Ontario Attorney General's office withholds letters against abortion bubble zone

Further to this post on the Ontario abortion bubble zones FOI.

I noticed that there were no letters from the public who wrote and who were against the abortion bubble zone (except for my own letters). I then asked for copies of those letters from other members of the public who were also against the bubble zone.

Surely I wasn't the only person in Ontario who wrote such a letter?

Their response:

"Requests are handled differently for each ministry and issue/context. You have assumed that there is no personal information in the body of the letters, which is not the case for this request. The bodies of the letters contain specific information to the individual, their situation and own personal experiences with the topic, which as you know is highly sensitive."

Nonsense. If other departments can do it, so can the AG. And remember, I paid $552.50 for the privilege of obtaining this information.

I then replied:

"I have seem hundreds of letters sent to politicians where personal information has been redacted. This is the only time I've ever done a request where letters of non-support have not been included."

Apparently our attorney general's office doesn't have to follow the rules other government departments do. I wonder why that is?

Jim Watson's biased submission to the attorney general for Ontario abortion bubble zones

In October 2017 I sent a freedom of information request to the Attorney General of Ontario, Yasir Naqvi.

This is what I asked for:

“Information the ministry possess about the need for abortion bubble zones.”

Six months and $552.50 later, I received some information. (There was a lot of redacting based on the large gaps between page numbers.)

In the package was Jim Watson's request to the AG for an abortion bubble zone. And his so-called analysis of its need.

Conspicuously missing from Watson's request, was the police report I obtained from the Ottawa police that revealed that there were no charges and no arrests at the Morgentaler facility in Ottawa in a three and a half year period, information that would not support the need for an abortion bubble zone.

Also missing from Watson's request, was abortion doctor Wendy Norman's own 2012 study on Canadian facilities that shows how little harassment is actually happening at abortion sites:

"Facilities reported very little harassment (Table 4). No Canadian facility reported a resignation of an abortion provider–physician or any staff member owing to harassment. Only a single facility reported any resignation of an allied health professional staff member, and in this case the facility specified that the one resignation was not owing to violence, fear, or threats. Similarly, two-thirds of reporting facilities (49 of 74, 66.2%) indicated no episodes of harassment or violence in 2012, with a further 28.4% (21 of 74) reporting solely picketing without interference. Among 7 facilities reporting “other” episodes of harassment, half specified only receipt of harassing e-mail."

Once again this information would not support the need for an abortion bubble zone.

What Watson did include in his submission, was a 2010 report done by the extremist abortion lobby group Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada headed up by the radical pro-abortion Joyce Arthur.

Who could have predicted that?

Watson even went so far as to cut and paste Arthur's "benefits" of an abortion bubble zone in his report:

• Protecting the safety and privacy of providers, staff, and patients
• Protecting the right to access healthcare services
• Protecting women’s health by reducing the risk of complications
• Protecting the clinic and property from destruction and vandalism
• Fostering community peace by reducing neighbourhood nuisance and noise
• Reducing traffic problems, hazards, and accident risk
• Potentially reducing anti-choice violence and harassment
• Potentially lowering the levels and impact of anti-choice activism in general

Jim Watson and his tax paid civil servant lawyers want to "lower the levels and impact of [pro-life] activism in general". How is that for staying non-partisan from the mayor of Ottawa and his bureaucrats?

Then in both Watson's analysis and conclusion, he again refers to his pro-abortion mentor.

Watson includes a report from a radical pro-abortion group to support the results he wants, then purposely excludes two objective reports that would not support an abortion bubble zone.

Voila. Abortion bubble zone. As you wish Mr. Mayor.

Government harasses, bullies and discriminates against pro-life people

Read this email trail from the bottom up.

Here is the $64,000 question we must ask ourselves. Why is it that the government of Ontario

"does not tolerate any form of harassment against women exercising their fundamental right to choose"

but it is fine and dandy for the government of Ontario (and of course the federal government) to continually and relentlessly harass and bully and discriminate against pro-life people?

Why is that? Can someone please, please, please explain this to me?


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patricia Maloney 
Date: Fri, Feb 9, 2018 at 5:42 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Person arrested with sign about Freedom of Expression and Religion
To: "Yasir Naqvi, MPP (Constituency Office)"
Cc: "Nathalie Des Rosiers, MPP (Constituency Office)" , Patricia Maloney

Dear Yasir Naqvi,

A freedom of Information request of the city of Ottawa revealed that there have been no charges and no arrests of pro-life people at the Ottawa abortion site:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_QDsYLWnwO6ZFVLU2FzYlV4SG8/view

So can you please explain to me why the Ontario government is harassing pro-life people with this law? Harass is a strong word, but that is what is happening here. We have done nothing wrong but the government penalizes us by stomping on our freedom of expression, rights, freedom of conscience rights and freedom of religion rights.

We are taxpayers just like the rest of Ontarians, but we are not treated with the same respect as other Ontarians. If I was pro-choice and stood with the same sign at the same place, with the same sign, I would not be charged. I'm sure you see the blatant discrimination we are experiencing with this law. 

I think we are owed an explanation as to why you are doing this.

Thank you

Sincerely,

Patricia Maloney

On Fri, Feb 9, 2018 at 10:41 AM, Yasir Naqvi, MPP (Constituency Office) <ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org> wrote:

Dear Patricia,

Thank you for writing the Constituency Office of Yasir Naqvi, MPP for Ottawa Centre.  Our government does not tolerate any form of harassment against women exercising their fundamental right to choose.  All women across Ontario should have access to safe health care services and our government will continue to defend a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions and to feel safe while doing so.

We appreciate the time you have taken to email MPP Naqvi, however, It is not within the purview of the MPP’s office to respond to questions related to the Ottawa Police Service.  Should you wish to gain more information about any police file, I would suggest contacting the Ottawa Police directly at 613-236-1222.  I did notice in the article you attach that “police did not specify which sections of the act were allegedly broken”.

Should we wish to learn more about Bill 163, Protecting a Woman's Right to Access Abortion Services Act, 2017, I would be happy to direct any specific questions you have to the Ministry of the Attorney General.

Thank you,

Jessica Dawson | Constituency Assistant |

Office of Yasir Naqvi, MPP Ottawa Centre

 [t] 613-722-6414 | [f] 613-722-6703 | [e] ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

fb facebook.com/yasirnaqvimpp | tw @yasir_naqvi | (i) yasirnaqvimpp.ca

If you require communication supports or alternate formats to make this email more accessible, please let me know.

From: Patricia Maloney [mailto:maloneyp64@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2018 5:54 PM
To: Naqvi, Yasir MPP
Cc: Des Rosiers, Nathalie MPP CO; Patricia Maloney
Subject: Fwd: Person arrested with sign about Freedom of Expression and Religion

Dear Yasir Naqvi,

A person was arrested in Ottawa this week because he was holding a sign that said: 

"Freedom of Expression and Religion, No Censorship. Above those words was a copy of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a large crucifix."

I thought the new abortion bubble zone law was for people protesting against abortion. His sign said nothing about abortion. So why was he arrested? 

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/police-lay-first-charge-in-abortion-clinic-bubble-zone-law

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Patricia Maloney

Double standard alive and well for pro-life people

By Patricia Maloney

Mayor Jim Watson and my councillor Tobi Nussbaum never had the courtesy to answer my question as to why our rights of peaceful protest were ignored when the Ottawa Police re-routed the March for Life. Mind you I'm used to politicians not answering my questions since apparently we don't deserve the same respect as other people.

Now Watson is asking for a bubble zone. Christie Blatchford's take on this in today's National Post:

"Let it never be said that the state is shy about using an elephant gun to kill a flea.

I give you the latest musings of Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, who this week announced that next fall, his government is going to legislate “safe access zones” around abortion clinics to “help ensure the safety and privacy of women, visitors and health-care workers travelling to and from these facilities.”

Naqvi, who represents a downtown Ottawa riding where a Morgentaler Clinic is located, alluded to recent “serious instances of intimidation, harassment and even assault” towards patients there. Urging the province to act were Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Catherine Macnab of Planned Parenthood Ottawa.

Perhaps there’s a real issue in Ottawa, though there has been little hard reporting of it. Some protesters there wear sandwich boards featuring photos of lurid and cut-up bodies, and yell at patients that they are killing their babies, clinic staff say."

Good point. If there's been so many problems at the Morgentaler facility, where is all the reporting of it? And if there are bone-fide problems why don't the police deal with them? Like they do everywhere else there are harassment problems?

In fact in 2012 abortion doctor Wendy Norman said this in her study Abortion health services in Canada:

“Facilities reported very little harassment. No Canadian facility reported a resignation of an abortion provider–physician or any staff member owing to harassment. Only a single facility reported any resignation of an allied health professional staff member, and in this case the facility specified that the one resignation was not owing to violence, fear, or threats. Similarly, two-thirds of reporting facilities (49 of 74, 66.2%) indicated no episodes of harassment or violence in 2012, with a further 28.4% (21 of 74) reporting solely picketing without interference. Among 7 facilities reporting “other” episodes of harassment, half specified only receipt of harassing e-mail.”

So if one of Canada's premier abortion doctors says there is virtually no harassment or problems at abortion facilities, why is Yasir Naqvi and Jim Watson using an elephant gun to to kill a flea? It's because there are two sets of standards in "civilized" society today. One set for pro-life people. And one set for everybody else.

Yasir Naqvi - Don't force doctors to participate in assisted suicide

From the Coalition for Health CARE And Conscience:

"As you know, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) is continuing to demand that doctors who conscientiously object to assisted suicide refer patients seeking to end their lives to other physicians who will provide the procedure. No other jurisdiction or country that has legalized assisted suicide requires doctors to perform or refer. 

Currently, three physician groups who are members of our coalition are challenging this approach by the college in court.  However the Attorney General of Ontario, Yasir Naqvi, has intervened in this case on the side of the CPSO. 

We need to let Yasir Naqvi know that Ontario voters want their doctor’s conscience rights protected." 

Click here to write to Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and tell him to support conscience rights.