Supreme Court Ruling Threatens Separation of Powers
The Story: In a recent ruling with potentially serious constitutional ramifications, the Supreme Court of Canada has seemingly asserted itself as the nation’s ultimate authority in legislative matters. In its decision on Canada v. Power, the Supreme Court ruled that a plaintiff may seek damages if a court declares a law unconstitutional. This decision effectively places the courts in a position of authority over the legislative and executive branches of government by not only taking the power of overriding laws, but also punishing governments for enforcing laws that were duly passed by the legislature.
The Significance: More pessimistic commentators have long held that Canada is slowly descending into a technocratic oligarchy wherein ultimate authority no longer rests with the people, but with a small group of lawyers in red robes. If this decision is anything to go by, that descent may not be as slow as previously thought.
By taking this new power to allow damages when the courts declare a law unconstitutional, the Supreme Court has created an alarming precedent that could result in activist groups getting millions of taxpayer dollars in settlements from the same activist courts that regularly invent new rights. Remember, these are the same judges who declared that it was unconstitutional to sentence pedophiles to a minimum sentence. Will those pedophiles now be eligible to sue the government for their supposed “unconstitutional” sentences?
Perhaps we will soon learn what these words from Isaiah truly mean: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter” (Is. 59:14-15).
Read more: Stéphane Sérafin, The National Post, “Legal activists put the ‘notwithstanding clause’ at risk”
Alberta Premier Smith Promises Medical Choice Protections
The Story: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced that her Government will introduce an amended Alberta Bill of Rights during the fall legislative session in an effort to protect medical choice. During her 2022 leadership campaign—which took place in the aftermath of Alberta’s implementation of Covid-era vaccine policies—Smith promised similar legislation to protect vaccine choice but had not announced formal legislative plans until this month. Asked to comment on the United States Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v Wade during her 2022 campaign, Smith stated, “I am pro-choice, and that includes supporting a person’s right to make choices on what [to] do with their own body, such as medical treatments and vaccines. I feel so strongly about this. it is why I announced last week I would amend the Human Rights Act to protect an individual from discrimination for their medical choices or political beliefs.” Her most recent announcement did not indicate whether these promised protections for abortion would be included in the Bill set to be introduced this Fall.
The Significance: During the Covid-19 era, government vaccine policies forced many Christians to think deeply about the theological implications of receiving—or refusing to receive—Covid-19 vaccines in light of government mandates and advisories. This deep thinking prompted many to consider questions about the legitimacy of governmental authority, the importance of conscience freedom, and what it means to truly love a neighbour. Sadly, however, some emerged from these considerations with a renewed commitment to the worldly ideal of “bodily autonomy.”
This ideal is inconsistent with the Christian worldview: for the Christian, personal autonomy is not the highest end of a human being’s life. Instead, the highest end is to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Glorifying God includes submitting to his design and obeying his commands, a framework that necessitates dying to yourself rather than living for yourself. As Christians, “you are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Rather than attempting to master our own destinies, we kneel in humble submission to the designs of a God who shed his own blood as the purchase price for our bodies. This is, of course, a way of life that is utterly foreign to a culture which has given unquestioned acceptance to “bodily autonomy.”
There are many legitimate reasons to oppose Government vaccine mandates. However, these reasons should be framed in biblical categories—such as conscience freedom—rather than being framed using modern, counter-biblical concepts that betray a self-focused concern for merely personal desires. As soon as “bodily autonomy” becomes a principle that may never be impugned, a world of abortion becomes possible—where the life of an innocent child may be discarded to ensure the “autonomy” of his mother.
This is the world Premier Smith describes in her 2022 comments on Roe v. Wade, a world where the same principle that protects Albertans from vaccine mandates also ensures the convenient destruction of embryonic boys and girls. We should support efforts to protect conscience rights with regard to vaccine choice, but oppose all such efforts that simultaneously allow for abortion. Let us pray that Premier Smith and her Cabinet introduce legislation that accomplishes the former without allowing the latter. The difference is quite literally life and death.
Read more: Jonathan Bradley, The Western Standard, “Smith says updated Alberta Bill of Rights coming in the fall”
Canadian Citizen Killed in Gaza After Charging Israeli Forces
The Story: Israeli Forces shot and killed 21-year-old Zachareah Adam Quraishi, a Canadian citizen, near Israel’s border with Gaza after he began running toward border patrol officers with a drawn knife while reportedly shouting “Free Palestine!” Quraishi had travelled to Israel the day before the attempted attack and is reportedly from Airdrie, Alberta.
The Significance: This event places Canada in the unique position of having exported a terrorist to the Middle East. This is likely not a coincidence.
Although we do not know the exact circumstances which encouraged Quraishi to board a plane to Israel and attempt an act of terror against Israeli forces, we do know that Canadian society has fostered a rampant culture of antisemitism, often led by young activists and often motivated by radical Islamism—a violent ideology which has repeatedly encouraged young men to commit acts of terror.
Citizens are not shaped in a vacuum. They are always the product of the environment in which they are raised and trained—including their familial, cultural, academic, and religious environments. In Canada, we must seek to grow strong family cultures, good academic institutions, and robust church congregations that will serve as healthy training grounds for young men and women. If not, something else will fill the vacuum and, in this case, that “something else” is particularly pernicious.
Read more: Tyson Fedor, CTV News, “Canadian man killed in southern Israel has ties to Airdrie”
New Director of Canada’s Spy Agency Authored Threat Report on Social Conservatives
The Story: Canada’s recently-installed interim Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Vanessa Lloyd, had previously published a report on threats facing Canada that branded Canadians concerned about gender ideology as an “extremist” threat to the nation.
The section of the report labelled “gender/identity driven violence” is sandwiched right between a reference to a Toronto attack where a man sought out young women to murder and a reference to Nazism.
The single instance referenced to substantiate the report’s claim is an attack on a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo by a graduate who stabbed a professor and two students. The attacker, who was rightly charged with attempted murder, had a list of various grievances that allegedly led to the violent attack.
The Significance: Many Canadians have already noticed that laws are being applied unequally in our nation. In 2019, we were told the government was helpless to remove protesters who shut down railway infrastructure and cut off essential supplies from rural communities. In 2022, however, the Government implemented the Emergencies Act to remove the non-violent—though at times noisy—Freedom Convoy from downtown Ottawa. Then, for most of this year, Canadian universities have tolerated disruptive Hamas encampments and street demonstrations that call for the death of all Jews.
Against this backdrop, it is deeply disconcerting that the head of CSIS would consider, as a threat, parents who are simply concerned about gender ideology—including the idea that the chemical castration of minors is mental health treatment—being taught to their children.
Read More: Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, TrueNorth, “Interim spy chief authored report branding parental rights advocates as extremists”
Quick Hits
US President Joe Biden quits as Democratic Nominee; VP Kamala Harris to replace him: In a move that was both surprising and unsurprising, United States President Joe Biden withdrew as his Party’s presumptive nominee for the 2024 presidential election. President Biden, whose cognitive ability to fulfil his duty as president had been called into question for almost his entire term, is visibly declining and had been facing increased calls for resignation after a disastrous debate performance revealed his narrowing path to victory. Despite the vast majority of delegates having been elected to vote for Joe Biden, the Democratic Party organized a swift campaign to nominate his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as the presumptive replacement.
The Democrats’ initial refusal to acknowledge the President’s decline, willingness to skip their own democratic process, and the fact that they are now running the most left-wing, pro-abortion nominee in American history is disheartening.
Read More: R. Albert Mohler Jr, WORLD Opinions, “Exit, stage left: In a stunning development President Biden leaves the race, but huge questions loom”
Pro-parental rights candidate pulls off stunning by-election win: Robert Kolosowski, running in a by-election for the York Regional District School Board (YRDSB), won a stunning victory by doubling the combined vote total of the eight other candidates. Kolosowski ran on a platform of parental rights, merit-based hiring, and keeping politics out of the classroom. He also called for zero tolerance for the “sexualization of children”, which caused so-called “trans rights” group PFLAG York Region to accuse him of being anti-transgender. Kolosowski is an example of what principled participation in local politics can look like. Christians should keep him in their prayers as he joins the ultra-progressive YRDSB.
Read More: Élie Cantin-Nantel, True North, “Pro-parents trustee candidate wins York school board byelection in landslide”