The homosexual activist who pursued Alberta pastor Stephen Boissoin on a complaint of discrimination since 2002 has re-launched his campaign, after a December court defeat, by taking his case to the Alberta Court of Appeal. Dr. Darren Lund is appealing the Dec. 4, 2009 Court of Queen’s Bench decision by Justice Earl C. Wilson, who overturned a 2008 ruling against Boissoin [...]
Early in the previous century, G.K. Chesterton observed that it is the mark of the modern that “the normative is everywhere and always being subordinated to the non-normative.” In our own age of proliferating “rights,” it is a further mark of the modern that the universal is everywhere and always subordinated to the particular. Until relatively recently, the natural rights upon which [...]
Stephen Boissoin brought some of the tenacity that goes along with his being a boxer when he travelled to Ontario to speak about his human rights case recently. Ending a self-imposed media and public speaking boycott of some length in time, Boissoin spoke in Grimbsy, Ont., just outside Hamilton, on Oct. 16 at a meeting of the Niagara chapter of [...]
The bizarre saga of Canada’s censorious human rights commissions took another freakish turn in September, when one of its own suddenly declared the very system that employed him “unconstitutional.” Even longtime HRC critic (and victim-turned-victor) Ezra Levant was taken aback. As Levant put it at his blog when the news broke: “Two years ago, Athanasios Hadjis was a human rights hack, sitting [...]
The Roman Catholic bishop of Peterborough, Nicola De Angelis, has written a pastoral letter addressing a recent complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, brought against the bishop and 12 local parishioners. In the letter, distributed on Sept. 13, he strongly redressed the OHRT’s encroachment, asserted his authority as bishop of his diocese and the autonomy of the church from state control over [...]
In a classic 20th-century treatise entitled The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek observed that the hallmark of a free country is the subordination of ruling authority to the fundamental principles of the rule of law. He explained: “Stripped of all technicalities, this means that government, in all its actions, is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand -- rules which [...]
Montreal, Vancouver pride events denied Marquee cash OTTAWA – The Canadian Press reported that the Marquee Tourism Event Program, which doled out $400,000 to the Toronto Pride parade in June, refused in July to fund similar gay pride events in Montreal and Vancouver. Divers-Cite, the organizing committee in Montreal, had asked for $155,000 to promote their gay pride events and add performers, but [...]
Pro-life MPP Frank Klees finishes strong second The early frontrunner for the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership ended up winning, but the pro-life evangelical who finished second surprised many both in and out of the party. On the eve of the June 27 announcement at the leadership convention in Markham, one news broadcast said that the convention would crown either MPP [...]
The Catholic bishop of Peterborough, Ont., Rev. Nicola de Angelis, is facing an investigation by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for barring a homosexual member of his flock from serving on the altar. When 12 members of St. Michael’s parish in Cobourg, Ont. strongly expressed concerns to their bishop about Jim Corcoran, a homosexual altar server living with his same-sex [...]
PepsiCo, which owns Pepsi, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Gatorade and Quaker, has been reported to have donated more than $1 million to homosexual groups, while refusing to give money to organizations opposing the homosexual agenda. It's part of a long history of the company's support for homosexual causes, which has attracted a boycott (www.boycottpepsico.com). According to Children of God for Life (www.cogfor life.org), [...]
Canada Sarnia Transit, the municipal bus service in the Ontario border town, banned a LifeCanada ad that read, "9 months: The length of time an abortion is allowed in Canada." A female high school student complained that the city seemed to be endorsing the pro-life position and so the advertisements were removed from six city buses. The city is now considering [...]
Editor's Note: On Sept. 22, Interim Publishing released The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights (and Why It Matters to Americans) as an e-book (electronic book) and two weeks later as a paperback (see advertisement on page 7). Internationally reknowned columnist Mark Steyn wrote the introduction. Interim editor Paul Tuns interviewed the co-authors, Kathy Shaidle and [...]
Complainant appeals CHRC’s dismissal of case against magazine Canada’s human rights industry has resumed its persecution of Catholic Insight, a magazine edited by former Interim editor Fr. Alphonse de Valk. On July 31, Rob Wells requested a formal judicial review of the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s dismissal of his complaint against the magazine. The commission had spent 16 months investigating de Valk and Catholic [...]
The controversy over human rights legislation and its attendant federal and provincial commissions – as well as the conduct of their employees and associates – continues to simmer despite the usual slowdown in political activity during the summer season. Two significant recent developments that have kept the pot boiling were the dismissals of human rights complaints against Catholic Insight and Maclean’s magazines. In the [...]
Pete Vere Senior Writer The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal has rendered a decision against Pastor Stephen Boissoin, a Baptist youth minister who in 2002 wrote a letter to the Red Deer Advocate denouncing homosexual activism in local public schools. The letter, which was published during the height of Canada’s debate over same-sex “marriage,” garnered much attention due to Boissoin’s having compared this type [...]