John Carpay: Will Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, empower the federal government to censor controversial and unpopular speech on the internet? Not immediately. But the Online Streaming Act (OSA) is a significant and dangerous first step towards government control of the internet. The stated purpose of the OSA is not particularly controversial: to bring influential streaming services like Netflix, Disney and [...]
John Carpay: The constitution of Communist China expressly protects human rights and fundamental freedoms, including private property rights; freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession and demonstration; and religious freedom. Unlawful detention is expressly prohibited, as is the unlawful search of a citizen’s person or home. However, these rights and freedoms are subject to Article 1 of the Constitution, which declares [...]
John Carpay: A person who is arrested or put in prison because of his or her political beliefs is a political prisoner. This also holds true for peaceful activists who are wrongfully arrested under trumped-up criminal charges. Long-standing readers of The Interim will immediately think about Mary Wagner and Fr. Tony Van Hee as examples of Canadians who were arrested or imprisoned [...]
By John Carpay: A friend of mine, a priest I have known for 32 years, recently told me to stop complaining about vaccine passports and various lockdown measures (masks, anti-social distancing, etc.) because they exist for the common good and are intended to save lives. Referencing the encyclical Diuturnum Illud, my priestly friend says that disobeying the law is a sin, unless that [...]
John Carpay This past Remembrance Day, I thought of my grandparents and all the others who fought for freedom against foreign dictatorships: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, fascist Italy, and communist forces in Korea and Vietnam. While successfully defending freedom abroad, Canadians have now surrendered to living under a medical dictatorship on our own soil. Starting in March of 2020, we were prohibited [...]
John Carpay Canada is now divided into two classes of citizens, the Vaccinated and the Unvaccinated, each with different legal rights. How will Canadian churches respond to this medical apartheid? Apartheid (Afrikaans for “apartness”) was South Africa’s system of racial segregation, in force from 1948 to the early 1990s. All South Africans were legally designated as “Black,” “White,” Coloured” or “Indian.” A [...]
Canadians who support mandatory vaccination policies (with the loss of basic civil liberties and human rights for the non-compliant) are no doubt well-intentioned. But good intentions are no substitute for medical and scientific evidence. The new COVID shots do not prevent the spread of COVID, as evidenced by the numerous COVID outbreaks amongst the double-vaccinated in Israel, Iceland, and around the world. [...]
John Carpay: Interim writer, John Carpay, Law Matters Sixteen months into lockdowns, governments continue to restrict our basic Charter freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, religion, conscience, travel, and movement. Meanwhile, our economy lies in ruins. Our children and grandchildren will need to repay hundreds of billions of dollars of lockdown debt. What started out as a reasonable, precautionary response [...]
John Carpay: In recent months I’ve spoken at several peaceful gatherings, urging citizens to exercise their Charter rights and freedoms in the face of unscientific, arbitrary, irrational and unconstitutional health orders. But now I wonder if I will end up in jail, as Jason Kenney has effectively banned peaceful outdoor protests in what is supposed to be Canada’s freest province. In April, [...]
By John Carpay At an April 8 news conference, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney referenced pro-life convictions as the basis for continuing with, and tightening further, his lockdown restrictions on social and economic life. Since politicians imposed “two weeks to flatten the curve” more than 13 months ago, Kenney has repeatedly referred to the “moral responsibility to protect lives.” He and other premiers, [...]
By John Carpay Pastor James Coates spent more than a month in the Edmonton Remand Centre, after being arrested and jailed on Feb. 16, 2021. He and his Grace Life Church are charged with failing to comply with Jason Kenney’s unscientific and unconstitutional health orders that restrict the freedom of Pastor Coates and his church to worship God as God calls them [...]
By John Carpay Interim writer, John Carpay, Law Matters Those wrestling with the morality of lockdowns could benefit from the profound insights provided by Bishop John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, a Notre Dame Law School professor, and vice-president of the Illinois Catholic Health Association. Bishop Paprocki notes that government officials give dire warning about a virus that can kill the [...]
BY JOHN CARPAY Interim writer, John Carpay, Law Matters What drives some religious leaders to ignore the harm and suffering that lockdowns are inflicting on their congregations, and on all of society? We are now 10 months into the daily and ongoing violation of our human rights and fundamental freedoms. Depending on what province you live in, it’s illegal to [...]
Interim writer, John Carpay, Law Matters By John Carpay Editor's Note: The statistics in this column were accurate when the print edition went to press on Dec. 20, 2020. A friend wrote me recently, stating “There are times when personal freedom has to be limited for the greater good. I was a small child in World War II, but well [...]
Interim writer, John Carpay, Law Matters By John Carpay Prime Minister Trudeau and other politicians have threatened to kill Christmas. While they cannot undo the birth of Jesus, they certainly do possess political power to violate our Charter freedoms to move, travel, assemble, associate, and worship at Christmas time. By use of coercive state power, politicians can prevent family visits, [...]