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Canadian court decides that referring to drag queens as ‘groomers’ is not protected speech

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

‘It is reasonable to conclude that the suggestion that … drag performers are ‘groomers,’ merely because of their sexual or performance identity, is defamatory,’ Ontario Superior Court of Justice Tracey J. Nieckarz

A Canadian court ruled that calling a drag queen a “groomer” does not fall within a province’s current protected speech laws in a ruling that could potentially lead to a larger decision that possibly makes it illegal to call men who dress as women, or vice versa, any term deemed offensive.

The court ruling, dated December 14, is in response to a case between Rainbow Alliance Dryden et al v. Webster.

Ontario Superior Court of Justice Tracey J. Nieckarz ruled, “It is reasonable to conclude that the suggestion that … drag performers are ‘groomers,’ merely because of their sexual or performance identity, is defamatory.”

Nieckarz in essence ruled that calling drag performers “groomers” or other names is not protected under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) laws.

The case in question is between a man named Brian Webster, who is a Thunder Bay, Ontario, Facebook blogger, and a local “drag king” who filed a defamation suit against him with the help of the town’s Pride organization, Rainbow Alliance Dryden (RAD). Also involved in the case is Egale Canada, an LGBT group funded by the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The plaintiffs went after Webster via a court battle regarding his Facebook post in which he accused RAD of sexualizing children to recruit them into the LGBT community. In September 2022, Webster posted screenshots on his Facebook page of a CBC news report about RAD drag performance events being planned in Dryden, Ontario, and the surrounding area.

Webster wrote, “ASK YOURSELF WHY THESE PEOPLE NEED TO PERFORM FOR CHILDREN? GROOMERS. That’s the agenda. Just look at the face of the one child in the photo. Tells you all you need to know.”

The plaintiffs argued that Webster’s post resulted in a rash of “hateful” public comments directed at the group.

Webster filed an anti-SLAPP motion to try and have the case dismissed. Ontario’s anti-SLAP rules offer a recourse for defendants to use in lawsuits by bringing forth to have a judge dismiss the case if the case is determined to be a SLAPP, which is a case “intended to silence critics who speak out on matters of public interest by burdening them with the cost of a legal proceeding.”

“The Defendant’s comments went well beyond that, perpetuating hurtful myths and stereotypes about vulnerable members in our society,” the judge wrote. “Webster’s argument that he was accusing the CBC of grooming has no merit based on a plain reading of the post.”

The court found that Webster’s comments were defamatory and that calling drag performers “groomers” could cause harm to their reputation.

After Webster’s anti-SLAPP motion was dismissed, the plaintiffs are now able to proceed with legal action that could eventually result in a ruling that could ban calling drag kings or queens “groomers” in Canada.

Drag queen/king story hours in public places have been on the rise in recent years. Indeed, the drag queen story hour phenomenon traces its 2015 origins to a collaboration between LGBT activist group RADAR Productions and radical feminist author Michelle Tea in San Francisco, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.

South of the border, American lawmakers have introduced legislation to protect children from drag performers. This is not the case in Canada, where children remain vulnerable to attacks from LGBT activists, relying only on parents and concerned citizens to safeguard their innocence.

There has been public pushback to exposing children to LGBT ideology. Pastor Derek Reimer of Calgary, Alberta, was recently charged for protesting a children’s drag queen story hour at a public library. While he was in jail,  his van was vandalized with anti-Christian and Satanic messages.

Reimer is currently fighting his trespassing charges for silently praying in a municipal building in protest of drag queen story times.

Protests against drag queen story times in Calgary led to city officials adopting bylaws banning protests of such events.

According to “Gays against Groomers” in a posting from June 1, “there is NO PRIDE in the sexualization, indoctrination, and mutilation of children.”

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COVID-19

Elon Musk-backed doctor critical of COVID response vows appeal after court sides with medical board

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

One of Gill’s “controversial” posts read, “If you have not yet figured out that we don’t need a vaccine, you are not paying attention. ”  

A Canadian physician who challenged her medical regulator after it placed “cautions” against her for speaking out against draconian COVID mandates on social media has lost a court battle, but with the help of her Elon Musk-backed legal team she has vowed to appeal the ruling. 

The case concerns Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill, an Ontario pediatrician who has been embroiled in a legal battle with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for her anti-COVID views posted on X (formerly Twitter) in 2020. As reported by LifeSiteNews, her case received the support of billionaire Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, who pledged in March to back her financially.  

One of Gill’s “controversial” posts read, “If you have not yet figured out that we don’t need a vaccine, you are not paying attention. #FactsNotFear.”  

The Divisional Court decision against Gill dated May 7, 2024, concluded, “When the College chose to draw the line at those tweets which it found contained misinformation, it did so in a way which reasonably balanced Dr. Gill’s free speech rights with her professional responsibilities.” 

“In other words, its response was proportionate,” noted the ruling. 

Gill’s lawyer, Lisa Bildy with Libertas Law, stated in a press release sent to LifeSiteNews that the “Court declined to quash the ‘cautions’ orders, finding that the ‘screening committee’ of the CPSO was sufficiently alert to the Charter infringement of Dr. Gill’s speech, such that its decisions were within the range of reasonable outcomes.” 

“Dr. Gill had argued, in two factums,” noted Bildy, which can be found here and here , and filed in the companion court applications, that “her statements were not ‘verifiably false.’” 

Bildy expressed that Gill had provided the College with “ample evidence in 2020 to support her position against lockdowns,” but was sanctioned “because they went against the College’s guidance that doctors should not express opinions contradicting government or its public health edicts.” 

Gill’s court challenge against the CPSO began last month, with Bildy writing at the time that the College’s “decisions were neither reasonable nor justified and they failed to engage with the central issues for which Dr. Gill was being cautioned.” 

“The decision starts with the premise that doctors have to comply,” said Bildy, warning that censoring doctors would have a “chilling effect” on free speech.    

Bildy noted that in its ruling, the court “disagreed” with Gill’s challenge, “stating that this invited a reweighing of the evidence.” 

The court also ordered that Gill pay the CPSO $6,000 in legal costs.  

Gill is a specialist practicing in the Greater Toronto area, and has extensive experience and training in “pediatrics, and allergy and clinical immunology, including scientific research in microbiology, virology and vaccinology.” 

Last September, disciplinary proceedings against her were withdrawn by the CPSO. However, last year, Gill was ordered to pay $1 million in legal costs after her libel suit was struck down. 

The CPSO began disciplinary investigations against Gill in August 2020.  

Gill to appeal recent court ruling with support from Musk’s X  

The court’s ruling asserted that the CPSO panel members consisted of “three physicians with highly relevant expertise that they were able to bring to bear when assessing the scientific and medical information before them, expertise that this court does not have.” 

Bildy noted that in fact, the CPSO panel consisted of “three surgeons and a general member of the public who had deferred to the ‘expertise’ of government’s public health arm.” 

The court ruling also dismissed Gill’s arguments that publishing the “cautions on her public register and disseminating a notice about the cautions to hospitals and regulators across the continent was punitive and had a chilling effect on one side of a debate.” 

“The Court opted to align with other Divisional Court decisions in stating that the cautions were not a finding of professional misconduct but were merely a remedial measure. This is despite the fact that cautions have, only in recent years, become a public rebuke rather than a private ‘correction’ of a professional by their peers. This significant change has not yet been grappled with by the Ontario Court of Appeal,” noted Bildy.  

Bildy said that Gill intends to “seek leave to appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal with the support of X Corp., since her posts were made on the X platform which supports free expression and dialogue, even on contentious issues and particularly on matters of scientific and medical importance.”  

Gill noted on X Tuesday that her “notice of motion for leave to appeal will be filed” next week “to begin process.” 

She also thanked Musk and X for supporting her legal cause.  

Gill had said that she had “suddenly” found herself going “against the narrative,” and was then “seen as a black sheep and as someone who should be shunned.” 

Many Canadian doctors who spoke out against COVID mandates and the experimental mRNA injections have been censured by their medical boards. 

Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s X announced that it will fund the legal battle for another Canadian doctor critical of COVID lockdowns, Dr. Matthew Strauss, an Ontario critical care physician and professor, against his former employer Queen’s University after it forced him to resign. 

In an interview with LifeSiteNews at its annual general meeting in July 2023 near Toronto, canceled doctors Mary O’Connor, Mark Trozzi, Chris Shoemaker, and Byram Bridle were asked to state their messages to the medical community regarding how they have had to fight censure because they have opinions contrary to the COVID mainstream narrative. 

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COVID-19

More victories for freedom as ArriveCAN charges dropped and fines reduced

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Gheorghe and Carmen Neferu

News release from The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is pleased to announce that it continues to see dropped charges and significantly reduced fines for Canadians who allegedly violated the Quarantine Act or who chose not to use the ArriveCAN app at Canadian borders.

The Justice Centre has provided defence counsel to eight Canadians who chose not to comply with a mandatory ArriveCAN.

Added together, these eight Canadians received a total of 13 tickets, with combined fine amounts totalling $54,815. Defence counsel provided by the Justice Centre negotiated with the Crown to secure admissions that amounted to fines totalling $1,216, not $54,815. All hearings for these cases were scheduled to take place in April at the Ontario Court of Justice in Mississauga, Ontario.

Here are their stories.

Cory Thorn, along with his wife, Guiseppina Lamacchia, their two small children and Guiseppina’s mother Carmela Lamacchia, were returning from a trip to Italy on September 8, 2022, when they were stopped at the Canadian border. They had not downloaded the ArriveCAN app because they did not feel comfortable with the app. They asked if they could submit the required information on paper but were told they could either use the app or face fines. The three adults were given two tickets each, one for $955 and another for $6,255. Together, the family faced a total of $21,630 in fines for violating two sections of the Quarantine Act: section 58, failing to comply with an order prohibiting or subjecting to any condition the entry into Canada and section 15(1), failing to answer a relevant question asked by a screening officer or to provide the officer with any required information or record. Their trials were scheduled for April 15, 2024. Five of the six tickets were dismissed. Carmela pled guilty to one charge and received a reduced fine of $615.

On September 22, 2022, a mother and her adult daughter, who have requested anonymity, were returning from a trip to Italy when they were each fined $6,255 for failing to use the ArriveCAN app. The women felt uneasy providing private health information through the ArriveCAN app. They offered to provide the information orally to border officials. Their offer was refused. Each had trial dates set for April 23, 2024. The daughter’s charge was withdrawn by the Crown, while her mother pled guilty and paid a significantly reduced fine of $300.

Daniel Sauro and his partner, Gina Campoli, traveling with their one-year-old daughter, returned from a family vacation on September 24, 2022, when each adult was issued a ticket for $6,255 under section 58 of the Quarantine Act for not using the ArriveCAN app. They were uneasy about disclosing private medical information and were concerned about the app’s security. Their trial was scheduled for April 18, 2024 -nineteen months after the tickets were issued. The public health officer did not appear at trial, and so the prosecutor was forced to withdraw all charges.

Gheorghe and Carmen Neferu traveled back to Canada from abroad on August 3, 2022, when they were each given two tickets with fines for failing to use the ArriveCAN app, totaling $14,420 They did not want to answer invasive questions regarding their medical status. Their trials were scheduled for April 8, 2024. The charges against Carmen were withdrawn, while Gheorghe had one charge withdrawn. He pled guilty to the other, paying a reduced fine of $300.

A constitutional challenge to the ArriveCAN app requirement continues to proceed in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Chris Fleury, lead counsel on the Charter challenge to the ArriveCan app requirement, says, “Each and every Canadian who refused to provide their vaccination status via ArriveCAN was also subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine in addition to their ticket. The quarantine had no scientific or public health basis and was a breach of Canadian’s Charter right not to be arbitrarily detained. While we would have preferred that no one was charged in the first place, we are pleased to see the prosecution taking a more reasonable approach to these cases.”

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