Sociological inevitability dictates that one in every so-many people will have a cause that they carry to the limit.
For example my father used to drone on about the evils of milk for literally hours a day, write letters about it and attend meetings to give speeches on the subject.
Off the top of my head I can think of Montrealerslike Murray Levine and Robin Edgar who have -- in my eyes -- crossed the line into similar tiresomeness conducting their campaigns.*
I've been pretty strident myself in my defense of Oxford Park, which saw 14,000 square feet of green space turned into a paved space thanks to some municipal foolishness, but I'm doing my best not to mention it every day.
But when a court tells you to shut 'er down, that's when you have definitely, officially crossed the line.
Here are a couple of recent examples of judges telling some energetic souls that their campaigns for what they consider justice have just gone too far.
On August 27, a Quebec court ordered an Ottawa woman named Lainie Towell to cease the publication of a book she was writing about an African man she married that she later concluded had only married her for the purposes of coming to Canada.
Her book was called How to Catch an African Chicken – A Canadian Woman’s Outrageous but True Story of Marriage Fraud.
Towell is a dancer who married her husband in Guinee in 2007 and when he arrived here, she complained that he didn't show much interest in spending time with her and had concealed the fact that he had a child back home. He was eventually deported but I believe Towell's complaint might have centred around the fact that people who sponsor immigrants through marriage are on the hook if they then flee and go on welfare, but I have never seen the exact breakdown of the sums involved. If anybody has an answer, please add it in the comments.
MP Jason Kenney had proposed a reform of the system that would delay citizenship until the couples had at least proven themselves for some time in Canada, sticking around as legitimate couples. I don't know if that became law.
Many other articles have been written about Towell's situation and she even conducted a protest, walking around with a door slung on her back, as seen in the photo. And lest anybody think that marrying a foreigner is a bad idea, I would point out that a lot of people would disagree, myself included.
Another court decision, closer to home, has seen a former McGill technician declared what's called a vexatious litigant. Slawomir Poplawski had launched a series of complaints and other maneuvres against various McGill bodies since 2007, but the September 12 court order slaps on a series of measures to quell some of his actions.
I would get more into that if I had more time today to write this stuff, but if you're curious just look at the actual decision.
So my advice to anybody with a campaign that's important to them would be to keep a sense of perspective, sound it out with friends and make sure that people don't start considering that you've gone too far.
* (Levine has long pressured the Tour de L'ile to become a bicycle-a-thon to raise money for charity and Edgar has picketed outside the Unitarian church accusing the organization of "abuse" after they declined his request to allow him to set up a booth reflecting his believes inside their religious flea market several years ago).
For example my father used to drone on about the evils of milk for literally hours a day, write letters about it and attend meetings to give speeches on the subject.
Off the top of my head I can think of Montrealerslike Murray Levine and Robin Edgar who have -- in my eyes -- crossed the line into similar tiresomeness conducting their campaigns.*
I've been pretty strident myself in my defense of Oxford Park, which saw 14,000 square feet of green space turned into a paved space thanks to some municipal foolishness, but I'm doing my best not to mention it every day.But when a court tells you to shut 'er down, that's when you have definitely, officially crossed the line.
Here are a couple of recent examples of judges telling some energetic souls that their campaigns for what they consider justice have just gone too far.
On August 27, a Quebec court ordered an Ottawa woman named Lainie Towell to cease the publication of a book she was writing about an African man she married that she later concluded had only married her for the purposes of coming to Canada.
Her book was called How to Catch an African Chicken – A Canadian Woman’s Outrageous but True Story of Marriage Fraud.
Towell is a dancer who married her husband in Guinee in 2007 and when he arrived here, she complained that he didn't show much interest in spending time with her and had concealed the fact that he had a child back home. He was eventually deported but I believe Towell's complaint might have centred around the fact that people who sponsor immigrants through marriage are on the hook if they then flee and go on welfare, but I have never seen the exact breakdown of the sums involved. If anybody has an answer, please add it in the comments.
MP Jason Kenney had proposed a reform of the system that would delay citizenship until the couples had at least proven themselves for some time in Canada, sticking around as legitimate couples. I don't know if that became law.
Many other articles have been written about Towell's situation and she even conducted a protest, walking around with a door slung on her back, as seen in the photo. And lest anybody think that marrying a foreigner is a bad idea, I would point out that a lot of people would disagree, myself included.
Another court decision, closer to home, has seen a former McGill technician declared what's called a vexatious litigant. Slawomir Poplawski had launched a series of complaints and other maneuvres against various McGill bodies since 2007, but the September 12 court order slaps on a series of measures to quell some of his actions.
I would get more into that if I had more time today to write this stuff, but if you're curious just look at the actual decision.
So my advice to anybody with a campaign that's important to them would be to keep a sense of perspective, sound it out with friends and make sure that people don't start considering that you've gone too far.
* (Levine has long pressured the Tour de L'ile to become a bicycle-a-thon to raise money for charity and Edgar has picketed outside the Unitarian church accusing the organization of "abuse" after they declined his request to allow him to set up a booth reflecting his believes inside their religious flea market several years ago).
This is what happens to a society where people have too much time on their hands, wasting it with frivolous paranoia about "who has more than I do and why that is so unfair", etc.
ReplyDeleteThe "buy now, pay later" generation has given birth to children who feel entitled to more, more, more.
Unfortunately, the recession from which we are now presumably emerging is a direct cause of such a mentality.
It's usually people with too much spare time and/or money. One other such person is Valery Fabrikant who was always filing various legal complaints while in prison. And then there were those two gay men in the west island who launched a long, bitter lawsuit/human rights complaint against their neigbhour, alleging various homophobic acts. however, they came off sounding like the antagonists and nothing they said or did made them sound sympathetic or even like they'd been harassed. One of them was even heard threatening reporters. They just had waaay too much spare time on their hands.
ReplyDeleteFor what it is worth Velo QC finally saw the light two years ago and began to welcome charities to piggyback upon their events and use them as vehicles by which to raise funds. In case the readers are unaware, Quebec is the worst place for charitable giving in all 10 provinces and 50 states. The problem is sociological and not one of taxation. For example: The Montreal Children's nets more from donations than does the Ste Justine's, yet in Greater Montreal alone there are five times the number of Francophones than Anglophones/Allophones. McGill raises 7x what the U de M raises. The Ottawa and Montreal Marathons both have charity components. The Ottawa Marathon recently raised $800,000 for charities. The Marathon de Montreal did not even raise $80,000. In NYC the participants of their major cycling event (just like Le Tour) raised over $1 million. I would be surprised if the events of Velo QC raised even $25,000! Have I tried to turn the events of Velo QC into fundraising events? Not really. Most events of this type offer an optional fundraising component. For what it is worth, last year Montreal taxpayers supported Velo QC to the tune of $1 million. At the same time Montreal charged charities over $100,000 to stage events just like those of Velo QC. As I said above there is a sociological problem here.
ReplyDelete