Posted on 09/03/2005 10:54:47 AM PDT by Esther Ruth
Friday September 2, 2005
Alberta Christian Pastor Hauled Before Human Rights Tribunal For Letter to Editor on Homosexuality
Will not pay fines or write apology should decision go against him
RED DEER, Alberta, September 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Currently Reverend Stephen Boissoin, a young Albertan pastor who spearheads a youth ministry that makes hundreds of weekly contacts with at-risk youth, is in the process of learning Arabic so he can better minister to the many Muslim youth who he says come to his centers. And with a wife and two children of his own, in addition to his full-time ministry, he repeatedly remarked during an interview with LifeSiteNews.com that he just doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands.
But increasingly these days the young pastor’s thoughts are set on preparing for his Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) hearing that he says will likely be heard in October.
Without the money to pay for legal representation, Stephen has no other alternative but to prepare his own defense. “I know nothing about human rights case law,” he says. “I’m trying to learn. Understand this, I work every single day, have two kids…and right in the middle of that I’m trying to learn human rights law. So, I’ll be very happy when it’s over.” The only problem with that, he points out, is that when it’s all over he may very well be in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesite.net ...
Actually, Boissoin did not publish the letter, merely he wrote a letter to the editor. The paper is the one who published it. Should they not be the guilty party here?
Man at his worst. The Church at its finest.
That said, the First Amendment does NOT protect individuals from private civil lawsuits against their speech. This is the strategy of the left in the US -- financial indimidation of those who oppose them. Resist it.
"Should Boissoin lose the hearing with the Human Rights Tribunal, he will be forced to pay $7000 in fines. $5000 will go to Darren Lund personally, and another $2000 will go to the rabidly pro-gay-rights group EGALE Canada, which has received large sums of money in the past from the federal government for its court challenges."
It's all about the money.
Jesse Jackson should be proud.
Many blessing and prayers to him! He has a family, a youth ministry, he is learning Arabic! and has this thing happening in just a few weeks!!! May God protect him!
What a racket. Lund files a complaint, the government bears the expense of prosecuting the minister, Lund stands to make $5000; the minister stands to lose $7000 to a vicious person and an evil organization. At least he has the right to bankrupt himself with a professional defense, if he chooses.
"Will not pay fines or write apology should decision go against him.."
Sounds like he is not gonna pay if they rule against him out of principle. Will then be forced to go to jail.
So...maybe he is forcing THEIR hand... two can play at this game.
If your thoughts aren't government-approved, you're not allowed to think them or express them. If you do, you'll be fined or jailed.
It is amazing to me that the Canadians have allowed their country to come to this.
We have so much common history with the Canadians.
How do two apples fall so far from the same tree?
Canada and Australia seem much more alike than Canada and the US, but geography and history would seem to suggest otherwise.
My guess would be that because the US went to war with England to secure liberty and wrote a constitution to guarantee that liberty against encroachment by the government that we Americans are much more reluctant to surrender those hard won liberties to an invasive government.
We have much in common with Canada up as time goes by I wonder will grow together, become more alike or grow apart become more alien to one another.
I believe that we the Freepers of the US can not imagine becoming like Canada. To have a Human Rights Commission force to self-censor our letters to the editor is unimaginable.
The history of court judgments in the last fifty years is troubling. Two Supreme Court judges one way or the other is about all that stands between We The People of the United States and a new world order with the Thought Police of 1984 and the Firemen of Fahrenheit 451 telling us how to live our lives, what we can say and write and what we should think.
The roots of this New America are deeply imbedded in the colleges and universities to which we send our youth today. Will our future leaders be indoctrinated at these institutions to view the greater good is that we should all be made to hold our tongs so that none are offended and that liberty all should be sacrificed for sensibilities of a few.
I hope that at least a few on this noble forum will fight to ensure that if Canada and the United States do grow together that they grow toward a future of liberty.
It happens; the Israelis and Arabs trace their origins back to Abraham, with the Arabs calling him "Ibrahim."
YEC INTREP
BUMP for Monday.
Anyone, especially a conservative or libertarian, who argues that gay marriage is not a big deal, needs to tell me how we're going to avoid this crap here. After all, Canada has a written constitution.
A couple of things could happen. There could be a backlash by the sane members of the society or Islam could ascend to power. Either way the problem will be solved. Despite the way it may look here in the U S. The future does not bde well for homosexuals, worldwide. The degenerate european countries who embrace it are, even now, being slowly penetrated by Islam. It won't be pretty, but I hoestly wo't lose any sleep over it.
O, Canada...
How the mighty have fallen.
How the great have been laid in the dust.
And do you now follow after them?
See, your wound is fatal,
Your lifeblood pours into the Earth,
Your strength ebbs and the bonds of your spirit are loosed,
Yet, you say, "I have no need of a physician,
I am whole, full of life and in good health."
But you are blind,
You are naked,
You are filthy,
You are corrupt,
You are in the very throes of Death,
Oblivious of your perilous state
Bellowing out some lyrical inanity about your glory,
Like the tortured singing of a besotted drunk,
More's the shame the body corporate dies not alone.
O Canada,
O Canada,
Your passing shall we mourn,
Yet our distance we shall keep,
Lest your disease infect us, also,
And your fate become our own.
Farewell, our once-great and sometime friend.
As you tread now the dark'ning halls in this stilling hour,
Farewell.
Later pingout.
Esther, if you can ping me to relevant articles that would be appreciated, thanks.
ping :(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.