First, I know David Illman-White well. What he did was not unexpected, to a point. However, it might have been more helpful to have left it entirely in the hands of the Green Party, who were sponsoring the event, and let them deal with it. At the same time, I would have been really annoyed by the reporter, who strikes me as a) beyond uncivil and b) extremely judgemental, especially in the Levant interview. Levant? He can't be taken seriously.

I care for neither Sun News nor Ezra Levant, but since this wasn't a church event  I would say Illman-White should have stayed out of it. I'll admit I am a little embarrassed by this report.

This item could be used to teach young people 'How To Not Listen To Others'.  It would be interesting to know the truth of the backstory and all the things that came before those, in my opinion, deliberately inflammatory bits of half information presented.   

Basically it just makes me feel glad that I don't watch Fox on TV.  I truly wouldn't want my grandkids to be exposed to such garbage masquerading as relevant news.

It was a pretty clean sweep for stupid.

There's nothing more ridiculous than mixed motives, determined ignorance and miscommunication all shaken up in one little bottle. Even the press release seems to have been a botched job.

It'd be a great discussion clip for journalism courses, media relations workshops and seminaries.

Trust the politician to show the only flash of flair: a great punt by Elizabeth May: game, set and match, I'd say.

Props to Elizabeth May.

I appreciate how the reporter held her calm when under fire.

The minister to me seemed out-of-line.

O Saint Suzuki, where art thou?

Rich blessings.

The Rev. David Illman-White interned in my home congregation.  That was many, many, many years ago now.

I remember David to be thoughtful and patient.

He played Centre-field for our slo-pitch team, I played Rover.  So we spent a lot of time running around the outfield backing each other up.

It is unfortunate for David that he chose to get involved.

Other than that it is hard to work up anything resembling emotion about it.

Grace and peace to you.

John

I wonder what the backstory is? What are we not hearing?

To me it seemed as if the reporter and camera crew were there to make an issue out of this gathering.  I prefer news that thoughtfully tells me what actually happened at a gathering.

It's Sun News. Of course they were there to make an issue. Sun News makes no pretense of really being objective reporters of the news. They're a big, non-stop right wing editorial. Bascially, they exist to entertain, not report.

They were hunting a Suzuki. They got bonus points for bagging a United Church minister.

Actually, I thought they looked rather foolish.  They started out with zero points (I was aware of this news system but hadn't watched much of it before, so this was in the nature of an experiment).  After watching it they were at -50 points and I know that I will try to avoid watching any more of their nonsense in the future. Please note that I didn't give them any bonus points for bagging a United Church minister.

Yeah, but a hug from Elizabeth May was worth +100

Elixabeth May gathered points for that - not the reporter or the entertainment company she worked for.

The back story is that David Suzuki was probably having a hissy fit and refusing to come out until the evil Sun news reporter left.  She wanted to ask him why he has endorsed a candidate in the Liberal leadership race even though he is not supposed to do that, as a CBC personality.  

Suzuki, it would seem, tends to be extremely arrogant and unpleasant when crossed.  Here is another video where the former mayor of Ottawa describes another occasion when Suzuki had a hissy fit. 

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/sun-...

Suzuki is used to being fawned over by the lame stream media and gets very angry when some real investigative reporters start asking hard questions. 

A good friend of my husband was in a genetics class at UBC taught by Suzuki many years ago.  He told my husband that Suzuki had an unpleasant and arrogent manner at that time.  He told the class on the first day that he wanted to fail as many of them as possible.  Only 8 students finished the course.  My husband's friend's father was a professor at UBC in the same department, and he had little respect for Suzuki, who was a publicity hound even then.    My husband was so affected by what his friend told him that over the years he has never wanted to watch The Nature of Things, because he couldn't stand to listen to Suzuki's voice.  

Well, yes. For all the value of Suzuki's work, he is not a nice person. I once had to do a radio show with him, and he was a real pain - though we were both on the same side.

Suzuki is the product of Canada's treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War Two. Most did not come out of it in the manner Suzuki has - but all were deeply scarred by the experience.

Oh, I should add that the tough, investigatve reporters Mely refers to are commonly press hacks. To refer to the lame stream media suggests an ignorance of what journalism is. Sun reporters are not tough, investigative reporters. They are the scum of journalism.

And mainstream reporters respect Suzuki because however obnoxious he can be, he's sincere in his work, and he knows what he's talking about.

Suzuki is prone to overstating his case and overstepping boundaries. He ventures into areas of science (like climatology) where he isn't a specialist and expects people to treat him as one. He assumes his positions are right and doesn't seem to like being called out or questioned on them (e.g. there are, in spite of what he and Al Gore say, serious questions to be answered about the science behind global warming). He recently endorsed a candidate (Murray) in the Liberal leadership race when CBC policy explicitly states that on-air personalities are not supposed to do so. So, the guy is no angel.

That said, Sun has serious bee in their collective bonnet where he's concerned and need to get over it. Their behaviour around Suzuki borders on stalking at times.

Mendalla

Sun News is a Canadian outrage machine, and they live to feed people like Mely and other BCF readers their daily hit of outrage juice. Occasionally, they stumble over a good point, but they manufacture too much outrage to take their genuine outrage seriously. They have an obvious agenda to see the CBC defunded to the point that they become our version of PBS, so I especially skip anything between Sun and the CBC.

It's own by a Quebec outrage machine (Peladeau Family) whose history is as a virunently anti anglo, antisemetic, and anti Canadian news organisation.  I am always amazed at their gaul when they use their nationalist Quebec reporters, on Sun news and yet no one calls them on it. A regular contributer to Sun News, for instance refers to Canadian Unions as foreign Unions in his Journal de Montreal column, when CUPE  supported the student strike.    

A popular radio program in Quebec of their  which regularly denounces Jews and Israel is hosted their version of Ezra Levant..

The owners do not really care about the community, they just want tom make money. And know they want to force Canadians to help pay for it.

pretty much like World Nut Daily in the states, which I'd bet dollars to donuts Mely reads as well.

Like any outrage blog pretending to be news, if you report "man bites dog" every day, once every couple of years you're bound to be right, if only by the laws of probability. Doesn't make you a journalist, or a methmetician.

Kind of surprised Mely hasn't figured out a way to blame this on the Muslims yet....

Perhaps she thinks David Suzuki is a Muslim? Or, perhaps he has friends who are Muslims so, therefore, he must be as evil as them!

 Quebecor, (aka Sun Media in Englsih speaking media )  Plays both sides of the issues to provoke people into hatred.  WHile they are consistantly anti muslim in ENglish and French. The antisemitism on their french language news papers and TV networks, go way beyond attacking Israel. And way beyond anything The UCC and others in English speaking Canada say about Israel.

 Quebecor promotes false stories in print, radio and TV regarding the Jewish community. A talk show show on LCN hosted by Richard Martineau features regular attacks against Jews. Heres an editorial form the National Post about one such event.

You might think such findings from two distinguished intellectuals would have led to some soul-searching among Quebec’s media, in particular the Quebecor chain whose TVA and LCN networks and Journal de Montréal newspaper led the accommodation hunt.

 

But last week, the Quebecor properties were back at it with an exclusive report that the small, predominantly Jewish Montreal suburb of Hampstead had amended a bylaw to prohibit noisy construction work and lawn-mowing during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

 

Richard Martineau devoted his morning LCN show to the topic, inviting as a guest a blogger known for his mocking depictions of the Hasidim of Outremont. On his show’s official Facebook page, Mr. Martineau wrote, “A Hampstead resident cannot mow his lawn and do renovations because it would bother his Jewish neighbours who are celebrating a religious holiday” and asked whether people thought that was reasonable.

 

It was an invitation to anti-Semites to vent their hatred. One commenter on Mr. Martineau’s called for the Olympic Stadium to be turned into a concentration camp, and as of midday Monday the comment had not been removed by Mr. Martineau. Another wondered if Hitler was right and suggested Jews should move to Israel if they’re unhappy in Quebec.

 

On the Facebook page of TVA News, the network wrote “You have to be quiet if you pass through Hampstead the next two days” and invited viewer comments.

 

 

Popular radio and TV host Benoit Dutrizac jumped on the story last week, mocking the notion that Jews celebrate the New Year in the fall. “You’re in Quebec, it’s Jan. 1,” he said when his guest explained what Rosh Hashanah was. Mr. Dutrizac complained that the lawnmower bylaw was evidence that “the Jewish community has all the rights and Quebec society has to shut up.” And he ended the segment by inviting listeners to head to Hampstead and disrupt the holiday.

Honk your horn, make some noise, fart, whatever, any kind of noise to show the Jewish community that it is not the Jewish community that is in charge in Quebec. It’s not them who will determine how we will live as a society in Quebec.

 

 

Once again, sloppy, sensationalist journalism has helped fuel hatred against a minority community. The lessons of the Bouchard-Taylor commission have apparently not been learned.

 

National Post

 

 

 

 

 

Now Sunmedia wants to force Canadians to pay for the money loosing Sunmedia., by forcing cable compagnies to carry it as a first tier service.

Already it gets $500 million every three years in subsidies from Canadian taxpayers.   Quebecor is 45% owned by the caisse de depot, an arm of the Quebec goverment, which invests money useing QPP payroll deductions.

Howevr unlike the CBC/ Radio canada, which is not for profit,  Quebecor gives millions to the richest family in Quebec.  

This is who Ezra Levant works for.  

Ezra supported the Yes side in Quebecs last referendum on independance, so I know why Quebecor/Sun Media  hired him.  The questions is why would any self respecting Jew work for a company that made money by inciting hatred against Jews. 

It's obvious why Ezra has no respect for anypne else, because he has no respect for himself, his family, or his religion.

Thanks Mely for bringing this to our attention.    I wouldn't have known about it accept for you.

I'm dissppointed in some of the responses.  I'd rather see the Sun news exposed than see what seems to be an attack on Mely herself.

Thanks Alex for your post about the Quebecor and its anti-semitism

Well, here are the facts. The minister has family members in my congregation. I heard the rest of the story from a family member, who spoke to the minister yesterday.

The event was a private, by invitation, book launch by David Suzuki. No media were invited. Unbeknownst to the event organizers, the Green Party invited the media to the event. When they showed up, they were asked to leave. They refused. Suzuki, properly, refused to meet the media. The minister, properly, supported the event organizer, who asked the media to leave, as they were not invited. And that is not what Sun Media is telling you.

As you said earlier, though, DKS, the matter should have been left to the organizers, since it was a private event, and not to the minister who I still think should have stayed out of it, unless he's going to be in attendance at every single private function held in the church to police it.

I also agree with seeler that in this case there's no need for anyone to turn this into an attack on Mely.

The only one who came out of this looking at all good was Elizabeth May and the Green Party - who, according to DKS, were the ones who invited the media against the wishes of the organizers. So, either the Green Party made an honest mistake, or they realized what might happen and saw an opportunity to make themselves look good.

The only ones that look bad to me are the orgainisers.  When you organise an event you are responsible for security, and you need to hire people or have volunteers who know what you are doing. Otherwise you have to accept when your meeting is hijacked, either from opponants or people with other agendas.  The organsiors were charging a fee, (for which Sun media had not paid)  

Now when agent provocators  show up, and you lack security trouble is going to happen. To prevent this trouble you need to  have the agent provocators removed, because at the very least they will end up shutting down the event, or at worse the agents will succeed in provocating violence against them and people will end up being hurt.  Because the organisors were ill prepared(perhaps they were just regilar community based naive people without a history of orgainsing public events invloving contraversy)  They likely asked the minister to intervine, becasue they see the minister as someone of authority.  Howevr they should have called the Police before asking Sun media to go. It is no fault of the minister that he tried to help prevent possible violence.

People need to remeber that Sun media has a history of doing this. They set up a confrontations and than claim to be victims.   The police in Toronto regularly have to remove Sun media from events because they are there only to create trouble, or violence, just so they have a news story.

Ezra himself has been removed Idle No More demonstrations by Toronto police. Than the story becomes "the police are preventing the free press from operating" However if Sun TV  were a journalistic organsiation, they would actually cover the Idel No More demonstartion and explain their demands. Howevr they do not, instead the story is police cracking down on their freedom..  If the police had not escorted Ezra away from the Idle no more demo, violence could have happened. People can be hurt, maimed or killed, especially from lighting the TV crew had, it the lighting exploded when it would be knocked down in a scuffle.  (just as it could have if the minister had not done the same at this meeting) and Sun TV would have loved that story, becasue it would have also created a lot of free publicity for there TV stations.

And remember all Sun TV video is edited by Sun TV which does so in orgder to create a story. In doing so they leave out film that would show another story, and that would put SUn TV in a bad light, as oppose to evryone else.

Thank you DKS - I knew there had to be more to the story than what was reported. 

Mely made her bed.

Do you honestly think she posted that here because she was concerned that the UCC might not know and should?

Do you honestly think she's changed from the muslim hating, UCC hating, pretty much everything hating person that gets her validation from the racists hatemongering Blazing Cat Sh.... er I mean Fur, web community?

Mely used up any benefits of the doubt she was entitled to long, long ago.

Quebec, both French and English has a powerful tradition ot racism and anti-semitism. It's not long ago that Blacks were not permitted in "white" nightclubs (where they could perform, but could not join customers at a table), were not permitted in the better hotels, and were not permitted in certain restaurants. They were and are also heavily discriminated against in hiring.

Open anti-semitism has also been a powerful force, especially among the wealthier parts of English and French society. It was common in the real estate business, in rentals, in clubs like yacht clubs well into the 1960s and beyond.

All of this has slackened somewhat among anglo-Quebeckers, but it is still quite respectable among francophones among whom it is sustained by a generalized hatred of all people who are not both born in Quebec and French-speaking.

Regardless of Mely's past behaviour on other threads, I prefer the conversation be focused on the particular issue in the thread.

Ezra Levant, a prominent broadcaster on Sun TV, is Jewish.

True, and well known to be true.  BUt not sure how that is relevant to the topic of the thread?

I raised the issue, when I started talking about Quebecor/Sun Media being antisemetic, and I would add likely the biggest and most powerful promoter of hatred against  Jews in Canada. (by way of their French language TV and Radio Stations, and newspapers.)

I did to confirm Chansen's  point.

Ezra (and the English language arm of Sun Media) likes to attack others for being anti semetic.

Not because they actually care about Jews, but becasue they see it as profitable to do so in English Canada.The  French language properties of Sun Media, meanwhile use  similar people and similar tatics that their English language properties due, but they promote hatred against Jews. Ezra knows, this, and this exposes Ezra manufactured outrage and claims that those who are against Israel's foreign policy are at their heart anti Jewish.

I could have also point out Ezra manufactured out rage against the Roma, to make my point and back up Chansen point that Sun Media exists only to manufacture outrage/hatred.  WHich thus explains why SUn Media shows up at eventswhere  they are not wanted,or invited by the people responsible for the event. It's why  the police have to regularly remove SUn TV from public events in public places.    The police know  thier intent is to provoke people into behavior (including violence) that will make news, and news that they will use to discredit minorities and those different from them.  

Ezra is a self hating Jews, which leads to hius hateful behaviour towards evryone else. If one hates oneself, and one's family and one's community and faith, it should be expected that he will hate evryone.

It explains his behaviour.

Bernie M. Farber a former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress,  Nate Leipciger  a Holocaust survivor and  Avrum Rosensweig the president of  the Canadian Jewish Humanitarian and Relief Committee. wrote the following in National post last fall to denounce Ezra Levant. and Sun TV/Quebecor.  

They show how Ezra and Sun Media promote ideas and use the same tatics that are similar to what the Nazis did in Germany before they were in power.

.   Many over the years and as recently as last October have called for  Ezra Levant and Sun TV/Quebecor  to be charged with hate crimes.  Howevr it seems only working class people are charged with hate crimes in Canada, and millionaires can do what they want.

 Hating the Jew, hating the ‘gypsy’

 

These are Jews, a culture synonymous with swindlers. The phrase ‘Jew’ and ‘cheater’ have been so interchangeable historically that they have entered the English language as a verb. ‘He jewed me!’ Well the Jews have jewed us too. And [Jews] come here [to Canada] to jew us again, to rob us blind, as they have done in Europe for centuries.

 

These words are shocking and offensive, aren’t they?

 

And yet, last week, this contemptible screed was uttered and aired by a national broadcaster in Canada, with just one difference from the language cited above: Instead of “Jews,” the broadcast was describing “gypsies” — an obsolete term for the European people known as Roma.

 

Here is the full, actual quote, as it was aired on September 5:

 

“These are gypsies, a culture synonymous with swindlers. The phrase gypsy and cheater have been so interchangeable historically that the word has entered the English language as a verb: he gypped me. Well the gypsies have gypped us. Too many have come here as false refugees. And they come here to gyp us again and rob us blind as they have done in Europe for centuries … They’re gypsies. And one of the central characteristics of that culture is that their chief economy is theft and begging.”

 

The TV host who said these words was Ezra Levant, and the broadcaster was the Sun News Network.

Thus if organisors of any event sees Sun TV show up uninvited, they need to call the police, and not the UCC minister.  They are facists looking for trouble and  becasue they have a TV station and newspapers, is no reason not to treat them as Facists out to disrupt, cause problems, and promote hatred against people who are not like them, or do not think  as they do.  So if you see them show up uninvited call the police and not the UCC minister.

Hate crime investigation launched surrounding Ezra Levant 

This raises another question. Whenm where and how is it approbiate to act against hate, and hateful people.  Jewish community leaders, have expresses dissappointment that along with others, other faith groups and their leaders have remained silent in the face of Levants attcks against the Roma.

Should UCC leaders, ministers, and lay members spoken up, and denounce  Exra when he attacks Roma, as Jewish leaders have.  Should the UCC speak up when SUn Media/Quebecor attack Jews? or say they should act and believe the same things as the majority or move to another country?

Charge Sun News with a hate crime? Oh ffs, take away Mely, and you remove 20% of their viewership. It's not a hate crime if nobody hears it.

Show why they're an outrage machine, make your point, and proceed to ignore them. Ezra and friends are just going to feed on the "persecution". It gives them the illusion of relevance.

The problem is much bigger in Quebec, where they own the biggest circulation Newspapers, and the number 2 TV network, and the number 2 TV News network. Do we wait until they get as big in the Ebglish language markets?

Do we wait for there viewers to start shoot guns and throwing rocks as they did during the Oka crisis in Quebec. Their anti First Nations tactics and lies are the same in both markets.

In 1988 when linguistic tension were running extermely high in Quebec, (after many demeaning reports in Quebecor properties)  an arsonist destroyed the offices of an anglophone community organisation.  Both Quebecor's TV station and it's newspaper reported that a UCC minister who was it's executive director, was the Prime and only suspect. (as oppose to underground nationalist groups with a history of violence) 

They than printed a map in their newspaper to show where the UCC minister lived and how to get there. (how helpful can you be to terrorists without being one??)

The minister sued for the false report about him being a prime suspect, and won an out of court settlements. Luckily it outarged so many people in Montreal that he had the support of good lawyers.

Quebecor/ Sun TV know if they slander a person they can be sued. Unfortunately lible laws do not apply when you attack groups, or when you attack a person who is without financial resources, or the support of lawyers.

Otherwise Rev. David Illman-White could sue for Ezra claim that he likely whorshiped Suzuki, instead of God. 

hate speech laws provide protection against groups that are slandered. 

People will rarely say untruthful things about me, which causes me to lose money, benefits, housing or health care. Howerv people will say false things about  "gay men, anglos, or people with autism" that does cause me to loose money, benefits, housing or health care.  When one of Canada's largest media organisation sasy these things about these groups I belong to, and on a regular long term basisi it has an effect greater than when an individual does one time.   Thus if an individual can be held accountable, a multinational media company and the billionaire family that owns it should likewise be held to account.

Sun news proved itself as not worth listening to.  Levant was beyond the beyond in the video attached here - neither conmentary or news.  As an addition, and I say this as a friend of David, there is some onfusion on the openness of the event.  It was advertized at Presbytery, and it seems to be part of the church's program in cooperation with other groups.

David as many pointed out was not at his best and should have let others do the talking.  I know David s as well and he is in private a compassionate man and a passionated one.  He has the right to refuse to do an interview and that should have been clear.  It looks as if the sun refused to hear that.  As far as the other media, were they asked to leave?  This is a problem with public meetings, the ads should say no media, and private.  However, it is almost impossible to do that when the ads are every where for the event.

Good learning is here.

The full story here (fron Sun Media perspective)http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2013/02/27/20614106.html

All the people on this discussion  need is a TV camera and they  could easily take Sun news out of first place.

Out of first place? Sun News can't beat infomercials. They get about 0.1% of viewers. Seriously. And they can't get anyone in the 25-54 age bracket.

It's a network for old people who like to yell at their television sets.

I suspect the clergyman may have been upset and acting out of character because Suzuki was having an angry meltdown in the back of the church. Suzuki may have been yelling at people back there. Just my opinion.

I suspect the clergyman may have been upset and acting out of character because Suzuki was having an angry meltdown in the back of the church. Suzuki may have been yelling at people back there. Just my opinion.

Chansen

I just read your blog's, you a have  strong opinion of them for such a low viewership.

Hate crime,outrage machine and who are BCF readers.

Mely

You made a statment of fact on what you seen on sun news or what someone told you. And the rest ran with it.

I'm glad you qualified that as 'just my opinion'.   I saw nothing on the clip or in the news story to indicate that Suzuki was having an angry meltdown, or that was upsetting to the clergyman.