This week on the Alberta Roundup with Rachel Emmanuel, Rachel discusses a new Alberta government protocol recommending prosecutors don’t press charges against firearms owners who purchased their guns before Justin Trudeau’s 2020 order in council banning the weapons.
Rachel also explains how gun owners are safe for six more weeks as the House of Commons breaks for Christmas.
Finally, Rachel talks about a Calgary City Council proposal to limit election signs, which Common Sense Calgary is calling “self serving.”
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has upheld the public health authority’s decision to impose strict bans on in-person worship at three churches between Nov. 2020 and May 2021.
In a ruling published on Friday, Justice Lance Fitch dismissed concerns brought forward by complainants from Riverside Calvary Chapel, Immanuel Covenant Reformed Church and the Free Reformed Church of Chilliwack.
“The appeal is dismissed as moot as the prohibition on outdoor protests is no longer in effect and the violation tickets issued to him have been stayed,” wrote Fitch.
“The ban on in-person gatherings for religious worship fell within a range of reasonable outcomes and proportionately balanced the appellants’ freedoms with the attainment of critically important public health objectives.”
In a statement released by the Justice Centre of Constitutional Freedoms – whose lawyers represented the complainants – the organization said it was disappointed with the decision.
Earlier this year, BC Crown prosecutors dropped a host of charges against three pastors pertaining to defiance of lockdown orders.
In total, 24 tickets were relinquished worth $55,200 in fines – including against a pastor with the Free Reformed Church.
“All levels of government, including politicians, health officials and law enforcement, have the duty to respect the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians,” said JCCF lawyer Marty Moore at the time.
“In response to Covid, there has been a serious failure of government officials and authorities in BC to respect the Charter freedoms of BC residents.”
A July ruling from the Alberta Court of Appeal also vindicated Pastor Artur Pawlowski, who was arrested and jailed for breaching pandemic health measures.
The court ruled that Pawlowski’s arrest and fines, among other things, were all illegal and ordered the Alberta Health Services to reimburse the pastor for his legal fees as well as to return any penalties and fines paid by Pawlowski.
Liberal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said during a Friday morning media scrum that the federal right to confiscate and regulate firearms was “well-settled” by the Supreme Court despite Alberta’s refusal to dedicate policing resources towards Ottawa’s gun grab.
Mendicino made the statements in response to a question from a journalist about the sweeping Liberal gun ban legislation, Bill C-21.
Public Safety Minister @marcomendicino said today that the federal right to confiscate firearms is "well-settled" by the Supreme Court despite Alberta's refusal to dedicate policing resources to the Liberal gun buyback regime. #cdnpoli#BillC21pic.twitter.com/eZqwmPV3tD
“Where does this leave the RCMP in the sense that you have two competing jurisdictions battling over these gun bans? Could this create more public safety concerns if they have to deal with confiscating guns while you have one jurisdiction saying ‘No, this isn’t constitutional’ and the federal government saying ‘Yes, we can do this’?” asked a reporter.
“I am confident that the Supreme Court has examined this question around federal jurisdiction over the regulation of firearms. It’s well-settled law now for about 20 or maybe approaching 22-years now,” claimed Mendicino.
“That is precisely what C-21 is. It is a piece of federal legislation that is proposed to become law that is about the regulation of firearms… Insofar as how we implement it, we will maintain a very robust dialogue with all of our provinces and territories, including Alberta, so that we can make sure that the policy does what it’s intended to do which is to keep our communities safe from gun crime.”
On Thursday, the Alberta government rebuked Ottawa with provincial Justice Minister Tyler Shandro accusing the federal government of being “increasingly hostile.”
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that the federal Liberal government is pursuing a strategy to ban all legal firearms ownership,” said Shandro.
“Their actions are targeting western Canadians for a reason. This is about shoring up their own political support.”
Alberta has also stated it will take back jurisdiction on charges under the Firearms Act with Alberta Crown prosecutors taking over any relevant cases.
“This new protocol for prosecutors will help prevent otherwise law-abiding individuals from facing criminal charges and potential time in jail,” said Shandro.
“At the same time, law enforcement and prosecution resources can be prioritized for actual violent and repeat offenders while not further clogging our already busy courts.”
Several provinces including Alberta and Saskatchewan have indicated they will not dedicate provincial policing resources to target law-abiding firearm owners.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but Elon Musk is living rent free in the heads of leftists in Canada. From MPs to legacy media journalists, they just can’t grasp the idea of Musk owning Twitter.
Plus, a Liberal MP fails to understand the purpose of her government’s own bill, C-18, the Online News Act. This week, Lisa Hepfner claimed C-18 was preventing big tech companies from stealing stories from news outlets.
And everybody laughed at NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh after he claimed he was going to be prime minister one day.
It’s Fake News Friday with Andrew Lawton and Sue-Ann Levy!
A senator appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Senate on Thursday that media reports referencing a foreign influence campaign by the communist Chinese government constituted a “witch hunt.”
As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, Senator Yuen Pau Woo called the reporting – which was based on a top secret 2020 Privy Council Office memo – “irresponsible speculation.”
“There is a witch hunt going on for the names of the 11 candidates as well as the identities of an unspecified number of campaign workers and political staffers who are also alleged to have been funded by the Chinese government,” said Woo.
“It is no surprise Chinese-Canadians are among those who are most likely to be put under a cloud.”
Woo’s comments were retorted by Senator Marc Gold who cited “a real concern about Chinese interference.”
The national security document in question warned Cabinet that “subtle but effective foreign interference networks” targeted the candidates, who were mostly based in the Greater Toronto Area.
Other allegations include transfers of $250,000 between the Chinese Consulate and the foreign influence network.
Woo went on to question whether the story was “bogus” and called the story a form of “election denialism.”
“If the story is indeed bogus it has done serious damage to our democracy,” said Woo.
“Indeed this reporting should be understood as a kind of election denialism. Why is the government not calling out this egregious example of disinformation?”
Woo has faced criticism in the past for comments that appear to echo Chinese propaganda talking-points. Last year, former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander accused the Senator of being a “mouthpiece for foreign propaganda” in reference to his claims that Canada took Huawei CFO Men Wanzhou “hostage.”
“By claiming Meng was ‘taken hostage’ by Canada, Yuen Pau Woo has violated his oath as a Canadian Senator & should resign,” said Alexander.
“Mouthpieces for foreign propaganda, including those backed by China’s United Front Work Department, should have no place in Canada’s parliament.”
The Alberta government is saying teachers need to refrain from teaching “in a biased manner,” following accusations that a Calgary school teacher was pushing an anti-conservative agenda to students.
A concerned parent recently posted politicized classroom content to social media, saying “this is what my 13 year old in Calgary, Alberta is learning in public school today.” Both the school board and province are now looking into it.
The post included screenshots of a powerpoint slide show which gave examples of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” opinions. One example of an appropriate phrase was “Black Lives Matter,” while the phrase “All Lives Matter” was characterized as inappropriate.
Another slideshow was titled “great speakers” and included photos of child climate activist Greta Thunberg, Michelle Obama and Alberta’s former chief public health officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
The parent further said his son told him that examples of “bad speakers” include prominent conservatives such as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, former President Donald Trump, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
School principal Colin McCracken told True North to contact the Calgary Board of Education. “The school has no comment on this concern,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Calgary Board of Education said the board is aware of a social media post with photos from a lesson in a class in one of its schools.
“We are looking into the situation internally at both the school and system levels,” Kara Layher said in an email. “It is not our practice to comment on individual personnel matters.”
The parent would not provide his name, based on concerns for his son, but said that he contacted Smith and LaGrange’s office, noting LaGrange’s office returned his call and “assured me my concerns would be brought to her attention.”
Emily Peckham, spokesperson for Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, encouraged parents to come forward if they believe a teacher has broken the code of conduct and to discuss the concerns with the teacher or principal.
“Alberta teachers are held to high standards of conduct because of their unique position of trust and influence,” Peckham said in an email.
“Teachers are required to demonstrate professionalism in their actions when teaching students, which includes refraining from perspectives taught to students in a biased manner.”
You can’t feed and clothe the homeless without a permit, the City of Oshawa is telling a group of community volunteers.
The Ontario city’s bylaw enforcement division is threatening to fine organizers if they proceed with their “Christmas Stockings for the Homeless” event planned for Sunday afternoon at the city’s downtown Memorial Park.
The event is hosted by Communities for Freedom, a loose association of friends who met during the Freedom Convoy and wanted to “rebuild” their community.
On Sunday, they planned to distribute socks, underwear, feminine hygiene products and toiletries to upwards of fifty homeless people and provide a free turkey lunch with juice and hot chocolate.
A city bylaw enforcement officer emailed organizer Ashley Wickett Thursday afternoon to warn that the city “may issue Administrative Monetary Penalties to any or all individuals involved in the organizing of the event or distribution.”
The officer cited Oshawa’s parks and facilities bylaw, which prohibits holding a public gathering in a park without a permit and selling or distributing goods in a park.
Nowhere in the email did the officer offer any guidance on how to bring the event into compliance with municipal bylaws. Wickett said she felt “bullied” into getting a permit, which she didn’t think would be required for what she was planning.
“I didn’t feel like they were reaching out to me to let me know how they could help or what I could do differently,” she said.
“I can understand if I was going and putting structures up and selling things and whatnot, that a permit would be needed for such events. I’m just trying to dedicate a little bit of my time to help a few people out.”
Instead of gathering in the park as originally planned, Wickett said she would distribute the stockings from her car and advise other Communities for Freedom volunteers to stay out of the park.
Wickett shared this with the City of Oshawa thinking it would assuage their concerns. Instead, she was told this plan violated Oshawa’s highway vending bylaw.
“At this time you may not proceed with your proposed event,” the subsequent email from a bylaw enforcer said. “If you wish to contribute to the less fortunate, particularly around this time of year, there are a number of established charities and shelters in the area who would no doubt benefit from your compassion and initiative.”
Wickett said she promised the homeless she would be there and plans to make good on it. Despite the warning from the City of Oshawa, volunteers will walk around and distribute the stockings by hand.
Wickett said she doesn’t think they’ll be able to set up a table to serve hot chocolate anymore, however.
Wickett, a single mother of two, wondered if the city might have taken issue with the word “freedom” in her group’s name, but insists there is nothing political about the group’s efforts to feed and clothe the homeless.
“Everybody has been through so much these past few years. I know in Oshawa… it’s getting worse, and everywhere I look there’s someone that needs help. So I just wanted to get out there and do what I can and give back for the holidays,” she said.
“It’s about rebuilding. It’s about becoming a community again. We need to come together again and rebuild.”
The City of Oshawa’s head of bylaw enforcement did not respond to a request for comment from True North by deadline.
The Trudeau government is seeking to delay forthcoming changes which would legally allow those who have a mental illness to seek reprieve by opting for doctor-assisted suicide. Justice Minister David Lametti said that the government has heard concerns that the healthcare system might not be prepared to handle those complicated cases.
Plus, Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, was pushed through the House of Commons and on to the Senate on Wednesday.
And federal public servants will finally return to in-person office work and they are not happy about it.
These stories and more on The Daily Brief with Anthony Furey and Andrew Lawton!
A transgender teacher who caused an uproar among Oakville parents for wearing huge prosthetic breasts with protruding nipples to shop class was given a free pass by the Halton District School Board (HDSB) and allowed to continue sporting her obscene style of dress to school.
HDSB education director Curtis Ennis insisted that employers must make allowances to ensure their employees are able to “express themselves in accordance with their lived gender.”
This was even as the story of Kayla Lemieux’s highly unprofessional wardrobe choices made international headlines.
In late September, education minister Stephen Lecce asked that the Ontario College of Teachers review professional dress standards for teachers. But three months later we’ve heard nothing further.
The teacher continues to wear her outrageous outfits to school, now accompanied to class by a police guard.
At the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) – headed by critical race theory disciple Colleen Russell-Rawlins – officials have reported that this year is on track to be the most violent since 2000.
Shootings, stabbings, gang fights, along with stories of staff and students being terrorized at York Memorial high school should have convinced the board to bring back the cops in schools program they axed in 2017.
But no, Russell-Rawlins and the board’s woke trustees opted to continue with the same “hug-a-thug” methods that haven’t worked for the past five years now freshly repackaged in a report called: A Collaborative Approach to School and Community Safety.
The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), headed by another activist who refuses to capitalize his name, recently sent out a highly intrusive survey asking kids as young as Grade 4 to provide details on their sexuality and gender.
Those parents and trustees who try to resist and/or expose the focus on gender ideology and anti-black racism are intimidated, called “racist” and efforts are made to cancel them.
Yet we hear very little from our education minister, Stephen Lecce, who claims to care that students learn the kind of skills and curriculum that allow them to graduate to good-paying jobs.
He recently announced an upgraded technology curriculum that will give students, as he calls it, a “competitive advantage.”
We are on a mission to ensure students graduate with a competitive advantage. That requires a cutting edge curriculum.
That is why we are modernizing Comp Studies & Tech Education so young people can compete & succeed in the global economy & access good-paying #JobsOfTheFuture. pic.twitter.com/42ARPE5O95
But what good is keeping kids in class when they are stressed by violence, forced to digest trans ideology or be taught by a trans teacher sporting humongous fake breasts, or are constantly indoctrinated that they are oppressors because they are of Caucasian descent?
Talking tough doesn’t just mean with the teachers’ unions. It means telling the activist board directors and the woke baby boomer trustees that they need to focus on their mission to teach kids the kind of skills that will allow them to graduate literate in math, reading and writing.
It should have meant clearing out the equity hangers-on in the education ministry who found their way there during the Kathleen Wynne era.
People like Patrick Case, the assistant deputy minister of the education equity secretariat came, to the ministry under then education minister Mitzie Hunter.
In my view, bureaucrats like him have done more damage to the school system with their Education Equity plan – one which encourages equity of outcomes for all students, a relaxed suspension and expulsion program and assumes there are systemic barriers for racialized, Indigenous and low-income students.
It’s little wonder the Ontario education system is in crisis and parents are crying out for help.
But Premier Doug Ford and Lecce have developed a largely hands-off approach as if they’re either blind to what is really happening, afraid to speak up or are indoctrinated by the woke mob.
The minister’s press secretary, Grace Lee, argued that Lecce has done plenty.
She says he’s acted to eliminate seniority-based hiring, ensuring that educators are hired based on merit and qualifications.
(One only has to look at the composition of the administration at the TDSB, for example, to see seniority-based hiring has been replaced by equity-based hiring with many visible minorities put into high-paid positions whether qualified or not.)
She says the government has also refocused the curriculum to ensure students get “back-to-the-basics” with life and job skills into everyday instruction.
Lee adds that they are expanding opportunities for the modern economy such as financial literacy, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and coding, while improving access to the skilled trades.
“Minister Lecce believes that the focus of school boards should be on student achievement and helping students graduate, learn skills, and get good-paying jobs,” says Lee.
It should be the focus but school boards have lost their way.
Their mission to teach the basics has been replaced by indoctrinating innocent minds.
In my view, if Lecce can’t see the problems or refuses to deal with them, he should be replaced. He’s doing no service to Ontario students.
The federal Liberal government has now opened up membership in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to permanent residents to curry new recruits as the military struggles to attract fresh soldiers.
Not only will the CAF open up the doors to permanent residents, it will also launch a campaign to persuade them to pursue a military career.
“To grow and meet the challenges of tomorrow, the Canadian Armed Forces needs to recruit, train, and retain diverse talent in Canada. This talent includes permanent residents, who will bring great enthusiasm, experience, and knowledge to the Defence Team,” said Chief of the Defence Staf Gen. Wayne Eyre in a statement.
“We receive much interest from permanent residents looking to join the Canadian Armed Forces to serve their new country, and our recruiters are keen to begin conversations with these prospective members of our team.”
Prior to the announcement membership in the Canadian military was limited to citizens.
Like other nations, Canada has also accepted applications from members of allied militaries in the past.
Joining the military as a permanent resident will also come with perks including a “facilitated pathway” for citizenship, according to Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser.
The military is struggling to find recruits to fill 71,500 positions needed to maintain training and bases, man naval vessels and participate in operations domestically and abroad.
As of Jan. 2022 nearly 1,000 unvaccinated CAF members were facing formal proceedings for refusing to follow a Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Over 1,300 personnel have also requested exemptions, which were recently denied by a Federal Court.
Despite Gen. Eyre lifting the vaccine mandate, the military has indicated it will continue with disciplinary procedures for those who held out against vaccination.
As exclusively reported by True North last year, unvaccinated members of the CAF faced an “unsuitable for further service” release.
Regulations detail that the release applies to those who were “either wholly or chiefly because of factors within his control, develops personal weakness or behaviour or has domestic or other personal problems that seriously impair his usefulness to or impose an excessive administrative burden on the Canadian Forces.”
