Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Bring In The Freedom Of Non-Association!

OTTAWA, Canada, November 6, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A member and officer of Canada’s civil service union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), has brought a human rights complaint against the union and the Treasury Board charging them with religious discrimination. David MacDonald alleges in his complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that he was “discriminated against and harassed based on my religious beliefs” by the Treasury board who refused his request to re-direct his union dues to avoid PSAC’s support for “same-sex marriage.”
...
The issue, he stressed, is not a matter of unjust discrimination against homosexual persons, but one of his union forcing him through his dues to support an “inflammatory political cause.”
Some believe that unions are there to protect workers' rights. Maybe that's what they were some 50 years ago. Nowadays however, unions prefer to direct their efforts (and members' money) to issues that are completely unrelated to negotiating just wages and working conditions for union members, promoting policies and lifestyles that weaken traditional families, thus perpetuating poverty.

The membership in the union is compulsory. Not only one must become a union member when he gets hired, he has to contribute part of his own salary to perverse causes and activities promoted by the union - with no conscious objections accepted. Somehow the same section 2(d) of the Charter which guarantees freedom of association doesn't guarantee freedom of non-association. At least that's the way judges and unions see it.

Would another law suit (or a human rights complaint for that matter) change anything? Not likely. Complaints submitted by ordinary Canadians against privileged minority groups are most often dismissed almost instantaneously. What we need is the Defense Of Religions Act (which was promised to us a year ago, but which hasn't even been introduced) that will enshrine our rights to conscious objections and make it clear that as Canadians we have not only the freedom of association, but also - the freedom of non-association.

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