Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario Overturns Democracy
A sleepy, little town in northwest Ontario has recently made international news headlines. Not because of any sudden crime wave or natural disaster. Not because of some noteworthy achievement.
Emo, Ontario – a township with 1,330 souls – has garnered worldwide infamy because of an unthinkable act of quasi-judicial tyranny.
An unelected bureaucrat, Karen Dawson, decreed in her Human Rights Tribunal ruling that the elected Mayor and Town Council of Emo must be punished for a decision they made in a meeting in 2020. According to this kangaroo court ruling, it is a crime if you do not share the woke values of the Tribunal.
Let me give you the back story.
A militant homosexual group called Borderland Pride, run by an activist lawyer, sought to force the township of Emo to make a pro-LGBT “pride” proclamation for the month of June and to fly the LGBT pride flag. They wanted to pressure the people of this little community to endorse and celebrate sexual practices and lifestyle choices that most would find objectionable, and which are openly opposed to the Law of God.
The mayor, Mr. Harold McQuaker, cast the tie-breaking vote to quash the homosexual activist group’s proposal. He commented, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin… There’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”
Mayor McQuaker also later explained something which should have been obvious to Borderland Pride: “We just don’t have a flagpole at our town hall.”
The township of Emo held a free vote of its duly elected representatives: They decided that they didn’t want to celebrate homosexual pride. But then one solitary, unelected bureaucrat – playing God – decides to overrule the will of the people, override democracy, and treat the citizens of Emo like serfs with no right to an opinion or a voice.
The Tribunal’s ruling asserts that it is “discrimination” to even suggest that flying the LGBT Pride flag might be unfair to other groups in society. According to Adjudicator Dawson, it is “demeaning and disparaging of the LGBTQ2 community” to show “a lack of understanding of the importance… of the Pride flag.”
So, because the Mayor of Emo “demonstrated a lack of understanding”, the Tribunal issued a punishing fine of $10,000 to the township of Emo, the brunt of which ordinary residents must bear. Additionally, Mayor McQuaker was personally centred-out and ordered by to pay a $5,000 fine. The Mayor and Council were also ordered to undertake mandatory LGBT sensitivity training, a.k.a. indoctrination.
In response, Mr. McQuaker stated: “I utterly refuse to pay the $5,000 because that’s extortion… and will not take the training… I did not do anything wrong. If anybody needs training, it’s the LGBTQ2+ to quit pushing their weight around and make demands that people can’t live with.”
What a courageous statement! One little small-town mayor has dared to stand up against the powerful woke tyranny of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. God bless him! This guy has guts.
Unfortunately, as you might expect, things have not gone so well for Mayor McQuaker since making that statement!
A total of $5,300.65 was pulled from Mr. McQuaker’s CIBC bank account without his consent when Borderland Pride approached his bank and presented a court order.
The homosexual activists then gleefully boasted of their plunder on social media:
Beyond the fines, Borderland Pride is also pushing for an official apology from the Town Council and is asking it to direct the local library to host a drag queen story hour event.
In a recent Toronto Sun article, Joe Warnington expressed the outrage that many Canadians are feeling over this case: “On a weak premise that there is discrimination of LGBT people there, the enforcement is harsher than most violent criminals receive. It seems like a heavy-handed, undemocratic move, not to mention a violation of personal finances, and cruel and unusual punishment.”
A crowdfunding campaign has been set up by a concerned citizen to support Mayor McQuaker for his steadfast stand. From the funds collected so far, a cheque for $5,300.65 is being drawn up as we speak to offset the fine the mayor had to pay.
We need to call on Premier Doug Ford and his Attorney General, Doug Downey, to step up to the plate and rein in the tyrannical overreach of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Our elected representatives must not be overruled by judges or bureaucrats when they are simply their democratic duties – whether in Emo Town Council, at Queen’s Park in Toronto, or on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The voice of the people must be respected – or else our democracy is lost.
Please join me in signing our petition to Premier Ford and Attorney General Downey, asking them to review the Tribunal’s Emo decision and to bring in legislation to prevent this travesty of justice and violation of democracy from ever occurring again in Ontario.
First of all, the unelected, self-appointed tyrants at the Human Rights Tribunal must no longer have the power to overrule elected officials – at any level of government.
Second, the Tribunal must be stripped of its ability to impose monetary fines for things that people say – we are supposed to have freedom of expression in Canada, even if that expression is offensive or controversial!
Third, the Tribunal must end its neo-Marxist focus on group identity politics and shift to protect real, individual human rights and freedoms – like the right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of conscience.
The Emo case might seem like a victory for the LGBT lobby and Borderland Pride, but it is a false victory. LGBT groups can’t bully their way into acceptance. All the fines and “re-education” in the world can’t force people to accept what they fundamentally disagree with – especially when the Law of God is on their side. The Human Rights Tribunal needs to understand that. The government of Ontario needs to make it clear.
Click here to sign a petition calling on Premier Doug Ford to review the Emo case and rein in the Human Rights Tribunal: https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/petition/id/95