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Marginalizing us much?

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Not much news coverage to be found on yesterdays protest at the GG’s mansion. I did find this article in the Ottawa Sun.

It describes the crowd in attendance as “mostly geriatric” and “carrying a ceramic baby Jesus, wearing rosary beads and crucifixes and carrying signs.” What image are you getting in your mind’s eye right now? (My first thought: How did people grasping walkers and canes manage to also wield signs and ceramic babies?) Clearly, the writer was attempting to make this crowd seem as abstract as possible. We obviously can’t rely on the media to be objective.

Thank goodness for video, one of which is posted alongside the aforementioned article. It’s worth a watch, and probably provides far more objectivity. One young woman (Faytene Kryskow), after listing examples, states that she’s against abortion primarily “because it has hurt [her] friends.” She was rosary and walker free.

Get writing!

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The Constitution of the Order of Canada states that any Canadian has the right to make a request to consider the termination of an appointment to the Order of Canada:

A request to consider the termination of an appointment to the Order of Canada may be made by any person in writing to the Deputy Secretary, The Chancellery. After review, if the grounds for termination are considered to be insufficient or spurious, the Deputy Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary General of the Order, will send a reply to the person who made the request to that effect.

The Council is obligated to consider the request if the person in question has been convicted of a criminal offence, and/or has been sanctioned in the past. We all remember Morgentaler’s 10 month stint in jail, don’t we?

If you’re a Canadian, it’s your right to send in an official request. The Council has to respond personally to every Canadian who sends in a request regarding the termination of Morgentaler’s Order of Canada nod.

Get Writing!

Might you consider revoking the award?

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A quick follow-up on the demonstration at the Governor General’s. There were approximately 400 people there, I’d say. Young, old, women, men–people stretched along the road, with orange-yellow signs with big black print saying “Revoke” and “Disorder of Canada” and the like. Oh polite Canadians–we all moved over to keep the “fire emergency exit” free–and a woman from Silent No More spoke. Clapping at certain critical points. Many cameras there. An elderly gentleman played his bagpipes, which I very much appreciated. Because they are so loud and mournful, which is perhaps the right tone to take. But the whole protest was more mournful than loud. Now it was about 300 degrees with the humidity… but it was all very understated. It was as if we asked, “Might you consider revoking this award, please?” 

Then I carried my Revoke sign back to the office with me.

The most passion I heard was in the cab on the way over. Taxi driver says: “Where are you going?” We say “Rideau Hall.” He says “What for?” We say “To protest Morgentaler getting the Order of Canada.” He bursts out and says “How can that murderer get an award! I support you! I’m going to call my wife and tell her to go!”

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Andrea updates: Lifesite story here. They are saying 1,000 people came. Which is possible. I have a really hard time estimating these things, especially here, given that people were lining the street.

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Véronique adds: I don’t know, Andrea: CBC News said 400, which to me meant that at least 1,000 people must have been there.

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Andrea adds: I’m having a moment: I actually agree with the CBC.

A bit discouraging, what

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Not a happy poll result:

OTTAWA — Two out of three Canadians either support or somewhat support the appointment of Dr. Henry Morgentaler to the prestigious Order of Canada, reveals a new poll, which points out Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the minority by voicing his “personal dissatisfaction” with the controversial nomination.

I would still think it wrong even if 99.99% of Canadians approved, so in that sense I don’t mind being in the minority. Can two-thirds really approve? I admit I’m surprised and puzzled. Perhaps different polls will show different results, I don’t know. Perhaps this one really represents the views of Canadians – if so, that’s more than a bit discouraging.

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Andrea asks: How do you somewhat agree (37 per cent) or somewhat oppose (16 per cent)? Does this actually mean that more than half (53 per cent) of Canadians are conflicted? Or perhaps they just sit on the fence? Or it’s hot out and it’s patio season and why are you asking me about Morgentaler? Listen, I’m not going to toss a poll result just because I don’t like it, but I wish Canadians would buck up and be hot or cold. Or must we always be mediocre? Nothing better we can do than abortion, so I guess I might as well thank Morgentaler. Pass me a beer.

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Tanya adds: This poll from a Southern Ontario news source is pretty 50/50.

http://www.thespec.com/

I don’t mind the fence sitters. I’m encouraged by the amount of fence sitters there are. These are the ones who just don’t know, and that’s why we’re here.

She’s lying alone, with her head on the phone…

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…thinking of us til it hurts. That’s an Air Supply song, to take you right back to my youth. We want the Governor General to be thinking of us about this Morgentaler award. So much that it hurts. I’m not out of love, yet. So call her. This info cut and pasted from 4MyCanada.ca

  1. STEP 1: Program numbers listed below into your speed dial (the most important being the Secretary to the Governor General (613-993-0259) and the Deputy Secretary Order of Canada (613-998-8731)).
  2. STEP 2: Call these numbers every 2nd day and leave a message saying something like, “I am calling to tell you I do not agree with Morgentaler’s appointment to the Order of Canada and to ask you to have it rescinded (taken away).”
  3. STEP 3: Save the following e-mails in a group ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected],[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],[email protected]).
  4. STEP 4: Write a letter expressing your heart regarding Morgentaler’s appointment to the Order of Canada.
  5. STEP 5: Hit send (to this group list you created in Step 3) every 2nd day!

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Tanya adds: Well, I’ve been following steps 3 to 5 since the 4th of July. Today would be the third time I send in my email. Today is also the first time I get an auto-response from the GG’s office. Clearly, they are experiencing an unusually high volume of emails.

Thank you for writing to the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. We appreciate hearing your views and suggestions. Responses to specific inquiries can be expected within two to three weeks. Please note that many of the e-mails we receive are in the form of comments or opinions and do not receive a reply. Content that is of an offensive or commercial nature will not receive a response.

 

Due to the large quantity of incoming correspondence, we also cannot reply to e-mails inquiring about the status of a previous request. Thank you for your understanding.

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Andrea adds: Good work, Tanya. I might add, the idea in this is to keep up the pressure for more than a week. We’re talking months here. Yes, you heard me correctly, months. Morning routines will need to be altered to incorporate official correspondence. Shower, coffee, then call the Governor General. That kind of thing.

There would be orphanages

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I once sat down with a woman who runs an abortion clinic for a chat. The conversation had its ups and downs, and certainly got heated in places, but this snippet left the biggest impression on me. She looked at me intensely (everything about abortion is intense) and said: “Do you know what we would have if we had no abortions?” I was sure she was going to say “Back alley abortions.” But no, she said, “orphanages. We would have orphanages.”

Tis better to be dead than poor.

Are we starved for leadership?

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CTV’s Question Period hosted a discussion between MP’s on the topic of Morgentaler’s Order of Canada appointment. (To watch the clip, scroll down to the bottom right, and click the link.)

Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay expressed her approval, claiming Morgentaler is “someone who has challenged assumptions; has contributed to the evolution of Canadian society.”

We are a better country for having people willing to stand up…We are better off having people willing to challenge those assumptions. It’s not a question, in fact, whether you agree with the underlying piece or not. I am a huge supporter of anyone willing to stand up and do exactly this.

Wow. Anyone? I can name a few people who’ve stood up — changed perceptions within a nation and contributed to an evolution of their society — whom I’d never call myself a huge supporter of. Names like Adolf Hitler, Tomas de Torquemada, and Genghis Khan come to mind.

I’d boldly argue that the underlying piece indeed does matter a great deal. With a mentality like Findlay’s, not one of us would care where Canada was going, as long as it had strong leadership taking it there.

Obviously, Findlay couldn’t possibly mean what she said. Had she meant it, she would not have begun her rant by emphasizing that “we’ve had the [abortion] debate” already. Clearly, she’s not a ‘huge supporter’ of pro-lifers who are ‘willing to challenge…assumptions’ about abortion.

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Andrea adds: All we need are really, really strong leaders–on the one hand it almost rings like a call for dictatorship, as you mention, Tanya. On the other hand, it means we just don’t need Martha. Because she is not willing to comment on the underlying issue–read be a strong leader–for fear it might alienate voters. (Then again, perhaps she did comment, after alll. “The debate is over,” is code for I’m happy with the status quo.)   

Too good not to share

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When it comes to the manner in which Morgentaler was handed his Order of Canada, many cringe (among a ton of other things) at this:

The selection committee even managed to craft Morgentaler’s citation without using the word abortion. He was chosen “for his commitment to increased health care options for women, his determined efforts to influence Canadian public policy and his leadership in humanist and civil liberties organizations.”

There you go, who’s against “increased health care options for women?”

Nothing brings this home like a good old Canadian simile. Read this one on Facebook.

I don’t understand why people try to pussyfoot around the issue. Morgentaler is abortion plain and simple. Not debating the abortion issue over this decision would be like not mentioning coffee and donuts when describing Tim Hortons to a foreigner. They are integral and connected at the very core of the issue.

I know, weird analogy… but you see my point.

This issue ain’t dead yet

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From what I can tell, the Ottawa Citizen alone has three Morgentaler-Order-of-Canada-articles. (Here, here, and here. )

After Morgentaler became a member of the Order of Canada, a pro-choice friend said she thought the manner in which it was awarded was quite “heavy-handed.” That’s where so many of us can unify: Not over our position on abortion but the rule-breaking and secrecy that went on to get him the award. More on that, here.

We might often grumble that the “ruling class” in Canada — the smug, selfserving, “progressive” political, legal, academic, and media elites, including the prime example at Rideau Hall — belong to some other world than the one from which they suck taxes. But seldom is there an event so stark, that we see them as they are. The Morgentaler award revealed that to so many Canadians.

And on that note, keep calling, Canada: The Governor General, your MP, your MLA, and others. See list here. Not happy with this appointment? Do something about it.  

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