From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

The garnishment was issued by the court and delivered to the CIBC in Emo, which is the only bank in that community.

LGBT activists aren’t used to politicians refusing to do what they say. That’s why Mayor Harold McQuaker of Emo, Ontario—population 1,200—has become a source of their ire. 

As I reported previously, in 2020 Emo’s town council voted not to issue a “Pride Proclamation” or fly the LGBT flag. The town hall doesn’t even have a flagpole. In response, Borderland Pride sued the town, and last month the Ontario Human Rights Commission ordered the township to pay the LGBT group $10,000, and McQuaker was ordered to personally pay $5,000 and take a re-education class called “Human Rights 101.” 

The town council has yet to vote on whether to pay the fine or appeal, but McQuaker told the Toronto Sun that he would not be “extorted” and thus would not be paying the fine, attending the re-education classes, or sanctioning “Drag Queen Story Hour” in the local library—one of the events Borderland Pride is calling for.  

In response, Borderland Pride went around the mayor and requested that $5,000 be taken directly from his bank account. The request granted, they went on a victory lap on social media. “Sure, sex is great, but have you ever garnished your mayor’s bank account after he publicly refused to comply with a Tribunal’s order to pay damages?” the group posted on Facebook. The “damages,” of course, were the mayor declining to proactively endorse their ideology. 

“Mayor McQuaker’s comments in the Toronto Sun and other media were very clear that he did not respect nor intend to comply with the Tribunal’s orders,” Borderland Pride told the Sun. “Consequently, it was apparent he would not voluntarily make payment of the damages ordered. We took immediate action to garnish his bank account. The garnishment was issued by the court and delivered to the CIBC in Emo, which is the only bank in that community.” 

“There is no hearing or application to issue a notice of garnishment – it is a service provided at the court counter or online once a person has an order for the payment of money,” Borderland Pride stated. “Orders of the Tribunal can be enforced in the same manner as any civil judgment for the payment of money. We intend to ensure the Tribunal’s orders are complied with.” Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun sounded the alarm: 

Cancel culture is cancelling this mayor and digging into his personal savings too. On a weak premise that there is discrimination of LGBT people there, the enforcement is harsher than most violent criminals receive. It seems like a heavy-handed, undemocratic move, not to mention a violation of personal finances, and cruel and unusual punishment. It’s also a slippery slope. The state using legal instruments to take from one person and give to others amounts to communism and authoritarianism that should scare every citizen. First, we saw government and banks freezing accounts of pandemic lockdown protesters, seizing donations to crowdfunding sites, and now in woke Canada comes word they can raid bank accounts, too. 

Despite Borderland Pride’s insistence that they are mere enforcers of tolerance, their Facebook page features post after post mocking those who object to the fact that their mayor and their community is being bullied. It also includes images like this: 

The meaning of that picture is pretty clear—and just imagine if the roles were reversed. What would Borderland Pride say if a Christian posted a photo of a steamroller with a cross on it, chasing screaming people labeled “LGBT values” and “same-sex ‘marriage’” on it? I think we know. They would say that it was threatening and inappropriate. Yet a rainbow steamroller crushing screaming people labeled “Traditional Family” and “Christian values” and “Sanctity of marriage” is just fine. This isn’t just a double standard—it is a new standard, where the values of LGBT activists take precedence over those of everyone else. 

Borderland Pride’s celebratory posts about garnishing the bank account of a 77-year-old great-grandfather tell us precisely who they are—many of the posts and comments from LGBT activists are frankly too vile to publish (suffice it to say they refer to performing sex acts in public). Canada is also getting a good look at the agenda of LGBT activists once again. They do not want “tolerance,” or to “live and let live”—they want their flag hanging from government buildings, politicians obediently proclaiming a celebration of their activities, and drag queens in local libraries. 

It was never about tolerance. 

Jonathon Van Maren

Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National Post, National Review, First Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton Spectator, Reformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture War, Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion, Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement, Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.