As Kingston city crews were removing a statue of former prime minister and Kingston member of parliament John A. Macdonald, two veterans stood at the site holding Canadian flags as a sign of protest. One of them, Gordon Ohlke, joined The Andrew Lawton Show to explain why he decided to take a stand.
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BY: ANDREW MAHON
In a recent interview, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a belaboured endorsement of mass vaccination.
After sharing his “amazing” vaccine experience, he said: “we don’t get through this unless the vast majority of the population gets that first shot….And the way to do that is to make sure everyone, even that crusty old uncle who resists, or that friend who’s skeptical — encourage them, convince them, tell them that they need to get vaccinated….making sure that everyone gets the vaccination is the way to get through it…everyone, even the people who are hesitant, need to get that.”
Every political leader in Canada is taking a similar line, and the incentivization measures are getting silly.
Probably the most embarrassing pitch came from Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Standing in an empty vaccination centre, he said: “We have a bit of a problem…no one is here. Because we’re not getting enough demand right now. And that’s why Alberta today is announcing that we are launching the Open for Summer Vaccine Lottery, with three one million dollar prizes….We need to just nudge those who haven’t gotten around to getting their vaccines yet.”
But significant opposition to vaccination persists, and million-dollar prizes or not, there will continue to be people who decline, for a multitude of reasons. It is disingenuous to smear them all with the epithet “anti-vaxxer”.
There are those who are opposed to all vaccinations on principle; there are also those who are not opposed to vaccination per se, but oppose these particular vaccines because they’re experimental, or because they’ve been rushed, without undergoing proper safety trials; there are those who support these vaccines, but have concluded, based on their own risk assessments, that they are better off without one; there are those who have already recovered from COVID and prefer to rely on their own immune systems; there is also opposition that appears to be linked to culture, religion, or ethnicity (prompting other desperate measures, such as vaccine centres for “those who identify as Black”) and there are many other nuanced and considered positions beyond these.
Most jurisdictions are pinning their reopening plans to vaccination rates, which are generally approaching two-thirds to three-quarters of their populations. But the governments must know that they cannot get much higher than that without making vaccination compulsory. There will remain a sizable group of stubborn “vaccine-hesitant” people, who just won’t be persuaded.
But maybe all the coercive rhetoric and bribery isn’t actually to persuade the remaining hesitant people at all.
When do politicians ever put anything above their own political interests? Governments want to claim credit for solutions more than they want to solve problems. If they insist vaccines are the solution, they want to be seen to push that solution more than they want to implement it.
Our governments must suspect that SARS-CoV-2 infections are going to rise again in the autumn, no matter what they do.
The vaccines appear to be effective in reducing symptoms and duration of illness, but they do not prevent infection. And as the now endemic virus continues to mutate, the vaccines will begin to lose their efficacy, and the number of infections will rise as the weather turns cold. Our governments know that someone — but preferably not them — will be blamed for that.
These current campaigns may well be nothing but theatre, so that when numbers do start to go up and restrictions are reintroduced, our governments can say they did everything short of enforcing compulsory vaccination.
But if they escape blame in this way, where will the blame fall?
It’s not so much that they’ll intentionally make a scapegoat of the unvaccinated — it’s more likely that they’re just trying to paper over their own errors — but the upshot will be the same. For it to work, not only do political leaders need to be seen to pull out all the stops in pushing the vaccines, but the “vaccine-hesitant” also need to continue to refuse. Ironically, the governments need their exhortations to fail, and it’s possible that the only reason they’re pushing so hard is that they know they will.
It’s increasingly clear from the evidence that lockdowns have been largely useless.
It’s also clear from the randomized controlled trials that masks make no statistically significant difference in viral spread in a populace. Despite these non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), infections have continued to rise and fall based on the mysterious behaviour of a virus that doesn’t care about government NPIs.
If everyone were to be vaccinated, and numbers still continued to rise, our politicians would have nowhere left to hide.
But vaccination rates won’t get near 100% – and pushing for a solution that requires full cooperation but can’t achieve it is a perfect strategy for the evasion of blame. If numbers rise, they can point to the unvaccinated; if numbers don’t rise, they can take credit for the vaccine rollout. And so the growing hostility for any continuing restrictions or further COVID-related deaths will be directed at the unvaccinated, instead of the government.
A recent CBC article bore the subtitle: “Unvaccinated Canadians are a ‘tinderbox’ that threatens Canada more than variants, experts say”. The thinking is that vaccines are a collective prophylactic remedy, like fluoride in the water supply, rather than an individual preventative medicine. But unlike fluoride, which can be avoided by drinking bottled water, for instance, this remedy requires individual consent (or legal compulsion) for an injection that protects against an illness most people neither suffer from nor are in any danger of dying from.
As the incentivization and coercion continue to ride roughshod over that once-important notion of informed consent, we are accelerating towards a caste system, in which the vaccinated will feel morally justified in discriminating against the unvaccinated. We can expect a kind of righteous persecution and segregation on a scale unknown in Canada.
Most of this could have been avoided had our governments followed their pandemic response plans — instead of copying China’s lockdown strategy — and shielded the vulnerable where possible, leaving the rest of us to achieve population immunity naturally.
But those plans were negligently cast aside, and subsequent layers of error, falsehood, and censorship have brought about the current predicament.
If the coronavirus continues to spread, the likely scenario that will unfold is that those who withhold their consent to vaccination will become a persecuted minority merely for exercising their right to bodily autonomy, while politicians escape blame for the ongoing mishandling of their pandemic response.
But on a more positive note, there will be at least three new vaccinated millionaires.
Andrew Mahon is a writer based in London, England. He has written for the Post Millennial, the Daily Wire, the Conservative Woman, the Spectator and others.
The Canadian government reported earlier this week that Chinese foreign agents may be present in Canada and actively harassing or intimidating Canadians.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, cabinet submitted a letter to the House of Commons foreign affairs subcommittee stating that Ottawa was “aware” of such incidents.
“The Government of Canada is aware that foreign states, including the People’s Republic of China or its proxies, may attempt to harass, threaten and intimidate Canadians, persons residing in Canada or their families, in Canada or abroad, particularly Chinese diaspora or ethno-cultural communities,” the letter claimed.
The letter was written in response to a recommendation by the subcommittee to “systematically track” harassment of Canadians by Chinese authorities.
“The Subcommittee recommends that Public Safety Canada systematically track cases of harassment, by Chinese authorities, of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims living in Canada, as well as individuals and groups advocating on their behalf,” the recommendation read.
“The Subcommittee also urges the Government of Canada to respond punitively to attempts to repress freedom of expression in Canada and urges it to continue raising the issue with the Government of the People’s Republic of China officials.”
According to a 2020 report by the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China titled “Harassment & Intimidation of Individuals in Canada,” the Canadian government has had an “inadequate” response to the threat posed by Chinese foreign interference.
“Chinese state actors have almost certainly become emboldened by the inadequate responses of Canadian officials,” the coalition writes.
“The Canadian government must treat this issue with increased urgency, as it has resulted in insecurity and fear for human rights defenders in Canada working on Chinese human rights issues.”
The report goes on to outline how the presence of Chinese actors threatens academic freedom in universities and the free speech of individuals who hope to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses.
Three international aid groups have joined together to condemn increasing violence in Mozambique as Islamist violence continues to rise.
In a joint statement, Save the Children, Plan International and World Vision said that the humanitarian crisis in Mozambique is worsening as over 800,000 people have fled and thousands have been killed.
“At least 2,838 people are reported to have died in the conflict, including 1,406 civilians, although the true number is expected to be much higher since the conflict began in October 2017,” the statement reads.
“The conflict has, so far, caused hundreds of thousands of children and their families to flee their homes, often having to leave with nothing but the clothes on their backs.”
In May, the Islamic State (ISIS) captured the city of Palma in the north of the country, leading to around 68,000 people fleeing their homes.
Islamist violence is relatively new in Mozambique, which is a majority Christian country in southeast Africa. Throughout 2020, extremists aligned with ISIS have carved out substantial territory and have systematically targeted Christians.
Speaking to the Christian Post, Amy Lamb for the Christian advocacy group Open Doors said that Islamist terror groups are targeting Africa as Christianity on the continent continues to grow.
“It’s just organizing together in order to expand their territories throughout the African continent, and their goal is really to eradicate Christianity from this territory and, unfortunately, in some ways, it’s working,” she said
“Even specifically from this northern part of Mozambique, an estimated 800,000 people have fled the region, and those who remain, including women, children, families, are facing starvation even if they’re spared from violence.”
The #FreeBritney story may just seem like celebrity gossip around Britney Spears, but it presents larger questions about society at large.
If the system can do this to someone as rich and powerful as Britney Spears, just think what it can do to you.
Anthony Furey breaks down the #FreeBritney story and explains why it should matter to you.
Two Catholic churches in the Similkameen region have been destroyed by fires, bringing the total number of church fires in BC to four in the past week.
According to the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, St. Ann’s Church near Hedley and the Chopaka Church near Keremeos were both burned to the ground early Saturday morning.
The fires come less than a week after two other Catholic churches were torched in the Penticton and Osoyoos areas.
In a statement to the media, Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow said that a cause has not yet been determined but he believes the fires were started intentionally.
“We do have devout Catholics within our nation, and people who still practise, and I support them just like I support everybody else,” he said.
“It’s under investigation at this point, until we know more. There’s not much I can say, but I’m not happy,” said Crow.
Chief Crow fears someone burned down the churches due to the apparent discovery of human remains at the nearby site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
The residential school was operated by the Catholic Church until its closure in 1978. A report from the company doing the investigation is expected to be released this month.
Days earlier, the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan claimed that 751 bodies were buried at their former residential school.
“Of course it’s suspicious,” Crow told Global News.
“I don’t condone this at all. I support all my members, regardless of their religion and what their beliefs are. I hope, in the long run, these individuals do get caught. This is unacceptable.”
Senior Canadian military officials now admit that they improperly collected the information of Canadians with the intent of using propaganda techniques on the general population.
A report from earlier this year revealed that senior military commanders oversaw an operation which accessed the social media information of ordinary citizens including those who attended Black Lives Matter rallies.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, these activities broke the rules overseeing the military and the officials involved didn’t have the authority to conduct such a program.
“Errors conducted during domestic operations and training, and sometimes insular mindsets at various echelons, have eroded public confidence in the institution,” claimed a document signed by acting Chief of the Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister Jody Thomas.
“This included the conduct of IO (information operations) on a domestic operation without explicit CDS/DM (Chief of Defence Staff/Deputy Minister) direction or authority to do so, as well as the unsanctioned production of reports that appeared to be aimed at monitoring the activities of Canadians.”
A military investigation into the program revealed a plan by the Canadian Joint Operations Command to employ propaganda techniques to dissuade civil disobedience was never requested by Ottawa.
“Teams contravened requirements by not conducting a risk assessment prior to conducting activities on the internet and they collected Canadian citizen information without our explicit direction,” Eyre and Thomas admitted.
The revelations come as several senior members of the military including retired Gen. Jonathan Vance are facing sexual misconduct allegations.
Most recently, Liberal Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan fired one of his assistants after it was revealed that he was suspended from the Vancouver Police Department for having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.
Gen. Vance is facing similar accusations regarding a multi-year relationship with somebody he outranked. He has since denied the allegations.
The mainstream media set out a narrative that former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer lost the 2019 election because he was a social conservative. Even though his successor, Erin O’Toole, is unequivocally not a social conservative, he’s still dogged by questions about MPs in his caucus who are thanks to a media-led crusade against pro-life voices in Canadian politics. In this climate, what place, if any, do social conservatives have in Canadian politics? True North’s Andrew Lawton does a deep dive into this question from both political and cultural perspectives with RightNow cofounders Alissa Golob and Scott Hayward, and author Jonathon Van Maren.
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Arrests of Canadian pastors and state-ordered church shutdowns have motivated an American senator to call for Canada to be included on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom watchlist.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri urged the commission to investigate what he calls “systematic” violations of rights by Canadian authorities.
“I am troubled that our Canadian neighbors are effectively being forced to gather in secret, undisclosed locations to exercise their basic freedom to worship,” wrote Hawley in a letter to Commission Chair Nadine Maenza.
“Frankly, I would expect this sort of religious crackdown in Communist China, not in a prominent Western nation like Canada. Canadian authorities’ arrest of faith leaders and seizure of church property, among other enforcement actions, appear to constitute systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
In his letter, Hawley references the June 14 arrest of Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, as well as the arrest of Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church in Spruce Grove.
Stephens was arrested a second time at his home for holding an outdoor church service which authorities claim didn’t comply with provincial requirements.
Police officers attended Stephens’ residence and apprehended him in front of his wife and crying children.
Stephens and Coates are among a number of faith leaders who have been arrested, jailed or ticketed in Canada for allegedly violating COVID-19 emergency orders.
Hawley copied Canadian ambassador to the United States Kristen Hillman on his latter. Hillman has yet to address Hawley’s claims.
“Unfortunately, Senator Hawley is correct,” Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms lawyer Jay Cameron told the Daily Wire. “Along with increasing shifts away from freedom and democracy toward authoritarian government, Canada has seen marked incidents of aggression toward freedom of religion.”
China repeatedly lectured Canada on human rights this week following a Saskatchewan band’s claim to have discovered hundreds of unmarked graves near a former residential school.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused Canada of continuing to carry out “racial discrimination” against Indigenous people.
“In the face of all these historical crimes, the Canadian government has been vowing to take steps to seek the truth, but without much action. With regard to the remains of 215 children we mentioned earlier, what we have seen is the Canadian government trying to shift the blame to the Catholic church,” said Zhao on Friday.
Zhao’s remarks echo a Wednesday statement in which he claimed Canada was “in no position to criticize China” over human rights.
“As we pointed out, Canada is in no position to criticize China, and what they need to do most is to reflect on its poor track record on human rights,” Zhao said on Wednesday, accusing the Trudeau government of shedding “crocodile tears” over the discovery of the graves.
“Such crocodile tears expose the hypocrisy of the Canadian government and absence of sincerity and courage in the face of its own notorious human rights record, making us worried about whether the conditions of Indigenous Canadians will be genuinely improved or not.”
On Thursday, the Cowessess First Nation claimed to have discovered a burial site near Marieval Indian Residential School, located approximately 140 kilometres east of Regina.
“This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves,” said Cowesses Chief Cadmus Delorme at a press conference.
The discovery follows a similar claim in British Columbia near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed China’s accusations earlier this week after a senior Chinese official called for an “impartial investigation” into alleged crimes against Indigenous people by Canada.
“Where is China’s truth and reconciliation commission? Where is their truth? Where is the openness that Canada has always shown and the responsibility that Canada has taken for the terrible mistakes of the past?” Trudeau asked.
“China is not recognising even that there is a problem … that is why Canadians and people from around the world are speaking up for people like the Uyghurs.”
Currently it is estimated that approximately one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are being held in re-education camps in the Xinjiang region of China.
