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Canadian Viewpoints/Points de vue Canadiens
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Never Give Up
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Joined: 19 May 2005
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 Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:32 am Post subject: Steve Boisson case mentioned on CBC |
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| Quote: | http://ezralevant.com/2008/03/cbc-sunday.html
CBC Sunday
By Ezra Levant on March 30, 2008
UPDATE: You can watch the video clip of the documentary at Ezra's website.
UPDATE 2: Did you notice - as I did - that the CBC showed the cartoons on air? I sense a human rights complaint coming!
I watched the CBC Sunday mini-documentary today on human rights commissions. If I can find a link to the video, I'll post it. In the meantime, here are my thoughts.
The fact that the CBC is talking about these commissions, and their censorship of political and religious free speech, is a victory in itself. Such coverage would not have happened three months ago. Ask yourself this: do you think the complainers-of-fortune and the human rights commission's hangers-on were happy that this documentary was made? Hardly - it's a part of their denormalization, branding them as censors.
The report focused on three cases - the Western Standard's publication of the Danish cartoons, the Canadian Islamic Congress's complaint against Maclean's and Mark Steyn, and the conviction of Rev. Stephen Boissoin for rambunctiously professing Christian beliefs about homosexuality. In each case, the CBC interviewed only one side of the story. In my case, it was my side - so, needless to say, I was pleased with how the case was represented. I'm not sure if this was because Syed Soharwardy has simply decided to cut his losses and stop talking about his complaint, or because the CBC didn't even try to interview him. I suspect the former.
As to the other complaints, the CBC says they tried to contact Ken Whyte, the publisher and editor of Maclean's, but he declined to be interviewed, so that segment only interviewed one of Mohamed Elmasry's sockpuppets, without rebuttal. Finally, the CBC interviewed Darren Lund, the complainant in the Boissoin case, without a word from Boissoin himself.
I'm sure Boissoin and Maclean's were unhappy with that lop-sidedness. But I think that critical thinkers watching the show would have picked up on revealing comments made by Elmasry's spokeschild, Khurrum Awan, and by Lund.
Unlike what he has usually done, Awan didn't commit the fraud of ascribing embarrassing comments about Islam to Mark Steyn himself. This time, when Awan read passages from Maclean's about pedophilia and bestiality in Islam, Awan (unlike on previous occasions) grudgingly acknowledged that Steyn was quoting from Muslim imams. In other words, Steyn was reporting grotesque remarks about Muslims, made by other Muslims. The comments about bestiality and pedophilia weren't his - they were said by radical Muslim leaders. In effect, Awan was saying that Steyn and Maclean's should be forbidden from reporting facts that embarrass him.
To me - and, I hope to other viewers - that exposes the absurdity of the complaint against Maclean's and Steyn. The words complained about may well be embarrassing, or hurtful, or demeaning, and indeed they do show Islam in a bad light. But they were said by radical Muslim leaders, and Maclean's reported that. To demand equal space to present "the other side of the story" - when the first side of the story is the accurate reporting of facts - makes Awan et al. look like illiberal fools. I'm biased on the subject, but I thought that Awan came across not only as thin-skinned, but as complaining about what Muslims said - not what Steyn said. Out of an obviously lengthy interview with Awan, that choice of editing by the CBC served to highlight his weakness.
There was another point that Lund's interview elucidated that I was vaguely aware of, but about which the documentary refreshed my memory. In that offensive decision, the Christian pastor's views on homosexuality were linked circumstantially to an alleged beating of a gay teen a few weeks later. To apportion any blame for an act of physical violence to an unrelated political discussion about homosexuality is an abomination of our legal system. But what I had forgotten - until Lund's interview - was that the teen in question has never been identified, and did not even complain to the police. We only have a vague newspaper report and Lund's own say-so - but nothing more. Who was that youth? Was he really attacked? He was a high school student - was he one of Lund's own students? Did Lund have anything to do with the complaint? If there was a real, physical crime committed - an assault and battery - why was nothing done about it? Why did the police not make inquiries, either to Lund or the reporter in question? Or did they - and did they dismiss the case as unfounded, or even a hoax?
That such a vague event - a rumour really - was used to convict a pastor shows how abominable these human rights commissions are. They didn't "convict" the person who allegedly attacked the teen. So they took out their politically correct venom on some Christian pastor who happened to be talking about homosexuality a few weeks before.
I'm not sure if those subtleties came through to many, especially to people unfamiliar with the case. But it was a reminder to me that HRCs use vague facts - or, as we saw last Tuesday, even manufacture facts - as ammunition in their wars against conservatives and Christians. I don't think I would have said so before the Lemire hearing last week, but having learned that human rights "activists" use the tactics of planting fake evidence, and using fake names and fake facts to provoke "hate crimes", I now wonder if the rumoured gay-bashing incident in the Boissoin case was itself manufactured, either by Lund - the Richard Warman of Alberta - or someone else looking to drum up business for the commission.
Perhaps those are small points, and Lund and Awan came across as persuasive to CBC Sunday viewers. But I don't think so. I think they came across as politically correct whiners, pampered liberals who would rather file a grievance against their opponents than debate them. Perhaps that will ring sympathetic with the stereotypical CBC viewer, but I think that enough people, even on the left, believe in free speech to be turned off by such thin-skinned complainants. As Lund himself said, the Red Deer Advocate published plenty of critical replies to Boissoin's article; only Lund himself started a five-year witch-hunt using goverment resources.
But the main reason I liked the report was that it started and ended with Alan Borovoy, the head of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. The documentary showed historical footage of Borovoy being one of the founders of these human rights commissions; then it quoted him - more than anyone else was quoted, in fact - as being a very concerned critic of the commissions straying into censorship. He was set up as the neutral, father figure of the documentary - me, Lund and Awan were the partisans. Borovoy was the go-to man for analysis; he was "the expert".
The fact that he - rather than a human rights commissioner - was set up as the arbiter of reason is quite dramatic, given how much of a free speecher Borovoy is.
The documentary wasn't perfect - but, as a "report" as opposed to an opinion piece, it was favourable to the side of free speech. I thought it was yet another landmark event in our journey to expose and denormalize the commissions, and build momentum for political change. I'd give it a thumbs up. |
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steveboissoin
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Joined: 24 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:29 am Post subject: |
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Over the last three months I have been lambasted in my local newspapers more times than I can count. Often, Lund has been asked to comment. My picture was on the front page in December in bold print exclaiming a circumstantial link between my letter and an assault on a gay teenager. My 13 year old son saw my picture on the front page before I even knew about it. The next day I was asked to come into my employers office and explain. In January, I was bashed in an article that talked about how gays are haunted by threats of violence. Last month Lund was on the front page of the Red Deer Advocates local section. He was featured because he was in my city facilitating a "Free Speech Must Have Limits" presentation. In his presentation he reiterated how my comments and position are hateful and how they were linked to an assault on a gay teen. Lund facilitated this presentation in partnership with Bill Baergen, a former educator and school superintendent and a past commissioner with the human rights commission. Baergen wrote The Ku Klux Klan in Central Alberta, a book that exposes the white extremist group’s presence in the region until its dismantling in the early 1990s. In Lund's complaint and publicly he has voiced that in regards to me and my comments "there is a parallel to oother hatemongers such as Terry Long of the Aryan Nation and James Keegstra, Holocaust denier."
I have tried to respond but the Red Deer Advocate will not print anything I submit. I have even contacted the Editor and Publisher humbly voicing the bias and unfairness of not allowing me to reply. I even suggested that they offer me guidance as to how they would limit the content of my response. They just sluff me off and ignore me. This is the same newspaper that gave me an award for my Letters to the Editor years ago. Until recently, I have not submitted one since my 2002 letter.
The Globe was the same. Lund had a guest column with the Globe and I attempted to respond asking for the same opportunity. I was ignored. I even tried to respond in the general comments section. Anything I submitted was ignored.
As much as I admit that it hurts and is frustrating, I still chose to put a smile on my face and with a joyful shout affirm that...Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you! |
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Never Give Up
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Joined: 19 May 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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That would be very painful!!! I feel for you and hope I never have to go through it!
You have a following of people who are behind you!
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Bill Whatcott
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 138
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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I can relate there Pastor Steve....
In 1994 I was sentenced to six months in prison for peacefully praying in front of Toronto's Scott Abortuary....
Yes thats right 6 months in jail for praying.....
Well I also held a small Life Chain sign too, words: "Abortion Kills Children."
No swearing, no violence, no resistance when police came.
Everyone was shocked at the severity of the sentence and because I was the first one convicted and given such a harsh sentence under the NDP abortion clinic injunction, folks thought it would be front page news....
They were wrong. For sure if queers or Muslims were peacefully or even not so peacefully praying and holding signs outside a Christian church and a judge gave that kind of a sentence it would have been front page news. For "extreme" pro-life Christians?
meh.... The pro-life Interim and 100 Huntley Street covered it. No one else, not even on the back page....
I learned then the media doesn't care about Christians and many in the media actually hate us. I also learned the bias is not only in what the media says but more of it is covertly expressed in what they refuse to cover/ say....
Anyways Pastor Boisson I for one love you and admire you as a true warrior for Christ!!!!
If you are ever in Edmonton and need a place to stay please do look me up.... (780) 885-7866
Bill
"Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" Jesus Christ
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evolution8
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Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 24
Location: Philippines
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry to hear this Pastor Steve, I will include you in my prayers....
God bless,
Evolution8
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"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13
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Epiphany
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Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 1143
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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The non-person
Steynposts
Wednesday, 02 April 2008
Deborah Gyapong writes today about that old Jew-hater David Ahenakew, his reinstatement by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and the objection to said reinstatement by Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.
In a way, the case nicely illustrates the limitations of "hate" prosecution. It would seem unlikely that Mr Ahenakew has changed his views on the perfidiousness of Jews after being dragged through legal hell by them for five years and having been "stripped of everything he had". Au contraire, he's clearly a sympathetic figure not just to himself but to his fellow Saskatchewan Indians. I would figure Saskatchewan Indian chiefs are on balance rather less fond of Jews than they were before this thing started. So if the object of "hate" prosecutions is to eradicate ill feelings towards certain groups I doubt it did its job in this case.
On the other hand, I'm all in favour of social ostracism of Ahenakew. I don't know why the government stuck him in the Order of Canada in the first place, but it seems unlikely that he'll be enjoying any more of the photo ops with the Queen he once took for granted. Yet, aside from that high-level pursing of lips, he's not suffering any other meaningful ostracism among his own community.
By way of comparison, consider a less stellar victim of the anti-"hate" regime and one who lacks the support of one of the Canadian mosaic's preferred identity groups. Stephen Bossoin is the more or less penniless pastor clobbered by the Alberta "Human Rights" Commission for one letter to the newspaper on the subject of homosexuality. Last Sunday, his story was on CBC TV: They interviewed the plaintiff, Darren Lund, but not Mr Bossoin. A couple of weeks before that, The Globe And Mail ran a column by Mr Lund, but rejected one by Mr Bossoin. Before that, The Red Deer Advocate ran a front-page profile of Mr Lund about Mr Bossoin's "hateful" speech, but declined to run a letter by Mr Bossoin.
And so it will go, forever and ever. The thought police have declared him a non-person. For years to come, "human rights" crusaders like Mr Lund will make reference to the importance of "the Bossoin case" and of taking a stand against "Bossoin's hateful speech", but Bossoin the person will have no right of reply, even in the local newspaper, which will have no desire to attract the attentions of Lund and his enforcers.
Go back to the Sock Puppet Three, still fraudulently claiming to be the "complainants" in the cases against Maclean's. They piously insist that they went to the “human rights” enforcers because they were only trying to “start a debate”, and mean old Maclean’s was preventing their voices from being heard. They have repeated this mournful plea in TV appearances on the CBC, CTV, TVO plus in lengthy editorials they’ve written for, at last count, The Globe And Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, The Ottawa Citizen, The Calgary Herald, the Montreal Gazette, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, The London Free Press, and no doubt a few other publications. That’s the reality of Canada’s “Islamophobic” media: They’ve been given acres of op-ed real estate to yell at full volume that their voices are being silenced and all they want to do is start a debate – even though, in none of their many columns, do they actually start it.
Mr Bossoin, by contrast, has been entirely silenced. This is the real punishment of the "human rights" racket, and, unlike a regular jail term from a proper court, it's a sentence without end.
http://www.steynonline.com/content/blogsection/14/128/ |
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unclaimedtreasure
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Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject: Silencing the Christians |
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Steve,
I heard of your tribulations when I watched episode 5 of Silencing the Christians. Wow... you must feel like a kindred spirit to the Apostle Paul.
In 1987, I married a friend/ classmate . We were both Christian Education majors in the Methodist denomination. He was employed as a youth and music minister. I became a teacher. We had a daughter in 1990. In February of 1991 he left me and a 3 month old infant because he had to "be what he wanted to be". So, both of our lives have been affected by homosexuality.
I applaud your stance and your integrity.
Cindy R. |
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Never Give Up
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Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 2478
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome unclaimed treasure.
Yours is another sad story.
Here's a link for another very courageous lady who speaks about the effects of homosexuality on her life
Dawn Stefanowicz
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