Russ Cooper Protest to the Heritage Committee
by Valerie Price
As you know, the Canadian Heritage Committee is currently holding hearings on Motion M-103, the “anti-Islamophobia” motion that was tabled by Liberal MP Iqra Khalid and passed by the House of Commons on March 23rd (by a vote of 201:91).
Earlier this year, ACT! For Canada put its support behind a new organization, Canadian Citizens for Charter Rights and Freedoms (C3RF) that was formed specifically to oppose Motion M-103. We were very disappointed that, despite representing a large and diverse group of Canadians, C3RF’s request to appear as a witness before the Heritage Committee was denied.
A C3RF member, Major Russ Cooper (ret’d), launched a petition against Motion M-103 that, along with other petitions, received over 200,000 signatures, three times as many as petition e-411, the basis for Motion M-103. He requested to testify before the Committee. His briefing note on Motion M-103 can be read here, and the 10-minute video that he made for the Committee can be seen here: www.canadiancitizens.org/major-russ-cooper-video-testimony.
Yet Major Cooper, a highly decorated veteran of the first Gulf War, was only given standby status, meaning he would only be invited to testify in the unlikely event that someone else cancelled. We find this outrageous since Major Cooper represents the views of hundreds of thousands (and more likely millions) of Canadians. We’re therefore asking everybody to write to the members of the Heritage Committee, as well as their own MP, to express their disappointment on the Committee’s decision not to allow Major Cooper to testify as a witness.
The members of the Canadian Heritage Committee can be found here: http://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/CHPC/Members. You can find their email by clicking on their picture.
Go to the link below to find your own MP’s email address by entering your postal code. Please politely but firmly let the Heritage Committee know how you feel about their decision on Major Cooper, and keep your own MP in the loop!
https://lop.parl.ca/ParlInfo/compilations/houseofcommons/memberbypostalcode.aspx
Here is a sample letter:
I am outraged that Major Russ Cooper (ret’d), who earned the right to testify, was shunted to standby status and will likely not be able to make his presentation. His efforts to garner attention to this issue had 3 times the number of signatures that the original petition in favour of this motion had. By not allowing him to make a presentation, the committee is discounting the opinion of hundreds of thousands if not millions of Canadians. By denying his appearance, it appears that your M-103 deliberations are a foregone conclusion.
Thank you for taking the time to be an activist. Together we can make a difference!
