The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s (OCDSB) 16th Annual Rainbow Youth Forum will include a “drag storytime” and an event on “decolonizing gender” for this year’s virtual programming.
The forum will be taking place on May 20, 2021 and is open to students of “all ages.” According to the OCDSB, the forum is part of the OCDSB’s “Inclusive, Safe and Caring Programs” initiative.
“The 16th Annual Rainbow Youth Forum will include Decolonizing Gender, Drag Storytime, Workshops for Students and Staff, Chill Zone and a Rainbow Spring Fling Dance! This interactive virtual event will allow participants to ask questions and share their thoughts,” reads the event description.
“The RYF encourages safe and inclusive school environments by providing an opportunity to enhance knowledge and awareness about equity and diversity issues. The RYF aims to help build knowledge and understanding of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, as well as homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.”
According to the event page, the forum is only open for registration for OCDSB students, parents and staff.
Drag storytimes are controversial events where adult men or women in drag attire read to children in the audience. Critics of the practice claim that the events serve to sexualize children and confuse their understanding of sexuality at an early age.
In 2019, a petition by the Canadian outlet LifeSiteNews and the pro-life group Personhood Alliance calling for the American Library Association to end the practice received over 100,000 signatures and prompted a reponse from the Association.
True North reached out to the OCDSB for clarification on the event and what “decolonizing gender” meant but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.
Toronto City Councillor Mike Layton alerted Toronto Police Services on Twitter to a weekend anti-lockdown rally despite repeatedly calling for the city to defund the police.
Layton accused the protesters of having “terrorized businesses and community members” and said that promoting protests should “have consequences” before tagging the official Toronto Police Services account.
“Promoting dangerous super spreader events should have consequences. They are not attempting to follow public health protocols and prompt the opposite. Also plenty of dangerous hate speech. They have terrorized businesses and community members long enough,” tweeted Layton on May 15.
In a follow-up tweet later that day, Layton wrote that organizers of the rallies and its promoters “should also be charged.”
Promoting dangerous super spreader events should have consequences. They are not attempting to follow public health protocols and prompt the opposite. Also plenty of dangerous hate speech. They have terrorized businesses and community members long enough. @TorontoPolicehttps://t.co/FxBdspHRcF
On Saturday, thousands of supporters showed up to a planned “World Wide Rally for Freedom” in Toronto.
“I have regularly asked police why this is tolerated and they maintain [it] would be a greater public health threat if they began to issue tickets at these anti-mask rally’s. Councillors are not, nor should we, have the authority to direct the police on the enforcement of laws,” tweeted Layton.
At the same time as the Freedom Rally, there were dueling Palestinian and Israeli protests also taking place in the city. According to CP24, several individuals were arrested as a result of the rallies.
Layton has repeatedly joined his other councillors and Toronto Mayor John Tory to call for police to be defunded in accordance with the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In February, a motion by Layton to explore defunding the city’s police was passed by Toronto City Council, with 22 councillors voting for and 4 voting against Layton’s motion.
“[We] are being over policed. We put too much responsibility on police & budget has ballooned. We need to defund and reinvest in communities & public safety measures best suited to the job. My motion called for transfer of more responsibilities for non-violent calls away from police,” tweeted Layton about the motion.
True North reached out to Layton to ask what “consequences” anti-lockdown protesters should face but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.
While it’s clear US and Canadian public officials have taken different approaches to COVID-19, one of the glaring differences is how the mainstream media in both countries is covering the pandemic.
In the US, even leftist media outlets are questioning how effective lockdowns are. Meanwhile, Canadian media outlets are fully committed to public health restrictions.
An Alberta UCP MLA is accusing Israel of “fundamental human rights violations” and calling on the Canadian government to intervene in its conflict with Hamas.
In a statement posted to Facebook Sunday evening, Calgary-Cross MLA Mickey Amery condemned what he called “violence against innocent and unarmed Palestinian worshippers and civilians.”
“The recent events unfolding at and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are truly disturbing. The escalation and use of violence against innocent and unarmed Palestinian worshippers and civilians at Islam’s 3rd holiest site is indefensible,” Amery said. “The Government of Alberta does not have a foreign affairs policy, but as a humanitarian, a father, a husband and on behalf of those I represent as MLA for Calgary-Cross, I fully condemn this violence.”
Amery tagged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau, calling on the federal government “to speak up, to intervene, and to work to restore peace to the region immediately.”
Amery did not mention Israel by name in his post, or address any of Hamas’ violence towards Israel. His office did not respond to a request for comment asking if he also condemns Hamas.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, Premier Jason Kenney said Amery does not speak for him or the UCP.
“Provinces do not have foreign policies. Canada only has one foreign policy,” Kenney said. “My views about that conflict are very well known from my two decades in the federal parliament and my 10 years in the federal cabinet. But I make a very deliberate point of not freelancing into foreign policy.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says UCP MLA Mickey Amery was not speaking for Kenney/UCP when he condemned Israeli "violence" against Palestinians and called for federal intervention in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/Rp3e0yVGGZ
Kenney added that he was “concerned” about reports of anti-Semitic threats and behavior across the country, including in Edmonton. He referenced a video posted Monday morning by a Jewish man in Edmonton claiming he was questioned by a group of demonstrators as to whether any “Jews” lived in the area.
Amery wasn’t the only UCP official to criticize Israel. Calgary-North MLA Muhammad Yaseen said in a Facebook post it was “heartbreaking to see the escalating violence and breach of fundamental human rights in the Middle East, specifically in Gaza and the West Bank.”
“The loss of life of innocent men, women and children is never acceptable, even in war,” he said.
In response to an inquiry from True North as to whether Yaseen similarly condemns Hamas, an aide requested a phone number but did not call or otherwise respond.
Hamas militants continue to fire rockets into Israel as the latest flare-up reaches the one-week mark. Israel has been criticized by activists for airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza in residential areas, despite Israel’s provision of advance notice for evacuation.
The Alberta government will soon be announcing relaxed quarantine and self-isolation guidelines for vaccinated Albertans, Premier Jason Kenney said.
Kenney alluded to a forthcoming announcement at a press conference Monday afternoon.
“I anticipate later this week we’ll be announcing potentially a relaxation of self-isolation and quarantine requirements with respect to people–based on whether they’ve had a first or second dose of the vaccine–that will reflect the lower level of threat, or lower level of risk that they pose,” Kenney said.
Premier Jason Kenney says Alberta will ease provincial quarantine requirements for vaccinated people, but will not exempt vaccinated people from other public health measures, instead pegging restrictions to overall vaccination rates, not individual status. pic.twitter.com/qXheLC9Lo5
Current provincial guidelines require Albertans who have been exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days even if they have tested negative for the virus themselves. While Alberta does not mandate a quarantine for interprovincial travel, Albertans are subject to the federally mandated 14-day quarantine if they enter Alberta from outside the country.
Kenney ruled out further exemptions to public health guidelines for vaccinated people, such as allowing them to gather with other vaccinated people, saying that the speed of Alberta’s vaccination rollout makes it “simpler” to keep the same restrictions in place for everyone.
“Our overall vaccine numbers are now moving so quickly that I think it would be a lot simpler for us to focus just on overall population immunity,” Kenney said, noting that 50% of eligible Albertans will have been vaccinated with one dose by tomorrow, with 800,000 appointments booked.
Kenney anticipated 70% of the eligible population will be vaccinated by June, allowing for a “broad reopening later this summer.”
“If we were to tie specific public health measures to whether you’ve been vaccinated, like, let’s say, wearing a mask, then what happens?” Kenney said. “Do employers have to go around and validate whether the people who are not wearing masks have been vaccinated? Did they get their first dose? When was it? It creates a huge amount of administrative and enforcement complexity and probably friction and unforeseen problems that we’d rather not get into.”
Kenney’s concerns were echoed by Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw who said that lifting restrictions specifically for vaccinated people would require Albertans to disclose private health information.
“If we were to create different rules for people who were vaccinated and those who were not, it would require the production of some kind of proof of immunity or disclosure of personal health information for the purposes of that activity, and there’s been a very clear direction set in this province that that kind of disclosure of health information will not be required of Albertans,” Hinshaw said.
There are 186 patients with COVID-19 being treated in Alberta’s intensive care units, which is a record high for the province, Alberta Health Services CEO Dr. Verna Yiu said Monday.
The Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) Planning and Priorities Committee wants to begin the process to rename Queen Victoria Public School citing how some schools in the City are named after people with a “racist legacy.”
According to the request, the committee recommends a school renaming committee be formed to begin the name changing process.
“The School Council and the Black Student Success Committee have expressed an interest to begin the process of changing the school name. Under our current policies, a request of this nature can be initiated from a school or local community,” claims the request.
“The response from School Council has been excitement at the possibility of being able to engage in the school renaming process.The desire to have a new name is representative of a ‘fresh start’ for the school community amongst a range of other positive changes.”
The request, which is due to be up for consideration by the Board on May 19, 2021, cites an April 21 motion titled “Renaming Schools Celebrating the Diversity of Toronto” to justify the request for a change.
The motion notes that “few schools are named after celebrated Indigenous or Black Leaders or Leaders of colour” adding that “some schools names do not reflect the values of contemporary Toronto” and that “some schools are named after people with a racist legacy.”
True North reached out to the TDSB for clarification and comment on the request but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.
According to the school’s website, Queen Victoria Public School was founded in 1887, at a time when Queen Victoria was the reigning monarch of Canada. The school was eventually rebuilt in 1999. The school serves students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8.
Last year, the school was at the centre of a racial controversy after a number of parents highlighted concerns about a threatening letter being sent to a black administrator at the school.
Following the incident, the TDSB was criticized for not doing enough to react to the incident and eventually the Board issued an apology for its handling of the matter.
Currently, the City of Toronto is also in the process of evaluating place names which it views as having problematic and racist histories.
As politicians across Canada react to the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestine, several elected officials have condemned Israel, even going so far as accusing the democratic state of “ethnic cleansing” as it works to intercept rockets from Hamas in Gaza.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh demands Canada stop arm sales to Israel
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh urged the Canadian government last week to “do the right thing” and end arms sales to Israel despite the fact that the country has been dealing with nightly rocket barrages from Hamas, which Canada designates as a terrorist group.
We must prioritize peace
I asked PM Trudeau to stop selling arms to Israel – he refused
Canada can play an active role in helping build a just and sustainable peace for Palestinians and Israelis
Liberal Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau tells Israel to “uphold international law”
Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau called on Israel and Palestine to both “uphold international law.” Recent reports from the region indicate that pro-Palestinian terror groups have used civilians, including journalists, as human shields.
Canada is gravely concerned by the situation in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. We urge all parties to take immediate steps to end the violence, de-escalate tensions, protect civilians, and uphold international law.
Liberal MP Iqra Khalid accuses Israel of “forced evictions”
Liberal MP Iqra Khalid took to Twitter to accuse Israel of “blatant disregard for human life” and conducting “forced evictions.”
I am really worried about what’s happening in East Jerusalem and the violence at al-Aqsa mosque. There must be a de-escalation immediately and restraint from actions that impede a possible two state solution, including halting continued forced evictions of Palestinian families.
Green MP Jenica Atwin says “no two sides” to Israel-Palestine conflict
Green Party MP Jenica Atwin claimed on Twitter that she stood with Palestine and accusing the Israeli government of “apartheid.”
I stand with Palestine! There are no two sides to this conflict, only human rights abuses! #EndApartheid
— Jenica Atwin, MP for Fredericton Députée (@JenicaAtwin) May 11, 2021
NDP MP Niki Ashton says Israel involved in “massacre” of Palestinians
NDP MP Niki Ashton tuned into the conversation by accusing Canada of being complicit in “illegal occupation” and a “massacre” of Palestinians for standing by Israel.
Canada is complicit in Israel’s brutal illegal occupation and now massacre of the Palestinian people.
We must be clear – Not in our name. Not with our money.
Liberal MP Salma Zahid criticizes Israel for defending itself
Liberal MP Salma Zahid tweeted to her followers on Saturday claiming that Israel should “end the air strikes” targeting areas where Hamas and other terror groups are believed to be hiding.
I'm horrified by the death of innocent women & children. I strongly condemn these actions. Israel must end the air strikes, and violence must be replaced with dialogue. Innocent civilians are suffering. Canada must stand up unequivocally for human rights. https://t.co/Ja6k3l6d5W
Green MP Paul Manly says Israel is committing “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing”
Green MP followed the lead of his colleagues and spread the false claim that Israel was committing “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” in the region.
Last month Human Rights Watch called the Israeli occupation apartheid. What is happening in East Jerusalem right now is ethnic cleansing and it’s happening live on social media. 1/2#SheikhJarrahhttps://t.co/YvWwpsTWHJ
Police in Alberta have arrested a third pastor for holding church services in defiance of public health orders.
On Sunday, Calgary Police arrested Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church for organizing an event that violated masking orders and attendance limits on religious services.
Video taken from the scene shows Pastor Stephens embracing his family and members of the congregation before entering a police vehicle.
“The government has obviously turned up the heat on churches and discouraged them from gathering together, but I don’t think they understand that Christians are committed to follow the lord Jesus Christ regardless of the consequences,” Pastor Stephens told Rebel News shortly before his arrest.
Earlier in May, Alberta Health Services (AHS) received a pre-emptive injunction to stop various gatherings and rallies that violate public health orders across the province.
In a joint statement, Calgary Police Services (CPS) and AHS cited the alleged violations of the injunction as the reason for the arrest. AHS claims they served Pastor Stephens a copy of the injunction last week.
“Once again, CPS acknowledges it is important to understand that law enforcement recognizes people’s desire to participate in faith-based gatherings as well as the right to protest. However, as we are still in a global pandemic, we all must comply with public health orders in order to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing,” the statement reads.
“AHS strongly encourages all Albertans to follow public health orders to help minimize spread and protect others.”
Two other pastors have been arrested in Alberta this year for holding church services. Pastors James Coates and Artur Pawlowski have also spent time in prison for holding religious services that violate Alberta’s strict limitations.
Numerous Canadian journalists have signed an open letter on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict which characterizes Israel’s actions in the region as an “ethnic cleansing.”
The letter, dated to May 14, 2021 is titled “An open letter to Canadian newsrooms on covering Israel-Palestine” has since received over 1,500 signatures from activists and journalists, including ones employed by CBC, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, CTV News, Maclean’s, Yahoo News Canada and Global News.
Dozens of mainstream media reporters, including from CBC, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, have signed this open letter calling for, among other things, the Israel-Gaza conflict to be covered as "ethnic cleansing." https://t.co/qCbi5WpOqD
The letter goes on to criticize the “lack of nuanced” coverage regarding the conflict.
“Some groups believe the attacks amount to an ‘ethnic cleansing.’ It should be covered as such,” the letter says.
“It’s time for Canadian newsrooms to carry out the necessary due diligence and report on this region with nuance and context. For that to happen, Canadian newsrooms will have to first acknowledge their failings.”
The pro-Israel media advocacy group Honest Reporting Canada has called the letter “partisan” and “one-sided.”
“At its core, a fundamental principle of honest and ethical journalism is to be objective and to be politically neutral. The individuals who signed this anti-Israel letter have demonstrated that they are more interested in engaging in advocacy journalism and in actively taking sides, Palestinian over Israeli, rather than being neutral observers,” wrote Honest Reporting Canada Executive Director Mike Fegelman.
“If these journalists and news organizations were maliciously added to this letter without their consent, they must publicly disavow this letter immediately.”
Over the weekend, dueling Israeli-Palestinian demonstrations took place in many major Canadian cities including Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
According to reports, some of the protests erupted in violence including a rally in Montreal where Palestinian counter-protestors set off fireworks and attempted to clash with Israeli supporters.
“This note is being written in the midst of a significant missile attack from Gaza so please forgive my brevity. I am trying to get this out before I have to run to another location.”
That was an email I received from a colleague earlier this week who is working in Israel. That country has fallen into a civil war against the terrorist insurgency group Hamas.
War is horrendous, and by nature both sides do terrible things to defend themselves and stop their enemy. People are killed, communities are destroyed and civilians get caught in the crossfire.
That being said, the two sides of this war are not equivalent.
An average neighborhood in Gaza:
a mosque a kindergarten & a Hamas terror tunnel.
While Hamas deliberately embeds its terror infrastructure in civilian areas, the IDF takes all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians when striking. pic.twitter.com/pYYIZ7b3eW
On the one side, Israel is a liberal democracy trying to ensure peace, stability and freedom for its citizens. But no matter how much it tries to appease the other side — through negotiations, concessions, land transfers, good will and aid — it remains at war with its neighbours. That’s because the other side is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization whose stated goals have been described as a genocide against Jews.
The mood in Israel is somber, with social media full of reports of Israeli families (both Arabs and Jews) hiding for cover, praying for the violence to stop and condemning the war.
The mood in Gaza by contrast is celebratory. In videos posted online, you can hear people cheering and shouting “Allahu Akbar” while rockets are fired at Israeli communities.
After providing advance warning to civilians & time to evacuate, IDF fighter jets struck a multi-story building containing Hamas military intelligence assets.
The building contained civilian media offices, which Hamas hides behind and deliberately uses as human shields. pic.twitter.com/zeDjEquePD
While Israel targets terrorist agents and infrastructure, Hamas intentionally imbeds its military bases in densely populated civilian areas. They fire rockets from apartment buildings and maintain headquarters beneath a hospital.
Israel goes to painstaking efforts to avoid civilian casualties — they send text messages and drop leaflets begging civilians to leave — despite Hamas’s best efforts to create a human shield around its operatives.
Hamas, on the other hand, deliberately targets Jewish civilians while also putting Arabs at risk. My colleague wrote an email from a bomb shelter because Hamas’s strategy is to fire off hundreds of rockets simultaneously to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome defense system that shoots down rockets before they can hit Israeli apartment buildings.
Many of the Arab casualties in this war come from Hamas rockets that are misfired or fall short of hitting Jewish neighborhoods and accidentally land on Arab neighborhoods instead, a crucial fact that is often left out of media reports.
You wouldn’t know any of this from watching CBC or listening to the Trudeau government.
This statement is equivocal nonsense. It’s like they took a conservative news release condemning Hamas terrorism, then found an NDP news release demonizing Israel and stapled them together. https://t.co/6oN0tp81AB
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s foreign affairs minister released a statement that can only be described as equivocal. It reads like a Conservative press release condemning Hamas, followed by an NDP statement demonizing Israel that had been stapled together.
The Trudeau government fails to show any sort of leadership, and instead speaks out of both sides of its mouth and avoids taking a side.
While Trudeau cannot muster the courage to condemn terrorist aggression, Canada’s state broadcaster goes even further in promoting an anti-Israel narrative.
A report on the CBC National perpetuated a lie by saying Israel was the aggressor and Hamas was merely firing rockets back in self-defense. This inverts the timeline, as Hamas began firing hundreds of rockets into Israel 24 hours before Israel struck back.
Likewise, CBC correspondents have been caught parroting terrorist talking points.
One reporter called Gaza an “open air prison” — a common trope used to demonize Israel, who conceded the land to Arabs in 2005 only for them to expel all Jews and create a safe-haven for terrorists. Another CBC reporter justified Arabs throwing rocks at police, and neglected to mention that Arabs threw Molotov cocktails as well as bricks or that Israeli police were responding to Arab violence, not vice versa.
As classical liberal philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke once said, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
If Canada remains silent, or worse, portrays terrorist aggressors as victims, we are allowing evil to triumph.
