Cecilia von Dehn & Don Spratt can

appeal ‘Bubble Zone’ convictions

VICTORIA, Sept. 10, 2012 — Mr. Justice David Franklin Tysoe, in the British Columbia Court of Appeal, today granted Cecelia von Dehn and Donald Spratt leave to appeal their convictions for breaching the Access to Abortion Services Act, also called the BC “Bubble Zone Law�.

Von Dehn and Spratt entered the zone at Everywomans Health Center at Commercial and Broadway in Vancouver at on June 19, 2009 with signs warning the public that they, too, could be arrested within this unique zone, passed under Bill 48, which prohibits any expression of opinion against abortion in the zone. Subsequently, they were careful to only pass out copies of the ‘Bubble Zone’ law itself. Mrs. von Dehn had done this on at least three previous occasions, when the police attended and informed her and the clinic that she was not in breach of the Act, and therefore was “not arrestable�.

However, on June 9, 2009, the police came and without warning arrested and charged them with “protest� and “sidewalk interference�. They were later convicted, sentenced to two years probation, and fined $1,000. Today, leave was granted the accused, on the following grounds:

1) Did the Learned Madame Justice Fisher err in law to define the actions of the accused as sidewalk interference or protest in contravention of the Access to Abortion Services Act?

2) Did the Learned Madame Justice Fisher err in law to interpret the law as strict liability?

Regarding number 2, quoting from the Leave to Appeal Application:

The Act makes it apparent that to find a conviction there would be a prerequisite intentionality necessary. The objects of the Access to Abortion Services Act are set out in the preamble “to facilitate access to abortion services. It is reasonable to conclude from this that impugned conduct must relate back to efforts to frustrate that access. Intent to dissuade a person from utilizing abortion services is a necessary condition. The accused only passed out copies of the Act itself without "intent to dissuadeâ€�. There was no conversation on abortion.

Today, Mrs. Von Dehn said, “This Leave to Appeal will allow at last a scrutiny of the wording of this 1995 legislation which was enlarged in June 2009 to label as "protest" and "sidewalk interference " the passing out of the Legislation itself in the area in which it applies, i.e. a ‘bubble zone’. Any citizen regardless of their mind-set, known or unknown, should be free to inform the public of a law without being arrested, jailed and having to seek remedy in the courts.â€�

Spratt and von Dehn are now awaiting announcement of a date for their appeal to be heard. Ronald McDonald is council for Spratt and Douglas Christie, council for von Dehn.

 =30=

Canada’s “Conservative� Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty recently announced that—in the interest of helping Canadians rein in their ballooning household debt—any future mortgages backed by CMHC (the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) must be paid back within 25 years. The 30-year mortgages that have been allowed in recent years are a thing of the past.

I suppose we should be grateful to have the Finance Minister showing such deep concern for young Canadian families starting out with their first home. It’s true, household debt has risen to alarming levels and, in a struggling economy, additional credit card debt and consumer loans have put some families in a position where paying off their debts has almost become a fantasy. For others, the debt-spiral has become a nightmare, lending itself (no pun intended) too often to the shame and trauma of bankruptcy.

The Finance Minister has correctly identified one of the contributing factors to mounting household debt: the longer the term of any mortgage or loan, the more interest will be paid. Increased interest costs add to the total debt.

However, this raises a number of questions that a responsible government should consider:

· The tax burdens imposed by bloated governments at all levels consume almost half of the average Canadian’s income. Every dollar paid in taxes is one less dollar available to struggling households for food, shelter, savings, investment and personal loan servicing.

· Canada’s “mortgageâ€� (national debt) is climbing. Mr. Flaherty’s government continues to borrow an ADDITIONAL $58 million each and every day!

· Canada’s accumulated national debt is (today, the moment I’m writing) $586, 243, 275, 199 and INCREASING by about $1,000 per second!

· Every Canadian child is born $16,909.07 in debt!  That’s his or her portion of the national debt. College debt and a mortgage just add to it.

· The free-spending “Conservativesâ€� under Mr. Harper have increased the size of government by about 42%; they’ve run the biggest budget in Canadian history as well as the highest deficits ever!

· While telling other Canadians to tighten their belts, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister continue to hand out lavish pension entitlements to themselves and to every MP with 6 or more years of service. They inject taxpayers’ money (read: “borrowed money which taxpayers will have to pay back with interest to the chartered banks and global financiersâ€�) to the tune of $248,000 per year per MP! This is on top of their base salaries of $157,000 per year!

My question is: “Who is it that needs a lecture about reining in spending?� Every day that goes by, this government is adding to the household debt of every Canadian. This government has not made one principal payment on its “national mortgage� since 2008. That’s four years.

My suggestion to Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Harper is: If you want to borrow something, borrow a page from the playbook of the Christian Heritage Party (we charge no interest and you’ll never have to pay us back).  Our “Better Solutionsâ€� are available to you. Our long-standing policy is that Canada’s federal government should:

· STOP spending money it doesn’t have.

· BEGIN paying off our “national mortgageâ€� as quickly as possible.

When evaluating our current debt quagmire, the lines of the old coal-miner’s song “16 Tons� come to mind. “Another day older and deeper in debt...� What a sad legacy for those sucked into the vortex of ever-increasing debt! While the deceptive nature of debt lures many families into heartbreaking and unmanageable levels of debt, this should never happen to a resource-wealthy nation like Canada! The elected leaders of this great nation should demonstrate the courage and discipline necessary to return to surplus budgets and take concrete steps to “pay off the mortgage.� If 25 years is good enough for Canadian citizens, it should be good enough for our politicians!

If you want to see how Canada can pay off its mortgage, read our Better Solution. If you want to help CHP Canada bring our policies to Ottawa, join the party. If you want to have a mortgage-burning party in 25 years, you’ll have to start working for it today! CHP Canada is leading the way!

By Rod Taylor

The darkness hates the light; that’s all there is to it. “Those who do evil hate the light and do not come into the light for they fear their deeds will be reproved.� John3:20. Jesus explained this two thousand years ago and, of course, it’s as true now as it was then. Misery loves company and those who do not want to change their beliefs and practices want everyone else to change theirs. When noble men and women—still sensitive to God’s whisperings and the guidance of their own consciences—take a stand and refuse to participate in an evil act, the evildoers try to regulate, legislate, intimidate and coerce them into cooperation.

In one of the more recent examples of this abhorrence of the light and moral uprightness, the UK General Medical Council has just issued the draft of a new guideline regarding “personal beliefs and medical practice.� In it, the Council warns doctors that they must prescribe contraceptives, refer patients for abortion, perform gender reassignment surgery and in every other way imaginable, they must be willing to violate their own consciences and “go along to get along.� To do otherwise might imply that there is a higher law or a moral code and could unintentionally convey the idea that those who kill babies, mutilate sexually those born into one of the two original genders and promote a general hedonistic lifestyle are “morally misguided,� perhaps even “wrong.� Such an insinuation must be avoided. The only doctor who could possibly be wrong would be the one listening to his or her conscience instead of to the Council.

Sounds like another council of a couple thousand years ago, which—for the same reasons—wanted the early disciples to “stop preaching in the name of Jesus.� Those council members felt that the promotion of Christianity might indicate that they—who put him on the cross—were somehow guilty, perhaps even wrong. Of course, that would never do. However, the disciples of that day asked the high priest and the council this question: “Do you think it would be better to listen to you than to listen to God?� The answer to that question was rather self-evident.

However, nothing is self-evident to those who are self-deceived. I had the privilege of speaking last week with my MP, the Hon. Nathan Cullen. Nathan was a contender in the recent leadership race to replace NDP Leader Jack Layton. When the dust settled, Nathan was named Opposition House Leader and so, presumably, has influence with new Leader Thomas Mulcair and the NDP caucus. I had hoped, of course, to convince Nathan to support MP Stephen Woodworth’s Motion 312 (which would have Parliament examine the question of when human life begins.) I was disappointed, but not surprised, when he said that he and his NDP colleagues intend to vote against reviewing Canada’s 400-year old law, yes, the law which fails to defend human beings in the womb. However, as we discussed several other topics (the new Transgendered Bill, the gold-plated MP Pension plan and MP Brian Storseth’s C-304 (which would protect freedom of speech by removing Sec. 13 from the Human Rights Act,) I was given Nathan’s opinion on “conscience rights,� which both shocked and troubled me.

I brought up the firing of marriage commissioners in Saskatchewan who had refused to perform marriages for same-sex couples. I thought it would be obvious to anyone who cared about personal rights and the freedom to act according to the dictates of one’s conscience that this was a gross violation of human rights and proved conclusively that the concerns expressed in 2005 were justified, when Nathan and others voted for same-sex marriage, that is, the concerns that Christians would be compelled to violate their consciences or suffer punishment by the state. Nathan, however, said that no violation had taken place since “churches� were not compelled to conduct homosexual marriages. The fact that men and women with deep personal convictions, based on their religious views, could not refuse to participate in evil did not bother him at all (of course, the definition of evil has a bearing here.) While he suggested that some leeway might be allowed for existing commissioners, he said that any men and women applying for those jobs in the future would have to acknowledge that homosexual marriage is the law of the land and therefore the office of marriage commissioner would require their cooperation. Mr. Cullen (or Mr. Harper for that matter) may be able to put his conscience on ice while performing his civic duties, may be able to shut his ears to the truth and turn a blind eye to the killing of the unborn, etc. but for those who know and love the God of the Bible and who “tremble at His Word� (ie. they believe that He speaks today and that He really cares about whether we do things His way or not,) partial, or limited obedience is not an option.

What is the conclusion of the whole matter? Fear God and keep his commandments. Our consciences demand that we defend innocent human life, the sacrament of marriage between one man and one woman AND that we defend the right of all people to refuse to defile themselves by violating their consciences and the clear teachings of God. It seems pretty easy to understand. But then, the fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom. Without the fear of the Lord there is NO wisdom.