You might want to re-think your position because whatever "rights" you have acheived could be in jeopardy if this alliance gains strength.......
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Muslims defend Catholic stance in homosexal adoption row
THAT should trump everyone else
The Muslim Council of Britain has backed the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in the adoption row. The intervention adds to the pressure on the Government to create an exemption for religious adoption societies under the new Sexual Orientation Regulations. This week the Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York entered the debate with a strong statement of support for the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who wrote to every member of the Cabinet warning that Catholic agencies could not accept a law that would force them to place children with gay couples.
Catholic leaders have given warning that the church’s seven adoption agencies, which placed 227 children last year, cannot breach Vatican guidelines against allowing gay couples to adopt, and would have no alternative but to close.
The Muslim Council said that it backed the churches’ “principled stand”. Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, the Secretary-General, said: “The right to practise one’s faith or the freedom to have no belief is a cornerstone of our society, as is the right of all to live free from unfair discrimination and harassment.
“Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam. The Sexual Orientation Regulations as we understand them do not promote homosexuality but would provide protection against discrimination and harassment on account of sexual orientation. “As Muslims, we are obliged to uphold the moral standards and codes of conduct dictated by our faith.”
He said that the refusal to permit an exemption was inconsistent with previous antidiscrimination legislation. He added that the regulations should “take full account of our multifaith, multicultural, multiethnic society and make accommodation to accord with differing beliefs and values”.
# Catholic leaders in Scotland have raised the stakes in the row by warning senior Cabinet ministers from Scotland that they will campaign against Labour candidates in the Scottish elections in May over the issue.
Archbishop Mario Conti, the vice-president of the Bishops’ Conference in Glasgow, wrote to Gordon Brown, the Chan-cellor, John Reid, the Home Secretary, Alistair Darling, the Trade Secretary, Douglas Alexander, the Transport and Scottish Secretary, and Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, and repeated his warning to the Prime Minister that disallowing Catholic agencies to discriminate will be a “betrayal”.
Source
More
Friday, January 26, 2007
You Gotta See The Humour In The Title
The world’s shortest list: Things that don’t offend Muslims
Muslims challenge school yoga drill
Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent-The Australian)
WHAT is believed to be the world’s largest single yoga drill took place in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh yesterday despite last-minute intervention by the High Court, acting on complaints that it would offend Islam.
Amid fierce resistance from furious Islamic organisations, the court ruled that the mass yoga class, involving an estimated five million schoolchildren, could go ahead, but on a voluntary basis, with Muslims not compelled to take part.The timeless six-posture Surya Namaskar (Salute to the Sun) yoga drill was ordered by the state’s Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, as part of a drive aimed at improving the health of the state’s children.
Continue
Muslims challenge school yoga drill
Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent-The Australian)
WHAT is believed to be the world’s largest single yoga drill took place in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh yesterday despite last-minute intervention by the High Court, acting on complaints that it would offend Islam.
Amid fierce resistance from furious Islamic organisations, the court ruled that the mass yoga class, involving an estimated five million schoolchildren, could go ahead, but on a voluntary basis, with Muslims not compelled to take part.The timeless six-posture Surya Namaskar (Salute to the Sun) yoga drill was ordered by the state’s Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, as part of a drive aimed at improving the health of the state’s children.
Continue
Warning: Don't Overdose On Viagra
Ouch!
Filed under: Odds and Ends — John @ 8:29 pm
Never Give an Iguana Viagra
ANTWERP, Belgium (Reuters) - Mozart, an iguana with an erection that has lasted for over a week, will have his penis amputated in the next couple of days.
Veterinarians at Antwerp’s Aquatopia had sought to treat the animal’s problem, but decided removal was the only solution because of the risk of infection. The good news for Mozart and his mates is that male iguanas have two penises.
Mozart, sitting on the shoulders of his keeper as camera crews focused on his red, swollen erection, seemed unperturbed by the news.
“It doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t know what amputation means,” said vet Luc Lambrecht, adding that Mozart’s sexual activity should be undimmed by the operation.
“I don’t think so. That’s all in his head.”
Filed under: Odds and Ends — John @ 8:29 pm
Never Give an Iguana Viagra
ANTWERP, Belgium (Reuters) - Mozart, an iguana with an erection that has lasted for over a week, will have his penis amputated in the next couple of days.
Veterinarians at Antwerp’s Aquatopia had sought to treat the animal’s problem, but decided removal was the only solution because of the risk of infection. The good news for Mozart and his mates is that male iguanas have two penises.
Mozart, sitting on the shoulders of his keeper as camera crews focused on his red, swollen erection, seemed unperturbed by the news.
“It doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t know what amputation means,” said vet Luc Lambrecht, adding that Mozart’s sexual activity should be undimmed by the operation.
“I don’t think so. That’s all in his head.”
Do You Abuse Your Wife
To some this would be considered a weapon rather than a question and this approach is discussed in the following article. Even though the article could be considered written with a pro-Isreali slant the premise is valid.
NEW: Questions As Weapons
By Charles Jacobs - Tuesday 23rd of January 2007
Why did you kill your grandmother?” That’s what Professor Ruth Wisse said to an Arab student at Stanford who asked her, “Why is Israel an apartheid state?”
The student was flummoxed and tried again, “Why is Israel an apartheid state?” Wisse again responded, “Come on now, tell us why you killed your grandmother.” A few more rounds of this and the student relented.
According to the Chabad Rabbi who invited Harvard’s Wisse to speak, Wisse then explained how some questions are not questions at all, but weapons: If she would have answered his anti-Israel accusation, she would have been trapped, and done damage to her cause.
Her “grandmother” riposte was the perfect demonstration of that point:
Having to explain why you’re not guilty as charged is a losing proposition.
Yet Jews have allowed themselves to be trapped in a meta-discourse that continuously takes the form: “Israel is bad.” “No it’s not.” Or “It’s not as bad as you say.”
Indeed, much of the history of hasbara – Israeli PR – has been defense against slanderous accusations. The classic handy reference book many students use, “Myths and Facts,” a tome fat with expanded revisions to include the evolving set of lies and half-truths hurled at the Jewish state by Arabist propaganda. The formula of the book, which is the formula for much of hasbara training, is to set out the “myth” and then answer it with the true “facts.”
Sometimes the “factual” response shows how Israeli conduct is exemplary:
“Israel is an apartheid state?” “No,” reads the formula. “Apartheid is something very different and cannot be applied to the condition of Palestinians in Israel, who are in fact treated in many ways better than they are in Arab countries.” Etc.
But even this – “We are much better than you say” doesn¹t work, because as long as the discourse focuses on Israeli behavior, we lose.
What to do? Once armed with the realization that the anti-Israel formula accuses Israel of exactly those crimes the Arab/Muslim world has committed, we can work our way out of the corner:
“You say the Jews are guilty of oppression, apartheid, discrimination, expansion by land theft? Not true. What is true is that the Arab world is guilty of every one of these things.”
Here’s an enhanced “Myths, Facts, and Big Picture” approach:
The Lie: Israel is an apartheid state.
The Truth: That’s ridiculous. (See Myths and Facts on why.)
Transition: But I’m glad you brought up apartheid. Christians are fleeing Palestinian-controlled areas due to Muslim violence. Violence against women, especially “honor killings” where male relatives kill females for “improper” sexual relations, are common in Palestinian territories and throughout the Muslim world. Jews are not even permitted to set foot in Saudi Arabia.
The Big Picture: Something similar to apartheid is found in the Arab world, where women and children, gays and lesbians, and Christians and Jews, are controlled, expelled, tormented and killed. That’s what we should be protesting.
NEW: Questions As Weapons
By Charles Jacobs - Tuesday 23rd of January 2007
Why did you kill your grandmother?” That’s what Professor Ruth Wisse said to an Arab student at Stanford who asked her, “Why is Israel an apartheid state?”
The student was flummoxed and tried again, “Why is Israel an apartheid state?” Wisse again responded, “Come on now, tell us why you killed your grandmother.” A few more rounds of this and the student relented.
According to the Chabad Rabbi who invited Harvard’s Wisse to speak, Wisse then explained how some questions are not questions at all, but weapons: If she would have answered his anti-Israel accusation, she would have been trapped, and done damage to her cause.
Her “grandmother” riposte was the perfect demonstration of that point:
Having to explain why you’re not guilty as charged is a losing proposition.
Yet Jews have allowed themselves to be trapped in a meta-discourse that continuously takes the form: “Israel is bad.” “No it’s not.” Or “It’s not as bad as you say.”
Indeed, much of the history of hasbara – Israeli PR – has been defense against slanderous accusations. The classic handy reference book many students use, “Myths and Facts,” a tome fat with expanded revisions to include the evolving set of lies and half-truths hurled at the Jewish state by Arabist propaganda. The formula of the book, which is the formula for much of hasbara training, is to set out the “myth” and then answer it with the true “facts.”
Sometimes the “factual” response shows how Israeli conduct is exemplary:
“Israel is an apartheid state?” “No,” reads the formula. “Apartheid is something very different and cannot be applied to the condition of Palestinians in Israel, who are in fact treated in many ways better than they are in Arab countries.” Etc.
But even this – “We are much better than you say” doesn¹t work, because as long as the discourse focuses on Israeli behavior, we lose.
What to do? Once armed with the realization that the anti-Israel formula accuses Israel of exactly those crimes the Arab/Muslim world has committed, we can work our way out of the corner:
“You say the Jews are guilty of oppression, apartheid, discrimination, expansion by land theft? Not true. What is true is that the Arab world is guilty of every one of these things.”
Here’s an enhanced “Myths, Facts, and Big Picture” approach:
The Lie: Israel is an apartheid state.
The Truth: That’s ridiculous. (See Myths and Facts on why.)
Transition: But I’m glad you brought up apartheid. Christians are fleeing Palestinian-controlled areas due to Muslim violence. Violence against women, especially “honor killings” where male relatives kill females for “improper” sexual relations, are common in Palestinian territories and throughout the Muslim world. Jews are not even permitted to set foot in Saudi Arabia.
The Big Picture: Something similar to apartheid is found in the Arab world, where women and children, gays and lesbians, and Christians and Jews, are controlled, expelled, tormented and killed. That’s what we should be protesting.
Tailgating A Football Tradition But NFL Says NO
But fans disagree with the NFL
Tailgating Forbidden For Super Bowl
Poll
Should the NFL allow tailgating for the Super Bowl?
(CBS4) MIAMI Die-hard football fans attending the Super Bowl game at Dolphin Stadium are getting a rude awakening after finding out that no tailgating of any type will be allowed on game day within one mile of the stadium.
"There is no tailgating allowed in the Dolphin Stadium parking lots," Sue Jaquez, a member of the Super Bowl XLI Host Committee, confirmed on Tuesday. "And there is no tailgating anywhere within a one-mile radius of the stadium." "And there are no RVs allowed."
Tailgating is permitted during regular- and post-season games for Dolphins fans, a team official on Tuesday said it would indeed be allowed at the Super Bowl. According to Jaquez, however, the official has been seriously misinformed.
The Dolphins do not organize and oversee the Super Bowl, Jaquez pointed out. Instead, those duties are left up to NFL officials. And because of security reasons, no pre-game partying on (or very near) the premises will take place. Fans spotted tailgating could face charges, Jaquez said.
"This is part of the NFL, not the Dolphins," Jaquez said. "If the Dolphins are saying there's tailgating -- or think it's going to be allowed -- then they need to contact the NFL."
Detective Nelda Fonticella of the Miami-Dade Police confirmed the Super Bowl rules.
If caught grilling or consuming alcohol within that one-mile radius of Dolphins Stadium, fans initially "will be warned and asked to pick up their things and leave," Fonticella said. "We're trying to make this a pleasant experience for everyone, and there will be plenty to do in the week leading up to the game."
nys
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Tailgating Forbidden For Super Bowl
Poll
Should the NFL allow tailgating for the Super Bowl?
(CBS4) MIAMI Die-hard football fans attending the Super Bowl game at Dolphin Stadium are getting a rude awakening after finding out that no tailgating of any type will be allowed on game day within one mile of the stadium.
"There is no tailgating allowed in the Dolphin Stadium parking lots," Sue Jaquez, a member of the Super Bowl XLI Host Committee, confirmed on Tuesday. "And there is no tailgating anywhere within a one-mile radius of the stadium." "And there are no RVs allowed."
Tailgating is permitted during regular- and post-season games for Dolphins fans, a team official on Tuesday said it would indeed be allowed at the Super Bowl. According to Jaquez, however, the official has been seriously misinformed.
The Dolphins do not organize and oversee the Super Bowl, Jaquez pointed out. Instead, those duties are left up to NFL officials. And because of security reasons, no pre-game partying on (or very near) the premises will take place. Fans spotted tailgating could face charges, Jaquez said.
"This is part of the NFL, not the Dolphins," Jaquez said. "If the Dolphins are saying there's tailgating -- or think it's going to be allowed -- then they need to contact the NFL."
Detective Nelda Fonticella of the Miami-Dade Police confirmed the Super Bowl rules.
If caught grilling or consuming alcohol within that one-mile radius of Dolphins Stadium, fans initially "will be warned and asked to pick up their things and leave," Fonticella said. "We're trying to make this a pleasant experience for everyone, and there will be plenty to do in the week leading up to the game."
nys
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
A Familar Refrain
Maybe it is time to look at a different from of governance for large urban centers as it is obvious as our cultural makeup changes the voters aren't meeting their responsibilities, low turnout during municipal elections, and mayors are elected by special interest groups. Maybe a City Manager concept......
Tremblay all policy, no action opposition:
Mayor won't answer blast from Eloyan
LINDA GYULAI
The Gazette
Friday, January 26, 2007
Mayor Gerald Tremblay's answer yesterday to a blast from city hall opposition leader Noushig Eloyan was silence.
"No comment," Darren Becker, a spokesperson for the Tremblay administration, added when asked for the mayor's reaction to Eloyan, a Vision Montreal councillor who accused Tremblay and his Montreal Island Citizens Union of "doing absolutely nothing" for the city over the past five years.
"There's an abandonment of responsibility," Eloyan said at one of the few news conferences she's given since replacing Pierre Bourque as opposition leader after he quit in May.
Eloyan listed a host of what she called Tremblay's unfulfilled pledges, like improving public transit, fighting homelessness, curbing street gangs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adding bicycle paths and stemming the exodus of Montrealers to off-island suburbs.
"Above and beyond the slogans, action is lacking," she said.
Tremblay's "trademark" is to release policies, she said - on heritage, trees, culture, sustainable development and economic development.
The promised Cavendish Blvd. extension and redesign of Notre Dame St. E. have yet to happen, Eloyan added.
And she derided Tremblay's announcement from Paris last February that he'll build a tramway on at least one artery, Park Ave., within four years.
"He's like a boy wanting a toy," she said. "He sees a toy and he absolutely wants it."
She added it isn't the opposition's role to come up with ideas.
"That's his job as mayor."
Eloyan said her party - which has 11 councillors compared with Tremblay's 48 - plans to push for action at borough and city council meetings and public hearings.
Still, Tremblay's refusal to rebut Eloyan is "discouraging," Vision Montreal councillor Mary Deros said last night. She noted he also didn't heed the 42,000 signatures on petitions against renaming Park Ave. and Bleury St. after the late premier Robert Bourassa.
"They're too comfortable," she said. "They don't have to respond because they know they're going to be there another three years."
lgyulai@thegazette.canwest.com
Tremblay all policy, no action opposition:
Mayor won't answer blast from Eloyan
LINDA GYULAI
The Gazette
Friday, January 26, 2007
Mayor Gerald Tremblay's answer yesterday to a blast from city hall opposition leader Noushig Eloyan was silence.
"No comment," Darren Becker, a spokesperson for the Tremblay administration, added when asked for the mayor's reaction to Eloyan, a Vision Montreal councillor who accused Tremblay and his Montreal Island Citizens Union of "doing absolutely nothing" for the city over the past five years.
"There's an abandonment of responsibility," Eloyan said at one of the few news conferences she's given since replacing Pierre Bourque as opposition leader after he quit in May.
Eloyan listed a host of what she called Tremblay's unfulfilled pledges, like improving public transit, fighting homelessness, curbing street gangs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adding bicycle paths and stemming the exodus of Montrealers to off-island suburbs.
"Above and beyond the slogans, action is lacking," she said.
Tremblay's "trademark" is to release policies, she said - on heritage, trees, culture, sustainable development and economic development.
The promised Cavendish Blvd. extension and redesign of Notre Dame St. E. have yet to happen, Eloyan added.
And she derided Tremblay's announcement from Paris last February that he'll build a tramway on at least one artery, Park Ave., within four years.
"He's like a boy wanting a toy," she said. "He sees a toy and he absolutely wants it."
She added it isn't the opposition's role to come up with ideas.
"That's his job as mayor."
Eloyan said her party - which has 11 councillors compared with Tremblay's 48 - plans to push for action at borough and city council meetings and public hearings.
Still, Tremblay's refusal to rebut Eloyan is "discouraging," Vision Montreal councillor Mary Deros said last night. She noted he also didn't heed the 42,000 signatures on petitions against renaming Park Ave. and Bleury St. after the late premier Robert Bourassa.
"They're too comfortable," she said. "They don't have to respond because they know they're going to be there another three years."
lgyulai@thegazette.canwest.com
If Anyone Should Be Offended It Is Civil Servants
The "joke" is clearly an insult to all of the hard working and dedicated civil servants at all levels of government and the indians should be the ones resigning, apologizing and/or taking diversity training. Also why are we not hearing from animal right's groups?
'Whoa, Tonto!'
Text of what British Columbia Conservative MP Colin Mayes (Okanagan-Shuswap) described as a "good joke."
An Indian walks into Tim Horton's with a shotgun in one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other.
He says to the waiter, "Want coffee."
The waiter says, "Sure chief, coming right up."
He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee.
He drinks the coffee down in one gulp, turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere, then just walks out. The next morning the Indian returns. He has his shotgun in one hand another male buffalo with the other.
He walks up to the counter and says to the waiter, "Want coffee."
The waiter says, "Whoa, Tonto! We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?"
The Indian smiles and proudly says: "Training for an upper management position in Canadian Government: Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, leave mess for others to clean up, and disappear for rest of day."
'Whoa, Tonto!'
Text of what British Columbia Conservative MP Colin Mayes (Okanagan-Shuswap) described as a "good joke."
An Indian walks into Tim Horton's with a shotgun in one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other.
He says to the waiter, "Want coffee."
The waiter says, "Sure chief, coming right up."
He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee.
He drinks the coffee down in one gulp, turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere, then just walks out. The next morning the Indian returns. He has his shotgun in one hand another male buffalo with the other.
He walks up to the counter and says to the waiter, "Want coffee."
The waiter says, "Whoa, Tonto! We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?"
The Indian smiles and proudly says: "Training for an upper management position in Canadian Government: Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, leave mess for others to clean up, and disappear for rest of day."
Why Are We Spending $150,000
Why aren't the hotels, restaurants, cultural & entertainment groups, service worker unions, etc. footing the bill. They are the primary beneficiary.
Edgy ads: Saucy or stupid?
By ROB GRANATSTEIN
On the heels of the last year's publicly-panned Toronto Unlimited advertising campaign, the city's culture department has upped the ante.
Hoping to ditch the stodgy old "Clean and Safe" Toronto image, it has come out with a new tourism message.
In ads that started running last week in border cities in the U.S., Toronto is pitching itself as stodgy no more. Four ads, created for free by advertising firm FCB, kicked off last week and will run for five more, in alternative weeklies in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The city is spending $150,000 on the campaign.
Come One Come All
Edgy ads: Saucy or stupid?
By ROB GRANATSTEIN
On the heels of the last year's publicly-panned Toronto Unlimited advertising campaign, the city's culture department has upped the ante.
Hoping to ditch the stodgy old "Clean and Safe" Toronto image, it has come out with a new tourism message.
In ads that started running last week in border cities in the U.S., Toronto is pitching itself as stodgy no more. Four ads, created for free by advertising firm FCB, kicked off last week and will run for five more, in alternative weeklies in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The city is spending $150,000 on the campaign.
Come One Come All
Blizzard Talks About Smoking/Gambling
And feels that the application of the rules governing these two areas is different for the public and indians and calls this a two tier justice system. Come on Christina did you just wake up to the fact that indians are treated differently under the law? Does Oka, Caledonia, road blockades, etc. ring a bell?
Let's See How The Mayor Weasels Out Of This
The mayor's coiffure will look pretty good hanging on the belt of The Warriors......
I Would Support This Only When......
.....the Toronto Media get together and make a concerted effort to apply the same standards to Toronto City Council. If the disposition of charges against police personnel is fair game then why not apply the same concern about all city employees.
Cops too secret for media
Police board to review openness
By TORONTO SUN STAFF
The Toronto police service makes it exceedingly difficult for reporters to get information about disciplinary hearings and misconduct charges against its officers, several media outlets complained yesterday.
The Toronto Sun, the Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail backed a request for a policy review by CBC Radio reporter Dave Seglins at yesterday's police services board meeting.
Seglins told the board that reporters are forced to visit police headquarters on College St. in person each week if they want to learn the names of officers scheduled to appear before a tribunal on police service act charges.
The disciplinary hearing schedule is now posted at headquarters every Monday.
Details of the case against an officer and previous tribunal decisions can only be obtained by making a written request in person and returning at a later date to sign for the documents, he added.
More
Cops too secret for media
Police board to review openness
By TORONTO SUN STAFF
The Toronto police service makes it exceedingly difficult for reporters to get information about disciplinary hearings and misconduct charges against its officers, several media outlets complained yesterday.
The Toronto Sun, the Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail backed a request for a policy review by CBC Radio reporter Dave Seglins at yesterday's police services board meeting.
Seglins told the board that reporters are forced to visit police headquarters on College St. in person each week if they want to learn the names of officers scheduled to appear before a tribunal on police service act charges.
The disciplinary hearing schedule is now posted at headquarters every Monday.
Details of the case against an officer and previous tribunal decisions can only be obtained by making a written request in person and returning at a later date to sign for the documents, he added.
More
2002? Whose Watch Was That?
I don't like using liberal style attacks but Dion, his supporters and left wingnuts attack Harper at every opportunity so this is just tit for tat......
Arar to receive multimillion-dollar settlement: CTV
Updated Thu. Jan. 25 2007 11:34 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Ottawa will announce a multimillion dollar compensation package for Maher Arar on Friday, CTV News has learned.
The package includes personal compensation of more than $10 million, a $2-million payment for Arar's legal fees, and an official apology, CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported.
"After months of secret negotiations, a dark chapter in Maher Arar's life is finally coming to a close. CTV News has learned a formal legal settlement has been signed with Mr. Arar and his lawyers," he said.
In 2002, Arar was deported by the U.S. to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured into making false confessions that he was involved with al Qaeda.
The Ottawa-based engineer was cleared by a judicial inquiry last fall.
Justice Dennis O'Connor concluded that Arar was deported to Syria based on misleading information provided to the U.S. from the RCMP.
Arar had originally been seeking $400 million in compensation.
Despite being cleared of any terrorist links, Arar remains on the American watch list -- preventing him from entering the United States or even flying over its airspace.
"The prime minister, I'm told, is going to come out all guns blazing. He is furious that U.S. ambassador David Wilkins said that Canada had no business telling them to get Mr. Arar off the list," Fife reported.
"His view is that if it was an American who was falsely accused and put on a watch list, they would move heaven and earth to get them off. ... Perhaps he will even offer some legal assistance to Mr. Arar who wants to get his name off the list."
On Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to Canada blasted Ottawa's efforts to have Arar removed the list, saying the public safety minister is "presumptuous" if he thinks he has a say in the matter.
David Wilkins said Wednesday that Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day should back down from efforts because an American assessment concluded Arar should remain on the watch list.
"It's a little presumptuous of him to say who the United States can and cannot allow into our country," the ambassador told a news conference.
"Canadian officials would rightly never tolerate any American official dictating to them who they may or may not allow into their country."
Day said last week he's seen all the U.S. information and found nothing new to suggest Arar is a risk.
But the ambassador says the U.S. found its own reasons to keep Arar on the watch list.
With a report from CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
Arar to receive multimillion-dollar settlement: CTV
Updated Thu. Jan. 25 2007 11:34 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Ottawa will announce a multimillion dollar compensation package for Maher Arar on Friday, CTV News has learned.
The package includes personal compensation of more than $10 million, a $2-million payment for Arar's legal fees, and an official apology, CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported.
"After months of secret negotiations, a dark chapter in Maher Arar's life is finally coming to a close. CTV News has learned a formal legal settlement has been signed with Mr. Arar and his lawyers," he said.
In 2002, Arar was deported by the U.S. to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured into making false confessions that he was involved with al Qaeda.
The Ottawa-based engineer was cleared by a judicial inquiry last fall.
Justice Dennis O'Connor concluded that Arar was deported to Syria based on misleading information provided to the U.S. from the RCMP.
Arar had originally been seeking $400 million in compensation.
Despite being cleared of any terrorist links, Arar remains on the American watch list -- preventing him from entering the United States or even flying over its airspace.
"The prime minister, I'm told, is going to come out all guns blazing. He is furious that U.S. ambassador David Wilkins said that Canada had no business telling them to get Mr. Arar off the list," Fife reported.
"His view is that if it was an American who was falsely accused and put on a watch list, they would move heaven and earth to get them off. ... Perhaps he will even offer some legal assistance to Mr. Arar who wants to get his name off the list."
On Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to Canada blasted Ottawa's efforts to have Arar removed the list, saying the public safety minister is "presumptuous" if he thinks he has a say in the matter.
David Wilkins said Wednesday that Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day should back down from efforts because an American assessment concluded Arar should remain on the watch list.
"It's a little presumptuous of him to say who the United States can and cannot allow into our country," the ambassador told a news conference.
"Canadian officials would rightly never tolerate any American official dictating to them who they may or may not allow into their country."
Day said last week he's seen all the U.S. information and found nothing new to suggest Arar is a risk.
But the ambassador says the U.S. found its own reasons to keep Arar on the watch list.
With a report from CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Is Blogging Actually Lobbying
Bill would allow rounding up and imprisoning of non-registered political writers
Please read this article from start to end because it could have a major impact on your life.
In short, the US government, in the guise of the Democrats (what an ill-chosen name!), is trying to pass legislation to force political bloggers with an audience of 500 or more to register as lobbyists and report quarterly, or cough up a bag of cash and risk jail time if they don't. This is in direct violation of the free speech amendment to the US constitution.
The runs contrary to the way heavily biased mainstream media is treated by the Democrats. As everyone with a brain knows, the MSM is biased to the left, and tries really hard to brainwash everyone to fit their biased viewpoint, and destroy anyone who doesn't accept their bias as the truth.
Most political bloggers tend not to swing to the left because of the never-ending mistakes that have been caused by supporters of the left. Bloggers, in direct opposition to the MSM, do not have a vested interest in suppressing the truth, or spreading a gospel of bullshit. They simply report the truth as they see it, and post observations that often run contrary to the MSM.
This must be what's behind the Democrat's attack on free speech. If they can shut down bloggers, then they can regain some control over the minds of the masses. Fortunately, this is anything but true. Knowledge cannot be fully suppressed within a (relatively) free society. The more the Democrats try to shut down bloggers through government control, the greater will be the power of bloggers to sway the masses.
Time to get off my soapbox today. Here's a clip from the article. Please read the rest by clicking on the link above:
You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was some new restriction on free speech in Communist China. But it isn't. The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress in the latest astounding attack on the internet and the First Amendment.
Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, a website dedicated to fighting efforts to silence grassroots movements, states:
"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself."
In other words Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats may redefine the meaning of lobbying in order that political communications to and even between citizens falls under the same legislation.
Please read this article from start to end because it could have a major impact on your life.
In short, the US government, in the guise of the Democrats (what an ill-chosen name!), is trying to pass legislation to force political bloggers with an audience of 500 or more to register as lobbyists and report quarterly, or cough up a bag of cash and risk jail time if they don't. This is in direct violation of the free speech amendment to the US constitution.
The runs contrary to the way heavily biased mainstream media is treated by the Democrats. As everyone with a brain knows, the MSM is biased to the left, and tries really hard to brainwash everyone to fit their biased viewpoint, and destroy anyone who doesn't accept their bias as the truth.
Most political bloggers tend not to swing to the left because of the never-ending mistakes that have been caused by supporters of the left. Bloggers, in direct opposition to the MSM, do not have a vested interest in suppressing the truth, or spreading a gospel of bullshit. They simply report the truth as they see it, and post observations that often run contrary to the MSM.
This must be what's behind the Democrat's attack on free speech. If they can shut down bloggers, then they can regain some control over the minds of the masses. Fortunately, this is anything but true. Knowledge cannot be fully suppressed within a (relatively) free society. The more the Democrats try to shut down bloggers through government control, the greater will be the power of bloggers to sway the masses.
Time to get off my soapbox today. Here's a clip from the article. Please read the rest by clicking on the link above:
You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was some new restriction on free speech in Communist China. But it isn't. The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress in the latest astounding attack on the internet and the First Amendment.
Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, a website dedicated to fighting efforts to silence grassroots movements, states:
"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself."
In other words Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats may redefine the meaning of lobbying in order that political communications to and even between citizens falls under the same legislation.
Is Your Claim Of Being A Canadian Valid
The shameful citizenship debacle
By PETER WORTHINGTON
The U.S. requirement that all Canadians entering the U.S. by airlines must carry a passport has focused the nation on Canada's greatest shame.
Many Canadians who think they are citizens are not. The rush for passports has revealed this shocking truth to many who thought all their lives that they were citizens: They cannot get a passport because the government says they are not citizens.
Some are people born before 1977 whose parents moved to another country and thereby lost their citizenship. Others were born out of Canada and did not know that if they didn't register before age 24 they were no longer citizens. Some are children of war brides who were told after World War II they were Canadians, but now find they are not.
Andrew Telegdi, Liberal MP for Kitchener-Waterloo and former chairman of the standing committee on citizenship and immigration (the most knowledgeable MP on the citizenship debacle), was not reappointed to the committee after the Conservatives were elected last January.
He estimates as many as one million Canadians will discover they are not citizens when they apply for passports.
Last fall, the House of Commons virtually gave unanimous approval to the standing committee's report that the "new" Citizenship Act would correct grievous flaws that denied some Canadians citizenship.
The Harper government put the new act on the back burner, where the Liberals had relegated it for years.
Not a priority, figured the Tories, who in opposition had railed against the Liberals for not changing the act to correct years of wrong.
By the Americans' insisting that all visitors carry passports -- this year for entry by plane, next year at border crossings -- Canada's neglect has bitten the government on that part of the anatomy susceptible to such bites.
The Sun has scolded this citizenship oversight for nearly five years. The CBC, which up to now has ignored efforts to get it interested in the topic, has discovered that "thousands" of Canadians are being denied their citizenship.
CBC radio and TV are finally "investigating."
While Harper's disregard has led to the crisis, it began with the Liberals who had six (incompetent) citizenship ministers in five years. So far the Harper government has had two -- first Monte Solberg, who was out of his depth, and now Diane Finley, who knows even less.
Why is Diane Ablonczy (the most knowledgeable Tory on citizenship) not minister? And why is Telegdi not the Liberal critic?
As an example of Harper's disregard of citizenship, the government is appealing the case of Joe Taylor, son of a war bride and a World War II Canadian soldier whose citizenship was "restored" by a federal court after the government revoked it. The judge opined that if the appeal is upheld, every war bride and child who came to Canada would no longer be a citizen.
Telegdi says the whole mess could be cleared if the government passed the Citizenship Act and made it "Charter compliant," which the last Parliament had approved.
That is, that the terms of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are applicable in citizenship cases.
The fear of government bureaucrats is that it would "cost billions" to undo the wrongs of the past.
Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire, himself a World War II baby, born in Holland to a Canadian soldier and Dutch mother, attended the Taylor trial and called those who run the citizenship system, "bureaucratic terrorists."
And now the government is reeling, thanks to the U.S. border regulations which have exposed Canada's greatest shame -- robbing citizens of their citizenship.
By PETER WORTHINGTON
The U.S. requirement that all Canadians entering the U.S. by airlines must carry a passport has focused the nation on Canada's greatest shame.
Many Canadians who think they are citizens are not. The rush for passports has revealed this shocking truth to many who thought all their lives that they were citizens: They cannot get a passport because the government says they are not citizens.
Some are people born before 1977 whose parents moved to another country and thereby lost their citizenship. Others were born out of Canada and did not know that if they didn't register before age 24 they were no longer citizens. Some are children of war brides who were told after World War II they were Canadians, but now find they are not.
Andrew Telegdi, Liberal MP for Kitchener-Waterloo and former chairman of the standing committee on citizenship and immigration (the most knowledgeable MP on the citizenship debacle), was not reappointed to the committee after the Conservatives were elected last January.
He estimates as many as one million Canadians will discover they are not citizens when they apply for passports.
Last fall, the House of Commons virtually gave unanimous approval to the standing committee's report that the "new" Citizenship Act would correct grievous flaws that denied some Canadians citizenship.
The Harper government put the new act on the back burner, where the Liberals had relegated it for years.
Not a priority, figured the Tories, who in opposition had railed against the Liberals for not changing the act to correct years of wrong.
By the Americans' insisting that all visitors carry passports -- this year for entry by plane, next year at border crossings -- Canada's neglect has bitten the government on that part of the anatomy susceptible to such bites.
The Sun has scolded this citizenship oversight for nearly five years. The CBC, which up to now has ignored efforts to get it interested in the topic, has discovered that "thousands" of Canadians are being denied their citizenship.
CBC radio and TV are finally "investigating."
While Harper's disregard has led to the crisis, it began with the Liberals who had six (incompetent) citizenship ministers in five years. So far the Harper government has had two -- first Monte Solberg, who was out of his depth, and now Diane Finley, who knows even less.
Why is Diane Ablonczy (the most knowledgeable Tory on citizenship) not minister? And why is Telegdi not the Liberal critic?
As an example of Harper's disregard of citizenship, the government is appealing the case of Joe Taylor, son of a war bride and a World War II Canadian soldier whose citizenship was "restored" by a federal court after the government revoked it. The judge opined that if the appeal is upheld, every war bride and child who came to Canada would no longer be a citizen.
Telegdi says the whole mess could be cleared if the government passed the Citizenship Act and made it "Charter compliant," which the last Parliament had approved.
That is, that the terms of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are applicable in citizenship cases.
The fear of government bureaucrats is that it would "cost billions" to undo the wrongs of the past.
Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire, himself a World War II baby, born in Holland to a Canadian soldier and Dutch mother, attended the Taylor trial and called those who run the citizenship system, "bureaucratic terrorists."
And now the government is reeling, thanks to the U.S. border regulations which have exposed Canada's greatest shame -- robbing citizens of their citizenship.
Give Them Hell John!
Cabbagetown crackdown
By JENNY YUEN
WHAT: OCAP sit-in to save the Cabbagetown Restaurant
WHERE: 443 Parliament, at Spruce
Victor Jiang says tony Cabbagetowners want his business out of the neighbourhood. And the cops seem to be listening to residents' complaints about vagrancy and drug deals allegedly going down on the premises. Now his liquor licence is in jeopardy.
Some 50 Ontario Coalition Against Poverty supporters staged a solidarity sit-in Saturday, January 20, at the restaurant, a favourite haunt of the disenfranchised. Jiang says he's tried to deal with problem patrons without much help from police. "I'm just trying to run a good business here," he says.
Police say they've met with Jiang at least three times to help him with problem customers, but they still receive complaints from neighbours about drugs and dealers.
According to Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) documents, Jiang has been cited a handful of times for liquor licence infractions. Cops have reported drunkenness on the premises, found a customer with a bag of pot and busted up a crack deal.
Staff Sergeant Frank Bergen of 51 Division says any establishment where criminal activity takes place "has to be accountable for that activity as well as be a part of the solution to it."
OCAP organizer John Clarke tells a different story. He says it's yuppie homeowners who are chasing Jiang's eatery and other businesses catering to low-income people out of the area.
Doug Fisher of the Old Cabbagetown Business Improvement Association makes no apologies for going after places residents perceive as problems, but says the issue is not one of rich versus poor. He claims that Jiang's patrons harass passersby and steal from local store owners.
Area Councillor Pam McConnell seems to be on the residents' side on this one. She points out that other Cabbagetown restaurants frequented by low-income people don't have the same problems. "If you're going to be an office for the drug dealers, we're not going to support you," she says.
The AGCO heard testimony from local residents, Toronto police and Jiang last month and is expected to rule on the matter February 7. Clarke says OCAP will fight any decision to revoke Jiang's licence.
Says Clarke, "This is about more than the Cabbagetown Restaurant. This is about whether poor communities have a right to exist."
By JENNY YUEN
WHAT: OCAP sit-in to save the Cabbagetown Restaurant
WHERE: 443 Parliament, at Spruce
Victor Jiang says tony Cabbagetowners want his business out of the neighbourhood. And the cops seem to be listening to residents' complaints about vagrancy and drug deals allegedly going down on the premises. Now his liquor licence is in jeopardy.
Some 50 Ontario Coalition Against Poverty supporters staged a solidarity sit-in Saturday, January 20, at the restaurant, a favourite haunt of the disenfranchised. Jiang says he's tried to deal with problem patrons without much help from police. "I'm just trying to run a good business here," he says.
Police say they've met with Jiang at least three times to help him with problem customers, but they still receive complaints from neighbours about drugs and dealers.
According to Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) documents, Jiang has been cited a handful of times for liquor licence infractions. Cops have reported drunkenness on the premises, found a customer with a bag of pot and busted up a crack deal.
Staff Sergeant Frank Bergen of 51 Division says any establishment where criminal activity takes place "has to be accountable for that activity as well as be a part of the solution to it."
OCAP organizer John Clarke tells a different story. He says it's yuppie homeowners who are chasing Jiang's eatery and other businesses catering to low-income people out of the area.
Doug Fisher of the Old Cabbagetown Business Improvement Association makes no apologies for going after places residents perceive as problems, but says the issue is not one of rich versus poor. He claims that Jiang's patrons harass passersby and steal from local store owners.
Area Councillor Pam McConnell seems to be on the residents' side on this one. She points out that other Cabbagetown restaurants frequented by low-income people don't have the same problems. "If you're going to be an office for the drug dealers, we're not going to support you," she says.
The AGCO heard testimony from local residents, Toronto police and Jiang last month and is expected to rule on the matter February 7. Clarke says OCAP will fight any decision to revoke Jiang's licence.
Says Clarke, "This is about more than the Cabbagetown Restaurant. This is about whether poor communities have a right to exist."
If I Was At 13% I Would Certainly Be Pissed
From NOW
E-mail “hoax” a hex on NDP
The NDP is threatening to bring identity theft charges against anonymous senders of e-mails and press releases attacking Jack Layton. It might have been smarter to let this embarrassing ruse die. The internal brush fire the controversy has sparked is in danger of spreading.
The hoax
A fake letter sent via e-mail to media across the country, including NOW, calling for Jack Layton's resignation and signed by Abitibi-Témiscamingue NDP riding association president Jennifer Bernier. What's really pissing party officials off is the fact that some unscrupulous person, or persons, has been using the Bernier e-mail to elicit comments from NDP party members, and then including the more unflattering remarks in press releases to the media.
The party line
Bernier never wrote the letter. She couldn't have, the party says, because the letter was written in English and Bernier is unilingual francophone. Bernier has since been quoted in an NDP press release saying she's "proud to have a leader such as Jack Layton."
But what of those quotes in press releases criticizing the party and Jack Layton? The NDP says the quotes were "falsely attributed" to party faithful.
The real deal
Not so. We contacted the nine party members quoted in two press releases. Of the seven we spoke to, only one, Nickel Belt riding association president Richard Paquette, took issue with the comments attributed to him, which he says were taken out of context. Five of the remaining six were more dismayed that their comments had been made public; they thought they were responding to an internal party e-mail. One NDP member, Baquie Ghazi from Toronto Centre-Rosedale, says he explicitly gave those behind the press releases permission to make his comments criticizing Layton's lukewarm Afghanistan stance public.
The curious thing
That the NDP is freaked at all. The party has announced with some fanfare that it has hired lawyers to look into squeezing Yahoo and Google for the identity of the person or persons who registered the e-mail addresses under which the fake Bernier letter and press releases have been sent out. The party says it will be pursuing identity theft charges against the culprit or culprits, but privacy considerations and past experience tell us the NDP is unlikely to convince Internet service providers to make the info public.
The curious thing, part II
How tightly managed this whole affair has been by PR people in the leader's office. NOW's request to speak to Bernier directly (she did not respond to NOW's e-mail requests for comment in French) was referred to Layton's senior press secretary, Karl Bélanger - again, party higher-ups say, because Bernier does not speak English. But as of this week, Bernier has yet to do any media interviews, including for her local French-language paper.
What's the NDP afraid of?
The obvious answer is "anything that makes Layton look ineffectual as a leader in the run-up to a federal election." But is anxiety among the rank and file more deep-seated than we think? The NDP's failure to run with the environment issue (the Greens and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion have grabbed hold of that one), not to mention its relegation of Afghanistan to the back burner, seems to have the grassroots griping more than usual. This is the same Jack Layton who earned a 90-plus-per-cent approval rating from the rank and file at the party's convention back in October, isn't it?
E-mail “hoax” a hex on NDP
The NDP is threatening to bring identity theft charges against anonymous senders of e-mails and press releases attacking Jack Layton. It might have been smarter to let this embarrassing ruse die. The internal brush fire the controversy has sparked is in danger of spreading.
The hoax
A fake letter sent via e-mail to media across the country, including NOW, calling for Jack Layton's resignation and signed by Abitibi-Témiscamingue NDP riding association president Jennifer Bernier. What's really pissing party officials off is the fact that some unscrupulous person, or persons, has been using the Bernier e-mail to elicit comments from NDP party members, and then including the more unflattering remarks in press releases to the media.
The party line
Bernier never wrote the letter. She couldn't have, the party says, because the letter was written in English and Bernier is unilingual francophone. Bernier has since been quoted in an NDP press release saying she's "proud to have a leader such as Jack Layton."
But what of those quotes in press releases criticizing the party and Jack Layton? The NDP says the quotes were "falsely attributed" to party faithful.
The real deal
Not so. We contacted the nine party members quoted in two press releases. Of the seven we spoke to, only one, Nickel Belt riding association president Richard Paquette, took issue with the comments attributed to him, which he says were taken out of context. Five of the remaining six were more dismayed that their comments had been made public; they thought they were responding to an internal party e-mail. One NDP member, Baquie Ghazi from Toronto Centre-Rosedale, says he explicitly gave those behind the press releases permission to make his comments criticizing Layton's lukewarm Afghanistan stance public.
The curious thing
That the NDP is freaked at all. The party has announced with some fanfare that it has hired lawyers to look into squeezing Yahoo and Google for the identity of the person or persons who registered the e-mail addresses under which the fake Bernier letter and press releases have been sent out. The party says it will be pursuing identity theft charges against the culprit or culprits, but privacy considerations and past experience tell us the NDP is unlikely to convince Internet service providers to make the info public.
The curious thing, part II
How tightly managed this whole affair has been by PR people in the leader's office. NOW's request to speak to Bernier directly (she did not respond to NOW's e-mail requests for comment in French) was referred to Layton's senior press secretary, Karl Bélanger - again, party higher-ups say, because Bernier does not speak English. But as of this week, Bernier has yet to do any media interviews, including for her local French-language paper.
What's the NDP afraid of?
The obvious answer is "anything that makes Layton look ineffectual as a leader in the run-up to a federal election." But is anxiety among the rank and file more deep-seated than we think? The NDP's failure to run with the environment issue (the Greens and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion have grabbed hold of that one), not to mention its relegation of Afghanistan to the back burner, seems to have the grassroots griping more than usual. This is the same Jack Layton who earned a 90-plus-per-cent approval rating from the rank and file at the party's convention back in October, isn't it?
First Canadian Victims Of Environuts
Reducing oil demand could trigger tremors
SHAWN MCCARTHY
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — U.S. President George W. Bush is not alone in promising policies that would slash oil demand — the European Union and China have also set ambitious efficiency targets.
And that concerted action by the world's three leading energy consumers could put a damper on demand for crude oil and downward pressure on prices over the long term.
While Mr. Bush talks about ending dependency on imported oil from the Middle East, Canada is the largest single supplier to the United States — exporting as much crude to the U.S. as the Persian Gulf countries combined. And it is the high-cost producers, such as Alberta's oil sands companies, that would be hit hardest by weak demand and soft prices.
“If I was a producer, I would be really, really concerned,” said Paul Ting, a long-time Wall Street energy analyst who now runs his own consultancy. “There's not going to be demand destruction, but there will be erosion, and that is going to be a big problem for them.”
It is for your own good
SHAWN MCCARTHY
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — U.S. President George W. Bush is not alone in promising policies that would slash oil demand — the European Union and China have also set ambitious efficiency targets.
And that concerted action by the world's three leading energy consumers could put a damper on demand for crude oil and downward pressure on prices over the long term.
While Mr. Bush talks about ending dependency on imported oil from the Middle East, Canada is the largest single supplier to the United States — exporting as much crude to the U.S. as the Persian Gulf countries combined. And it is the high-cost producers, such as Alberta's oil sands companies, that would be hit hardest by weak demand and soft prices.
“If I was a producer, I would be really, really concerned,” said Paul Ting, a long-time Wall Street energy analyst who now runs his own consultancy. “There's not going to be demand destruction, but there will be erosion, and that is going to be a big problem for them.”
It is for your own good
This Should Be A No-Brainer
Pass legislation giving them Canadian citizenship retroactively. For gawd sakes I kiss the ass of a lot people with questionable backgrounds. The Mennonite community have made a massive contribution to the country.
Mennonites may lose Canadian citizenship over 1920s glitch
Hundreds of Mennonites living in Canada are in danger of losing their Canadian citizenship because of a legal technicality in Latin America where almost 7,000 of their ancestors moved in the 1920s.
The Mennonites went to Mexico and Paraguay looking for a place to live without government interference in their lives. But they have been trickling slowly back to Canada ever since.
Many of them married while living in Mexico, and that's what is causing the problem now. They were married by the church, and Mexico doesn't recognize church marriages as being legal.
That means their children were born out of wedlock, and they — along with their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren — are not eligible to be Canadian citizens.
Anna Fehr, 20, is the grandchild of one of those couples. She was born in Mexico, but moved back to Manitoba more than a decade ago with her family.
Grandfather 'born out of wedlock'
Continue Article
Last year, she got a letter from the government, saying she's not a Canadian.
"Your grandfather is considered to be born out of wedlock and doesn't have a claim to citizenship," said Fehr. "Consequently, your father is not entitled to Canadian citizenship, and you can't claim citizenship under your father for [the] same reason."
Bill Janzen, director of the Ottawa office of the Mennonite Central Committee, said the situation has become confusing.
"It comes as a major surprise when someone born in the 1960s received [his or her] Canadian citizenship. They then had children in 1980s, grandchildren in 2005, and all of a sudden it's discovered the person born in the 1960s was not born in wedlock," said Janzen.
"So those who are in Canada when they discover this, government usually does not deport them, it looks for a way of getting them reinstated. But it's a cumbersome, and sometimes expensive and very inconvenient process."
Tina Fehr-Kehler works at the Mennonite Central Committee's family services office in Winkler, Man.
"We're not sure what this means; it sounds like [Anna] has no claim to Canadian citizenship. Are they [going to] send you a letter that says your citizenship has been revoked, or is this the letter that says that? She could [be deported], yes."
That's something Fehr doesn't even want to think about.
"I don't know what I'd do anywhere else."
'Praying' she can stay
Fehr said an uncle in Mexico may have found a marriage certificate dated two months before her grandfather was born. She hopes it's legitimate.
In the meantime, she'll continue working as a clerk at Fabricland, paying her taxes.
"[I am] hoping that it will happen, praying it will happen. It means I can stay living here, and can stay where I know people and where my family is."
Fehr has asked the federal government for a general amnesty in hundreds of cases like this across Canada.
The federal minister of citizenship and immigration, Diane Finley, said Ottawa is trying to "right the wrongs of the past and do the reasonable thing."
Mennonites may lose Canadian citizenship over 1920s glitch
Hundreds of Mennonites living in Canada are in danger of losing their Canadian citizenship because of a legal technicality in Latin America where almost 7,000 of their ancestors moved in the 1920s.
The Mennonites went to Mexico and Paraguay looking for a place to live without government interference in their lives. But they have been trickling slowly back to Canada ever since.
Many of them married while living in Mexico, and that's what is causing the problem now. They were married by the church, and Mexico doesn't recognize church marriages as being legal.
That means their children were born out of wedlock, and they — along with their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren — are not eligible to be Canadian citizens.
Anna Fehr, 20, is the grandchild of one of those couples. She was born in Mexico, but moved back to Manitoba more than a decade ago with her family.
Grandfather 'born out of wedlock'
Continue Article
Last year, she got a letter from the government, saying she's not a Canadian.
"Your grandfather is considered to be born out of wedlock and doesn't have a claim to citizenship," said Fehr. "Consequently, your father is not entitled to Canadian citizenship, and you can't claim citizenship under your father for [the] same reason."
Bill Janzen, director of the Ottawa office of the Mennonite Central Committee, said the situation has become confusing.
"It comes as a major surprise when someone born in the 1960s received [his or her] Canadian citizenship. They then had children in 1980s, grandchildren in 2005, and all of a sudden it's discovered the person born in the 1960s was not born in wedlock," said Janzen.
"So those who are in Canada when they discover this, government usually does not deport them, it looks for a way of getting them reinstated. But it's a cumbersome, and sometimes expensive and very inconvenient process."
Tina Fehr-Kehler works at the Mennonite Central Committee's family services office in Winkler, Man.
"We're not sure what this means; it sounds like [Anna] has no claim to Canadian citizenship. Are they [going to] send you a letter that says your citizenship has been revoked, or is this the letter that says that? She could [be deported], yes."
That's something Fehr doesn't even want to think about.
"I don't know what I'd do anywhere else."
'Praying' she can stay
Fehr said an uncle in Mexico may have found a marriage certificate dated two months before her grandfather was born. She hopes it's legitimate.
In the meantime, she'll continue working as a clerk at Fabricland, paying her taxes.
"[I am] hoping that it will happen, praying it will happen. It means I can stay living here, and can stay where I know people and where my family is."
Fehr has asked the federal government for a general amnesty in hundreds of cases like this across Canada.
The federal minister of citizenship and immigration, Diane Finley, said Ottawa is trying to "right the wrongs of the past and do the reasonable thing."
Liberals Should Be Rebranded As Waffle Party
Another example of Dion's need to get a road map......
Dion backtracks on return of party exile
Liberal Leader won't seek reinstatement of official banned over sponsorship scandal
CAMPBELL CLARK AND JANE TABER
QUEBEC -- Stéphane Dion was forced to backtrack yesterday from a controversial comment that he would allow back into the party a senior organizer who was banned for life over sponsorship-scandal misdeeds.
Mr. Dion told the Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil that he would not object to the lifting of the ban on senior organizer Marc-Yvan Côté, who admitted he distributed $120,000 in cash to Liberal candidates during the 1997 election campaign -- money diverted from the sponsorship program.
Mr. Dion's gaffe brought back a whiff of the scandal that the Liberals had hoped was behind them. Opponents seized on the remark as evidence that the new Liberal Leader has a lax attitude toward the improprieties members of his party committed.
The lifetime ban on Mr. Côté -- a former provincial health minister who was for years the Liberal strongman in the Quebec City area -- was perhaps too severe, Mr. Dion told the newspaper in an interview published yesterday.
Do you need a menu
Dion backtracks on return of party exile
Liberal Leader won't seek reinstatement of official banned over sponsorship scandal
CAMPBELL CLARK AND JANE TABER
QUEBEC -- Stéphane Dion was forced to backtrack yesterday from a controversial comment that he would allow back into the party a senior organizer who was banned for life over sponsorship-scandal misdeeds.
Mr. Dion told the Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil that he would not object to the lifting of the ban on senior organizer Marc-Yvan Côté, who admitted he distributed $120,000 in cash to Liberal candidates during the 1997 election campaign -- money diverted from the sponsorship program.
Mr. Dion's gaffe brought back a whiff of the scandal that the Liberals had hoped was behind them. Opponents seized on the remark as evidence that the new Liberal Leader has a lax attitude toward the improprieties members of his party committed.
The lifetime ban on Mr. Côté -- a former provincial health minister who was for years the Liberal strongman in the Quebec City area -- was perhaps too severe, Mr. Dion told the newspaper in an interview published yesterday.
Do you need a menu
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.