Sunday, July 23, 2006
CHARLES LEBLANC FIGHTS BACK AT DAN BUSSIERES AND LOREDANA CATALLI SONIER WITH THE NEW BRUNSWICK HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION!!!!
Click here for past story,,,,,
Charles
Blog
Response of Charles LeBlanc to the Respondents Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick and its Sergeant-at-Arms, Daniel Bussieres
July 23, 2006
Re: Charles LeBlanc vs the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick and its Sergeant-at-Arms, Daniel Bussieres
I am writing in response to the response of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick and its Sergeant-at-Arms, Daniel Bussieres to my complaint of discrimination on the basis of political activity.
First, I would like make note of the difference between the two and a half page complaint which I submitted and the ten pounds of trees that the respondents high paid lawyer submitted in their defense. Heavy handed is a term that comes to mind…. especially when you consider that some of the material contained in the four binders of information is lifted word for word from my political activist blog site, oldmaison.blogspot.com. (And they say I’m not a reporter.)
Back to the matter at hand, however: upon reviewing the defendants’ response to my complaint, I see no place where the defendant denies discriminating against me on the basis of my political activity.
In fact, it is the opposite. They give plenty of reasons for discriminating against me on the basis of my political activity, yet they like to diminish my political activism by putting me down and stereotyping me as an uneducated, ruffled pest who loiters around
the legislature and bothers them to no end by writing articles in a website blog that contain unwarranted criticism of the goings on at the Legislature, of MLA’s and even the Legislature staff themselves. 
As my thousands of readers will show, however, the public is eager to learn about a side of the legislature they don’t often hear about – even if the staff and MLA’s at the Legislature prefer it be swept under the rug.
They can’t have it both ways: “Political activity” is being redefined in this new world of modern technology where anybody with a computer and the inclination to do so can write about politics on a daily basis, reaching out to the poor and disenfranchised all around the world in a way that has never been done before - much to the chagrin of the authorities who like to control the flow of information in the same old tidy way they have been able to do for hundreds of years.
So instead of denying that they treated me differently because of my political activity, they say I was denied the job because the contractor did not give me a security clearance. They say that they have the right to do what ever they want because of “Parliamentary privilege” and they the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission does not have the authority to investigate the complaint under the Human Rights Act.
It is important to note the underlying assumption is that I am I am a security risk which in a post 9/11world brings to mind all manner of perceived threats such as Middle Eastern terrorists and the like. So labelled, I could not possibly obtain said clearance and then the job would have been a moot point. This assumption is based on a stereotype that I am a bad person who has done something sufficiently evil to warrant being labelled a security risk.
Yet, there is no mention of me doing anything worse than making a statement declaring “war” on the commisionaires. This statement was admittedly, made in frustration, but one has to consider the context:
I had just found out that I couldn’t work because the staff of the Legislature told the contractor I was a security risk. I was angry, yes, but as anyone who knows me can attest, I am not a physical threat to anyone
Besides, the “war” I was referring to was a “war of words” as my preferred weapon is not a sword – it is a pen. Ask MLA Abel LeBlanc.
He doesn’t think I am a security risk. Ask the Justice Minister with whom I had a face to face meeting in early June about the Residential Tenancies Act. Ask MLA Kelly Lamrock, with whom I had a meeting three weeks ago at the United Book Store / coffee shop downtown where we talked all about the issue of me being barred from the legislature and he explained his position on why he had voted against me (more on this below).
They’ll all tell you I wouldn’t hurt a flea. Otherwise, the Staff of the Legislature would have got rid of me a long time ago .
Throughout the voluminous response are frequent references to my blog website www.oldmaison.blogspot.com and my writings about the Legislature, which to me, sure seem like a reference to my political activity. So instead of denying that they discriminated against me on the basis of political activity, the defendant(s) imply that I am a “security threat’ and hide behind the blatantly discriminatory practice of Parliamentary privilege which allow functionaries of the Legislature to act as they please when the real problem is that they do not like me because I tell the truth about the Legislature as I see it and because they don’t like the way I talk and look.
As recent events have shown (me being summarily banned from the Legislature in mid June following my arrest in Saint John during the Atlantica protest), the Legislature is a power in its own; decisions about whether a citizen can or cannot cast his or her shadow across its hallowed doors can be made in secret and there is no recourse for the person who has been evicted on the most shaky allegations of being a ‘security risk” .
This is very worrisome in a democracy. These allegations are unproven to this day and I have not had a chance to defend myself against them yet they are used to bar me from getting a job and from even casting my shadow in the Legislature precinct! Surely, in a democracy, where we have Human Rights Legislation that protects people from discrimination, the Legislature is not above the law, but in New Brunswick it is apparently. This is not right.
Further to the “security risk” excuse for denying me a job at the Legislature, 
the affidavit of Ms. Catelli Sonier makes frequent mention of my blog and articles I have posted which make reference to security issues around the legislature. All of the articles which I have posted are legitimate commentary and everything that I have posted about new security measures around the Legislature has appeared in one way or the other in other media.
Tourists and anybody else who wants to can take pictures of the outside of the building and do whatever they want with the pictures but apparently I am not allowed to do so because when I do it, somehow it becomes a “threat”.
She says that I have posted an image of the Gallery and the Legislative Chambers on my website (s.31 of her affidavit) but the Legislative Chambers are broadcast live to the world by Webcam so I am not doing something that the Legislature is not doing itself. Yes, I have put the MLA’s vehicles on my website but that was only to compare the relative cost of the vehicles and whether they were gas guzzlers. (Frankly, I never thought of the licences being an issue of security. )
I believe other news agencies have done the same so I am not doing anything new: I am simply doing it in a different way in a blog that is independent of the mainstream media and the Irving owned monopoly.
To insinuate that I am somehow creating a security risk by reporting on activities in and around the legislature is a farce and a lame excuse to get rid of me because they (the Staff and the MLA’s on the “special committee” that deals with issues of security) don’t like my politics and they don’t like what I have to say about the Legislature.
They don’t like the way I report the news in my Blog and they resent the fact that they cannot control my view of the “news” from the Legislature because I am an independent.
I have asked the Press Gallery for accreditation but as this is a new and emerging technology here in Canada, they are reluctant to grant it to me. Meantime, in other jurisdictions, bloggers are treated with respect and given accreditation, but that is another issue for another day.
I have already appeared on CBC’s “The Current” along with other international guests to discuss this issue and it is nothing new. Someday, a blogger will be given press accreditation. Perhaps it will be me.
I’d also like to say that much of the information that was supplied in the defendant’s response is from AFTER the date of my complaint. I expect that the Human Rights Commission will not consider any of that information when assessing the relative merits of my complaint of political activity discrimination since it has nothing to do with the situation which transpired between September 27 and October 6, 2005..
I believe that the notion of “Parliamentary privilege” has been abused in my case and is being used as a smokescreen to silence me as a political activist who is critical of the politicians and the goings on at the Legislature. I believe that this is a slippery slope and that everyone should be concerned when a blogger can be evicted from the Legislature precinct on such unfounded, unsubstantiated grounds. I do hope that the Human Rights Commission will see fit to challenge the notion of Parliamentary privilege when it comes to my case so that others who are exercising their constitutional right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression are not treated this way simply because of their political views and activities.
Yours sincerely
Charles LeBlanc
Blogger don't feel too good. Under the weather today....
A few friends who are concern about my day in court next Tuesday morning invited me for a few beers. I had way too many....pretty calm today.......not too many new blogs....lol
IS WAR AGAINST ISRAEL JUSTIFIED???
Saturday, July 22, 2006
CHARLES LEBLANC BEGS PHILIP LEE FOR A TEMPORARY DIPLOMA IN JOURNALISM!!!!
Philip is the head macho of the journalism class in Saint Thomas. I was going to take a course until the Irvings gave one million dollars to the cause.
I tried to get some papers for my court date in Saint John on Tuesday morning.
Maybe that diploma would have help my fight to be a journalist blogger????..lol
90 years old and still going.....
I forgot his name but I first came face to face with this guy was in the summer of 2003. He's always walking around the City. 90 years old???? I will never reach that age!!!
GATHERING AT CITY HALL TODAY AT 1:00PM!!! WILL IT BE DEJA VUE ALL OVER AGAIN???
Call to Action - Saturday, July 22, 2006
END ISRAEL'S ASSAULT ON GAZA AND LEBANON
FREDERICTON ACTION - Saturday, July 22, 1pm
Rally, information, speeches...
...a chance to stand and be counted amongst those
opposed to the brutal assault on civilians
STATEMENT FROM CANADIAN PEACE ALLIANCE:
July 15, 2006
The Canadian Peace Alliance is demanding that the
government of Canada call for an immediate end to
the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. This escalating
conflict may destabilize the entire region and result
in a larger war.
Israel's actions have now killed eight Canadians and
hundreds more Lebanese and Palestinians. Stephen
Harper's refusal to condemn these attacks is
shameful.
We are calling on peace loving groups and
individuals to protest against these attacks and the Harper
government's inaction this Saturday July 22, 2006.
The Israeli assault on Lebanon is targeting civilians
and vital infrastructure resulting in a humanitarian
disaster. Each day we hear of more attacks on
civilian
neighborhoods in Beirut with dozens of innocent
people killed.
The situation in Gaza is even worse with
infrastructure in a shambles and more violence each
day. Recent reports from the Director of Public
Relations at Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital, Dr. Juma
Al Sakka, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health
have
confirmed that Israel is using chemical weapons
against the Palestinian people in Gaza. According to
Dr. Al Sakka, "These Israeli bombings are entering
the
body and fragmenting, causing internal combustion
leading to up to fourth degree internal burns,
exposing the bone, and affecting the tissue and
skin."
The international community must condemn this
brutality.
The United States is using this escalating conflict
to
further demonize Iran and Syria. Just as the
invasions
and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are part of
a
broader campaign, led by the United States
government
and transnational oil corporations, to assert
control
over the Middle East and Central Asia, the current
conflict in Palestine and Lebanon is being used by
the
US to justify military aggression against other
sovereign states in the area. George Bush was unable
to sell yet another bill of goods about weapons of
mass destruction in Iran to the global population so
he is now using Iranian support for Hezbollah as the
smoking gun he needs to justify intervention against
Iran.
Canada has thus far been shameful in its support for
the aggressive Israeli and US position. By voting
against key UN humanitarian resolutions and cutting
off funding to the Palestinian Authority after the
Hamas victory, the Conservative government of
Stephen
Harper is showing that it is the willing tool of US
ambitions from Afghanistan to Palestine. We in
Canada
must demand in the name of humanitarianism and
Canada's historic diplomatic role that our
government
reverse its shameful support for US and Israeli
aggression.
No to US and Canadian intervention in the Middle
East.
End Israel's Assault on Gaza and Lebanon
WHY DID THE IRVINGS CALL ME A PROTESTER????
They even said- Three arrested were from Fredericton. Two were from Halifax and I was from Fredericton. But why did they call me a protester? The Telegraph Irving Journal can get away with this because I'm allowed to write back.
It's going to be very interesting on Tuesday!
DANIEL BUSSIERES AND CHARLES LEBLANC DANCING THE NEUTRON DANCE AT THE LEGISLATURE FOR THE FINAL TIME???
I don't want to take it anymore
I'll just stay here locked behind the door
Just no time to stop and get away
'Cause I work so hard to make it everyday
Whoo oooh
Whoo oooh
There's no money falling from the sky
'Cause a man took my heart and robbed me blind
Someone stole my brand new Chevrolet
And the rent is due, I got no place to stay
Whoo oooh
Whoo oooh
(Chorus:)
And it's hard to say
Just how some things never change
And it's hard to find
Any strength to draw the line
I'm just burning doin' the neutron dance
I'm just burning doin' the neutron dance
Industry don't pay a price that's fair
All the common people breathing filthy air
Roof caved in on all the simple dreams
And to get ahead your heart starts pumping schemes
Chorus
Whoo oooh
Whoo oooh
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
Chorus
I know there's a pot of gold for me
All I got to do is just believe
I'm so happy doin' the neutron dance
And I'm just burning doin' the neutron dance
I'm so happy doin' the neutron dance
I'm just burning doin' the neutron dance
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