Time Immortal

Bishop Fred Henry has tangled with the Alberta Human Rights Commission before, over remarks he made concerning gay marriage, and only avoided conviction by offering a clarification of what was said that apparently satisfied the plaintiffs to a sufficient degree. My own recollection of the incident is fuzzy, but I seem to remember that the clarification was nothing even remotely close to an endorsement of gay marriage.

Be that as it may, the good bishop has produced a scathing letter to Alberta premier Ed Stelmach, concerning the AHRC and its recent ruling against Red Deer pastor Stephen Boissoin.

Dear Premier Stelmach:

I have raised the issue of the Alberta Human Rights Commission several times with you in the past 18 months. On each of those occasions, you said that you understood the issues and shared my concerns. However, the situation is continuing to deteriorate across our country and the various levels of governments are seemingly non-responsive.

…

The conflict between social pressure and the demands of right conscience can lead to the dilemma either of abandoning a profession or of compromising one’s convictions.

Faced with that tension, despite the ruling of the commission, we must remember that there is a middle path that opens up before workers who are faithful to their conscience. It is the path of conscientious objection, which ought to be respected by all, especially legislators.

Every person has the right to have their religious beliefs reasonably accommodated.

Each judgment emanating out of our various human right commissions seems to be more brazen and bizarre than the one that preceded it. However, for inane stupidity and gross miscarriage of justice our own Alberta Human Rights Tribunal deserves to take first prize for its treatment of Stephen Boissoin.

June 2008: The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal fined Stephen Boissoin, $5,000.

Section 30 of the Alberta Human Rights Act states: “Evidence may be given before a human rights panel in any manner that the panel considers appropriate, and the panel is not bound by the rules of law respecting evidence in judicial proceedings.”

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The tribunal effectively stripped Boissoin of his right to freedom of speech. “Mr. Boissoin . . . shall cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals.”

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The tribunal decided to extract a further pound of flesh by way of public humiliation. “Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. provide [Dr. Darren Lund] with a written apology for the article in the Red Deer Advocate which was the subject of this complaint.” What happens if Lund is not satisfied with the apology?

Mr. Premier, we have talked enough about the inadequate provisions of and appointment to the Alberta Human Rights Tribunals. It is time to repeal Section 3(1)(b) of the Alberta Human Rights Act and to protect the rights of religious freedom. Every person has the right to make public statements and participate in public debate on religious grounds.

The ruling against Pastor Boissoin was particularly egregious, and essentially amounted to forcing the man to recant some of his deeply-held beliefs; it was both an outrage and an absurdity, and highly offensive to anyone who places any value in the teachings of the Christian Religion. Bishop Henry has spoken out on divisive issues in the past, and his voice is a welcome addition to this cause.

Update: Welcome, Steynians! Binky raises an excellent point concerning how involved Catholics seem to be in the free speech struggle, especially when compared to the relative lack of vocal outpourings on the matter from Protestants. If your priest or preacher has spoken out on this issue, make sure to congratulate him or her for having done so. If your priest or preacher hasn’t spoken out on this issue…maybe take him or her aside for a moment to ask why.

We Christians, especially, have a real stake in this whole affair, and the body of Christ should be united on this issue. It should also speak out as one against the abuses of the HRCs.

Ezra Levant is in a positively giddy mood after having posted, in its entirety, the letter that got Red Deer Christian pastor Stephen Boissoin convicted by the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

I feel like a dashing rogue, like the Scarlet Pimpernel. Now I know why men ride motorcycles; now I know how it must feel to sport a moustache, to wear a tattoo (and not just the Chinese pictograph for ginger beef, but a tough one, a home-made one, that says “mom”).

There’s something ineffable about being a free man, about saying what you want, about not being afraid of what someone else thinks.

It feels pretty good.

I’d encourage you to try it.

Go ahead.

Publish Rev. Stephen Boissoin’s hate crime. I don’t care if you’re Christian, or gay, or both. I don’t care if you agree with it or not. Just republish it. Do it because you’re not supposed to do it. Because and Ed Stelmach and Darren Lund say you can’t. Do it because the Red Deer Advocate caved in and copped a plea bargain, instead of fighting like Rev. Boissoin (and Maclean’s and Mark Steyn) did.

Do it to show that you have natural rights that predate, and exceed, any “human rights” given or taken away by Alberta’s human rights commission.

Do it to show that you’re alive. To feel alive. To show that democracy and freedom are still alive.

I have to tell you, I feel great. I’m going to post it again, right now.

Hey, why not? I need to drop a few pounds!

Homosexual Agenda Wicked

The following is not intended for those who are suffering from an unwanted sexual identity crisis. For you, I have understanding, care, compassion and tolerance. I sympathize with you and offer you my love and fellowship. I prayerfully beseech you to seek help, and I assure you that your present enslavement to homosexuality can be remedied. Many outspoken, former homosexuals are free today.

Instead, this is aimed precisely at every individual that in any way supports the homosexual machine that has been mercilessly gaining ground in our society since the 1960s. I cannot pity you any longer and remain inactive. You have caused far too much damage.

My banner has now been raised and war has been declared so as to defend the precious sanctity of our innocent children and youth, that you so eagerly toil, day and night, to consume. With me stand the greatest weapons that you have encountered to date - God and the “Moral Majority.” Know this, we will defeat you, then heal the damage that you have caused. Modern society has become dispassionate to the cause of righteousness. Many people are so apathetic and desensitized today that they cannot even accurately define the term “morality.”

The masses have dug in and continue to excuse their failure to stand against horrendous atrocities such as the aggressive propagation of homo- and bisexuality. Inexcusable justifications such as, “I’m just not sure where the truth lies,” or “If they don’t affect me then I don’t care what they do,” abound from the lips of the quantifiable majority.

Face the facts, it is affecting you. Like it or not, every professing heterosexual is have their future aggressively chopped at the roots.

Edmund Burke’s observation that, “All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing,” has been confirmed time and time again. From kindergarten class on, our children, your grandchildren are being strategically targeted, psychologically abused and brainwashed by homosexual and pro-homosexual educators.

Our children are being victimized by repugnant and premeditated strategies, aimed at desensitizing and eventually recruiting our young into their camps. Think about it, children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights.

Your children are being warped into believing that same-sex families are acceptable; that men kissing men is appropriate.

Your teenagers are being instructed on how to perform so-called safe same gender oral and anal sex and at the same time being told that it is normal, natural and even productive. Will your child be the next victim that tests homosexuality positive?

Come on people, wake up! It’s time to stand together and take whatever steps are necessary to reverse the wickedness that our lethargy has authorized to spawn. Where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds.

Regardless of what you hear, the militant homosexual agenda isn’t rooted in protecting homosexuals from “gay bashing.” The agenda is clearly about homosexual activists that include, teachers, politicians, lawyers, Supreme Court judges, and God forbid, even so-called ministers, who are all determined to gain complete equality in our nation and even worse, our world.

Don’t allow yourself to be deceived any longer. These activists are not morally upright citizens, concerned about the best interests of our society. They are perverse, self-centered and morally deprived individuals who are spreading their psychological disease into every area of our lives. Homosexual rights activists and those that defend them, are just as immoral as the pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps that plague our communities.

The homosexual agenda is not gaining ground because it is morally backed. It is gaining ground simply because you, Mr. and Mrs. Heterosexual, do nothing to stop it. It is only a matter of time before some of these morally bankrupt individuals such as those involved with NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Lovers Association, will achieve their goal to have sexual relations with children and assert that it is a matter of free choice and claim that we are intolerant bigots not to accept it.

If you are reading this and think that this is alarmist, then I simply ask you this: how bad do things have to become before you will get involved? It’s time to start taking back what the enemy has taken from you. The safety and future of our children is at stake.

Rev. Stephen Boissoin

You know, Grace did tell me, the other night, that she thought I looked thinner.

Count Roland writes in with some follow-up thoughts on this article.

I agree with you and Premier Stelmach.

However, A similar incident is reported to have happened at a Conoco-Phillips site elsewhere in the oilsands.

If that is the case, then perhaps the government should not only investigate both companies but also reflect on its own regulations and staffing levels (tough to keep adequate in today’s economy) to ensure that it can inspect in a timely manner to ensure compliance with the pertinent regulations, regulations which should be more environmentally conscious. Also, a program that penalizes companies for non-compliance, as well as for being below average in environmental stewardship and stockpiiles some money and gives extra money to sites above average in quality would also tend to improve environmental standards through voluntary means (if the carrot and stick are big enough…)

Pace to most environmentalists, but simple government fiats towards higher standards without incentives ensure, at best, minimal compliance. The people, the environment and the governmant are better served by using market measures to drive policy as opposed to laws which may be difficult to enforce. Positive and negative reinforcement work better than empty praise and punishment.

I can’t really disagree with that, O Reader. I applauded Ed Stelmach’s conviction that the Syncrude incident with the ducks would be investigated further, and I certainly think that there are probably more than a few different examples one could find in Fort McMurray of companies who flout various environmental regulations. Certainly, that is the impression I get from speaking to a sister of mine who works, currently, with a consultancy group that periodically does environmental evaluations in the region of that city.

And perhaps that will be an outcome of these investigations.

The problem, as I see it, will not be getting someone to agree to use “the stick” so much as it will be getting that someone to use “the stick” fairly. It’s ludicrously easy to point to the oil companies and cry out over the environmental havoc they may be wreaking. It’s substantially more difficult, because the issue is more politicized, to do the same about supposedly “green” operations, like wind farms or hydro dams — even when wind farms are far more devastating to avian populations than even ten Syncrude tailings ponds would be, and even when hydro dams destroy (through flooding) vast tracts of land that even Syncrude’s draglines would be hard-pressed to cultivate.

Still, overall, Stelmach has been good at keeping his promises, and there is a distinct hope that something will come of this investigation.

Good for Ed Stelmach — he’s exactly right.

Premier Ed Stelmach says Syncrude isn’t off the hook despite the fact the oilsands company placed full-page ads in major newspapers to apologize for an incident where about 500 ducks died in a toxic tailings pond.

“People may go through a stop sign and hurt someone, and they apologize, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the full investigation,” Stelmach told reporters at a charity walk in Calgary on Sunday.

“You can apologize for the event, but we will continue to investigate the incident and make sure . . . to attach the responsibility for obviously a break-down somewhere.”

Hundreds of ducks died a week ago today after they landed on a tailings pond at Syncrude Canada’s Aurora mine north of Fort McMurray. The pond contains a toxic mix of byproducts left over after oil is washed out of the sand. Most of the ducks sank under the weight of the residue.

I’m not usually a fan of government intervention, but I will say that I am glad the the Alberta govermnent will be investigating whether there was any negligence on the part of Syncrude in regard to the issue of these ducks. It would be nice if the government also took a look at how many thousands of avians get killed every year as a result of wind turbines in the southern parts of the province, of course…every travesty such as this merits investigation.

Not only did they retain power, I think they even increased their majority. And the Liberals and the NDP seem to both have lost seats, defying most peoples’ expectations.

The nice guy who had the pleasant demeanour of the 98-pound softie getting sand kicked in his face turned out to be the Incredible Hulk. It is a remarkable turn of events given how public opinion polls indicated Albertans were an unhappy lot.

They might have been cranky during the campaign, angry about affordable housing, worried about access to healthcare, concerned about the environment and muttering about the need for a change — but when they stepped into the voting booth they couldn’t bring themselves to change their vote.

Instead, they embraced the guy who promised change from within government — the “change that works for Albertans,” according to the Tories’ election slogan.

Well, it certainly worked for [Ed Stelmach] and the Tories on Monday night.

They won 73 seats. That’s not just impressive, it is stunning. It is almost as many as Klein got in his prime (74 seats) and is the largest landslide won by a Conservative premier in his first election. Ever.

Stelmach, Grace and I decided last night, seemed to be a bit of a paradox; an honest man who, by and large, gets things done, but who was really uncomfortable when caught out in public. He was the leader and, by extension, public face of a powerful party, but was himself not particularly skilled at public appearences. By contrast, when faced with a task, he seemed to be the sort to just throw himself at it until it was done — a mentality one might expect from a Ukrainian farmer. His campaign was nothing to write home about, and he has seemed to make a lot of gaffes (what few public statements he has made about, for example, freedom of expression issues in the province have been little more than politically correct pablum)…and yet one nevertheless gets the sense that he’s, generally speaking, a man of his word and a “doer.”

And evidently, Albertans felt that was worth getting behind.

Pity so many of us were lazy-arses and didn’t turn out to vote, though. But even then, Grace had a bit of an optimistic assessment as she looked around the polling station yesterday: the people who were there genuinely seemed like they cared about the direction Alberta was taking; they weren’t disinterested, but instead were animated, talking amongst themselves and debating the issues right up to the moment the ballots landed in their hand. That’s a hopeful sign, methinks.

As my wife reminded me this morning, it is Election Day in Alberta. So get out and vote, Albertan readers. If you’re interested, the folks over at SDA are taking bets on how many seats Ed Stelmach’s Tories will lose this time around.

But, given their rather unambiguous statement on the value of freedom of expression, the Alberta Liberal Party is looking like a pretty good choice compared to Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative party. Especially since Ed can’t seem to sort out his head from his butt when it comes to said same important issue:

“We have in the Province of Alberta a system where the Alberta Human Rights Commission, um, hears, ah, different cases that come forward, uh, under the Charter, and protection of human rights. I know that, ah, this is an issue that came as a result of some comments made, uh, and cartoons I believe with respect to the Muslim faith. Uh, and, uh, it’s–it’s most unfortunate because Alberta is a mosaic of many cultures, and, uh, our goal is here to, of course, the additional resources we put in to arts and culture that we bring — uh, just better understanding the various cultures in the Province of Alberta that we can live together in peace.”

Does anyone know what that means — other than the man politically responsible for the Alberta Human Rights Commission hasn’t got a clue?

His statement was one part free association, one part drivel, two parts political correctness and five or six empty cliches, all delivered with the hestitation of a deer caught in the headlights.

Ugh. What an embarrassment.