A Note from America’s Neighbor, Ezra Levant, Who’s Fighting Fascism in Canada

Glenn:

A Toronto bureaucrat has banned a Christian choir from performing in a public square, because their songs include the words “praise the Lord” and “there’s no God like Jehovah.”

I wish I were kidding.

Voices of the Nations is a choir that has performed for five years in a row in Yonge & Dundas Square, in downtown Toronto. It’s a little bit like New York City’s Times Square, with concerts, buskers, demonstrations and events — everything from Hare Krishna chants to marijuana rallies to a permanent kiosk where Muslim men hand out Korans.

But when Voices of the Nations applied for a permit to sing Christian songs, they were turned down flat. And when they phoned Natalie Belman, the bureaucrat in charge of the city-owned property, the reason she gave them was shocking: they were banned because they were Christian.

Well, here we go again.

Just last year, a Christian pastor named Rev. David Lynn was charged by police with illegal “busking”, for singing Christian songs at Yonge & Dundas Square — not 50 feet from the Muslim Koran kiosk. We helped recruit a civil liberties lawyer to fight Rev. Lynn’s case, and we won.

Well, the anti-Christian censors are back. They’re not just going after Rev. Lynn — but a whole choir. Even though that choir has performed there for five years in a row.

Click here to watch my video on this outrageous censorship — including to listen to an audio recording of the phone call with Natalie Belman. You will be shocked.

We’ve got to do three things.

1. We’ve got to let people know that anti-Christian bigotry is alive and kicking in Toronto — and that it’s completely unashamed. Seriously — can you believe that bureaucrat didn’t even hesitate to say exactly why she was banning the choir? So, step one is: spread the word, by forwarding this e-mail, or asking people to visit our website at www.AntiChristian.ca.

2. We’ve got to get thousands of people to sign our petition to Natalie Belman, to tell her that anti-Christian bigotry is no better than anti-Jewish or anti-Black bigotry. Please click here to sign our petition.

3. And Voices of the Nations has hired a great civil liberties lawyer — our friend John Carpay, from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. I spoke with John today about his legal strategy. Click here to watch that video — and to join me in chipping in to his legal defence fund.

I have personally pledged $100 to help cover John’s legal expenses.

Will you help too?

Will you help level the playing field for Voices of the Nations, and help defend their freedom of speech and freedom of religion?

If we roll over, and let the bureaucracy crush this choir, it will confirm in the minds of Toronto politicians and bureaucrats that they can discriminate against Christians with impunity.

But if we win – if we help John fight the good fight, to make arguments about religion freedom and freedom of speech – then we set a different sort of precedent. A precedent for liberty. Literally, a precedent to allow Christians in the town square.

It will be a win for Voices of the Nations. But also for every other Christian in Toronto. And it will be a lesson to Toronto bureaucrats.

And hopefully, that legal precedent would be seen and heard in other Canadian cities, too. That’s how it works – one court ruling at a time.

What do you think? Will you help me, to help John to help the choir?

Thank you again for standing up for Canada.

Sincerely,

Ezra Levant