CLC Blog

I wish to extend a hearty congratulations to all Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) supporters and parents who acted recently to defend their God-given right to raise their children within a religious-moral framework!

We’ve put together an in-depth analysis below, and it is followed by very important action items- please read to the end!

On September 25th I sent an email to warn our local supporters about an upcoming September 27th vote by Waterloo Region Councillors.

It was regarding a proposed by-law amendment that, if passed, would result in giving municipal officials the power to ban parental rights protests in which criticism of LGBT ideology is expressed.

A repeat of the Million Person March For Children that was recently held at Kitchener City Hall could potentially be outlawed. We also warned that it would give municipal enforcement officials the power to remove citizens from public property and fine them $250 for making people who identify as LGBT “feel” offended.

I want to give you a comprehensive report of what transpired at the September 27th Waterloo Regional Council meeting. It’s important to do this reflection even though two weeks have passed. That’s because parental rights advocates had some significant success, thanks entirely to their pushback!

It’s also important to reflect on what lessons we’ve learned, to carry them forward in future battles for parental rights and free speech.

HIGHLIGHTS OF PARENTAL PUSHBACK & RESULTS

• Councilors were flooded with emails and phone calls opposing the by-law amendment in the days preceding the vote.
• Local citizens opposed to the by-law packed the Council Chambers on the evening of the vote. This sent a clear signal that the by-law amendment was not welcome.
• Nine pro-parental rights and pro-free speech citizens delegated powerfully, giving reasons why the amendment should not be passed.
• A constitutional lawyer from The Democracy Fund also delegated against the by-law change. CLC had tipped them off about this legislation, so TDF’s Litigation Director was able to register as a delegate before the deadline.
• After hearing delegation speeches, enough Councillors agreed that the proposed wording would violate the Charter right to freedom of expression and association, that they moved and passed the following important motions:
  • To delete the dangerously subjective wording which would have defined “harassed” in section 1.2 as: “feeling tormented, troubled, worried, plagued or badgered”.
  • To delete from the list of prohibited activities “causing or permitting communications” that result in harassment, thus leaving only the direct “communication” of harassment as prohibited.
  • To add wording clarifying that this by-law shall not be abused to ban protests, as follows: “… subject to the provision that nothing in this subsection shall prevent or limit a lawful protest”.
• Councillors also sought and obtained clarification from staff legal counsel that roadways owned by the Region of Waterloo would not be subject to these by-law restrictions.
• On the final vote, the amended by-law proposal passed unanimously 14-0. The legislation will come into force on January 1, 2024.
• Councillor Vrbanovic introduced a motion for Council to obtain a legal opinion from an independent constitutional lawyer, to advise whether the final by-law violates the Charter of Rights & Freedoms. His motion passed, but with strong opposition from Councilors Robert Deutschmann and Karen Redman. No date was given for when that legal opinion would arrive. Could it result in a motion to repeal the new wording?

Not total victory, but reason to be encouraged

You may be tempted to fall into despair because the final passage of the by-law amendment handed LGBT activists and their Marxist allies another weapon with which to bludgeon the free speech rights of traditionally principled Canadians.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. We had some partial victories.

If parents and concerned citizens from a variety of faiths had not come together to vigorously resist the unjust by-law, things would be much worse for our fundamental freedoms and our right to protest LGBT indoctrination in schools.

If CLC had not alerted our local supporters and asked them to email, phone, attend the Council meeting and delegate, then extremely dangerous language would surely have passed.

If we had not resisted, the dangerous definition of harassment as “feeling troubled” or “feeling worried” would have passed. I can assure you that language would have been weaponized in the future by LGBT activists and liberal-minded staff to shut down peaceful parental protests that they disagree with.

For example, nothing would be able to prevent an LGBT activist from making a vexatious claim like, “That sign is making me feel worried and troubled. You must charge the person holding it with harassment!”.

With this wording deleted, thanks to our collective efforts as a pro-family community, it should be much harder now for activists to shut down lawful speech.

And if they do attempt it, the added wording of “nothing in this subsection shall prevent or limit a lawful protest” can be used as a defense to argue back to the by-law officer against a harassment charge. Or if necessary, to argue it in a court of law. On that point, The Democracy Fund stated, following the Council Meeting, that it would consider defending individuals charged in the future under that by-law, on a case-by-case basis. I count these as small wins too.

Finally, we must recognize that our resistance simply being seen by Regional Council has tremendous value. Knowing that not all citizens agree with the LGBT agenda should make some of them less likely to agitate for the suppression of our rights.

Top Delegate Speeches

There were several excellent delegations, but I want to highlight two that were exemplary. The first was by a Muslim mom named Marium Ali. She is part of the MillionMarch4Children KW and Hands Off Our Kids organization.

Marium asked a poignant question to Council: “The bylaw states that harassment can be claimed if a listener is feeling ‘troubled’ or ‘worried’… I ask everyone in this room, which of you has never ever made another person feel ‘worried’ or ‘troubled’? Do you want to be banished from the public square?”

To watch Marium’s full delegation, click here or the image below.

The next stand-out delegation was by Adam Cooper, who is actually a City Councilor for Ward 6 in Cambridge, one of the municipalities that form part of the Region of Waterloo. He attended out of personal concern after learning about the authoritarian nature of the proposed by-law amendment.

At one point, Cooper beautifully articulated the motivation behind the presence of many of the immigrant parents in the Council Chambers who came to oppose the censorship by-law:

“Many of the people that are in Canada – I’m an immigrant, I came here 35 years ago – many people came here to get away from that kind of authoritarian control of voice, speech, and thought”.

Cooper continued: “What I’m seeing here in this wording is a political tactic that we’re seeing more and more of… It’s a lazy tactic. It’s an unintelligent tactic. It’s an intolerant tactic. And that is the weaponization of the word hate”.

To watch Adam’s full speech, click here or on the image below.

Million March For Children repeatedly condemned by pro-LGBT activists for calling out “groomers”

While the pro-family side had ten delegations, the proposed by-law also had its defenders. One interesting pro-bylaw delegation, Julian Ichim, proudly identified himself as a “socialist and a communist”.

An LGBT activist named David Alton was indignant that the Million March For Children was allowed to happen at Kitchener’s City Hall on September 20th. He was especially upset at the use of the terms “grooming” and “groomers” by parental rights protesters during the march, which they had used to describe the LGBT indoctrination taking place in schools.

Alton described himself as working with “queer youth” and complained about how he and his partner “have received constant hate comments from members of the so-called ‘parents rights movement’ since we started advocating for queer literature two years ago”.

Another pro-LGBT delegation named Craig Sloss implied in his speech that he hoped the passage of the proposed by-law would ban parental rights protesters from being able to use signs with the word “groomer” in any future protests on municipal property. NOTE: the signs that referenced “grooming” were directed at the school board practice of indoctrinating children with Gender Theory and LGBT propaganda.

It was very interesting, and perhaps ironic, that Mr. Sloss’ passionate argument that the term “groomer” was unfair and uncalled for because it could potentially be associated with the entire LGBT community, was immediately followed by an eyebrow-raising speech by John Bannister, representing the local chapter of PSAC, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which is one of the largest labour unions in Canada.

Bannister strongly supported the amendment to the Code of Use by-law, as a defense against the recent parental rights protests across the nation, which he stated “seek to restrict childhood autonomy”. Now, isn’t that a rather bizarre thing to advocate for - childhood autonomy? It begs the question: autonomy from who? Their own parents?

The union representative continued to repeat these sorts of disturbing references to “child autonomy” and casting parents' roles in rearing their children as they see fit, in a dubious light.

At one point, in a clear jab at Million March protesters, he referred to “this twisted notion of protection”. Got that all you Christian and Muslim parents? You have a “twisted notion” of protecting your children.

Bannister laid out to Councilors his vision for Waterloo Region as a place “where the heroes of the trans community are not restricted from education, where children are not divorced from their rights of autonomy, their right of their own bodies, their own autonomy and their own agency”. He closed his speech with a condemnation of parental rights demonstrators as “shadowy conspirators” who “seek to restrict the liberty of children in the sake of protecting a parent’s superstition”.

Wow. Just wow.

Talk about giving parents every reason to continue protesting Gender Ideology in schools!

Here’s a union boss repeatedly characterizing parents as evil for restricting the sexual liberty of children! I think this guy single-handedly ensured that Kitchener’s next Million March For Children will be even larger. (By the way, that’s taking place on October 21st based on an announcement by the Hands Off Our Kids national organization.)

To view Mr. Bannister’s full speech, click here or on the image below.

Tent City encampments added to censorship bill

In a surprise twist, many of those defending the by-law amendment, including LGBT activists, also demanded that “the homeless” and those living in tent city encampments be added to the by-law as an identity group needing protection.

As a result of those delegations, Councilors added the new wording indicated below in bold and underline:

“(1.2) “harassed” includes, but is not limited to:
 
(a) experiencing objectionable or unwelcome conduct, comment, bullying, or actions that could reasonably cause offence or humiliation, including conduct, comment, bullying, or actions because of ….  socio-economic status or housing status;”

This language could take away citizens’ rights to protest the drug-infested tent cities that are sprawling throughout Waterloo Region, causing neighborhood crime to spike, and making our communities less safe for all families.

Actions For Future

1. Plan to vote out all 14 of the Regional Councilors who voted YES to passing the censorship by-law, at the earliest opportunity. You might even consider running for a seat yourself! With a new Council in place, we hope that the by-law amendment can be repealed. Here are the Councilors to defeat:

• Karen Redman, Regional Chair
• Robert Deutschmann, Kitchener
• Jim Erb, Waterloo
• Sue Foxton, North Dumfries
• Chantal Huinink, Waterloo
• Colleen James, Kitchener
• Jan Liggett, Cambridge Mayor
• Dorothy McCabe, Waterloo Mayor
• Joe Nowak, Wellesley
• Natasha Salonen, Wilmot
• Sandy Shantz, Woolwich Mayor
• Berry Vrbanovic, Kitchener Mayor
• Kari Williams, Kitchener
• Pam Wolf, Cambridge

2. Begin to lobby your City or Town Council members to vote against any attempt to pass a version of this Code of Use by-law amendment in any of the lower-tier municipalities (Cambridge, Kitchener, etc.) that make up the higher tier, Region of Waterloo government.

Why is this important?

The report presented by the “anti-hate” committee to Waterloo Regional Council prior to the September 27th vote stated that after passage at the Regional level, each city and township in the region would be approached to persuade them to adopt the same restrictions on freedom of expression and protest rights at their municipally-owned buildings and properties.

LINKS:  Kitchener ■  Cambridge ■ Waterloo ■ North Dumfries ■ Wilmot ■ Wellesley

Please be respectful in all of your communications.

3. Plan to attend the next Million March For Children rally. Location and timing details are not yet posted, but we presume the organizers will do so soon. CLC will also notify you of those details.