As members of the Ontario Landowners, we most often are referred to by people who don’t know us personally as “those property rights lobbyists”. The fact is we are property rights promoters, but we are also your neighbours, your work associates, your policemen, firemen, nurses, doctors, truckers, electricians, church goers, mayors, councillors, and maybe even family members. Landowner members come from all walks of life; we are not just rural, small town, or farmers! People in this cause give their time and money in an attempt to preserve the rights and freedoms that were adopted when this country was created back in 1867. The value system that was used was the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments which included respect for the sanctity of life and respect for our fellow human beings. Whether we believe in God as defined by many different religions or we are atheists, the Ten Commandments are still a very solid foundation on which to build the laws that govern a country. In the 1982 renewed constitution and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it states; “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:”
The importance of those words is what makes this country the ‘go to country’ for many immigrants and refugees from all over the world. It is not because people want to come here and sit beside the fire for 6 months of the year because it is too cold to go outside. The words ‘supremacy of God’ is what puts some things out of reach of government rule makers. The sanctity of life is one of these subjects that we, in the British Commonwealth of Nations, believe must always be inalienable, meaning that no government can remove it (life) or make it less relevant.
So when we talk about Property Rights we are talking about a ‘bundle of rights and freedoms’ and one right is your right to life. It means your government can’t snuff it out according to the laws of this country unless you have killed someone and thus, removed your right to the protection of our Constitution. (We don’t currently have the death penalty in Canada, and although it is not likely to happen, it could be re-instated.)
So, you might wonder where this rant came from. Well it seems that the City of Ottawa, the capital of our great country, does not respect the sanctity of life. On May 11, 2017, the annual “March for Life” comes to Ottawa and marches to Parliament Hill. This is often the largest rally of the year on the Hill. For the day of the parade, an 80-year old, 32-year veteran of the RCMP, Francis Barrett applied to the City of Ottawa and received approval from the ‘Protocol department’ to raise the ‘March for Life’ flag on the pole at City Hall. Mr. Barrett, whose father served in WW1 and whose four brothers served in WWII, rose early that morning and along with some other folks, went to City Hall and hoisted the flag at 6 am. It flew for several hours until social media alerted seven councillors who quickly signed a demand that it be removed. The politically correct media referred to it as the ‘anti-abortion’ flag not the ‘March for Life’ flag. The flag was removed with Mayor Watson’s approval. Now the abortion issue has become a ‘no-go’ zone for politicians because of the ‘lefts’ over-reaction to anything that would try to put some kind of limitations on it.
On May 11, 2017, police in Edmonton charged a 31-year old mother of second degree murder for administering a lethal overdose of methamphetamine to her 11-day old baby. Police spokesman, Scott Pattison said his “investigators are working on behalf of someone who is vulnerable and unable to defend themselves”.
So here is my problem. Who was defending that baby 12 days before, when that same mother could have legally taken its life without any consequences. The point is that presently, there are no laws that protect that fully functioning human being even on the last day of gestation. We, who are living in a great county, built on the sanctity of life, must insist that politicians with the courage to do so, put some parameters around this failure to protect the “vulnerable and defenseless”.