a partially ‘whipped’ vote [Cabinet ministers were not allowed to vote their conscience]) “promotes social justice.” This is clearly not meant to lead to an open-ended discussion of the Act, its pros and cons, but an endorsement of same-sex “marriage”. Note that the invivation is only for positive comments; the possibility that students might be aware of negative social consequences flowing from this Act is excluded. That exclusion typifies the one-sidedness of this IRP.

All the above, which barely scrapes the surface of this terrible piece of work, should be sufficient to send this draft curriculum AND the companion curriculum “Making Space, Giving Voice” the overbroad and under-thought K-12 equivalent, back to the drawing board.

Family-values advocates, who actually represent a large segment of BC’s population, should be involved in the draft FROM the BEGINNING (real input) not merely be given a token opportunity to respond after the damage is done.