CLC Blog

Imagine being tried twice for the same alleged crime. The first time you are acquitted. But then, that verdict is challenged, and you are tried all over again! Back to court you go, where you must prove your innocence a second time – at great expense and inconvenience to you, and at great expense to the taxpayers who are funding this vendetta.

It’s a form of “double jeopardy.” And that is exactly what Bill Whatcott is facing under the direction of Ontario Attorney General and “Minister of Justice”, Doug Downey.

CALL AND WRITE DOUG DOWNEY NOW!

Ministry Office: 416-326-2220
Constituency Office: 705-726-5538
Email: [email protected]

According to the Legal Dictionary, “double jeopardy” is “the subjection of an individual to a second trial or punishment for the same offence or crime for which he has already been tried or punished.”

Canadian law does forbid “double jeopardy”, but only after a case reaches finality and a verdict is rendered at the Supreme Court level. There is no “double jeopardy” protection in the lower courts. If a man is found innocent of a crime in a low-level court, the crown can keep going after him on appeal and have his entire case re-tried right up to the Supreme Court.

Bill Whatcott is one such man, who is facing a re-trial as we speak. And the responsibility for this travesty of justice lies squarely at the feet of Doug Downey, Attorney General for Ontario – a Doug Ford appointee.

What we are seeing is the persecution of an outspoken Christian citizen by a government swayed by powerful anti-Christian pro-LGBT forces.

Bill Whatcott has shared his Christian faith and values in the public square over many years. In particular, he has focused his message on the sanctity of human life and the biblical definition of marriage and family. Back in 1994, he was arrested by Toronto Police, alongside Linda Gibbons and Rosemary Connel, as they prayed outside a Toronto abortion clinic and offered help to an abortion-minded woman.

Above: Bill Whatcott and Linda Gibbons.

Since then, Bill has faced numerous other charges. In 2011, he was even brought before the Supreme Court of Canada for a series of flyers he distributed, which warned of the spiritual dangers and health hazards associated with homosexual practices.

More recently, Bill was charged by Toronto Police in 2018 for the so-called “crime” of passing out Christian flyers at the 2016 “gay pride” parade in Toronto. These flyers described – in text and in picture – the diseases that are prevalent among practising homosexuals. They also presented the hope of the Gospel and offered God’s forgiveness for homosexuals and transgenders that repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

The long, drawn-out trial that followed concluded in 2021 with an acquittal. The judge, R. F. Goldstein, who was quite unsympathetic to Bill’s beliefs and values, could still say, “Our values as a free society and our centuries-old legal tradition requires that our system not criminalize those who hold views that are merely obnoxious and unpopular. We take this approach not because we like or approve of Mr. Whatcott’s views but because protection of speech we dislike, or even despise, protects everyone in a free and democratic society.”

That makes a lot of sense. Judge Goldstein was upholding free speech for everyone, including vocal Christians. After all, “freedom of conscience and religion” along with “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression” are “fundamental freedoms under our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms!

That should have been the end of the matter. However, when the LGBT lobby expressed their outrage and called for blood, Doug Ford’s Attorney General, Doug Downey, answered the call, allowing the crown prosecutor to request a re-trial from the appeals court. That re-trial was granted, and is set to take place in the coming weeks and months.

We urgently need to reach out to Doug Downey and tell him to put a stop to this unjust re-trial of Bill Whatcott. We need to let him know that:

• he must stop persecuting this outspoken Christian;
• he must end the injustice of a double-jeopardy trial;
• he must uphold Judge Goldstein’s ruling that protects free speech by finding Bill Whatcott “not guilty”;
• he must stop letting pro-LGBT lobbyists influence his decisions as Attorney General.

Please take a moment and…

CALL AND WRITE DOUG DOWNEY

Ministry Office: 416-326-2220
Constituency Office: 705-726-5538
Email: [email protected]

If we hope to maintain our freedom of belief and expression, as Christians in a free and democratic Canada, we need to urge Mr. Downey to call off his crown prosecutor and drop the charges against Bill.