If you’re an American reading this . . . try to imagine being punished to the tune of A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS – ONLY for refusing to use a language other than English on your own PRIVATE commercial sign . . . by standing up to say NO.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION . . . WITH THE COURT’S PERMISSION THAT IS:
Over the past few years, with some financial help from a number of people who visit Galganov.com, with just a very few individuals with somewhat deeper pockets, and about fifty or so working-class and retired grass-roots folk who are part of a RIGHTS organization, we did our best to cover the cost of a very basic fight to preserve our MOST fundamental Freedom, which is FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
When I say that we did our best . . . I really mean that we did our best.
By the time the dust settled, between how much money I put-in, and what others contributed, we spent well MORE than $100,000 in a case against an insignificant Township to preserve our FREEDOM of EXPRESSION.
IN A NUTSHELL . . . a miniscule number of French Language Activists located just East of the City of Ottawa (Canada), in a Township called Russell, in collusion with an English speaking politically motivated LEFTIST Mayor, and two French speakers on his Council, passed a bylaw FORCING merchants to use FRENCH on their signs alongside English, whether the Merchants wanted to or not.
NO GUARANTEE TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CANADA:
Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, according to Section 2b, which GUARANTEES Freedom of Expression . . . DOESN’T REALLY GUARANTEE ANYTHING. It’s a sham.
What happened in the Russell FORCED Bilingual Sign Law Case is equivalent to saying that the FIRST AMENDMENT in the American Constitution is open to Judicial interpretation on when and where the English language can be used.
THINK SPANISH AND WHAT YOUR POLITICIANS WILL BE WILLING TO SELL FOR VOTES:
I’m not writing about screaming fire in a crowded movie theater. Nor am I writing about using words to defame someone.
What I’m writing about . . . is being FORCED by the government, in this case a lowly Township, to use a language not of your own choosing, in spite of your own objections, on your own PRIVATE commercial sign (property).
There’s no debate or argument over the message of the sign . . . IT’S ONLY ABOUT THE LANGUAGE.
THIS IS NOTHING LESS THAN LINGUISTIC AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ON STEROIDS:
According to this sign-law, I am breaking the law in this community (as well as three others with similar laws) if I put up a sign that does not carry the English message in French . . . same size same message.
Therefore . . . the government is ORDERING private citizens to express themselves in ways that are AGAINST THEIR OWN FREE WILL.
BUT THERE’S MORE TO IT THAN THAT . . .
Because of French Language Activism in Canada, there is a loophole in our Constitution that allows special accommodation to the French language . . . that includes ABROGATING the Constitutional RIGHTS of English speakers.
YOU READ THAT RIGHT . . . If it favors French Speakers, English Speaker’s RIGHTS do not count; meaning that for Anglos, there is no Constitutional Guarantee to Freedom of Expression when French becomes a factor.
THE DEMOGRAPHICS ILLUSTRATE TYRANNY OF THE MINORITY:
In all of Canada, excluding the French Separatist and linguistic racist ethnocentric Province of Quebec, there are ONLY 3% of the population who consider themselves to be French Speakers.
But, unless you can pass a French proficiency exam, which just about all Anglos CANNOT, it is nearly impossible to get a job working anywhere in the country for the federal government.
How’s that for linguistic discrimination at the hands of a 3% minority?
Ontario is about 4% French. And of those 4%, most of them live in small French communities scattered throughout the province, with a preponderance living within an hour of the National Capital (Ottawa), and the border to the Ethnocentric English-Hating French Province of Quebec, where the unrestricted use of the English language is AGAINST the law.
And of that 4% – just about 100% speak English . . . so why the problem?
Because a small town Mayor (Ken Hill) with political dreams of grandeur decided to pass a bylaw usurping the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for no purpose other than to make a few French TRIBALISTS feel good about themselves, and possibly give himself the French vote in a larger political context, the Court Costs awarded AGAINST me are $250,000 because we lost.
BUT HOW CAN ANYONE LOSE FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?
These costs include our first loss at Superior Court, where the self-declared French Activist Judge Monique Metivier said in Court; that even though the Russell Bylaw violated Freedom of Expression, it was the RIGHT THING TO DO.
The cost also included the THREE Judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal who said the same thing. IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
And then there’s the cost for the Activist Supreme Court of Canada, which refused to hear our APPEAL, even though this bylaw and various other challenges we made to the Supreme Court in our request for LEAVE, actually violated their own jurisprudence.
Even though all the Judges agreed that it was the RIGHT THING TO DO, not one of them said why and how it’s supported by the Constitution . . . And here is where it gets really serious:
CANADA HAS A NEW LANGUAGE LAW . . . AND NO ONE KNOWS IT:
Because the Supreme Court refused to hear our appeal . . . this linguistically racist bylaw against the English majority in just one community, introduced by a pissant mayor and council, all of whom were defeated in the follow-up election . . . IS NOW THE LAW OF CANADA.
WHERE WAS THE MEDIA?
Canada’s media can teach LEFTIST journalism to most American News Providers. How scary is that?
If any issue casts a shadow of doubt on the BIG CANADIAN LIE, that Canada is a bilingual country, which is as far removed from the truth as you can possibly get, the Canadian media stays as far away from it as they can . . . as if it was the plague.
I used the headline – 250,000 REASONS NOT TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, because it’s true.
Ask yourself this . . . Why would anyone want to fight a battle for the FREEDOM of some thirty-three million people who are lost in a fog, and wouldn’t so much as lift a finger to defend themselves or contribute to their own defense?
FOR ME – THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE . . . Even though there were 250,000 reasons for me NOT to have done this, there is only one reason that I did.
IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR FREEDOM.
Young men and women . . . and not so young men and women have fought, and are still fighting all over this planet for the FREEDOMS of others, while in our own countries (the USA and Canada), people take our FREEDOMS for granted.
We allow our politicians, nameless and faceless bureaucrats, and ACTIVIST JUDGES to nibble away at our FREEDOMS everyday, as if our FREEDOMS are mere suggestions opposed to ironclad guarantees.
I TOOK A $250,000 BEATING – BUT I DIDN’T DIE. AND I WASN’T WOUNDED.
My father, as a young Canadian landed on the shores of Sicily, before the D-DAY Invasion. He was wounded at the Battle of Casino, but fought-on nonetheless. He was decorated and mentioned in dispatches many times. And was awarded the Bronze Lion by her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands FOR BRAVERY ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY.
My dad fought in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. And like MILLIONS of brave soldiers who fought all over the world so the world could be FREE, he did it not because he was forced to, and not because there was some kind of reward at the end of the war . . . BUT BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
How do you compare living under the daily threat of mutilation or death in war, to being whacked for a Quarter of Million Dollars by lawyers who profit in the DEATH of Constitutional FREEDOMS?
THERE IS NO COMPARISON . . . And like my dad who fought-on with a bandaged shrapnel wound to his head at Monte Casino . . . I DON’T QUIT EITHER.
It is obvious that we cannot win in the Courts, where Freedom is what the Judges have decided Freedom should be. But, WE CAN WIN IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION, where Freedom MUST be more than just a suggestion.
Whether you’re a Canadian or an American . . . you have a duty to yourself and to your country to get into the fight. Because, if you accept that your Freedoms should be open to the interpretation of the government and Courts, then you don’t deserve to enjoy the FREEDOMS other people bled and died for you to have.
I DON’T HAVE $250,000 . . . And this loss is not without real personal consequences for me. But I would do it all over again. ACTUALLY, I have no intention whatsoever of slowing down, let alone stopping, and not just about language.
If ONE FREEDOM is under attack . . . all of our FREEDOMS are under attack, and I will not stand silent or passive. To the LEFT, the RIGHTS of Government over the RIGHTS of the INDIVIDUAL have long been an International Conspiracy.
OUR GLOBAL DEFENSE FOR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND LIBERTIES MUST BE NO LESS.
So, when I ask visitors to Galganov.com from time to time to help out financially, you can now see why.
And if I care enough about all of our FREEDOMS to have laid my fiscal life on the line, the least people can do who enjoy reading my editorials is care a bit too.
The mark of success is not in winning, since winning can be defined in a million ways.
REAL SUCCESS . . . is fighting against a much greater foe knowing that you probably won’t win, but getting into the fight nonetheless, because it is the right thing to do. And no matter how much of a pounding you take . . .
YOU NEVER GIVE UP – AND YOU NEVER STOP . . . NO MATTER HOW TOUGH IT GETS.
Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
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