Can it be so? An admirer of this wretched piece of legislation? So it would seem - the Canada Family Action Coalition has given its thumbs up to Bill 44:
The head of a national Christian lobby group says parents, not educators, will decide when to apply new rights allowing them to pull kids from controversial classes if MLAs pass proposed changes to Alberta's human rights laws.
(...)
But Brian Rushfeldt, co-founder of the Calgary-based Canada Family Action Coalition, thinks the proposed human rights provision can be more widely interpreted.
"It's up to the parent to make (the legislation) as broad or as narrow as they want," said Rushfeldt, who welcomed the proposed changes.
"I don't know that the schools nor the government should be the ones to put parameters on it and say it's only sexuality classes or only evolution classes or only religion classes. That defeats the whole purpose of having parents have rights, because someone else is making the decision."
(...)
But Brian Rushfeldt, co-founder of the Calgary-based Canada Family Action Coalition, thinks the proposed human rights provision can be more widely interpreted.
"It's up to the parent to make (the legislation) as broad or as narrow as they want," said Rushfeldt, who welcomed the proposed changes.
"I don't know that the schools nor the government should be the ones to put parameters on it and say it's only sexuality classes or only evolution classes or only religion classes. That defeats the whole purpose of having parents have rights, because someone else is making the decision."
Well this would be the crowd the government was attempting to pander to, so I suppose its mission accomplished in that sense. Putting aside the redundancy of the parental-opt out clause and the potential can of worms this opens, keep in mind that Bill 44 makes no change whatsoever to Section 3 of the Human Rights legislation: the very section that enables human rights commissions to deal with matters of speech - the same section used to convict Rev. Steven Boissoin.
Yet, the CFAC would have us believe they are a champion of free speech (Word format):
If this clause remains in federal and provincial Acts – it is only a matter of time until anyone who speaks out (especially Christians) on controversial issues is persecuted and prosecuted under these anti - Charter laws. Our section 1 Charter guarantee has been violated numerous times by human rights “activists”. Basic human rights in Section 2 of your Charter: freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, belief, opinion and expression and press have all been ignored by the tyrants that run our tax paid human rights system.
If the CFAC really believes that last line then they ought to be stridently opposed to Bill 44 which offers nothing for freedom of speech and may end up drumming up more business for human rights commissions. How can one claim that "tyrants" are running the human rights system, but support the policing of classrooms by these same "tyrants"?
If the CFAC really believes that last line then they ought to be stridently opposed to Bill 44 which offers nothing for freedom of speech and may end up drumming up more business for human rights commissions. How can one claim that "tyrants" are running the human rights system, but support the policing of classrooms by these same "tyrants"?
Someone, however, not on the Bill 44 bandwagon (someone I've criticized) is Calgary Bishop Fred Henry. The Bishop is less than impressed with the Bill:
Most significantly, the bill fails to amend Section 3. The government opted for a minimalist or housekeeping approach to the revision of the act, hiding behind statements like: "Alberta's human rights legislation will balance freedom of speech with our responsibility to others" and "jurisdictional issues are complex, but recognizing the responsibilities that come with freedom of expression is also important."
In the National Post, Kevin Libin has an interesting analysis of how the Alberta government handled this situation:
When earlier this year Alberta’s new culture minister Lindsay Blackett -- the boss in charge of the commissions -- called them “kangaroo courts,” and asserted “people have the right to say what they believe and Albertans strongly believe in that right”-- free-speechers here were sure that their province was ready to strike a sufficiently strong blow for liberty and against censorship to inspire a national trend.
And then Premier Ed Stelmach’s government finally unveiled its proposed reforms, spinning a golden political opportunity into dross. Under the proposed Bill 44, the section prohibiting expressing ideas “likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt” goes entirely untouched, shocking freethinking Albertans and chastening Blackett. Not surprisingly, given the Supreme Court rulings on the matter, the province will add to the HRC’s mandate protection for gays and lesbians. But in an entirely unexpected and rather woolly move, the province will add the right of parents to pull their kids out of classrooms should they dislike any sexual or religious messages being taught there. So, while you can’t write or speak anything critical about gays, even if you happen to be a cleric of a religion that has something to say on the matter, pulling your kids out of a classroom where there’s mere talk of the existence of gayness is now an Albertan human right.
What makes even less sense is why the Tories even made this an issue, while ignoring more pressing problems in their human rights commission. Unlike the Boisson and Levant cases, there was something approaching zero public pressure for Stelmach to strengthen parental rights at the school level.
And then Premier Ed Stelmach’s government finally unveiled its proposed reforms, spinning a golden political opportunity into dross. Under the proposed Bill 44, the section prohibiting expressing ideas “likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt” goes entirely untouched, shocking freethinking Albertans and chastening Blackett. Not surprisingly, given the Supreme Court rulings on the matter, the province will add to the HRC’s mandate protection for gays and lesbians. But in an entirely unexpected and rather woolly move, the province will add the right of parents to pull their kids out of classrooms should they dislike any sexual or religious messages being taught there. So, while you can’t write or speak anything critical about gays, even if you happen to be a cleric of a religion that has something to say on the matter, pulling your kids out of a classroom where there’s mere talk of the existence of gayness is now an Albertan human right.
What makes even less sense is why the Tories even made this an issue, while ignoring more pressing problems in their human rights commission. Unlike the Boisson and Levant cases, there was something approaching zero public pressure for Stelmach to strengthen parental rights at the school level.
More from Father Raymond de Souza.
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