Feb 15

#ShutDownCanada Protesters Make False “Assault” Accusation Against Vancouver Police (Feat. Audrey Siegl)

Audrey Siegel and Dan Wallace with Vancouver PD

Audrey Siegl and Dan Wallace with Vancouver PD

Audrey Siegl is one of Vancouver’s most prolific protesters, if there’s a protest going on it’s likely she will be there. She’s recently been seen at the #BurnabyMountain protests, she was a spokesperson for the Oppenheimer Park occupation, she was at a protest against farmed salmon in-front of a Costco store, she was a participant in David Suzuki’s grandson’s massive fail protesting the wrong people, and was part of the group of thugs who “resisted” Vancouver Police during this weeks failed attempt to #ShutDownCanada. Put simply, she’s everywhere you don’t want to be.

Yesterday a story was posted by alleged “no pipelines” vandal Gord Hill making the accusation that Siegel was “assaulted” by a VPD officer during #ShutDownCanada. The article claims that a VPD officer identified as Constable McKinnon “appears to have deliberately walked into three women,” causing Siegel’s drum to bash into her face and guise her inner lip. There’s one problem though, Siegel’s claim is complete nonsense- she was “assaulted” by one of her fellow protesters.

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Feb 14

#ShutDownCanada Fails: Small Crowds, Aborted Train Sabotage & Unabashed Racism

Yes, and they vandalized money...

Yes, and they vandalized money…

In early January Vancouver activist Dan Wallace announced a potentially exciting protest called #ShutDownCanada. The organizer’s goal was to get people to join in from coast-to-coast-to-coast, block critical infrastructure, and “severely impact: the country’s economy”. Adding to the anouncement, Wallace declared the event would “respect diversity of tactics”- activist code that means it’s acceptable if some participants use violence.

The protests happened yesterday as planned, with only one exception- almost nobody showed up, and very little was shut down. Join me as we follow some of the highlights, lowlights, and abject stupidity of #ShutDownCanada protests from coast-to-coast.

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Jan 28

Dogwood Initiative Anti-Oil Scare Tactics Ignore Inconvenient Truths (Feat. Kai Nagata)

Dogwood Initiative's Kai Nagata

Dogwood Initiative’s Kai Nagata

The Dogwood Initiative is a Victoria, BC based non-profit, and registered lobbyist group, that focusses on environmental issues. Like many NGOs, Dogwood has taken a strong stand against Kinder Morgan’s proposed twinning of the TransMountain pipeline- the subject of the recent protests on Burnaby Mountain.

Kai Nagata is the former Quebec City Bureau Chief for CTV News. Nagata’s claim to fame comes from when he wrote a blog posting attacking his former industry titled Why I Quit My Job. Nagata criticised Canadian media explaining he left for ethical reasons because it was impossible for him to be an “objective” reporter.

Nagata recently jumped from the media’s fire into the frying pan of the ENGO world when he joined the Dogwood Initiative in March, 2014. One would think that a journalist who left the media industry for ethical reasons would be the perfect person to bring truth to his new employer- checking his facts, and avoiding the over-sensationalizing he so loathed during his career with CTV. Unfortunately, Kai doesn’t appear to be doing much better at Dogwood.

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Jan 26

[Updated] #BurnabyMountain Protesters Get Their Stupid On- Attack The Wrong People! (Feat. Tamo Campos)

Audrey Siegl banding her drum...

Audrey Siegl banging her drum…

UPDATE: More details have come available and have been added to the story.

A video came out yesterday showing how a group of protesters burst into North Vancouver’s Fishworks restaurant, interrupting a group of Kinder Morgan employees as they ate a meal together. It was a classy affair with former COPE Vancouver Audrey Siegl candidate walking in with her drum, fresh from her previous day’s activities publicly endorsing Jenny Kwan’s intention to run for Libby Davies’ MP seat in the Vancouver-East riding.

The evening’s star studded festivities also included David Suzuki’s grandson Tamo Campos- a troubled young man who works with some of the province’s most militant and violence prone activists. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the protest, same old yelling and banging we’ve got used to over the years, and a rip-off of Occupy Wall Street’s recent interruptions of people’s brunches.

There is, however, one thing that turned out to be a real laugh riot!

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Jan 26

Multi-Million Dollar Homeowner Announces MP Candidacy In Vancouver’s Poorest Riding (Feat. Jenny Kwan)

Oh, the irony!

Oh, the irony!

Yesterday Vancouver NDP MLA Jenny Kwan announced her intention to run for Libby Davies’ soon to be vacant seat in Parliament. Kwan has a long history in the neighbourhood and was once a member of the Downtown Eastside Resident’s association- a now defunct housing organization partially founded by Davies that died after a financial scandal involving misappropriation of resources.

DERA’s death marked the beginning of a new disaster called the Portland Housing Society. Kwan’s ex-husband Dan Small was an executive at PHS who got caught misusing the non-profit’s funds for luxury travel and hotels in Vienna, London, and Disneyland. Kwan was put in the spotlight when it was discovered she was with her husband on these trips. Claiming she was unaware he was using PHS funds to pay for her accommodations (and not questioning his choices to stay in $800+ per night hotel rooms) Kwan slipped away from the controversy after paying back $35,000 to PHS.

Kwan’s supporters tell us we should forgive her and accept the fact she was clueless of her surroundings. The problem is, if Kwan’s story is true, how is someone so clueless qualified for such an important job?

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Jan 25

CRA Audited Charity Sponsors Book Tour For Anti Free Speech Violence Advocate (Feat. Harsha Walia)

Sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’s about page contradictorily describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice” that since has become “one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates”. The page explains how the CCPA works with “with top-notch researchers to shed light on the key issues facing Canada”. Projects include researching income inequality, “climate justice”, and their annual Alternative Federal Budget “that reflects the values of the large majority of Canadians”.

Harsha Walia is a Vancouver based anarchist whose work promoting and enabling Black Bloc tactics has made her a global icon for violent protest. Wallia leads No One Is Illegal Vancouver, a contradictory organization that both sells the ideology Canada should dissolve all border controls while promoting itself as a “settler ally” helping indigenous communities protect their treaty rights. Wallia was organizing at the front-lines during the violence at the 2010 Toronto G20 and the recent clash with police at the Burnaby Mountain protests, and is one of the many pro-violence activists seen organizing at the RCMP monitored extremists at the Unist’ot’en Camp in Northern BC.

So, what does this tax-exempt charity have in common with Canada’s most visible icon of violent revolution? Disturbingly, it appears the CCPA has become one of Harsha Walia’s most unabashed institutional promoters…

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Jan 24

CRA Audited Quebec Charity Promotes Fundraiser For RCMP Monitored Extremist Camp (Feat. Équiterre)

And they still get tax-free status, really?

And they still get tax-free status, really?

Équiterre is a Quebec based environmental charity whose founders claim to have been inspired after a transcontinental flight to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development’s 1992 Earth Summit in Rio Janeiro. The first sentence in their mission statement claims their goal is to “build a social movement”, encouraging society “to make ecological and equitable choices”. Some of their initiatives include assisting family farms sell produce through organic basket sales, assisting and encouraging government to buy locally grown food (similar to the UN initiative), promoting and educating on energy efficiency and fair trade.

The Unist’ot’en Camp is on Crown land in Northern BC, organizers claim their protest sits at the junction of several planned pipelines. Unist’ot’en is funded and supported by violence tolerant NGOs including the US based Deep Green Resistance, Council of Canadians, and Victoria anarchist Zoe Blunt’s Forest Action Network. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire (Blunt’s currently fundraising for gates); their policy and practice is to threaten, assault and “confiscate” the equipment of pipeline workers who cross their path. In October 2014 the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network exposed how the RCMP designated Unist’ot’en as an “extremist” group in 2010 and have been monitoring ever since.

So, what do this tax-exempt charity and violent (foreign backed) extremists have to do with each other? Well, it appears that the charity promoted a fundraiser for the extremists!

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Jan 14

Planning A Life Of Crime? Move To Vancouver! (Feat. Vancouver Police Department)

Not a criminal? Then don't work in a coffee shop...

Not a criminal? Then don’t work in a coffee shop…

On the morning of January 11th at about 10am a man walked into the Waves coffee shop at 305 Main Street in Vancouver. Shortly after the young woman working alone behind the counter opened the till, the man grabbed some money, and ran away. Officers were dispatched after someone called 911 and officers from the Vancouver Police Department quickly apprehended the suspect. So far so good, right?

Once the perpetrator was caught, the police officers brought the man back to the coffee shop with handcuffs on. According to a report by a man who was there, the officers brought the man up to the woman working behind the till and he was asked to apologize to her. The witness commented that the woman “was so scarred and the VPD asked if she will press charges, she was too scared and said no.” The cops then took the handcuffs off of the man and set him free.

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Jan 13

Dubunking Alan Dutton’s #BurnabyMountain SLAPP Allegation With One Link!

Alan Dutton: Climate change warrior and Nazi hunter...

Alan Dutton: Climate change warrior, Nazi hunter, and all around weasel…

BC’s Burnaby Mountain protests were back in the news again today. The Simon Fraser University Institute for the Humanities’ associate (and past intrepid Nazi hunter) Allan Dutton was in court claiming that Kinder Morgan’s lawsuit was a SLAPP, intended to deprive him of his right to engage in legal protest activities. Dutton exclaimed to the media outside of the courthouse today that, “The allegations we engaged in conspiracy to commit various unlawful acts that’s of course a ridiculous charge,”

Oh, really?

Perhaps Dutton forgot his previous statements, like the one he was quoted saying in the Wall Street Journal just a couple of days before KM hit him with the lawsuit, “We will continue to take nonviolent direct action to stop Kinder Morgan’s activities in Burnaby.” Direct action to “stop KM activities in Burnaby” means to damage the company’s ability to conduct their business- KM wasn’t attacking Dutton’s right to “free speech”, they were trying to stop him from doing damage to their ability to do business.

Busted!

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Jan 12

BC “Activists” Harass The Working Man- Make Perfect Argument For Bill C-639

On December 3, 2014 Conservative Member of Parliament Wai Young introduced private member’s Bill C-639, an act intended to amend the Criminal Code to protect Canada’s critical infrastructure. Young noted how the people interfering with our country’s infrastructure put our country at risk and how their acts “should be considered more than just petty crimes”.

Needless to say, Young’s proposed bill upset many people, particularly the activists who’ve been using the gaps in our country’s laws to get away with their (often) cowardly acts. It’s her belief that by increasing the penalties for these acts, we’ll be more able to deter people engaging in economic disruptions. The dangerous clowns at the BC Civil Liberties Association disagreed- going as far as to bring their complaint to the United Nations.

The problem with the BCCLA’s complaint, as we saw on Burnaby Mountain, is that not all protesters are as “peaceful” as they claim. Beyond that, as common sense dictates, protesters don’t have a right to interfere with infrastructure projects- their rights end at the point where they impact the rights of others. There’s no better example of this than a protest posted on YouTube yesterday afternoon.

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