John Carpay: Canada was one of the leaders of the international opposition to the Apartheid laws in South Africa, in force from 1948 to 1991. All South Africans were legally classified by race as White, Black, Coloured, or Indian, with laws defining the rights and obligations of each group. Apartheid laws enforced segregation in most spheres of life, including housing, marriage, and [...]
John Carpay: Interim writer, John Carpay, Law Matters If passed into law, the Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9) will make Canada more like the increasingly authoritarian United Kingdom. U.K. police now arrest more than 30 people every day for offensive tweets, question citizens for political commentary, and have even arrested parents in front of their children, over private WhatsApp messages. [...]
John Carpay: For power-hungry tyrants, government control over the internet is non-negotiable. The internet facilitates the exercise of our Charter freedoms, including freedom of expression, association, and even conscience and religion. Tyranny does not thrive and flourish when free people can communicate with each other freely. First, the federal Online News Act required social media companies to compensate news outlets for any [...]
John Carpay: Spain’s democracy collapsed into a civil war in 1936, after which no further elections were held until 1977. Germany had a functioning democracy in the 1920s, but by 1932 most Germans voted for the two parties which enthusiastically promised to abolish democracy: the Communists and the National Socialists. In February 2022, the Canadian federal government illegally abused the Emergencies Act, [...]
John Carpay: If ethnic guilt can be transmitted from generation to generation, Canada would face never-ending conflict and strife, to the exclusion of unity and friendship. While the application of the principle “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” will not by itself create a perfect society, following this principle will create more trust, more justice and more social cohesion than [...]
Paul Tuns, Review: Corrupted by Fear: How the Charter was Betrayed, and What Canadians Can Do about It by John Carpay (Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms, $24.95, 303 pages) John Carpay will be familiar to our readers as author of the popular Law Matters column in this paper. Many will know him as the founder and president of the Justice Center for Constitutional [...]
John Carpay: In Latin, the word secular simply means “of this world,” and neither affirms nor denies any “religious” doctrine as such. Over time, the word secular has come to mean “non-religious.” After more than four centuries of loyal devotion to Catholicism, Quebecers in the 1960s began the process of ejecting the Church from schools, universities, hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, unions, orphanages, [...]
John Carpay: The Bank of Canada has made no secret of its efforts to explore a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which could lead to the abolition of cash. Cash remains essential to protect the rights and freedoms of Canadians, including their privacy, security, and autonomy. In a cashless economy, all transactions are digital, and therefore subject to surveillance and government interference. [...]
John Carpay: In reporting on Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) Justices touring the country, the Canadian Press described it as a “roadshow,” defined by Merriam-Webster as “a theatrical performance given by a troupe on tour.” Having met with select groups in Winnipeg in 2019 and Quebec City in 2022, the judges will press the flesh of Canadians in 2025 when visiting Moncton, [...]
John Carpay: On Dec. 30, the City of Pickering, Ont., released a 13-minute political attack ad against Councilor Lisa Robinson, paid for by Pickering taxpayers. The ad concludes with Mayor Kevin Ashe declaring that council meetings would henceforth be held virtually due to “increasing threats to our safety” and a need to avoid “further harassment” by “external actors.” The video decries the [...]
Rory Leishman: Thanks to the proclamation on Dec. 5 of Bill 26, The Health Statutes Amendment Act, Alberta is the first and only province to protect children under age 16 from the potentially disastrous consequences of administering puberty-blockers as a treatment for a gender identity disorder. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith deserves accolades for initiating such a compassionate and enlightened government policy. Instead, [...]
John Carpay: Who would have imagined in the 1960s that Parliament would pass a law to punish Canadians if their speech was deemed to be “hateful” by federal bureaucrats? Who would have imagined, 60 years ago, that a Digital Safety Commission would enforce speech regulations created in secret by the federal cabinet? Would anyone in the 1960s have supported criminalizing advocacy for [...]
John Carpay: If globalism means free trade and voluntary cooperation between countries, it can be a good thing. For example, doctors and scientists from different countries can share their research with each other and collaborate on creating life-saving medications. It makes good economic sense to buy coffee and bananas from tropical countries, rather than trying to grow those crops in Canada in [...]
The World Wildlife Fund released its annual “Living Planet Report” subtitled “A system in peril.” The report states that “nature is being lost – with huge implications for us all,” asserting “biodiversity sustains human life and underpins our society.” We cannot help but wonder why there are no international organizations or agencies releasing similar reports decrying the systemic extermination of preborn children [...]
John Carpay: “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it, subject only to such reasonable limits, prescribed by law, as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” Thus reads Section 1 of the document added to Canada’s constitution in 1982. In R. v. Oakes (1986) the Supreme Court ruled that when [...]