Showing posts with label Christian Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Brothers. Show all posts

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Blood Libel in Canada - Church Burning and Graves of Indigenous Children at former Residential Schools

 

Catholic Church Burns in Morinville, Alberta


(A) Introduction - "Hate Crime" in Canada and Ireland

Over the past two months I experienced one of my periodic episodes of Writer's Block but I can't ignore the current hysteria in Canada. It's their equivalent of "Blood Libel in Ireland - directed against Catholics not Jews" complete with support from politicians and media and some "Survivor" leaders who have already made claims so absurd that said politicians and journalists will quietly ignore them in future! (In Ireland no one in authority now pretends to believe that Christine Buckley was beaten so badly by Sr Xavieria that she needed 100 stitches OR that the same nun used a hot poker to murder a baby!)  

The foregoing essay on Blood Libel concentrates mainly on the Christian Brothers - allegedly beating boys to death in residential schools. Since 2010 however the focus has shifted to nuns who ran Mother and Baby Homes for single mothers and allegedly starved babies to death. I covered this in my article "Deaths of Children in Mother and Baby Care Homes (did they die of starvation?)"

It would not surprise me if the Canadian witch-hunt follows a similar course to ours i.e. with the more lurid child-killing claims being broadcast by media and politicians - and then quietly side-lined -, to be followed by more "moderate" allegations that are difficult to disprove several decades later!

One way in which the Canadian hysteria differs from ours is that about a dozen Catholic churches have already been vandalised or burned to the ground. There has been some vandalism of Church buildings and monuments in Ireland but nothing on that level. However  our last EU Commissioner and our last Minister for Justice used Parliamentary Privilege to libel a woman because she had been a nun while a previous Justice Minister endorsed a claim (in 2009) that the Church was involved in the unsolved murder of a girl in 1970. This kind of libel is the spiritual equivalent of the Nazi Kristallnacht. In Canada they are going in for a more physical imitation!


Interior view of the destroyed Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, Berlin, 1938

Interior view of the destroyed Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, Berlin, 1938

(B) UK Guardian Endorses Blood Libel

On 21 June 2021 The Guardian published an article headlined "Canada Must Reveal ‘Undiscovered Truths’ of Residential Schools to Heal" with subheading "The man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission insists an independent investigation into decades of abuse of Indigenous children is essential."

 It includes the following:
Murray Sinclair, a former senator and one of the country’s first Indigenous judges, warned that the “undiscovered truths” of the schools are probably far more devastating than many Canadians realize – including the deliberate killing of children by school staff and the likelihood that such crimes were covered up.

Sinclair called for a powerful investigative body, free of government interference, and with the power to subpoena witnesses. “We need to know who died, we need to know how they died, we need to know who was responsible for their deaths or for their care at the time that they died,” said Sinclair, a member of the Peguis First Nation. “We need to know why the families weren’t informed. And we need to know where the children are buried.
And also: 
Justin Trudeau described the graves as “a shameful reminder” of the systemic racism that Indigenous peoples still endure, adding: “Together, we must acknowledge this truth, learn from our past, and walk the shared path of reconciliation, so we can build a better future.”

But Sinclair warned that reconciliation requires a sustained effort to change by ordinary Canadians and powerful institutions of state – an effort that has so far remained elusive. "The government, our social institutions, and even our population acknowledge what was done to Indigenous people was wrong. There have been several apologies and a promise of things will change. But there’s been no change,” he said. “So long as any change is only given reluctantly, it means there remains a willingness, ability – and even desire – to go back to the way things were.”

Sinclair led a historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission which in 2015 concluded that the residential school system amounted to cultural genocide[1]
But now he is suggesting MORE than "cultural" genocide:
We’ve heard stories from survivors who witnessed children being put to death, particularly infants born in the schools who had been fathered by a priest. Many survivors told us that they witnessed those children, those infants, being either buried alive or killed – and sometimes being thrown into furnaces,” said Sinclair, who oversaw thousands of hours of testimony. “Those stories need to be checked out.[2]
The last Indigenous Residential School closed over 30 years ago but remarkably many problems persist among First Nations groups - including unnatural deaths:
Dozens of First Nations do not have access to drinking water, the government is fighting a human rights tribunal order to compensate Indigenous children who suffered in foster care and a federal minister has admitted racism against Indigenous peoples is rampant within the healthcare system. Indigenous people are overrepresented in federal prisons and Indigenous women are killed at a rate far higher than other groups.

Such realities are the result of a sustained campaign to create and sustain racial inequity, said Sinclair. "It took constant effort to maintain that relationship of Indigenous inferiority and white superiority,” he said. “To reverse that, it’s going to take generations of concerted effort to do the opposite.
So WHO is killing Indigenous women and what effect is casting the blame on Racism and White Superiority going to have on efforts to resolve the problem?

US Media also do Blood Libel

An article in the New York Post dated 12 July 2021 is headed US Media Shamefully Justified a String of Canadian Church Burnings
Discovery of Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Prompts Grief and Questions” ran a Washington Post headline. “‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada” was The New York Times’ headline.

Those headlines were false — according to all three chiefs who made the discoveries. “This is not a mass grave site, this is just unmarked graves,” Cowessess First Nation chief Cadmus Delorme said of the biggest site. Indeed, the remains aren’t even believed to be all of children. A band leader said the site was a community cemetery, including graves of nonindigenous people — unmarked because wooden markers had decomposed.

The Washington Post eventually corrected “mass grave”; the Times’ headline remains.

Church critics used that framing to justify, and even encourage, the rash of arsons. Burn it all down,” tweeted the head of the BC Civil Liberties Association and the chair of the Newfoundland Canadian Bar Association Branch. “It’s very dangerous to conflate the string of church fires with violence against mosques,” activist Nora Loreto said, insisting they weren’t “hate crimes” — in other words, the Catholic Church had it coming.

(C) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Church Burning is "Understandable"

According to Brian Lilley, political correspondent for the Toronto Sun in Trudeau Explains Away Arson Attacks on Churches (Monday, 5 July 2021)
About a dozen churches have been set on fire, some simply damaged, others burned right to the ground. Even more Christian churches — mostly Catholic but not exclusively — have been vandalized over the past several weeks. Yes, it’s true that Justin Trudeau has also said that the burning and destruction of churches is “unacceptable and wrong,” but by saying it is also “understandable,” the PM undermines his mild condemnation of what is going on.

Trudeau only spoke of what has been happening on July 2, almost three weeks after this spate of attacks on churches started. The first arson that I heard of — that was related to the discovery of unmarked graves at residential school sites — was St. John’s Tuscaroras, an Anglican chapel set ablaze on June 12.

Since then, several Catholic churches, a number of Anglican parishes, and Evangelical churches serving African and Vietnamese immigrant communities have been targeted. If there were attacks like this taking place at Mosques or other places of worship, then we know that Trudeau would have tweeted right away, issued statements, and rightly denounced the attacks as hate crimes.

Instead, even when asked, Trudeau can’t use that phrase and his condemnations come with what amounts to a “yeah, but” at the end of it. “It is unacceptable and wrong that acts of vandalism and arson are being seen across the country, including against Catholic churches,” Trudeau said on Friday. It’s a rather weak denunciation, but then he made it worse by saying that what has happened is understandable.

I understand the anger that’s out there against the federal government, against institutions like the Catholic Church. It is real, and it’s fully understandable, given the shameful history that we are all becoming more and more aware of and engaging ourselves to do better as Canadians,” Trudeau said.

On Monday, Trudeau said that vandalism and arson aren’t the way to go, that it doesn’t help with reconciliation. He’s right, but he still can’t use the kind of language he would use for any other faith group. “That is simply not right, it is a shame,” Trudeau said of burning churches when asked if these acts were hate crimes.

By his own definition, these arsons and acts of vandalism would be hate crimes, but he can’t say that. So instead, he calls it “a shame.” He may as well have added a “tut-tut” at the end and a finger wag.

If mosques were vandalised or burned to the ground in the wake of  an Islamic atrocity, would Justin Trudeau wait for weeks before issuing any kind of condemnation - and would he then use the word "understandable"?   


(D) Head of British Columbia Civil Liberties Group Tweets ‘Burn It All Down’ 

In an article in Global News on 4 July Head of B.C. civil liberties group under fire over ‘burn it all down’ tweet Simon Little wrote - in relation to a Canadian equivalent of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties:
The executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is facing criticism over comments she made on social media in response to the burning of multiple churches in the wake of the discovery of human remains in unmarked graves at former residential schools.

Harsha Walia leads the organization, which fights for civil liberties and human rights. She is also a long-time advocate for migrant justice, Indigenous rights, equality and economic justice.

In a June 30 tweet responding to a news article about a pair of Catholic churches burning down, Walia wrote “burn it all down.” The tweet set off a firestorm on social media, both from people who described the message as inflammatory and stoking hate, and others who defended the tweet, saying people have no right to police Indigenous people’s grief and rage...

B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said he felt the tweet went too far. “I thought it was just disgusting and reprehensible that somebody who heads up an organization like that would make such comments,” he said. “It’s vile beyond belief, it does nothing to bring about reconciliation. All it does is create conflict and division.
When Terry Glavin, columnist for the National Post and Ottawa Citizen, took a swipe at people defending Harsha Walia, Gerald Butts - former right-hand man and confidant of Justin Trudeau-  jumped in to defend Walia. 

"So Gerry, defending the 'burning churches is cool' crowd?” Glavin tweeted to Butts.
No Terry, it is not. Though it may be understandable,” Butts replied. Same word used by Trudeau! [3]

About the only thing that surprises me concerning the whole disgusting affair, is the comment by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth! Otherwise it's a carbon copy of the behaviour of politicians and "human rights" groups in Ireland.


(E) "Unmarked Graves" at former St Eugene Mission School, Cranbrook, British Columbia (1912-1970)

The "discovery" of these graves was one of the episodes that sparked hysteria and Church-burning across Canada in recent weeks. Unfortunately for the hysterics, this one is a cemetery that has been in continuous use by the local community before and since the Mission School closed half a century ago! 

Note there is nothing suspicious about the "unmarked graves". Even in a cemetery that has been in continuous use, old wooden grave markers decay and the cemetery fence has to be replaced. In cemeteries that are no longer used, both markers and fence would eventually disappear. "Using a wooden marker at a gravesite remains a practice that continues to this day in many Indigenous communities across Canada." The following article also points out that it was Government policy that all indigenous children in the area between the ages of 7 and 15 should attend the school. Some children died of "TB or other diseases" according to former Chief Sophie Pierre, who herself attended the school, but  she lends no support to the lurid claims of Murray Sinclair. [Part (B) above]

An article by Adam MacVicar in Global News on 1st July 2021 is entitled: 
The detection of human remains in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in B.C. was not an unexpected discovery, according to the area’s former chief. On Wednesday, it was confirmed that ground-penetrating radar found 182 unmarked graves in a cemetery at the site of the former Kootenay Residential School at St. Eugene Mission just outside Cranbrook, B.C. The remains were found when remedial work was being performed in the area to replace the fence at the cemetery last year.

Sophie Pierre, former chief of the St Mary’s Indian Band and a survivor of the school itself, told Global News that while the news of the unmarked graves had a painful impact on her and surrounding communities, they had always known the graves were there. 

There’s no discovery, we knew it was there, it’s a graveyard,” Pierre said. “The fact there are graves inside a graveyard shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.According to Pierre, wooden crosses that originally marked the gravesites had been burned or deteriorated over the years.  Using a wooden marker at a gravesite remains a practice that continues to this day in many Indigenous communities across Canada.

The cemetery sits about 150 meters from the former residential school, which was in operation between 1912 and 1970. It is now a luxurious golf resort owned by five local area bands. At the time it was mandated by law that all Indigenous children living in the area between the ages of seven and 15 were to attend the school. ...

Pierre said while there is a possibility there are some children who attended the school were buried in the cemetery, more work is required to confirm those details. “There could very well be, and in good likelihood, some children that were in the residential school that died here because of TB or other diseases, and were buried there,” Pierre said. “But it’s a graveyard.”....

The graveyard near Cranbrook originally dates back to Christian missionaries who settled in the area in the early 1800s, prior to the construction of the school.  A church and a hospital were also built in the area. It eventually became a graveyard for the community, which it remains to this day. “We just buried one of our people there last month,” Pierre said. “Anyone who died in my community would be buried there.” 

The article goes on to point out that hundreds of unmarked graves, many believed to be children, have been found near residential school sites across the country recently, including in Kamloops, British Columbia, and the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan.
[Sophie] Pierre acknowledged uncovering those graves is important work, and sheds light on the traumatic history and reality for Indigenous peoples across Canada. However, she said the findings at the cemetery near Cranbrook isn’t the same as the other findings at other residential schools throughout the country. "What happened in these other places is these remains have been found not in graveyards, that’s the big difference,” Pierre said. “It’s horrible.”

 Or alternatively these are graveyards that have not been used for several decades so the wooden crosses and the cemetery fence have rotted away!   

 (F) CONCLUSION: Canada - A Society Spewing on Itself!

It isn't only the Catholic Church that is under attack from the Justin Trudeau equivalent of Mao's Red Guards! It is also the first Prime Minister of Canada John A McDonald and Methodist Minister Egerton Ryerson who was one of the founders of the Canadian public school system and the Indian residential school system. On the other hand, Justin Trudeau - the Prime Minister who feels that the burning of Catholic Churches is "understandable" - faces no questions about the role of his father Pierre Trudeau who wanted to eliminate Indian Status and fully assimilate First Nations into the general population of Canada! [4]

Egerton Ryerson (24 March 1803 – 19 February 1882) was a Canadian educator and Methodist minister who was a prominent contributor to the design of the Canadian public school system and the Canadian Indian residential school system. In 1844, Ryerson was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada. In that role, he supported reforms such as creating school boards, making textbooks more uniform, and making education free. Because of his contributions to education in Ontario, he is the namesake of Ryerson University (Toronto), Ryerson Press, and Ryerson, Ontario.

On June 1, 2021, following the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the Egerton Ryerson statue at Ryerson University was vandalized  with red paint. On June 6, the statue was toppled, decapitated and thrown into Toronto Harbour; Ryerson University stated that the statue will not be restored or replaced. The head of the statue was subsequently placed on a pike at the Six Nations of the Grand River near Caledonia, Ontario.

In an article in the National Post on 6 April 2021 Ron Stagg, Professor of History  and Patrice Dutil, Professor of Politics at Ryerson University wrote : Egerton Ryerson has been Falsely Accused of Trying to Erase Indigenous Culture 
Ryerson is being misjudged. He was not a racist and he did not discriminate against Indigenous people. It was the exact opposite! As a young man he was appointed to the Credit mission, home of the Mississaugas. He learned their language, worked in the fields with the people of the settlement and became a life-long friend of future chief Kahkewaquonaby (Sacred Feathers), known in English as Peter Jones.

In fact, it was in recognition of his services to the Mississauga, that Ryerson was adopted and given the name of a recently deceased chief, “Cheechock” or “Chechalk.”

After he left the Credit mission, Ryerson kept in touch with Peter Jones. In the 1830s he assisted the Mississaugas, whose land was confiscated by colonial authorities, by approaching Queen Victoria personally through back channels. He also advanced the careers of a number of talented Indigenous individuals. When Peter Jones was gravely ill at the end of his life, he stayed in the comfortable home of his old friend Ryerson in Toronto. Ryerson was a friend of Indigenous people.

It is also wrong to blame Egerton Ryerson for creating residential schools. It was Peter Jones, working with another prominent Methodist, who argued that the government should fund schools to educate Indigenous men in the new techniques in agriculture, so that they might survive in a colony where land to hunt and fish freely was rapidly disappearing. By 1842, the authorities accepted the concept, as a way to put First Nations on farms and to eliminate the expense of annual treaty payments, not as a way to assimilate them.

In 1846, government agents met with thirty chiefs, representing most of the First Nations in what is now southern Ontario. After some discussion, almost all the leaders agreed that such schools were necessary, and many even agreed to use part of their treaty payments to help support the schools. A year later, the government approached Ryerson, an acknowledged expert on education, and asked him to provide a curriculum for schools that would train Indigenous people for a settled life.

Ryerson was fully in agreement with the plan because he worried that Indigenous communities would be destroyed unless they changed their economic life. He delivered general suggestions for a curriculum — nothing else — that were typical of his day. It was patronizing, as it was based on Euro-Canadian models, but it had the support of most of the Indigenous leaders. Ryerson participated precisely because he saw education as the best instrument to protect First Nations from advancing settlement.
The Ryerson statue was originally vandalised on July 18, 2020 - in addition to two others of John A. Macdonald (first Prime Minister of Canada) and King Edward VII at the Ontario Legislature – as part of a demand to tear down the monuments. Black Lives Matter Toronto claimed responsibility for the actions stating that "The action comes after the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario have failed to take action against police violence against Black people." Three people were arrested at the time and were each charged with three counts of mischief and conspiracy to commit a summary offence. The charges were dropped on 4 June 2021 and demonstrators tore down the Ryerson statue on 6 June! Ryerson University has stated that the statue will not be restored or replaced!

Egerton Ryerson and Jesuit Hero Jean de Brebeuf S.J.  

Egerton Ryerson working among the Mississauga First Nation in the 19th century was - in a way - continuing the work of Jesuit hero, martyr and saint Jean de Brebeuf among the Hurons [Wyandot] in the far more violent age of "New France" in the 17th century. (It's true that Fr de Brebeuf would not have appreciated the comparison!)
Brébeuf had been chosen for the New World because he had a knack for languages, and so was well equipped for engagement with an altogether alien culture. The assignment proved a wise one, as Brébeuf immersed himself deeply among the Wyandot, or Huron, a tribal confederacy that had gathered on the north shores of Lake Ontario two centuries before. From 1626, the Jesuit père devoted himself as the apostle to the Hurons, with the singular mission of making these people Catholic.

Jean and his companions reached Quebec on June 19, 1625, and immediately began to prepare for his journey to the Huron nation. Happily, he had a great talent for something that would prove critical in his work. The great explorer Samuel de Champlain wrote about Brébeuf, "He had such a striking gift for languages that…he grasped in two or three years what others would not learn in twenty." 

That facility would assist him in working with a people with whom he shared little in common, save their common humanity. To enter into their world Jean resolved to do everything according to their customs, no matter how strenuous, eating their food, sleeping as they did, working as hard as they did. Here is a powerful echo of the Call of the King, from the Spiritual Exercises, in which one is asked to "labor as Christ labors." 

In addition to learning their customs and beliefs, Jean wrote a Huron grammar and translated a catechism in the local language. Brébeuf would spend three years among these families before being asked to return to Rouen in 1629, after political difficulties made it harder for the French to remain.......

When he returned to New France in 1635, he was cheerfully welcomed by his Huron friends. Immediately he and Antoine Daniel, another Jesuit, began their work in earnest. (They were one of several Jesuits working in the region at the time.) Near a town called Ihonotiria, near current-day Georgian Bay in Canada, Fathers Brébeuf and Daniel began teaching the people about Christianity. They were later joined by two other French Jesuits, Charles Garnier and Isaac Jogues.....

Brébeuf and his fellow Jesuits ministered to the Wyandot another 13 years. Then, under military pressure from the northward-moving Iroquois, the Wyandot and their Jesuit companions found themselves in dire straits. Finally, as the invading Iroquois sacked the mission village of Saint-Louis, Brébeuf and fellow priest Gabriel Lalemant were taken captive and tortured to death.

 Justin Trudeau, Pierre Trudeau and "Assimilation" Policy 

An Editorial in the National Catholic Register on 9 July 2021 entitled Canada’s Trudeau Fans the Flame of Blame reads in part
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swiftly joined with Native leaders in demanding that Pope Francis apologize for the Church’s role in operating the majority of these residential schools during the 19th and 20th centuries. This misguided rhetoric of blame has now escalated into the burning down and vandalization of a number of Catholic churches across Canada.....

However, it is simply not the case that Canada’s Catholics and other Christians lagged behind the nation’s political leadership in terms of renouncing assimilationist policies. 

As recently as 1969, the Canadian government formally advocated a new policy abolishing separate status for its Indigenous residents for the express purpose of integrating them more fully into Canadian society. This proposal was abandoned only after fierce resistance from the Native peoples themselves. The Canadian prime minister who advanced this proposed new policy was actually Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, a man still widely regarded in Canada for enlightened, progressive thinking. So if Justin Trudeau truly believes in the concept of “inherited” institutional guilt, as he appears to do with respect to Pope Francis, in fairness it ought to be noted that his own inheritance is vastly more tangible than that of the Holy Father. [4]

The first Canadian Prime Minister John A MacDonald also approved the assimilationist approach proposed in the 1879  "Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds". Thus (as per Wikipedia) - On 18 June 2021, following the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the statue of Macdonald was removed from [Kingston's] City Park after city council voted 12–1 in favour of its removal, and is set to be installed at Cataraqui Cemetery where Macdonald is buried. [5]

In fact the Canadian secular authorities would always have been keener on assimilating the First Nations than Churchmen like Fr Jean de Brebeuf S.J. and Methodist Minister Egerton Ryerton. For the latter, making good citizens would have been a by product of making good Christians and not the main objective!

A Final Irony
It's quite possible that Pierre Trudeau was correct in 1969 and that the policy began by Fr Jean de Brebeuf in the 17th century and continued by Egerton Ryerson in the 19th had come to the end of its useful life. It's possible that assimilation as ordinary Canadian citizens WAS the way for the First Nations to go. There has been a huge increase in symptoms of social breakdown since then - violence, addiction, suicide and child abuse - more so than in the general population. The Canadian State's pursuit of multi-culturalism has led them to subsidise a culture and  away of life that is no longer viable. 

The same can be said about Ireland in relation to our treatment of the Travellers. Up until the 1960s the policy of the Irish State was to integrate them (then called Tinkers) into the settled population. Since then we also have stressed the multi-cultural approach - up to granting Ethnic Minority status in 2017. The results - in terms of crime and other symptoms of social breakdown - are not pretty!


NOTES:

[1] A Guardian article dated 2 June 2015 headed Canada's Indigenous Schools Policy Was 'Cultural Genocide', says Report summarises the Report of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Murray Sinclair who is described as "a Manitoba judge whose parents and grandparents both survived residential schools." After seven years of hearings, and testimony from thousands of witnesses, the commission’s final report declares.
 “These measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will. The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources.”
There is no mention of infants being buried alive or killed and thrown into furnaces. Did Murray Sinclair ignore such testimonies back then because he regarded them as incredible? Why does he think they are credible now? 

[2] "We’ve heard stories from survivors who witnessed children being put to death, particularly infants born in the schools who had been fathered by a priest. Many survivors told us that they witnessed those children, those infants, being either buried alive or killed – and sometimes being thrown into furnaces,” said Sinclair. 

This is strongly reminiscent of the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1836) in which the author claimed to expose the systematic sexual abuse of nuns by Catholic priests and the infanticide of the resulting children in a convent in Montreal (although "Maria Monk" claimed the babies were strangled after being baptised, and then buried in a lime pit).


[4] As per the Wikipedia article on Pierre Trudeau

In 1969, Trudeau along with his then Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chrétien, proposed the 1969 White Paper (officially entitled Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian policy). Under the legislation of the White Paper, Indian Status would be eliminated. First Nations Peoples would be incorporated fully into provincial government responsibilities as equal Canadian citizens, and reserve status would be removed imposing the laws of private property in indigenous communities. Any special programs or considerations that had been allowed to First Nations people under previous legislation would be terminated, as the special considerations were seen by the Government to act as a means to further separate Indian peoples from Canadian citizens. This proposal was seen by many as racist and an attack on Canada's aboriginal population. The Paper proposed the general assimilation of First Nations into the Canadian body politic through the elimination of the Indian Act and Indian status, the parcelling of reserve land to private owners, and the elimination of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The White Paper prompted the first major national mobilization of Indian and Aboriginal activists against the federal government's proposal, leading to Trudeau setting aside the legislation.

"Now our people can heal, all those residential school survivors can heal, all those 60’s Scoop people can finally heal.” Kingston resident Lisa Cadue said.
Or alternatively Canada may experience endless outbreaks of Victim Playing!



Friday, January 8, 2021

My Submission to The Independent "Future of Media" Commission

 

Professor Brian MacCraith

Professor Brian MacCraith, Chair of the Independent Future of Media Commission


A newly-established Future of Media Commission intends to “chart a pathway” for public service broadcasting and independent media in Ireland. [My emphasis]

In September 2020, the Irish government announced the new Future of Media Commission, which will examine how “public service objectives” can be funded in a sustainable way, with independent editorial oversight and value for money. The Commission will then make a recommendation on its findings to the government.

As an initial step, the Commission is conducting a public consultation by inviting the views of the public on the key questions to be addressed in its work. The closing date for receipt of public submissions was today Friday 8 January 2020 so (as is my habit) I got mine in at the last minute and here it is.

.Question 1. How should Government develop and support the concept and role of public service media and what should its role in relation to public service content in the wider media be?


You ask  "What can be learned from the evolution of public service media over the last decade?"

In 2004 I made an official complaint to Broadcasting Complaints Commission (I think it was then) re RTE's broadcast of the 2002 film "Song for a Raggy Boy" AND  RTE notice afterwards inviting people who had been affected by the film to ring a dedicated phone number to voice their pain. 

I cannot locate my submission now BUT I referred to it in my Blog article 'Recovered Memory' in Ireland and Allegations of Child Abuse
specifically in the last sections "Patrick Galvin, 'Song for a Raggy Boy' and 'Recovered Memory' " and the Conclusion. The culminating scene in the FILM features a boy being kicked to death by a "Brother in Christ" (Christian Brother backwards). There is no such scene in the 1991 autobiographical BOOK by Patrick Galvin on which the film is  supposed to be based, nor of sex abuse either. The murder and sex abuse scenes were added to spice up the film!  

When this sort of thing is done to Jews - in the Nazi film Jew Suss that I referred to in my complaint to BCC - it is called Blood Libel. (The 1925 BOOK "Jew Suss"  did not include  Suss raping or killing anyone.)

The Christian Brothers had to issue a statement saying that Patrick Galvin was never in any institution run by them. However BCC rejected my complaint saying "RTE point out that the film is a work of fiction based on a memoir of actual events. Allowing for dramatic licence therefore, everything depicted in the film does not have to be fully accurate." Indeed you could say the same about the Nazi version of Jew Suss compared to the original! WHY did RTE provide a phone number for members of the public who were inspired by events in the film?

This was OVER 10 years ago but RTE continued in the same vein over the last decade. In 2011 they libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds on Prime Time's "Mission to Prey" as having father a child by raping an underage girl. Instead of a normal investigation of the grotesque claim, they door-stopped him after a First Communion service. They then ignored his offer to take a DNA test and broadcast the libel anyway. A NORMAL conman - motivated by desire for money or fame - would have drawn back at the priest's offer of a DNA test but RTE were blinded by an anti-Clerical hatred no better than the anti-Semite variety! 

In 2014 RTE libelled John Waters, Breda O'Brien and other members of the Iona Institute by describing them as Homophobes. It doesn't compare to their previous child rape and murder lies but it stands out because the RTE presenter INVITED "Miss Panti Bliss" to make the comment. To that extent it was well up to RTE's standard! I should also point out that following the libel settlement the then Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte expressed his desire to change the law in order to make it more difficult to sue RTE. If one of his own ideological allies had been libelled, Minister Rabbitte would have said the opposite! I have written about this in "The Role of Pat Rabbitte

In 2017 RTE libelled Kevin Myers - well known strong supporter of Israel - as a Holocaust-denier following similar libels by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald. It took RTE 2 years to apologise even after the Broadcasting Authority had ruled the claim was false. Kevin Myers said he had feared having to sell his house if he lost the libel case - but of course RTE faced no risk at all. I wrote about this in "Kevin Myers and the Age of de Valera and McQuaid"

It is no co-incidence that Kevin Myers is the ONLY journalist to have defended former Sister of Mercy Nora Wall when she was wrongly convicted of rape in 1999. RTE will NEVER libel a "progressive" journalist!

Given THAT background, there's nothing strange about RTE's recent skit featuring God raping Mary and  broadcasting it during the Christmas season on the eve of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on 1st January. There is NO way they would broadcast a skit featuring Muhammed raping a 9 year old girl and do so during Ramadan on the eve of Eid. Just as  they wouldn't libel a Muslim cleric with an accusation of fathering a child by raping a girl. I referred above to RTE being motivated by anti-Clerical Hatred BUT Muslims have clerics as well so anti-Catholic hatred is a better description of their attitude!  

Question 2. How should public service media be financed sustainably?


You ask "What is the best model for future funding of public service media in Ireland? What approach best supports independent editorial oversight while achieving value for money and delivering on public service aims?

RTE should be defunded. I read that it receives €180 million from the taxpayer each year. I also see that "public service aims" includes "to ensure that the public has access to high quality, impartial, independent journalism, reporting .. in a balanced way and which contributes to democratic discourse". 

In the interests of "balance" would RTE consider broadcasting the  film "Jew Suss"? It may be as vile as "Song for a Raggy Boy" and includes scenes not depicted in the (somewhat) more realistic BOOK but at least RTE could say "we're not favouring one side over another".  

I was told by a member of Nora Wall's defence team that she was convicted in a climate of hysteria created by the media and SPECIFICALLY by Mary Raftery's States of Fear series, broadcast by RTE just before the trial in 1999! In 2005 I corresponded with then editor of the Irish Times Geraldine Kennedy regarding this issue (among other) and published the exchange on my Blog here: "Mary Raftery and Blood Libel"

This kind of thing has been going on for over 20 years now and I don't believe there is ANY possibility of RTE reforming themselves and delivering "impartial, independent journalism" that "contributes to democratic discourse". In other words, they cannot act as a Public Service Broadcaster and should NOT receive public funds! 

Question 3. How should media be governed and regulated?


You ask "Are current legislative and regulatory controls for public service media adequate?" 

In my answer to Question 1, I pointed out that, following RTE's libel settlement with John Waters and others in 2014, the then Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte expressed his desire to change the law in order to make it more difficult to sue RTE!

Even before being appointed Minister, Pat Rabbitte had a well-earned reputation as an anti-Catholic bigot especially due to his role in bringing down the Reynolds Government in 1994. In relation to THAT episode, historian Diarmaid Ferriter wrote "Some became angry that when Harry Whelehan was questioned and denied the existence of a Catholic conspiracy within the Attorney-General's office, he felt the need to defend his right to be a practicing Catholic."  

If someone like Pat Rabbitte can be appointed Minister for Communications then NO conceivable "legislative and regulatory controls" will force RTE to carry out their duty to act as a Public Service Broadcaster. They should be denied public funding and obliged to to fund themselves by advertisements and subscriptions like other media!    
  
Thank you. Your submission has been received!






Sunday, May 10, 2020

Cardinal Pell and Royal Commission Report: Myself and Ryan Commission Report [3]


"Abuse Survivor" John Kelly reading Ryan Commission Report May 2009



[1] Cardinal Pell - Acquitted by High Court, Denounced by Royal Commission

As per the Wikipedia article on Cardinal George Pell, on 7 April 2020, the High Court of Australia  on a unanimous verdict of 7 to 0, quashed Cardinal Pell's convictions for the sexual abuse of two boys and determined that judgments of acquittal be entered in their place. The court found that the jury, "acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant's guilt with respect to each of the offences for which he was convicted".The court agreed with the minority judgment in the Court of Appeal, finding that the majority might have effectively reversed the burden of proof; the majority had been so impressed with the accuser's evidence that it had gone on to ask only whether, despite the testimonies of the "opportunity witnesses", there was a "possibility" that the alleged assaults had taken place and not, as was required by the test of reasonable doubt, whether there was a reasonable "possibility" that they had not. In their judgment, the judges said with respect to all five charges that, “Making full allowance for the advantages enjoyed by the jury, there is a significant possibility ... that an innocent person has been convicted.”

However on 7 May 2020 Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed its findings on Cardinal  Pell concluding that he knew of child sexual abuse by clergy by the 1970s, but did not take adequate action to address it. The Cardinal responded that the commission's views "are not supported by evidence".

There seems to be a strong resemblance between the behaviour and attitude of Australia's Royal Commission and the Irish Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse ("Ryan Commission") that produced its report in May 2009. Both appear to have accepted as true any allegation that accused parties could not prove false and largely ignored the issue of false allegations. In Ireland these included claims of child murder made against the Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy - many relating to periods when no child died of any cause. (Accordingly I coined the phrases "Murder of the Undead" and "Victimless Murders"). Leaders of four "Victims'" Groups made the child-killing claims, all of which have long been discredited but the Report of the Ryan Commission drew no conclusions regarding the credibility of these leaders! 

Australia seems to have avoided the Blood Libel aspect of child abuse hysteria!  However as per Andrew Bolt: 
Bear this in mind, police have tried 26 times to jail George Pell using nine different alleged victims that it advertised for to come forward, a process that is highly suspect in itself. Every single one of those cases failed. And not because the organs of the state were defending Pell, they were against him, but because those allegations turned out to be so ludicrous, so poorly investigated, so weak that every one of them crumbled in the police’s hands.

As in Ireland, the Australian Royal Commission draws no conclusions from this farrago of anti-clerical lies!

The following are two letters published in the Irish Examiner in November 2011 regarding the Ryan Commission and the omission of many clearly false stories from its final Report. (Tom Hayes was then Secretary of the Alliance Victim Support Group).

[2a] Ryan Report Did Not Deal With False Allegations

Irish Examiner Monday, November 07, 2011

I REFER to the letter from Mr Tom Hayes published on November 2 regarding the Ryan Report on child abuse, and in particular the following:

Referring to “victims having been portrayed as guilty of exaggeration”, surely Mr Justice Ryan does not include those who gave evidence to the investigative part of the Child Abuse Commission and whose well-publicised, loud and exaggerated claims (so exaggerated as not to have been suitable for inclusion in his final report) were not proven when challenged under oath?

“What are we to make of these claims and those who made them? Can all survivors claim that ‘Ryan vindicated them’?... [Authorities] must be prepared to separate childhood abuse experiences, given confidentially and recorded within Mr Justice Ryan’s report, from some of the many clearly false stories that were omitted and which were challenged in the investigative part of the report.”

In the period 1996 to 2003, leading members of four victims’ groups made allegations that the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy were responsible for the deaths of children in their care. Some of these claims relate to periods when no child died of any cause.

Accordingly I coined the phrases “murder of the undead” and “victimless murders” to describe them.

I made representations to the Ryan Commission both personally and as a member of a delegation from Let Our Voices Emerge — a group representing those falsely accused of child abuse — during an official meeting with representatives of the Commission.

We requested them to investigate those allegations.

The report of the Ryan Commission published in May 2009 makes no reference to these claims of unlawful killing. Originally I thought that the commission had ignored them completely. It now appears that the commission did investigate the allegations in private session, found no evidence to support them and took a deliberate decision to omit them from its published report. I find this reprehensible.

Allegations of child abuse, made decades after the alleged events, cannot be properly investigated. Claims of unlawful killing can be investigated and their truth or falsehood determined. This is especially true when no child actually died at the time the accusation refers to.

When the people who made those claims also allege that they were sexually abused, then we can also judge the credibility of the latter allegations.

The Ryan Report is gravely deficient by failing to include the results of the Commission’s investigation of these claims.


Rory Connor
11 Lohunda Grove
Clonsilla
Dublin 15



[2b] Ryan Report Must Be Put to Real World Test

Irish Examiner, Wednesday, November 02, 2011

IN Mr Justice Sean Ryan’s address in Cork about the ‘Protection of Children Post-Ryan Report’, he talks about "knowledge of abuse". We have such knowledge of abuse again, this time in relation to HSE childcare.

What effective action is being taken? Having been subjected to all of the failures that brought about Mr Justice Ryan’s report, many of us today cannot be confident that the State, and its many agencies working in support of children, has fully grasped its responsibilities. Children are suffering, and will continue to suffer. A third generation of children from the institutions in all of the major cities, both here and in the UK and further afield, are subject to social services monitoring.

Our voluntary efforts working for survivors and our experiences within the institutions count for nothing among the professional bodies who regard academic qualifications as more important than life experiences.

Referring to "victims having been portrayed as guilty of exaggeration," surely Mr Justice Ryan does not include those who gave evidence to the investigative part of the Child Abuse Commission and whose well-publicised, loud and exaggerated claims (so exaggerated as not to have been suitable for inclusion in his final report) were not proven when challenged under oath?

What are we to make of these claims and those who made them? Can all survivors claim that "Ryan vindicated them"?

The Ryan Report has yet to be fully understood. Government, and other professional bodies, have yet to implement its main recommendations. Social scientists, religious scholars and other professionals and learned persons must be prepared to separate childhood abuse experiences, given confidentially and recorded within Mr Justice’s Ryan Report, from some of the many clearly false stories that were omitted and which were challenged in the investigative part of the report.

There is a need to challenge the Ryan Report if we are to fully benefit from its findings.

Tom Hayes
Richhill, Co Armagh


[3] Royal Commission and Journalist/Pell Critic Paul Bongiorno

In 2015 high profile  journalist Paul Bongiorno spoke to ABC Radio National presenter Fran Kelly about the Royal Commission in an interview published in The Standard on 22 May 2015 

Bongiorno related his shock and disgust over the actions of disgraced priest Gerald Ridsdale, whom he worked alongside in Warrnambool in the diocese of Ballarat . The Channel Ten personality served as a Catholic minister in Warrnambool during the early 1970s before leaving the priesthood to pursue a career in journalism.
 

Bongiorno outlined his memories of Ridsdale, who was moved to Warrnambool by then Ballarat Catholic bishop Ronald Mulkearns in the early 1970s.

 “
I know Gerald Ridsdale, I lived in a presbytery with him in Warrnambool,” he said. “I’ve had the victims approach me to appear for them in court cases. Let me tell you this Fran, I had no idea what he (Ridsdale) was up to. And when people look at me quizzically, I say ‘let me tell you this — there are married men and women now that sleep with their husbands and wives that don’t know their husband or wife is having an affair’. Let me tell you that Ridsdale never came into the presbytery in Warrnambool and said: ‘guess how many boys I’ve raped today.’ They (paedophiles) hide it, it was certainly hidden from me and when it came out after I left the priesthood, I was shocked and I was ashamed."

The Royal Commission found that Cardinal Pell was aware of general allegations that children were being abused in the Ballarat diocese from 1973. It also found that he was told that paedophile priest Gerard Ridsdale was being moved because of his alleged sexual abuse of children at a meeting with then Bishop Ronald Mulkearns in 1982 when Pell was one of the Bishop's advisors ("consultors"). The Cardinal denied that he was told any such thing and the other then advisors told the Commission the same. Nevertheless Paul Bongiorno has no problem in accepting the damning findings of the Royal Commission!



Witness to Royal Commission Said He Told Bongiorno about Ridsdale


On 10 May Andrew Bolt commented in an article in The Herald Sun If Pell knew, why not Paul?
 No one could understand better than Paul Bongiorno this blindness and culture of silence. That’s because he, as a priest, once shared a house with this same Gerald Ridsdale. What’s more, a witness to the royal commission claimed he’d told Father Bongiorno in 1970 or 1971 that Ridsdale had offered to watch him masturbating, but he’d done nothing. To be fair, Bongiorno said this alleged conversation did not happen because he’d have remembered it......"

Bolt goes on to say: Let me be clear: I believe Bongiorno. The royal commission believed Bongiorno. The ABC believes him. The media also believes he knew nothing. But why won’t they also believe George Pell? Is it because Bongiorno is of the Left and Pell of the Right? Because Bongiorno left the church, but Pell became a symbol of it?  

Bolt gave a more detailed account of this episode in a article in The Herald Sun 4 years ago (27 May 2016) entitled Why is Bongiorno not vilified as was Pell? Why is Pell the scapegoat?

Gerard Henderson and I accept the word of both Pell and Bongiorno that they had no idea of what Ridsdale was up to. Now, what I've said so far has been reported before, including on this blog. But now Henderson has uncovered an even more incredible example of double standards - of Pell being hounded for what seems excused in Bongiorno, and, moreover, not even reported.

Henderson: It’s a matter of record that the media has not reported some statements made to the Royal Commission with respect to Paul Bongiorno while, at the same time, covering George Pell’s appearances in extraordinary detail. 


On 29 October 2015 an anonymous victim of Ridsdale – given the title “BPL” by the Royal Commission – made a statement to the Royal Commission. It reads in part: 

9. I first came into contact with RIDSDALE on three or four occasions in 1970 and 1971 in or around Warrnambool. 
10.  I was sexually abused by RIDSDALE on three or four occasions in 1970 and 1971 in or around Warrnambool. 
11. Around the time of the abuse I went on a boys’ camp just outside of Warrnambool, to a little place I think was called Crossley. I went with some other boys from my class. It was organised though the school, I think as a sort of sex-education camp. They showed us a film about the birds and the bees. 
12. Father BONGIORNO, who was a priest in the parish at the time, came on the camp. There were also a couple of Christian Brothers at the camp, but I can’t remember which ones. 
13. When we were at the camp, I talked to Father BONGIORNO. It was only a brief conversation. I told him how RIDSDALE had approached me one afternoon in the bathroom of the presbytery after I had served at a wedding service. RIDSDALE had asked me how much I ejaculated and had said that he would get a teaspoon to measure it and check if it was “normal”. 
14. I also told Father BONGIORNO that I believed that similar things had happened with my younger brother Michael, who was also an altar server. Father BONGIORNO said, “Look, it’s a real problem. Me and Father BORPHY have talked to Monsignor FISCALINI about it and he is sorting it out with the Bishop”. Father BONGIORNO said he couldn’t do anything further and told me to talk to Monsignor FISCALINI about it. 
15. Father BONGIORNO was the first person I told about the abuse. He left the priesthood shortly after that camp…. 

On 24 November 2015, Paul Bongiorno made a statement to the Royal Commission.... Paul Bongiorno stated that he lived in the Warrnambool Presbytery with four other priests – one of whom was Ridsdale... Paul Bongiorno’s statement reads in parts: 

15. I have a vivid recollection of how shocked I was when I learned that Father Ridsdale had appeared in court and what he had been charged with. I had had no idea... 
19. I have been shown a statement made by BPL identified by the number [STAT.0738.001.0001">. The BPL name is vaguely familiar to me. There were BPLs in Warrnambool, however I cannot put a face to that name. 
20. At paragraphs 11-15 of that statement, Mr BPL sets out a conversation that he alleges he had with me in 1970 or 1971. The conversation did not happen with me. I would remember it. I would have been deeply shocked by the alleged substance of that conversation… 
26. At no time during my two years at Warrnambool did Monsignor FISCALINI discuss any allegations of RIDSDALE’s sexual abuse with me, and I never raised any issues of this nature with him... 
27. At no time during my three and a half years serving as a priest in the Ballarat Diocese did anyone make any report or complaint to me about the sexual abuse of minors by any priest or brother, and I was not in any other way made aware of these matters. I had no knowledge that these things were happening in the diocese at this time in my life...

Again, Henderson accepts Bongirono's word, as do I. Maybe BPL mistook him for another priest. Maybe he misremembered completely. Who knows? But why has one young priest of that time (Pell) been disbelieved, vilified and cross examined endlessly and denied - while another young priest of that time (Bongiorno) was not even required to appear as a witness to the royal commission, and has not had these claims against him reported? Different rules for conservatives?



ANNEX: 
STATEMENT  FROM  CARDINAL GEORGE PELL 
7 May 2020

Cardinal Pell said he was surprised by some of the views of the Royal Commission about his actions. These views are not supported by the evidence.

He is especially surprised by the statements in the report about the earlier transfers of Gerald Ridsdale discussed by the Ballarat Diocesan Consultors in 1977 and 1982.

The Consultors who gave evidence on the meetings in 1977 and 1982 either said they did not learn about Ridsdale's offending against children until much later or they had no recollection of what was discussed. None said they were made aware of Ridsdale's offending at these meetings. 

The then Fr Pell left the Diocese of Ballarat and therefore his position as a consultor at the end of 1984.

As an Auxiliary Bishop in Melbourne 1987-1996, Bishop Bell met with a delegation from Doveton Parish in 1989 which did not mention sexual assaults and did not ask for Searson's removal. 

Appointed Archbishop of Melbourne on 16 August 1996, Archbishop Pell placed Fr Searson on administrative leave in March 1997 and removed him from the parish on 15 May 1997.


ENDS.

quoted in George Pell 'surprised' by royal commission finding he was told of Ridsdale abuse ABC News


Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Free Speech Vs Anti-Racism Rallies and My Response to Department of Justice

Protest against new Hate Speech Law and Counter-Demonstration by Anti-Racism groups


On Saturday 14 December I attended a protest rally against a proposed new "hate speech" law that had been planned weeks ago, to take place outside the Dail on that date. In the meantime a counter-demonstration was organised by unions, "anti-racism" groups and NGOs including Trocaire - the Catholic Church's overseas development agency! The "anti-racism" groups included some protesters dressed in black and masked who chanted slogans like "Nazi scum" at us. (Will this qualify as "hate speech" under the new legislation?). They also launched an attack at one stage that was held back by the Gardai and their own rally stewards.  I presume these are the Irish equivalent of AntiFa who have made such a name for themselves in the USA and elsewhere. (According to the Irish Times, three people were arrested by Gardai following minor scuffles; very one-sided scuffles!)

 I am the white haired guy at the back right in the above photo. On 12th and 13th December I had engaged with the the Department of Justice by sending two Emails in reply to their requests for comments from the public on the proposed new legislation.


Rory Connor
17 December 2019

Hate Speech Public Consultation - Follow Up to 5 Question Survey [2]

13 December 2019

Department of Justice and Equality
51 St Stephens Green
Dublin 2

I sent a submission regarding the above yesterday night. It included a copy of my previous online response to the 5 Question Survey.

 I mentioned that about 2003/04 I made two complaints to the Gardai under the Prevention of Incitement to Hatred Act regarding false allegations of child murder, one published by the Irish Times, the other broadcast by TV3. They are items 1 and 2 in my Blog article
Blood Libel in Ireland - directed against Catholics not Jews!

I could have made a third complaint to Gardai when Alan Shatter (and the late Gerry Ryan and others) made similar claims against the Church in 2009 but it was obviously futile. I also refer to that case (the murder of Bernadette Connolly) in the above article.

As to my motives - and qualifications - to comment on proposed Hate Speech legislation. I was a De La Salle Brother from 1966 to 1969 and details of my background are in the "About Me" section of my old website IrishSalem.com [see PS at end of letter]

I believe that nearly every one of my former colleagues who worked in an Industrial School or similar institution was accused of child abuse and if I had done so myself, I'm sure I would have been accused also. Hate Speech from the media plus the almost evidence-free payouts from the Redress Board, encouraged people to lie. The media Hate Speech is especially relevant to the allegations of child murder against the Christian Brothers - at times when no boy died of ANY cause! (I refer to these as "Murder of the Undead" and "Victimless Murders" and I went to the Gardai about two such cases.) Presumably the so-called victim accusers didn't get "compensation" for claiming that someone else was murdered so this type of claim was caused by media Hate Speech and not greed!

I corresponded for years with the late UK cultural historian Richard Webster and two fruits of that collaboration are his essays 
"States of Fear, the Redress Board and Ireland's Folly"

AND "The Christmas Spirit" in Ireland"

I also have an article on my current Blog IrishSalem.Blogspot.com regarding Richard Webster
"Richard Webster, the Idea of Evil and Operation Midland"

Finally I gave evidence to the Ryan Commission on my own behalf and as a member of the group "Let Our Voices Emerge" that represented victims of false allegations. I had a letter in the Irish Examiner on 7 November 2011
"Ryan Report Did Not Deal with False Allegations"
that summarizes our experience.

Regards


Rory Connor
11 Lohunda Grove
Clonsilla
Dublin 15


Hate Speech Public Consultation - Follow Up to 5 Question Survey [1]

12 December 2019

Department of Justice and Equality
51 St Stephens Green
Dublin 2

A few weeks ago I submitted an online reply to the quick "5 Question Survey on Hate Speech". I am including a copy of my original submission below. I added 2 links to the very end which relate directly to Minister Charlie Flanagan - I think I forgot to include them with my original reply.  I will now answer the 5 other questions contained in the Public Consultation Document

Question 1 Are there other groups in society with shared identity characteristics, for example disability, gender identity, or others, who are vulnerable to having hatred stirred up against them and should be included in the list of protected characteristics?

I think the main problem with the existing situation is that bogus allegations of child rape and murder are not counted as Hate Speech when directed against Catholic clergy or religious. The few prosecutions seem to be for wasting Garda time not hate speech. The main priority should be to enforce the existing law against Incitement to Hatred  rather than add more protected groups. 

Question 2. Do you think the term “hatred” is the correct term to use in the Act? If not what should it be replaced with? Would there be implications for freedom of expression?

Indeed. I got the impression that the two cases I referred to the Gardai (regarding Irish Times and TV3 claiming the Christian Brothers murdered boys) were turned down by the DPP because these false murder claims did NOT prove that the Irish Times and TV3 personnel were motivated by hatred. From that point of view, it might be best to substitute "Hostility" or "Prejudice" for "Hatred". HOWEVER I am very conscious of the danger that vicious and dishonest politicians could misuse such a change in order to target their own ideological enemies. For example when the Sunday Times fired Kevin Myers on a bogus charge of anti-Semitism, this decision was loudly applauded by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and then Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald. I wrote about this in a blog article:
"Kevin Myers and the Age of De Valera and McQuaid"

I think the term "Hatred" is OK as I would not wish to make things easier for dishonest or bigoted politicians!

Question 3. Bearing in mind that the Act is designed only to deal with hate speech which is sufficiently serious to be dealt with as a criminal matter (rather than by other measures), do you think the wording of the Act should be changed to make prosecutions under for incitement to hatred online more effective? What, in your view, should those changes be?

Regarding application of the law to online speech, I think the law already gives enough power to the State and I would be dubious about giving the State more power to silence online speech than it already has. For example would the State have used this power to prevent the obscene online attacks on Kevin Myers OR - more likely - to silence anyone who tried to defend him (e.g. by accusing his defenders of anti-Semitism)??

Questions 4. In your view, does the requirement that an offence must be intended or likely to stir up hatred make the legislation less effective? AND
Question 5.  If so, what changes would you suggest to this element of the 1989 Act (without broadening the scope of the Act beyond incitement)?

I believe it was the issue of proving "intention" to stir up hatred that caused the DPP to refuse to prosecute the Irish Times or TV3 for stirring up hatred against the Christian Brothers when both accused the Brothers of murdering children. From that point of view, I should welcome an extension of the Act to include circumstances where politicians, journalists,  broadcasters etc are reckless as to whether their actions stir up hatred. BUT again I'm dubious of giving too much power to politicians who may use this to silence their own ideological enemies. Maybe it would be sufficient to list certain actions  where the intention to stir up hatred is assumed  e.g false allegations of Rape, Paedophilia or Child Murder directed against a religious (or other) group?

There  is a copy of my previous answers to the "quick" online survey below. I may send additional material tomorrow Friday regarding my background and qualifications to comment on this issue but this is a sufficient response in itself.


Rory Connor
11 Lohunda Grove
Clonsilla
Dublin 15


5 Question Survey - Copy of Answers Previously Submitted

Hate Speech Consultation
Introduction
The Minister for Justice and Equality is reviewing Ireland’s law on criminal hate speech. The existing law, the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, is being revised and updated to ensure it meets the needs of a modern, democratic society......

You can share your views by completing the text boxes below, or by sending a written submission to HateSpeechConsultation@justice.ie before the closing date of 13th December 2019.


1. In your opinion, what groups or communities of people in Ireland are targeted by hate speech?

The Catholic Church especially priests, brothers and nuns. I was a De La Salle Brother myself. I have never disclosed my name in religion, or any place I was (apart from the Castletown novitiate) because I suspect I could attract a false allegation of child abuse.

2. Please describe the kinds of hate speech that you think are (or are not) serious enough to be a criminal offence.

Making false allegations of child rape and child murder. Many of the latter claims relate to periods when no child died of ANY cause, so I coined the phrases "Murder of the Undead" and "Victimless Murders" (try Googling them). 
 I have an online article on this subject "Blood Libel in Ireland - directed against Catholics not Jews!" 

3. Is it necessary or right to place limits on freedom of expression by making some forms of hate speech a crime? If so, what protections do you think the law on incitement to hatred should offer?

About 2003/04 I made official complaints to Gardai under the Prevention of Incitement to Hatred Act concerning numbers (1) and (2) in my article "Blood Libel in Ireland". I believe Gardai DID take them seriously but Director of Public Prosecutions declined to prosecute. They don't tell you why, but my understanding is that falsely accusing Catholic Religious of murdering children does not PROVE that the accuser is motivated by religious hatred. I think that new legislation should ASSUME that the motive for Blood Libel is religious hatred unless the accuser can prove otherwise!

4. Do you think those who are actively involved in publishing, spreading or distributing hate speech should be subject to criminal prosecution?

Yes. For tactical reasons I only targeted journalists and broadcasters, when I made my two complaints under the existing Prevention of Incitement to Hatred Act. I believe that fake "victims" should be jailed as well - ESPECIALLY those who lead "Victims" organisations which are or were, funded by the Government. (Note that Carl Beech in UK got 18 years in jail. He was not the only accuser in "Operation Midland" but he was the most prominent. He also accused Tory MPs of murdering non-existent boys which is UK equivalent of Irish "Murder of the Undead" claims!) See Wikipedia article on "Operation Midland"


5. Is there anything else important we should take into account as part of this review?

(A) I have a separate online article 
"Eight Falsely Accused Bishops (and Archbishops) in Ireland"

One of the false accusers is Pat Rabbitte who in 1994 used Dail Privilege to slander Cardinal Daly and Harry Whelehan and now leads child protection agency TUSLA. I think this is wrong.

(B) Finally I have an article on current Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan. I think that Minister Flanagan should request the Gardai to investigate the allegations he made in the Dail in 2009 against former Sister of Mercy Nora Wall (and those previously made by current EU Commissioner Phil Hogan who was Chair of FG Parliamentary Party at the time).
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and Former FG Chair Phil Hogan Vs George Hook and Nora Wall

I may have forgotten to include the above link with my online submission. Please note I have another article on Charlie Flanagan alone.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, George Hook and Nora Wall [1]

END OF SUBMISSION TO DEPT. OF JUSTICE

CONCLUSION

I also contributed to Hermann Kelly's 2007 book "Kathy's Real Story: A Culture of False Allegations Exposed" which deals mainly with fake abuse "survivor" Kathy O'Beirne but also goes into the culture of hysteria that made her own book "Kathy's Story: A Childhood Hell Inside the Magdalen Laundries" into a best-seller in 2005. I contributed to the second part of Mr. Kelly's book and especially to the section he which he discusses claims that the Christian Brothers had been responsible for the deaths of boys in their care. Because many of these claims refer to periods when no boy died of ANY cause(!), I coined the phrase "Murder of the Undead". Since Hermann Kelly is more moderate than I, he uses the subheading "Funerals of the Undead"   in his discussion of this issue! 

NOTE: There is a 2010 article by Mark Smith (currently Professor of Social Work at University of Dundee) "Two book Reviews:  Kathy’s Real Story by Hermann Kelly and The Secret of Bryn Estyn by Richard Webster
The above-mentioned article "States of Fear, the Redress Board and Ireland's Folly" is an extract from Webster's book "The Secret of Bryn Estyn"

The Reason Why?
As to the overall meaning of all of this, Arnold J. Tonybee was a British historian and philosopher of history who is best known for his 12 volume work A Study of History (published 1934-1961) that "examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders". Challenges and responses were physical, as when the Sumerians exploited the intractable swamps of southern Iraq by organizing the Neolithic inhabitants into a society capable of carrying out large-scale irrigation projects; or social, as when the Catholic Church resolved the chaos of post-Roman Europe by enrolling the new Germanic kingdoms in a single religious community.

Tonybee saw the growth and decline of civilizations as a spiritual process, writing that "Man achieves civilization, not as a result of superior biological endowment or geographical environment, but as a response to a challenge in a situation of special difficulty which rouses him to make a hitherto unprecedented effort."

According to an Editor's Note in an edition of  A Study of History, Toynbee believed that societies always die from suicide or murder rather than from natural causes, and nearly always from suicide.  And I believe that is the stage our society has now reached!