Religious Groups in Saskatchewan Who Respect Charter Rights

In the "kerfuffle" over the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) attestation, the spin put on by the media and the Conservatives has been astounding. Despite the tons of research done by Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) volunteers, the usual suspects continued to paint it as "ideological coercion" etc.

This from today is typical. Waaah! Thousands of jobs lost to "Liberal forced speech" in Saskatchewan.

So, I decided to have a look. Approved employers for the 2018 CSJ program have been posted by province, then by riding.

The riding is important because MPs get to have final say on who gets what, as ARCC volunteers showed in a searchable PDF with agencies, ridings, MPs, and parties. (Totally ignored by MSM.)

I'm just going by the names of the groups. If they sound "churchy," I've looked further. There are 1363 grants approved, multiples to some like the University of Saskatchewan.

There were lots and lots of First Nations, towns, and villages. Which puts the lie to one of the Conservative claims -- that FNs, towns, and municipalities would not apply.

They did and were successful.

There are 43 successful "religious groups" listed with some repeats, for example, Salvation Army. Saskatchewan, of course, is the home of Andrew Scheer, Ralph Goodale, and Brad Trost.

Here they are by riding.


Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek
MP Kelly Block, Con.
Mennonite Church Saskatchewan - Shekinah Retreat Centre
Mennonite Nursing Homes Inc.
Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine Inc.
Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church, no website
Christian Horizon
Lutheran Early Learning Center Inc

Cypress Hills - Grasslands
MP David Anderson, Con.
The Salvation Army Cypress HIlls-Grasslands

Desnethé-Missinipppi-Churchill River
MP Georgina Jolibois, NDP
St. John Bosco Camp
The Quest at Christopher Lake Baptist Camp and Retreat Centre Inc
Kinasao Lutheran Bible Camp
Okema Society For Christian Development
Meadow Lake Alliance Church
Camp Tapawingo Tamarack Presbytery United Church of Canada

Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan
MP Tom Lukiwski, Con.
The Salvation Army Beaver Creek Camp
Christian Horizons Moose Jaw
The Salvation Army
The Alliance Church Moose Jaw
Lutheran Sunset Home of Saskatoon
Kedleston Gospel Camp Inc.


Prince Albert
MP Randy Hoback, Con.
Living Waters Camp
One Hope Canada Stoney Lake Bible Camp
Nipawin Apostolic Church
Anglican Parish of St. David
Youth Farm Bible Camp

Regina-Lewvan
MPErin Weir, NDP
CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH NORTH REGINA [caps in original, I'm too lazy to change them]
LOOK! CATHOLICS! Catholic Family Services - Regina
United Church Housing Corporation no website
Rosewood Park Alliance Church Inc.
Westhill Park Baptist Church

Regina-Qu'Appelle
MP Andrew Scheer, Con.
Echo Lake Bible Camp Corporation
Saskatchewan Conference - United Church of Canada

Regina-Wascana
MP Ralph Goodale, Lib
Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Canada Inc.

Saskatoon West
MP Sheri Benson, NDP
Carpenter's Church of God Inc.
The Governing Council of the Salvation Army Saskatoon

Saskatoon-Grasswood
MP Kevin Waugh, Con.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Saskatoon Inc
Islington United Church no website

Saskatoon-University
MP Brad Trost, Con.
One Hope Ministries of Canada

Souris-Moose Mountain
MP Robert Kitchen, Con.
OneChurch.ca
Estevan Church Of God
One Hope Ministries of Canada - Kenosee Lake Bible Camp
Southeast Saskatchewan Youth for Christ Inc.
Moosomin Baptist Church Inc.

The Twitter thread if you want to cite it is here.

So, far from "thousands" of jobs lost, it looks as if a fair number were created. By Catholics (!), various Protestant sects, including Evangelicals, and Muslims.

Anyone who wants this, feel free to take it, repost it, whatever. Credit would be nice but not necessary.

Saskatchewan: The Next Battle Front

Reproductive rights activists in Canada know that while we've won the war over lawless abortion, we're still waging countless battles over access.

Recently, the focus has been on Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, where small but long-overdue victories have been achieved by a new generation of pro-choice crusaders.

Last week, The Star Phoenix ran four articles on the state of abortion access in Saskatchewan, beginning with an editorial, titled "Silence on abortion is unsafe."

It seems that people are afraid to speak.

When it comes to the issue of access to abortion in Saskatoon, silence speaks volumes.

The StarPhoenix has been investigating the topic for months, and perhaps the most telling truth to come from that work is something that isn't in the stories. The fear of sources to speak in public was a common thread running through all attempts to report on abortion services in the health region.

Researchers told a reporter they simply could not risk speaking out.

After months of searching, only one woman who had an abortion would speak on the record. A pseudonym was used because she feared repercussions in her personal life and from the public.

Of course, the fetus freaks weren't afraid to issue their usual BS under the title "Easy access is not the answer."

A four-page article details the difficulties in getting an abortion in the province.

Saskatoon is one of the most difficult places in Canada to get an abortion, leaving women to navigate a political maze, advocates say.

Along with a Halifax hospital, Saskatoon is the second-last Canadian site where a woman can’t simply make a call to set up the procedure — she needs a doctor’s blessing.

In Regina, women can self-refer, but not in Saskatoon? WTF is up with that?

And, if possible, things are even grimmer for women in the north.

Women get run around, forced to make multiple appointments, then when time runs out, get referred out of province, typically Alberta. Travel costs are, of course, NOT covered.

And time limits differ for the only two centres that do abortions: 16 weeks in Regina, 12 weeks in Saskatoon.

One abortion provider, Dr John Thiel, would speak on the record.

Thiel’s practice is based in Regina, and he is a former chair of the Regina women’s clinic. He has limited knowledge of how the process works in Saskatoon. However, when The StarPhoenix requested an interview, he was the only spokesman the health region was willing to put forward.

“Things are done differently (in the two cities), but I don’t think they’re done differently to the detriment of patient care,” Thiel said.

He has an appetite for change and improvement, he said.
...
Thiel said he can’t understand why Saskatchewan has no free-standing abortion clinic like five other provinces do, including Manitoba.

The less-than-12-week limit on abortions in Saskatoon is due to a 20-year-old decision by doctors to pull the plug on second-trimester abortions.

The further along a pregnancy is, the more technically challenging it is to remove the fetus, Thiel said. Not all gynecologists have the specific skill set needed.

Huh? No qualified gynecologists want to practice in Saskatoon?

And there are two more abortion skirmishes going on: a (doomed) effort by fetus freaks to require parental consent on abortion for minors and a move by the Saskatchewan College of Physicians to update their guidelines on conscience rights, rightly seen as an attempt to drag the medicos into the 21st century. That move is now on hold, probably awaiting the outcome of a suit in Ontario over a similar move by the College there.

So while the focus has been on New Brunswick (population: 750K) and PEI (population:140K), the appalling situation in Saskatchewan (population: over 1 million) has been flying under the radar.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Of SK's 14 MPs (13 Conservatives and Ralph Goodale), all the Cons are rated anti-choice by Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. These include arch anti-choicers Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott.

While The Star Phoenix is to be applauded for its reporting, we find it odd that there are no comments allowed on the stories.

Do they want to break the silence? Or just wring its editorial hands over it?

It seems we've got another front to get moving on. Saskatchewan, here we come.

It's Not Easy Being a Fetus Freak in Saskatchewan

Despite being decisively smacked down by the Minister of Health last April, Saskatchewan Pro-Life continues to stomp their little feet demanding parental consent for abortion (click to embiggen letter).

Yesterday, they staged another of their lame underground gasline markers display.

Oddly, the MASSIVE event got no media coverage, but there was this on Twitter.

#FlagDisplay of 10,000 flags in Regina today, 1 for every 10 babies aborted annually in Canada. #skpoli @skgovcaucus pic.twitter.com/yxhhjSxsT0

— Parental Consent (@parentalconsent) May 7, 2015

It was part of their March for Life, which also got ZERO coverage. But the poster is rather revealing, no?

They claim to be protecting vulnerable young women, but there it is in red and white -- it's really about forcing them to produce baybeez.

There was abortion news yesterday from Saskatchewan, just not the kind the fetus freaks were expecting.

The opposition NDP is questioning whether Saskatchewan’s rural health minister should be tabling an anti-abortion petition.

The Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association is lobbying the provincial government to change the abortion law to include parental consent. The group said it submitted numerous petitions to the legislature since last February, totaling more than 6,000 signatures.

Last week, Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit tabled a petition in the legislature presented from the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association.

Big surprise: Ottenbreit is anti-choice himself.

But it's more than a little strange that a cabinet minister is effectively petitioning himself over an issue the "real" (?) Minister of Health has kiboshed.

We also wonder if the gas-line marker gang got "special permission" for their display.


UPDATE (May 11/15): No need for abortion rule change.

Elsewhere in Canda: GSAs, Abstinence-Only Sex Ed, Parental Consent for Abortion

Gazillions of electrons will be spilled today poring over the entrails of the election in Quebec. Since I know little and understand less of QC politics, I'm turning my attention to some neglected stories from Alberta and Saskatchewan.

First up: Valiant but doomed effort to mandate Gay Straight Alliances in Alberta.

A motion from a Liberal MLA to mandate that schools support the establishment of student-led gay-straight alliances to help curb bullying and discrimination was defeated in the legislature Monday.

Calgary-Buffalo MLA Kent Hehr said in the debate that clubs that bring together gay and straight students help create a tolerant environment and have been demonstrated to reduce bullying of all types.
. . .
The Liberals and NDP supported the motion with the support of some PC MLAs. However, a majority of Tories and the Wildrose Party opposed it, with the final tally 31 to 19.

Sure, Conservatives will invoke "bullying" as their excuse when they really want to invade our online privacy, but actually doing something about it? Not if it offends the gord-fearing haters in their base.

Next up, also from Alberta, it seems those gord-fearing haters have invaded the sex ed programs of PUBLIC schools.

Back in 2012, a CTV investigation in BC got sex ed programs run by Christian "Crisis Pregnancy Centres" aka fake clinics booted from public schools.

Now they're spreading the hate and lies in Edmonton public schools.

While abstinence may be the only foolproof way to prevent pregnancy, local parents are worried it is the only form of birth control taught at certain Edmonton schools.

According to Edmonton parent and local activist Franki Harrogate the Pregnancy Care Centre — a local organization that offers counseling and guidance for unplanned pregnancy — has been teaching an abstinence-only model at some schools.

“They don’t provide comprehensive sexual education and it’s performed from a very sex negative (perspective),” Harrogate said.

A grassroots group in Edmonton trying to stop them. Here's the petition by Kathy Dawson.

In violation of the curriculum requirements (the CALM Guide to Implementation and the Education Act), students at an Edmonton public high school were recently taught gender stereotypes, inaccurate, incomplete, and biased information about sexuality in a Career and Life Management (CALM) class.

Sexually active students were shamed, non-traditional families were disparaged and LGBTQ questions were not answered. Parents were not informed of the presenter's identity or the specific content.

In response to letters, the Ministry of Education appears unwilling to intervene and the Edmonton Public School Board is not acting to change its policies around parental notification or to ensure that only quality comprehensive sex education is taught in public schools as per curriculum requirements.

Background
Edmonton Pregnancy Care Centre is a Christ-centred anti-choice ministry that is not a medical facility. They present the “Wait! Let’s Talk Sex!” (Abstinence only program) to 60 Edmonton Public Schools (that includes students in grades 7, 8, 9 and CALM 20). Edmonton Public Schools is fully aware of the content of these presentations and continues to allow teachers to select this “ministry” to indoctrinate vulnerable youth. Edmonton Public Schools is refusing to mandate that parents be informed about presenters and content as part of the parental consent procedure for sexual health education. Only 18 schools bring in comprehensive sex education presenters.

The presenter I saw in 2013 appeared to focus on abstinent, heterosexual teens while misrepresenting and omitting sexuality information. The following is a partial list of fundamentalist anti-choice, anti-feminist, anti-male, anti-birth control, anti-gay, medically inaccurate and biased doctrine I heard:

-refused to answer questions relating to LGBTQ
-scientifically inaccurate information about fetal development, abortion and emergency contraception
-misused research on oxytocin bonding
-misled youth about contact with babies surrendered for open adoption
-misled youth about birth control and condom effectiveness
-presented a divorce rate at 70%
-provided inflammatory and misleading information about Planned Parenthood
-misrepresented the effectiveness of over the counter pregnancy tests
-presented gender stereotypes that were sexist to all genders
-misrepresented boys as HPV (human papillomavirus) carriers-stated 60% have it under their finger nails

In addition to this bosh, the Christian sex expert is clairvoyant.

More from the petition:

This presenter claimed that she could look students in the eye and know if they were having sex.

Abstinence only sex ed is not only medical and scientific bullshit, by all credible assessment measures, it simply does not work.

And now to Saskatchewan, where as we reported recently, fetus fetishists are gamely trying to introduce "parental consent" regulations for abortion to Canada for the first time.

So, how's their letter-writing campaign going? Not too well (scroll down to March 10).

PARENTAL CONSENT Law
Saskatchewan MLAs say they are getting few e-mails.

We see that petitions are getting downloaded and many petitions are getting signed. They should be hitting the floor of the Legislative Assembly soon.

HOWEVER, MLAs are saying they are getting very few e-mails.  We need to STEP it up.  We need to BOMBARD our MLAs with everything we have to get this very basic and "friendly" law passed in Saskatchewan.

Use the Easy-Mail program - it is quick, easy and takes less than a minute, unless you choose to personalize the content of the letter.  PLEASE, DO IT NOW!!!

Hee. They thought this was going to be quick and easy. After all, who could argue with this "very basic and friendly law"?

Joyce Arthur of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, for one, wrote her own letter to Saskatchewan MLAs.

Dear Saskatchewan Members of the Legislative Assembly,

Two anti-abortion groups have recently launched a campaign to enact a law in Saskatchewan requiring parental consent before a minor can have an abortion (http://sk.parentalconsent.ca/).

The attached new Position Paper (also available here http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/postionpapers/58-Parental-Consent.pdf) demonstrates with comprehensive evidence that if a parental consent law for abortion was passed by any Canadian province or territory, it would contravene and reverse current medical policies and ethics around the consent of minors to healthcare, violate their constitutional rights to bodily security and privacy, and increase risks to their health and safety.

In Saskatchewan, a parental consent law for abortion would be particularly harmful and counter-productive, as it would disproportionately impact the high numbers of marginalized youth in your province, as the following facts attest:
• Child poverty rates in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the highest in Canada, according to Saskatoon Health. Saskatchewan also has a significant Aboriginal population (11.3%) that has historically experienced enormous economic and social hardships, much of which continues to this day. 
• Saskatchewan has the second highest rate of teenage births in Canada (29 per 1,000 women aged 14-19), second only to Nunavut. A parental consent law for abortion would increase these rates even more, thereby continuing the cycle of poverty and dysfunction that so many are trapped in.
• The Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel Report: For the good of our children and youth (http://saskchildwelfarereview.ca/CWR-panel-report.pdf) documents that “Saskatchewan has high rates of alcohol dependency and abuse, the second largest concentration of youth gang members on a per capita basis, and high rates of child poverty, youth crime, incarceration, disability, family violence, and mental health problems.” In addition: “Caseloads of children in care keep growing, and the outcomes for children and families are not acceptable. … The majority of clients of the child welfare system are Aboriginal – First nations and Métis. The percentage has been growing over recent decades and seems likely to continue on that path.”


Given the environment of poverty and inequity that too many Saskatchewan youth live in, and the evidence submitted in the attached paper, we ask you to please reject any possibility of a parental consent law for abortion. Instead, we urge the Saskatchewan government to follow the recommendations of the above-noted report from the Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, which urged all levels of government to address the poverty-related conditions that drive child neglect and other social problems. These include making “significant improvements to the income support, affordable housing, and disability service systems used by Saskatchewan families.” We believe this would be the best way forward to protect Saskatchewan youth and improve their futures.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Joyce Arthur

In addition to the letter, ARCC produced a position paper (pdf) on parental consent laws and what a nightmare of privacy and human rights violations they would entail.

In Canada, as ever, the sexual two-step continues. One step forward, two steps back.

Upcoming blogposts on the forward (New Brunswick) and back (*sigh* Woodworth Rides Again).

"Parental Consent" Comes to Canada

In what is believed to be a first in Canada, a new partnership between Saskatchewan ProLife and ARPA (Association for Reformed Political Action) is trying to bring parental consent regulations to Saskatchewan.

This is currently the situation.

I’m under the age of 18, do I need parental consent to have an abortion?

There is currently no legislation regarding the age of consent for obtaining an abortion in Canada; however, many hospitals have their own internal policy regarding parental consent. Some hospitals require parental consent for any type of surgery performed on a young person. The age when parental consent is required varies. You can ask about the rules regarding parental consent at your local public health unit. Free-standing abortion clinics do not require a parent’s permission for an abortion, if it is clear that the youth understands what she is doing.

Specificly, here's the deal.

In Saskatchewan abortion is available up to the 16th week of pregnancy (12 weeks in Saskatoon, 16 weeks in Regina) and is covered under Saskatchewan Health, provided a woman has a valid Provincial Health Number (PHN).

But here's what the new gang says: “The capacity to become pregnant and the capacity for mature judgement concerning the wisdom of an abortion are not necessarily related.”

Because if a teen isn't mature enough to decide whether she needs an abortion, she's totally mature enough to give birth. Riiight.

Then there are some small matters of human rights and privacy. If a young woman doesn't want her parents to know, there's probably a bloody good reason.

We remember ARPA, don't we? It's the Dominionist gang who back in 2009 polled potential Ontario Conservative leaders on abortion and whatnot and posted the results for us to find, rather inconveniently for Tim Hudak, who had told the god-squad that he would defund abortion. Oops.

Here is ARPA's mission and it is a Mission.

The mission of ARPA Canada is to educate, equip, and encourage Reformed Christians to political action and to bring a biblical perspective to our civil authorities.

Another familiar outfit in this new bunfest is We Need A Law, fronted by ARPA member, Mike Schouten. (We Need A Law is the bogus grassroots group conjured up to support Woodworth's Wank, aka M312.)

Now that we've got the players sorted out, let's have a closer look at what they want (bold mine).

Parental consent for abortion legislation will not prevent women from requesting and receiving an abortion.  It will not stop abortion from occurring. It will not make abortion illegal.

Rather, parental consent for abortion, drafted to withstand the test of constitutionality, will protect the health and welfare of minors, as well as foster family unity and protect the constitutional rights of parents to raise their children and be involved in the steps of that process. With the loving support of their parents, many young women will be able to bring their babies into the world and not face the physical risks and emotional devastation that an abortion can bring.

Sure. And with abusive and/or fetus fetishist parents who threaten to kick her out of the house or worse, many teens will be forced to bear a child perhaps fathered by a member of that "loving" family.

So far, this campaign is limited to Saskatchewan, but you can bet that there are anti-choicers elsewhere watching carefully, ready to roll out the same bullshit across the country.

There are already moves in several provinces to defund abortion.

We've also got moves to ban certain methods of abortion. For example, the theme for this year's March for Lies is RU 4 Life, a genius play on RU486, the abortion drug still, unaccountably, NOT approved yet by Health Canada.

Now we've got a nascent "parental rights" schtick. Can mandatory ultrasounds, mandatory waiting periods, etfuckingcetera be far behind?

There is absolutely no stomach for reopening the abortion debate in Canada, as even Master Panderer Stephen Harper realizes. But the fetus fetishists are relentless.

And so are we. We will continue to watch and report.