Reporter Arrested During Interview with Deputy Prime Minister
The Story: During an attempted walking scrum with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Rebel News reporter David Menzies was arrested after a plainclothes RCMP officer stepped into his path, caused a collision, and claimed Menzies had assaulted him.
In a video of the altercation, Menzies can be seen responding with surprise after he was surrounded by officers and aggressively pushed into a plexiglass sign. Despite repeated requests, the instigating officer refused to provide his name and badge number.
Menzies was released shortly after the arrest with no charges laid.
The RCMP stated that they are “looking into the incident.” Rebel News CEO Ezra Levant said his company expects to file a lawsuit over the event.
The Significance: Reporters, including David Menzies, have been arrested before in Canada, and sometimes justly so. But never before have the police been caught in such obvious, egregious, highly documented assault on freedom of the press.
Making matters worse, Deputy Prime Minister Freeland did not attempt to intervene in the situation and has made no public comment on the matter despite her previous career as a journalist and her 2019 statement that “journalists must have the ability to report facts freely, to defend, expose and advance the truth without fear of retaliation, reprisal, violence or imprisonment.”
For many reasons, many conservative Canadians do not like Rebel News. Some have even gone so far as to say that Menzies is “not a journalist.” This issue, however, is not about like or dislike of the individuals involved. Instead, this is about the principle of free speech and freedom of the press. Those conservatives who gatekeep the term “journalist” may find themselves shocked when the only “journalists” left are those on pre-approved government lists asking pre-approved government questions.
Those pursuing the truth are unlikely to be held in high regard by those who are unrighteously attempting to suppress the truth. However, Christians must live in the light of God’s reality rather than in the darkness of the world’s lies. Because of this, journalists and others must have the freedom to ask difficult questions and pursue the truth. For that reason alone, we should hope that Rebel News’ lawsuit succeeds.
Read More: Rahim Mohamed, The National Post, “Handcuffs for journalists, double-doubles for jihadists”
Alberta College of Physicians Rescinds Anti-Conscience Rights Measure
The Story: The Alberta College of Physicians has dropped a proposal that would have required Alberta doctors to issue “effective referrals” for procedures they object to, such as abortion and assisted suicide. Although the requirement would not have forced medical professionals to perform the procedures that violate their consciences, it would have required them to directly provide patients with their approval to have the procedures done elsewhere.
In 2019, Alberta MLA Dan Williams introduced a Bill that would have enshrined protections for conscience rights into Alberta law. However, many United Conservative MLAs opposed the Bill, claiming that the legislation was unnecessary given the College of Physicians’ existing protections for conscience rights.
The Significance: This story has two major points of significance. First, the successful public pressure campaign that led to the requirement’s recension is a sign that positive pressure on public entities and political organizations is still a valuable method of pushing back against attacks on basic morality.
Second, Christian politicians should take every opportunity to add additional protections for already-existing ethical standards—even when those protections seem unnecessary. Public sentiment shifts quickly and, in the heart of a godless generation, it very often shifts away from righteousness and toward wickedness. As a result, present-day politicians should demonstrate wisdom by protecting the integrity of the law from future politicians who may not be as wise or as godly as their predecessors. Christians must be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). This should include attempts to outsmart and outplan evildoers. In the fight against unrighteousness, we should fight to win. After all, we already have.
Read More: ARPA Canada, “Albertans Have an Opportunity to Participate in a Consultation on Conscientious Objection”
Ontario Church, Provincial Government Settle Covid-Era Charges
The Story: An Ontario church will pay nearly $39,000 in fines after an agreement was struck to drop individual fines against the church’s elders. The fines result from the church’s decision to hold regular services in 2021—in violation of public health restrictions.
Trinity Bible Chapel is one of several churches in Ontario that refused to adhere to the Ontario Government’s Covid-era restrictions that prohibited gatherings of more than ten people. As a result, the church was charged and individual elders and leaders were given personal fines, each of which cost a minimum of $10,000.
Representing the church in court, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) argued that the church’s freedom of conscience and religion—both guaranteed protections in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms—had been violated. However, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the charges.
The Significance: The fact that the authorities went after the individual church leaders—and only dropped the charges because the church struck a nearly $40,000 settlement to protect their elders—should be a solemn warning about their willingness to make personal examples of individual Christians.
While many Christians didn’t feel that the focus on churches during the pandemic lockdowns was nefarious in any way, recent events have some rethinking their viewpoint. In the past few months, riots across Canada have actually called for harm to fellow Canadians and have shut down basic infrastructure, all while facing less of a united crackdown from authorities than churches gathering in groups of more than ten in 2021.
Regardless of their perspective on Covid-19 lockdowns, Christians should understand that Canada’s governments do not believe churches are necessary or essential. Moreover, the beliefs of Christians are not important considerations in public decision making. While this should not be surprising, we should not hesitate to resist this thinking by vocally defending the regular gathering of Christ’s church.
Read More: Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, “Charges against Canadians who defended religious freedom stayed”
Edmonton Police Provide Graphic Report on Homeless Encampments
Warning: Graphic Descriptions
The Story: Last week, Edmonton Police provided a technical briefing on a series of dangerous and deadly events at homeless encampments in the City. The briefing began with a collection of weapons found at the encampments including swords, axes, machetes, and airsoft guns.
The images that followed were far more gruesome: photos and videos of homeless people suffering burns, severe injuries, and death from propane tank explosions, fires, electricity line exposure, and overdoses. Some victims were so disfigured from the fires as to be unrecognizable, with one person’s body burned down to the bone.
A 16-year-old girl, who had been sex-trafficked in one of the encampments, was found in a hospital under an assumed name with burns to 75% of her body.
The police have dismantled 8 “high-risk” encampments so far—finding weapons, booby-trapped tents, 2,000 needles, and nearly 200 propane tanks. There are an estimated 800 additional “high-risk” camps in the Edmonton area.
The Significance: Other than abortion and assisted suicide, there is no more overt example of the moral rot of our society than homeless encampments and the brutal conditions within them. There is a stark contrast between the Bible’s repeated commands to care for the poor and the reality of addicts risking dismemberment to avoid freezing to death.
An undeniable part of this problem is that, for generations, churches were the centre of charity for those in need. Today, however, that responsibility has been offloaded to governments—the second part of the problem.
Sadly, Canada’s governments operate based on many falsehoods: that freedom requires allowing self-destruction, that human beings are naturally perfectible and not prone to sin, and that nihilism can replace the Divine moral order. These falsehoods are manifested in horrific policies such as drug legalization, unenforced laws, “safe supply”, and abandoning desperate, homeless people because they have a “right” to live lives of despair.
Enough is enough. These policies are sinful attacks on human dignity, and we each have a responsibility to end it. While governments must do their job and clear these dangerous encampments, our responsibility – and that of our churches – is to ensure that the poor and vulnerable have somewhere to turn.
“‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matt. 25:40)
Read More: Jackie Carmichael, The National Post, “Dozens of weapons seized in encampment removals: Edmonton police share graphic images”
Pro-Abortion, Pro-Euthanasia Organizations Receive Summer Jobs Funding
The Story: According to a report from The Catholic Register, the Federal Government has granted Canada Summer Jobs funding to SexEd Mart—a Montreal-based sexual education entity with ties to Planned Parenthood. The report also reveals that Dying with Dignity Canada, a pro-euthansia advocacy organization, received funding in both 2022 and 2023.
The funding revelations follow new accusations that Christian organizations have been discriminated against in the Canada Summer Jobs funding allocation process.
The Significance: The Federal Government’s willingness to provide funding to radically progressive groups while denying similar funding to Christian charities demonstrates the myth of “secular neutrality.” A public square cannot be completely devoid of all religious truth claims. In Canada’s case, the religious claims that occupy the public square are centered on the preeminence of bodily autonomy—even if adherence to that doctrine requires unequivocal support for abortion and euthanasia and demands discrimination against Christian groups who provide care for vulnerable human beings.
The human heart is designed for worship and there is no politician or voter who enters the public square without deep-seated beliefs and religious obligations. The question is not whether voters and elected officials will drag their gods into the political process but which gods they will drag into the political process. The current Canadian Government has clearly chosen personal autonomy as its idol of choice and no amount of “neutrality” will match the allure of its false divinity. Luckily, the living God who flattened Dagon in the Philistine temple and embarrassed Baal on Mt. Carmel will ultimately overcome the power of Canada’s own mute idols. When we oppose the falsehoods of this world, let us oppose them with the power of God’s word.
Read More: Anna Farrow, The Catholic Register, “Summer job grants flow to abortion groups”
Quick Hit
Canadian Military releases “feminist intersectional” magazine: Just weeks after attention was brought to the fact that Canada’s military has only three days of ammunition supply, the Canadian Military Journal released a new issue focused almost exclusively on a “feminist intersectional trauma-informed approach to reimagine and transform CAF culture.” Instead of any discussion on military heritage, the current recruiting crisis, or our dangerously low supply levels, the magazine attacks “institutional whiteness” and explores “anti-colonial” military approaches.
At a time of increasing war and global instability, Canadian military leaders who are focused exclusively on implementing woke-ism aren’t just morally corrupt, they are neglecting their duties and betraying the brave men and women serving in our Armed Forces.
Read More: Tristan Hopper National Post FIRST READING: The Canadian military’s all-in embrace of far-left ‘anti-oppression’ dogma
A Truth To Consider
