A statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated Sunday in Toronto, according to the Maronite Catholic Church Our Lady of Lebanon.
Photos of the incident show the headless statue standing in front of the church looking out towards the street. No head appears to be anywhere in sight.
“Our parishioners, when exiting the church, were horrified to see such a deplorable and malicious act,” wrote the church in a Facebook post.
“We already contacted the police and sent them some pictures and asked them to investigate the matter.”
The decapitation comes only weeks ahead of the devastating 2020 Beirut explosion, which killed over 180 people and injured 6,500 on August 4.
Lebanese people across the world mourned the tragic incident and called on world governments to come to the country’s aid.
Our Lady of Lebanon Parish had launched their own calls to fundraise to help the people of Lebanon.
“In response to the horrific explosion that occurred in Beirut, Our Lady of Lebanon church – Toronto is being approached by many generous individuals and groups who wish to help or to organize fundraisers, and asking for our support to send the donations to Lebanon,” wrote a post on the church’s website.
Coinciding with the vandalism taking place in Toronto, a statue of Sir John A Macdonald in Montreal was toppled and decapitated by protesters yesterday afternoon as people watched on.
Several senior political officials spoke out against the vandalism in the incident’s aftermath.
“Destroying parts of our history is not the solution,” said Quebec Premier François Legault.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney also offered to re-erect the statue in Alberta condemning the destruction.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also addressed the incident on Monday during a morning press conference, saying he was “deeply disappointed” with the actions of those responsible for the statue’s destruction.
“Actions such as that have no place in a society that abides by the rule of law,” said Trudeau.
High-level RCMP officials were warned about alleged mole Cameron Ortis before he was arrested over charges of providing intelligence to a foreign entity, court documents show.
Ortis, who worked as director-general for the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Centre (NICC), was arrested in September 2019 for allegedly leaking sensitive information. He is currently facing eight charges under the Security of Information Act.
According to Global News, court documents from a $1.9 million lawsuit against the federal government by three RCMP intelligence officers claims that “a failure in leadership occurred at all levels of senior management.”
“Very early on in his tenure, Mr. Ortis began to engage in a pattern of degrading and abusive behaviour towards NICC employees,” claims the lawsuit filed by Francisco Chaves, Michael Vladars and Dayna Young.
Ortis’ is alleged to have misappropriated and sold the work of his colleagues and attempted to undermine them so that they could be replaced by people more under his control.
“Some of the original NICC employees began to exchange theories about Mr. Ortis’s strange and controlling behaviour, including predictions that Mr. Ortis was attempting to construct a unit that would unquestioningly follow his directions, which he could then use for personal gain or advancement,” claims the court document.
According to the plaintiffs, they had raised warnings about Ortis’ behaviour all the way back in 2017, however, the RCMP did not take any further action to investigate him until after his arrest in 2019.
“Overall, the NICC group’s attempt to raise concerns met with inaction and, in some cases, ridicule from members of RCMP senior management,” claim the plaintiffs.
“This failure to act on management’s part continued into 2018 and 2019, as NICC employees continued to attempt to raise concerns and as Mr. Ortis’s behaviour worsened.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that Public Safety Minister Bill Blair was “following up” on the matter.
“Obviously we take these reports extremely seriously and I can assure you that Minister Blair is following up on them and looking into what may have happened around this case,” said Trudeau.
New Conservative leader Erin O’Toole is being scrutinized for his courting of social conservatives during the recent leadership race and is being accused of having a “secret pro-life agenda” despite him being pro-choice.
In addition, Liberal MP Pam Damoff is urging O’Toole to permanently remove social conservative MP Derek Sloan from the Conservative caucus.
True North fellow Lindsay Shepherd discusses what social conservatism might bring to the table today and why it is ill-considered to suggest this political faction has no place in public life.
Erin O’Toole surprised the Laurentian punditry and saddened all the Liberal journalists in Ottawa and Toronto when he beat front-runner Peter MacKay to become the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Here is some unsolicited advice for the new Tory leader.
Congratulations, Mr. O’Toole, on a hard-fought and well-earned victory in winning the leadership. You’ve certainly got your work cut out for you, but the country desperately needs a change and you already have millions of conservative voters on your side.
I’d like to specifically thank you for participating in the Independent Press Gallery of Canada’s inaugural event — what was supposed to be the final debate featuring all four leadership candidates. Unfortunately, both Leslyn Lewis and Peter MacKay dropped out at the 11th hour — Lewis for health reasons and MacKay, well, because he didn’t feel like showing up.
I started the IPG earlier this summer as an alternative to the Parliamentary Press Gallery of Canada — a government-adjacent body that happily welcomes propagandists working for the Communist Party of China into its Old Boys’ Club, but refuses to acknowledge or accredit some career journalists who happen to work for news outlets with conservative editorial positions.
Not only did you attend our event — showing support to a new grassroots organization and fielding tough questions from independent journalists — but you also pledged to give us equal standing in Ottawa should you become Prime Minister. Regular Canadians appreciate this gesture and see the need to push back against the Liberal-dominated mainstream media.
Likewise, on the first day of your new job you met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and raised the incredibly important and heavily ignored issue of Western Alienation. This gesture goes a long way in mending a very fractured relationship between Ottawa and the West.
Now, for the advice, which I have three key pieces for you, Mr. O’Toole.
First, play on your strengths and set the agenda. The Liberals are already trying to trip you up by demanding that you remove Derek Sloan from your caucus. Ignore traps like these and keep focusing on the issues that are important to Canadians, like reigniting the economy, promoting Canadian industry, reining in federal spending, protecting the rights and freedoms of Canadians, standing up for Canadian values on the world stage, ensuring law and order, and getting to the bottom of government corruption.
Let the Liberals worry about their own caucus problems, starting with a Prime Minister who refuses to read the Conflict of Interest Act.
Second, take the high road and let your caucus play a key role. You have an optimistic disposition and come across as authentic, good-natured and trustworthy. Don’t get dragged into the mud, and instead empower energetic Conservative MPs like Pierre Poilievre, Michelle Rempel, Garnett Genuis and Michael Barrett to fight some key battles on your behalf.
And please find a key role for the impressive and resolute Leslyn Lewis.
Third, don’t spend too much time in Ottawa and ignore the mainstream media. The legacy media in Ottawa does not speak for the country, and increasingly, they don’t understand nor care to understand the important issues facing Canadians.
You experienced this first hand during your first press conference as Leader of the Opposition. In a 15-minute scrum, you were asked four questions about abortion, despite being a pro-choice candidate, and were accused of trying to “re-open the debate” because you once voted in favour of a bill for harsher penalties against those who commit violent crimes against pregnant women.
You didn’t engage in their nonsense, and it didn’t seem to get under your skin either. This is the right approach, and remember: never seek strange new respect from pundits, activists or Ottawa-insiders who have no interest in being fair or objective towards conservatives.
The carnage happening on the streets of America is awful. All of it. The George Floyd and Jacob Blake videos are brutal. The mob violence by BLM and Antifa is tearing cities apart. The self-described militia members pouring into the streets as they try to get in on the action is despicable. The death toll, serious injuries and economic ruin continues to mount.
Who wants to see any of this happening in their communities? That should be a rhetorical question. And yet some of the recent statements from politicians, celebrities and corporations almost do more to turn up the heat than bring it down. Do they want things to spiral further out of control?
It’s been a little over five months since the country was shut down ostensibly for 15 days to “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Well, it’s been more than 150 days and we are still being dictated to by governments about how many people we can entertain, where we can go and what we should wear if we venture outside.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau essentially shut down Parliament while he hid in Rideau Cottage and sought the agreement of all parties to take control of the country with no Parliamentary oversight for the next year and a half.
Does that sound like leadership?
Fortunately, the opposition parties wouldn’t play along and his minority government was denied the assent to take complete power, Nevertheless, he has now prorogued parliament and will deliver a throne speech when parliament reconvenes on September 23rd.
The newly-minted Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland has shown her ideological bent when she said, “I think all Canadians understand that the restart of our economy needs to be green. It also needs to be equitable. It needs to be inclusive. And we need to focus very much on jobs and growth.”
The Trudeau Liberals are so ideologically driven that they can’t focus on what is important – the kick start of the Canadian economy. Instead, everything to them is all about being green and climate change.
Let there be no doubt in your mind this is a politically driven, ideological concept. It bears no reflection of reality or what the country really needs.
What the country really needs now is for the government to get out of the way, allow the economy to fully reopen and the private sector to flourish once again.
But no, the Trudeau government won’t do what is right for Canada. They will only do what furthers their agenda – which seems to be more aligned with China and the proponents of globalism. The coronavirus seems to have become the instrument of this political push.
For a glimpse why this is, one only needs to listen to the World Health Organization’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom – who is not a medical doctor by the way.
In his opening remarks to a media briefing on August 21st, Tedros said we cannot go back to the way things were.
Tedros then said, “Throughout history, outbreaks and pandemics have changed economies and societies. This one will be no different. In particular, the pandemic has given new impetus to the need to accelerate efforts to respond to climate change.”
And then seemingly marching in lockstep with the Biden campaign, he says, “Building back better means building back greener.”
What in the world does a virus have to do with climate change?
Climate change has become a hallmark of left-wing politics unsupported by a scintilla of evidence.
And that’s what this is. Control and forcing the world to go along. Acquiescence is the only way they can force this.
The COVID-19 response is all about control. The globalist agenda is driving everything.
As former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once famously said, “Never let a crisis go to waste.” The political left has jumped all over this to control the public and implement their agenda.
The rating organization noted that Canada’s gross government debt will reach 120% of the entire country’s economic output, a percentage which Fitch notes as “significantly higher” than other countries with the rating.
Fitch also doubted whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could attain a majority government in the next election, noting that Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole “presents a new dynamic” to the race.
“Regardless of which party is in power after 2020, the government faces deep fiscal and economic policy challenges and risks,” wrote Fitch.
Earlier this month, former finance minister Bill Morneau resigned from his position after facing public embarrassment over the WE Charity scandal.
During his testimony at the House of Commons finance committee, Morneau admitted that he had paid back WE $41,000 in reimbursements for free travel to himself and his family in 2017.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland filled Morneau’s former position.
Soon after Morneau’s resignation, Trudeau announced that he would prorogue parliament and present a throne speech on September 23rd with a confidence vote to follow.
While speaking to Reuters, a Liberal insider told the publication that Canada’s spending “taps are really going to be turned on.”
Over the length of the pandemic, Liberal spending has plunged the federal government into a projected $1.2 trillion worth of debt, while running a deficit of nearly $400 billion.
A major human trafficking bust has rescued 39 children in the state of Georgia.
On Friday, WSB-TV reported that the children were rescued as part of “Operation Not Forgotten,” a multi-agency operation spanning 27 counties around Atlanta to Macon.
Of the 39 children, 26 were endangered children and 13 had been reported missing.
U.S. Marshals Service Director Donald Washington said that some of the children may have already been victims of sex trafficking.
“These missing children were considered to be some of the most at-risk and challenging recovery cases in the area, based on indications of high-risk factors such as victimization of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and medical or mental health conditions,” Washington said.
“Other children were located at the request of law enforcement to ensure their wellbeing.”
Nine individuals have been arrested over the course of the investigation, five in Georgia and four in Florida. Charges include sex trafficking, parental kidnapping, registered sex offender violations, drugs and weapons possession and custodial interference.
U.S. Marshal Senior Inspector Josue Rivera says that the age of the victims ranges from three to 17.
According to Rivera, one victim was sexually trafficked for five years.
“She told us she didn’t realize anyone cared enough to look for her. She was thinking we were there to arrest someone else. We told her, ‘We’re here for you,’” Rivera said.
The U.S. Marshals Service says similar human trafficking operations are underway in other parts of the United States, though most have not been completed.
Last year the U.S. Marshals Service Missing Child Unit rescued 295 children across the United States.
According to the Missing Children Society of Canada, there are over 40,000 missing children reported every year in Canada.
The Missing Children of Society maintains a database of long-term missing child cases. If you have any information about a missing child, contact 911 or your local authorities.
The Chinese government has undertaken a systematic effort to remove Christian symbols, with over 900 state-run Protestant churches seeing their crosses forcibly removed in the first six months of 2020, according to Bitter Winter,
Anonymous Chinese Christians have told the religious liberty magazine that refusing to remove the cross will result in severe penalties.
“If a church refuses to remove its cross, congregation members may lose their social benefits, like pensions and poverty-alleviation subsidies, and possibilities for their children’s future employment will be affected,” a church member told Bitter Winter.
“Only churches that look like enterprises are considered legal. To ‘sinicize’ Christianity, Xi Jinping does not allow churches to have Western crosses.”
In order to legally operate, churches in China must be sanctioned by the state-owned “Three-Self Patriotic Movement.” Critics say the Three-Self Church purposely tries to distort Christianity to match state ideology.
The Chinese regime has punished individuals who attempted to stop the removal of the crosses.
One woman was injured when she got in the way of the demolition team. In another instance, a church director was arrested when the congregation staged a protest.
Congregants of a church in Anhui province were told that their cross was being removed because it was taller than government buildings in the city.
Like other religious minorities in China, Christians have seen increased persecution in recent years. These persecutions have included the mass-internment of Uyghur Muslims and forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong members.
In a recent webinar, president of the U.S.-based Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Russell Moore, said the ultimate aim of the Chinese government is to replace religion with communist doctrine.
“This attempt to even rewrite the scriptures and holy texts of these various religions in order to see to it that China is ultimate,” he said.
“But as Christians, we of course know that God is ultimate, God is greater than any would-be Caesar. And we know that the image of God does not belong to any would-be Caesar, it belongs to God.”
