The schools as social engineering. Some ideas about revising the Ontario Accepting Schools Act.

Ontario amends and passes Bill 13: The Accepting Schools Act. These changes to an existing bill provide a stage for what?

by Tom Thorne  

Today I printed out and scrutinized the seven page amended Accepting Schools Act, the new Bill 13 that is now become a part of Ontario’s Education Act. Most of the bill is quite sensible when it comes to bullying issues.  However, then it attempts to set remedies  for correcting bullying and  especially the bullying associated with sexual preferences it falls short.  The Ontario government may have gone too far in using the schools for social engineering. 

A few decades ago the education ministries and school boards began to see that students have rights. Also a few decades ago Catholic Boards went to public funding for all years of their high schools. As all this happened, one of the rights that surfaced was to let everyone know the current state of your sexuality and what preference you had. When students attempted a more public expression of their sexual thoughts, emanating perhaps from Gay Pride ideas gaining momentum at the same time, educators, bureaucrats and politicians got on board. 

And so bullying was outlawed by the first incarnation of this Accepting Schools Act. Bullying was always outlawed by schools with sensitivity to the wiles of youth and growing up, but in the minds of bureaucratic administrators and Queen’s Park officials it now had to be codified into a set of Statute Law rules. Bullying entered the realm of social engineering political correctness. This year those rules were revised and the new amended law was called Bill 13: Accepting Schools Act, 2012. It's text is available on the Ontario Ministry web site.

What school in Ontario, or elsewhere in Canada for that matter, could ever be thought of as not accepting student differences? Even an examination of existing Catholic thought on this issue could only be seen as useful. The very existence of an Accepting Schools Act in this province implies that some schools were miscreant in their ability to accept all students and be equitable. Is the Catholic view of homosexuality being targeted by these amendments?  Surely in the past before this change, if students were nasty to each other then a good school put that right whether it was a Public or a Separate school?

This codification of what is normal was perhaps pushed by the diversity of all colours and creeds that now are in Ontario schools. However, to codify acceptance is a politically correct act. Of course all students in Ontario are acceptable and any school that doesn’t accept students or allows discrimination is out of touch to what happened in this province and the rest of Canada, and also they are out to lunch about the nature of educational enquiry and learning as demographic changes happened as Canada diversifying its human resource by bringing people from everywhere on this planet. 

The codification of teen issues and problems into an act designed to ensure acceptance is a testament not to equity but to the pressures of our me-generation society where the individual’s needs outstrip the common good of all. It is a state of mind that believes that a rule for everything will stop problems. This Act, before these 2012 amendments has been on the books for some time. If bullying in all its forms, sexual or for other reasons, is still happening and remains a problem, then these amendments won’t do much to stop it.

My point is basically that political correctness enables lazy school administrators to pillory people who break the rules that are codified in this document with more ease than having a discussion or using education to build respect, tolerance and equity for all. Now a student who feels they are being bullied or centred out for their views on sexual orientation can chapter and verse a remedy to  allegedly solve the problem.

I wish life was so simple. Read through the revised act. Section 1 provides three definitions for bullying. The only respite from this exhaustive list of causes of bullying is that the “bullying must be aggressive and typically repeated behavior” which might mean that a smart principal with leadership skills could still iron out a problem in their office. The scary part is that proof of alleged bullying can be “real or perceived”. 

The part of the act that enables students in a Separate school to form gay straight alliance clubs or activities seems to stand. Catholic teacher unions have endorsed this aspect of the bill. However, all Boards of Education do have to comply within the bounds of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That is always a double edged sword if the board has problems with its rights and freedoms being trumped by one person’s rights or a group with an agenda. This may become the basis for a court challenge by Separate School Boards but it is politically unlikely there will be any challenge because it opens a can of worms about contemporary separate school relevance in a highly diversified Ontario.

Surely whether a board is Catholic or Public it should always be equitable. On one level this revised act simply enshrines language that we already know from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  However that too is always a double edged sword. Catholic values are also protected and a complaint could come from religious people who do not wish a Gay Alliance club or activity in the school where their children attend. That challenge might not come from a Catholic but from Muslims and other religious people who send their children to Ontario schools (often Catholic schools) expecting equity and their rights to be observed as much as those with gay sympathies or orientations.

Finally, some commentators have made the point that these revisions to The Accepting Schools Act put a coffin nail into Catholic education funded by public dollars. The biggest coffin nails have already been driven when Catholics accepted public funding for their high schools. Gay-straight alliances are not a problem for thinking Catholics. Separate Boards already have years of experience with all kinds of Ontario diversity. Fully 50 percent of students in so called Catholic education are not Catholics.

So that begs the question why do these non-Catholic parents choose the Separate School Boards? Maybe they have expectations for their children that is not covered by legislated gay straight alliance thinking of the current Ontario Government. That’s probably why the Conservatives ever mindful of gaining votes voted against Bill 13. It’s much more complicated than whether kids get a straight-gay alliance club in their school. It’s iceberg politics where most of the agenda remains below the water.

© Copyright 2012, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.

Family history becomes real with the use of primary documents.

The site of Tullich Farm, Glenaray, Argyllshire. 

Family History is a combination of luck and accurate hard work.

by Tom Thorne

Although I come from Welsh and Scottish roots I have spent most of my family history research time discovering my Scottish family story first. It’s not because my Welsh Thorne side is less interesting, it is simply because contemporary members of my Scottish family are deeply into family history and I could get a head start from them.

I soon found that relatives such as Ralph Clark, the son of my first cousin Iain Clark, was very much in the know and put me on a fast track with copies of actual documents he had downloaded from Scottish Government’s genealogy pay per view web site Scotland’s People. This was a great incentive for the Scottish story to unfold. If you are starting a family history check with your relatives. You may save a lot of leg work.

My Scottish family history really became much more tangible with an entry found in the the 1881 British Census. The information in this entry begged more questions and opened many useful research doors. It read:

145 Main Street, Bonhill, Dumbarton

Duncan Munro, head, male, widower, age 91, born Inveraray, former shepherd

Archibald Munro, son, male, widower, age 56, born Dumbarton, general labourer

Agnes Munro, granddaughter, unmarried, age 25, housekeeper, born Dumbarton

Janet Munro, granddaughter, unmarried, age 22, factory girl, born Dumbarton

Catherine Munro, granddaughter, unmarried, age 21, dressmaker, Dumbarton

Agnes Munro, granddaughter, unmarried, 19, factory girl, Glasgow, Lanark

Andrew Munro, great grandson, male, unmarried, age 1, born Glasgow, Govanhill, Lanarkshire.  

Discovering a relative who is 91 is a real find mainly because a year later in 1882 he died after serving as a witness for the wedding of his granddaughter Agnes Munro and her new husband James Broadfoot. He must have been a lucid nonagenarian.  All would not have been lost, however, because he is also in the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 Census tracks. 


The “factory girls” probably worked in the fabric dyeing  factories a stone’s throw from their Main Street address in Bonhill. The wonderful web site www.valeofleven.org.uk/ provided me with a lot of useful historic background about the 19th Century Bonhill-Dumbarton area including early industrial history.

Primary documents offer clues

However finding Duncan Munro (1790-1882) in the 1881 census is what really set me off. The additional clue came in the 1851 Census when Duncan told the census taker that he came from Glenaray which linked him to the Munro families living in that glen behind Inveraray town rather than in the town itself. His profession as a shepherd also indicated rural rather than town origins.

Inveraray is in Argyllshire in the Scottish Highlands and the parish for the area has had several names including Inveraray alone, then the Glenaray was known as Kilmalieu parish and finally in 1750 the entire area including the town became Glenaray-Inveraray Parish. 

I quickly learned that the Argyll Munros would need a lot more work to discover old Duncan Munro’s family which I later found goes back as it does for all Argyll Munros to 1650. A quick look in the Family Search online service provided by the Church of Latter Day Saints, found Duncan’s parents John Munro and Mary Munro.They were married in Glenaray Inveraray Parish in 1789.

Then from the same source I found John and Mary’s children starting with Duncan 1790, Sarah 1791, Grisell 1793, Isabella 1796, and Archibald 1798. The outcome of my research work just kept piling up. Each one of these siblings had their own story. More later on in further articles about what happened to them. Suffice it to say that through the web and email I have met descendants of two of these children of John and Mary.

The Duke of Argyll’s 1779 Census offers a window into 18th Century Argyllshire

Then I saw continual references on World Wide Web family history sites to the 1779 Duke of Argyll’s Census listing all the inhabitants living on his Argyll farms with their ages. This primary document enables the researcher to isolate people for relationships with other families, births, deaths, marriages and how they show up later censuses starting with 1841. 

I eventually located the full 1779 Census on microfilm at the Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Centre at Trenton near my town of Belleville here in, Ontario, Canada. They brought in the microfilm from Salt Lake City and allowed me to re-photograph each page with my digital camera. This is a wonderful service provided by this church and you do not need to be of their faith to use this service.

The 1779 Census gave me lists of Munros living and working on all Argyll farms owned by the Duke of Argyll at that time. It was a useful snapshot in time because it also mentions the maiden names and ages of all the wives and listed all the children with their ages. It is a very unique document and a wonderful find if your family comes from Argyllshire. I used this document to narrow down both John and Mary Munro's parents and to find both of them with their families on Tullich and Drimfern farms.

However, I found a confusing number of people who may be related to John and Mary on the farms of Tullich (14 Munros), Drimfern (28 Munros)  and Stronmagachan 

(7 Munros). These farms are largely in the Glenaray behind Inveraray town. All Munros in such a small gene pool are related within several past generations.

In addition, in 1779 there were more Munros on Achnagoul (13 Munros) and Auchindrain (30 Munros out of 38 people) farms just south of Inveraray on Loch Fyne. Later I found other early Munros living on another Argyll Parish called Kilmorich who were related by marriage to Munros in the Glenaray and as it turns out important to my family’s origins in 1699.  

There were also a few more Munros unlisted in the 1779 Census in  the Glen Shira at a farm called Stuckguoy. These people were owners of their property which they got for a service to the Duke of Argyll in the late 17th Century. As a result they were not counted in 1779. All the other Munros, however, were largely Duke of Argyll tenants and as a result are in the 1779 Census. 

In addition, other records such as court actions showed several Munros actually lived in Inveraray town as shopkeepers, whiskey merchants, and working as the court sheriff in the late 18th Century. It became obvious that most Munros were related.

The 1881 Census indicates a caring family life

In the 1881 Census tract for 145 Main Street Bonhill four Munro generations were living together. Duncan, his son Archibald, his daughters Agnes and Janet, and Janet’s son Andrew Mitchell Munro who is my maternal grandfather. 

The other people at 145 Main Street in Bonhill, Catherine and Agnes Munro, are the daughters of Duncan’s other son, John Munro (named for Duncan’s father) and their mother Catherine Broadfoot who both died in 1874 from a severe bronchitis leaving the orphans Janet McCunn Munro (born 1855), Marion Johnson Munro (born 1857) Catherine Broadfoot Munro (born 1859) Agnes Munro (born 1862) and Rachel Broadfoot Munro (born 1864).

Old Duncan was married at Dumbarton, in 1818 to Janet McCunn. Janet McCunn was born 1783 in Roseneath, Row Parish.  Janet’s McCunn’s parents were Peter McCunn and Agnes McFarlane both from Roseneath and Row Parish which includes the town of Helensburgh. Janet McCunn died in 1869 at age 86. Naming babies after grandparents is a habit in Scotland that often enables the reseracher to make informed guesses about who is related to whom.

In Duncan and Janet’s besides John and Archibald they had two other children Peter and Agnes. Their daughter Agnes married James Robertson in 1840. Peter Munro, their second son, was born in 1823 in Dumbarton and died at age 34, in 1857, at Newtown, Fintry just north of the Dumbarton-Bonhill area. His life is vague and short and he was married to Agnes Blair in 1854 at Drymen, Sterlingshire.

My family line begins back in the Glenaray and through Duncan Munro (1790-1882) and Janet McCunn (1783-1869) through their son Archibald born 1825 who married in 1854 Helen Mitchell (1832-1861). Archibald and Helen had three children (Agnes 1855-1945, Janet 1858-1898, Duncan (1860-1861). I descend from the second Daughter Janet Munro who had my grandfather Andrew Mitchell Munro (1879-1948) out of wedlock in 1879. Andrew’s father is unknown and there is a lot of unsubstantiated lore about who his father was.

1861 was an horrific year for the Munros, but fortunately a Census year for researchers.

Janet and Agnes Munro led tough lives for little girls when Helen Mitchell their mother died of tuberculosis in 1861 on a estate called Dumbuck where Archibald was working as an agricultural labourer and as a "flesher" which is the old Scots word for butcher. Janet was shipped off to live with her aunt and uncle Agnes and James Robertson at nearby 6 Church Street in Dumbarton. Agnes was shipped off to live with old Duncan and Janet also at Mains Farm very close to Dumbuck.

We know all this because 1861 was a Census year and by consulting death certificates for the infant brother Duncan Munro (1860-1861) who died of meningitis on 23 April 1861. Helen Mitchell’s death certificate also tells us about her death at Dumbuck. Today Dumbuck House, once an 18th Century estate mansion, is a charming hotel on the Clyde river near the Erskine Bridge which traverses the Clyde into Renfrewshire. Archibald went to work at Crosslet Farm also near Dumbarton after Helen Mitchell’s death as the 1861 Census confirms. Crosslet farm is preserved by a modern street of that name and is now a housing estate on the outskirts of Dumbarton.

Janet Munro, age 2, goes to the Robertsons and here is the 1861 Census track for that family. The mother of this family is Agnes Munro, Archibald’s sibling, born in 1819 although if she is 38 as reported in the Census she would be born in 1823 making her 17 for her marriage. If she was born in 1819 then she would be 42 in 1861 and 21 at her marriage. She married James Robertson in 1840. Not all government records are accurate is the lesson learned from this information and by cross checking documents.  The building they lived in survives to this day and can be seen on Google Map. The 1861 Census track provide the following information:

6 Church Street, Dumbarton.

James Robertson, head,  Age 43, Operative Mason, born Perthshire

Agnes Robertson, Age 38, wife, born Dumbarton

Mary Robertson, Age 17, a domestic servant, born Dumbarton

Christina Robertson, Age 15, a domestic servant, born Dumbarton

Isabella Robertson, Age 9, a scholar, born Dumbarton

Agnes Robertson, Age 6, a scholar, born Dumbarton

Duncan Robertson, Age 4, born Dumbarton

Janet Munro, Age 2, a Relative, born Dumbarton

Janet Munro, Age 2 is my great grandmother. We cannot find her in the 1871 Census when she would be 12. The next time we find her is her signing my grandfather’s birth certificate in 1879 and some time later in the 1881 Census living at 145 Main Street, Bonhill. By that time she is a 22 year old single mother of my grandfather Andrew Mitchell Munro. She is also missing in the 1891 Census.

No Janet Munro in the 1891 Census: She went to Australia

For some time we fretted about where Janet Munro was in the 1891 British Census. She seemed to fall off the earth. However, my grandfather Andrew Mitchell Munro appears in 1891 living with relatives in Glasgow. We now know that his mother left him with her cousins and went off to Victoria Colony in Australia. The 1891 British Census provides the proof of his being farmed out to his aunts. My mother always said her father was raised by his aunts and here that story is substantiated.

300 Cathcart Road, Govan Glasgow

Agnes Love, head, married, age 28, born Lanark Glasgow

Kate Love, daughter, unmarried, age  1, born Lanark Glasgow

Kate Munro, border, unmarried, age 26, waitress, born Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire

Andrew Munro, unmarried, age 11, scholar, born Lanark Govan.

These two women are also found ten years earlier in the 1881 Census  taken at 145 Main Street, Bonhill. They are the two daughters of John Munro and Catherine Broadfoot. Agnes Love was married to Edward Love, an electrician, which in 1891 was  like being a computer wiz today. 

The baby “Kate Love” is really registered at her birth as Catherine Munro Love. The baby’s birth certificate states that Agnes and Edward were married in Philadelphia, on 5 March 1889 which in itself is interesting but we have few details. They left Scotland unmarried or perhaps at different times. Perhaps Edward was on course in the United States to learn about this new electric technology? We really don’t know. He does not appear in the 1891 British Census so he may be out of the country again. That issue remains open. 

Janet’s father Archibald Munro, also appears in the 1891 Census living in Helensburgh, Row Parish, on Clydeside Street, a widower,  age 65, and described as a dairyman. Helensburgh is the site of his grandson Andrew Mitchell Munro's wedding to Jane Kerr in 1899. We don’t know why he is living alone in Helensburgh.

In 1890, Janet Munro went out to Australia, following her sister Agnes and her husband James Broadfoot. Her ship was the Orizaba landed at Melbourne in Victoria Colony. Janet joined her sister at Cheltenham, Moorabbin, Heatherton, a suburb of Melbourne. We know this from shipping records and from the birth certificate of a new baby Marion Broadfoot, dated 29 August 1890. Janet signed this document as a witness.

Janet’s reasons for going to Australia are unknown. It is very likely that she went out to help her sister who by this time had a large family to raise. James Broadfoot, when he arrived worked as a gardener, but later he made his way into the shipping business eventually owning five vessels by his death in 1931. Through the web and leaving notes on various family history sites I finally met Wendy Davis via email. She is a descendant of James and Agnes Broadfoot and lives in Australia.

Janet Munro returns to Scotland in 1893 and later to an early death at age 40.

Janet returned home to Scotland we think about 1893. This in itself is unusual but with her son still with relatives it was likely to happen. By 1895 she  married  John Philps who delivered bread in Glasgow. In 1896 she gives birth to the first child of this marriage John Philps and in 1897 she has Nellie Mitchell Philps. A year later in 1898, at age 40, Janet dies of enteric fever (Typhoid) at the Shieldhall Fever Hospital in Glasgow and a few days later her husband John Philps also dies of enteric fever at the same hospital leaving two very young orphans.  

John Philps’s father comes to Glasgow take care of the arrangements along with his sister. The death certificates tell us that the Philps come from Kilearn just north of Bonhill and Dumbarton. The children are taken in by the Philps family. Just how her first son Andrew Mitchell Munro fits into this part of her life is a guessing game. 

However in 1899 Andrew Mitchell Munro marries Jane Kerr in Helensburgh and they start their life in Clydebank where Andrew is a machinist in the Singer Sewing Machine plant which at its height employed 10,000 people.  Andrew works for Singers for the next 50 years.  He and Jane Kerr have nine children. My mother is one of them born in 1906.

This is the first of a series of  family history articles I intend to write. The purpose is to show how information is pulled from primary documents. The next article will cover the early 17th and 18th century story of the Argyll Munros leading up to my great great great grandfather’s birth in 1790 in Glenaray Inveraray Parish. 

The Hanoski Case: Can we hope to break the eight years of silence?

The Hanoski case outcome needs transparency to be of any tangible use to Joe Hanoski and to the Catholics in the parishes operated by the Diocese of Kingston.

by Tom Thorne

For the past month I have been attending four useful sessions about sex abuse initiated by Father John Hibbard, of Holy Rosary Parish here in Belleville and supported by the Sisters of Providence. 

The idea is to place the sexual abuse issues into a form that we can examine. The objective is to try to understand this issue and work out ways to deal with it personally and as a parish. These sessions were the result of the Hanoski versus Hamilton legal action now before the courts.

The natural inclination for Catholics is to try to heal when trust in a priest has been compromised as it was by the swift and silent removal of Holy Rosary’s last pastor Father Paul Hamilton some eight years ago.

Suffice it to say the four sessions helped refocus in a positive way the negative feelings of betrayal and helplessness that people of the parish feel about this lingering situation. 

No one would speak about a case that is and remains frozen in silence by all concerned. The silence was deafening for eight years so to finally get the issue out into an open session was useful although the issue of what happens when the Hanoski versus Hamilton legal civil case now before the courts goes to settlement or some kind of resolution is still unresolved.

The fact remains that due to the legal advice to retain silence when the case is before the courts the actual outcome of this legal process probably will entail a settlement of some kind and a call for all parties to agree to further silence. 

This will serve the needs of courts, lawyers and any insurance companies making cash settlements on behalf of the Diocese of Kingston. I suspect this will be the case if it hasn’t already happened and as a result no one, the alleged victim, the alleged abuser, or the Diocese of Kingston can say anything about the settlement when it is accepted by all parties. 

That is simply wrong. This case does not just include the plaintiff and the accused priests or the corporate well being of the Diocese of Kingston. It first includes the Holy Rosary Parish and all the other parishes of the diocese. 

The outcome of this case should be public. If guilt is established then it needs to be out in the open. If there is no proof then this needs to stated. If the parties cannot prove their case, but came to a financial settlement that should also be known.

Why is this necessary? Catholics each week contribute money to their parish and by extension provide revenues to support the centralized operations of the diocese. If the diocese makes a settlement, buys insurance for these kinds of claims, then the parishes in the diocese should have a full accounting of the costs of this issue when these cases go to trial or into settlement.

In this situation, Archbishop Brendan O’Brian needs to instruct the diocese lawyers, and likely an insurance company, that he needs transparency about the outcome. If he did this before trial discovery process things would go very differently for this case. The parties may wish to re-examine where they stand if full public disclosure is on the table. It would certainly alter the negotiations for a legal settlement.

The Archbishop needs to ask himself why do legal procedures that impose more silence trump the work of Christ?  If the Diocese works from the first principles of Christ, then truth becomes important. Silence is not an option, only foregiveness, reconciliation and unconditional love should guide decisions.

When you go to a civil legal action you enter a potentially public arena if the case goes to open court. In these type of cases the victim is not the only casualty. The parish also suffers, and everything is up for grabs.

To do less means that the participants cannot move on. If they agree to silence as an element of a legal a settlement everyone involved remains in a limbo state which ultimately tears at the fabric of the Church, the victim, the priests and aids in the work of self deception and more negative behavior from all concerned.

That is why transparency is important after eight years of silence for the Hanoski-Hamilton case. Continued silence ensures that this specific case remains in limbo and does little to resolve sex abuse in the future work of the Church.

© Copyright 2012, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved 

The Iran Israel war. It's probably started long ago on the secret front.

The gloomy prospect of Iran-Israel hostilities over alleged nukes looms large.

Why Israel is likely to act against Iran soon.

by Tom Thorne

The current low key civil war in Syria is ultimately the end of the Assad regime. It is only a matter of time.  The Assad regime has lost its authority and credibility  to govern by using an over the top violent approach to dissonant voices. 

Add a ham fisted approach to constitutional reform to the agenda. Finally using the army pound its alleged dissonant citizens with artillery and mortar fire. The result is a death toll of probably 8,000 people. 

The fascist Ba'ath Party has ruled in both Syria and Iraq for a long time. In Iraq the Ba'ath Party ruler was the now deceased Saddam Hussein. In Syria Ba'ath remains under the control of the Assad family. 

The strength of the Ba'ath experience is that it brought a non-religious government to the middle east but it also brought brutal dictatorships as the price for keeping fundamentalist Muslim aspirations at bay. 

Since Iraq was oil rich this oppressive regime was encouraged by the western powers to keep anti-western groups under control. As a result the oil flowed to the west from Iraq.

The ultimate weakness of the Ba'ath Party is it uses brutal dictatorships to modernize both Syria and Iraq and tamp down Muslim fundamentalism. In true fascist form these governments rule with an iron hand. There is a  stability in place until they are overthrown or undermined. 

In the case of Iraq they experienced US military might and occupation for going too far muscling the Gulf emirates. Once the dictator is disposed as in the case of Saddam Hussein, chaos reigns. That is the case for Iraq and the the US involvement. It may also be the case in Syria after Assad falls.

The experience of post dictatorship chaos is also happening in Egypt, and to some degree in Libya.  Therefore don't expect that there will be some great need for democracy lurking ready to take over from dictatorship once these regimes fall. 

In Egypt the Army remains in control even after the recent parliamentary elections. The Egyptian Army tamps down the impact of the majority received at the polls by the Muslim Brotherhood's political party. The fall of the Mubarak regime has not appreciably changed the status quo 

in Egypt.

In Libya there is a political void as Libyans try to structure a new regime. In Syria a slow boil civil war has started and although the regime is supported by China and Russia its days are numbered. 

The rest of the Middle East wants the status quo to remain. However, change keeps happening everywhere. The Arab Spring? It's more like the Arab Chaos.

That brings us to Iran. Iran is a rogue state threatening to bring nuclear weapons on line in the Middle East. Israel is not about to tolerate this change in the military status quo. Israel the only power in the region with nuclear capability. That is their security ace in the hole.

From a real politick point of view taking out Iran's nuclear abilities is now on the table. It is now a viable option because the arab world is in a lot of turmoil and  not in a position to respond very well to an Israeli attack on Iran.

The Egyptian Army could not be brought into a fight. In addition, Egypt would first have to renounce the peace treaty it has with Israel. The consequences of that decision would mean hostility with Israel. That’s not a good idea at the moment. 

The Jordanians can't do very much alone. Syria is caught up in its internal issues. Libya is also not in a position to stop or contribute to fighting Israel. 

And Israel will simply tighten controls of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank if they take on Iran.  

So this leaves Israel in a position to slow the Iranian nuclear ambitions. It is a good time militarily to knock out Iran. The downside is that Israel can do this without too much fear of attack from surrounding arab states.  For that reason it may prove the moment to take out Iran's nuclear capabilities.

If there is no military attack on Iran's nuclear installations watch for Mossad (Israel's secret service) operations against senior Iranian nuclear technocrats and engineers working for Iran's nuclear program. They will all need a high level of security to go anywhere or leave Iran for any reason.

© Copyright 2012, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved

New Democrats need to move to the centre with the Liberal Party if they want to defeat Stephen Harper.

The New Democratic Party leadership race dramatizes the need in Canada for a strong centralist political party to emerge to counter Stephen Harper's right wing agendas.

by Tom Thorne

When Ed Broadbent, former New Democratic Party (NDP) leader and party guru, attacked Thomas Mulcair the alleged front runner in the NDP leadership race, Broadbent's misguided actions dramatized a major need in Canadian politics. That need is for a centralist political expression to counter the Harper Conservatives. 

As much as I respect Ed Broadbent he is simply wrong if he thinks that the NDP can maintain a separate stance from others who express progressive policies in this country. 

Think about it. Thomas Mulcair expresses a more centralist agenda for the NDP. Ed Broadbent and his candidate Brian Topp represent the NDP status quo. I've got news for the NDP, had Jack Layton lived would have also faced this issue.

With the Liberal Party on the back burner, there is no strong parliamentary force to counter the Harper agenda, although Bob Rae as interim Liberal leader is proving a good foil for Harper government excesses. But it is not enough.

Earlier in this blog about the time of the last election and Jack Layton's unfortunate death, I stated quite clearly that a merger of the Liberal Party and the NDP was inevitable. If that doesn't happen both these parties will dissolve into bowl of red and orange Jello unless a new centralist party springs up to fill the void.

The reason this doesn't happen between the NDP and Liberals is simply baggage from the past gets in the way. It may take another election and another Harper win with only 38 percent of the popular vote, for the so called left and the centre to get their acts together to oppose and replace the Harper right wing agenda.

By the time this happens Harper will have put his conservative stamp on Canada and it will be difficult to undo this move to the right for some time. That is why the Liberals and NDP have to forge first an  alliance in this parliament and ultimately a new political entity that is clearly the enemy of right wing agendas before the next federal election. That would place Harper on notice.

And what are these right wing agendas that need to be opposed? More attention to privilege, more tax breaks for corporations, more doctrinaire approaches to labour settlements which are basically anti union. There will be more prisons and more prisoners serving more time. Guns will go uncontrolled. Social programs for an aging population will be whittled down, Canada on the international stage will remain the laughing stock on human rights, aid, and the environment.

That is the price for supporting separate NDP and Liberal parties. It is clearly time for Canadians to recognize that politics has been polarized in this country and to establish a vital political balance the centralist option has to have a fighting chance at the polls in the next federal election. 

Thomas Mulcair may take a reluctant NDP struggling and kicking towards the centre and that is what the Laurier Street head office NDP establishment fears most. Canadians should have anxiety about this doctrinaire view by the left because it will leave Canada with right wing view of this country.

© Copyright 2012, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved 

The Hanoski court action gets the Church talking...

The Hanoski court action has set off the healing process at Holy Rosary Parish. It is good to get back into the light again.

by Tom Thorne

Father John Hibbard, Holy Rosary’s pastor, has launched three sessions about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. For the past two Wednesday evenings this topic has been candidly discussed at the parish with the third session tonight.

This is a healthy start to this hard topic. The church has to deal with sexual abuse and its clerical predators in the open. The first evening Father Hibbard dealt with the process of coping with sexual abuse when it surfaces.

He spoke of denial, reality and finally acceptance all tethered together with a sense of betrayal and anger that the predator has left with the victim, the parish members and the church in general. It is like a yawning void.

The difficulties of resolving such a crisis were discussed. The really hard part is accepting the predator but not what he did. The natural tendency of Christians is to forgive and it is a hard test of this precept to resolve this point for the parish members and the clergy who have to deal with the aftermath and acknowledge the loss of trust.

The most revealing point of the first evening was Father Hibbard’s point that pedophiles have no remorse and the complex psychopathic notions that predators have about their “relationships” with the victim makes it hard to reach them with the extent of the damage they have inflicted on a victim.

A priest who is charged with sexual abuse is removed from all active ministry. Due to legalities there has and continues to be silence which can be seen as covering up. The optics of any one of these cases is poor from a public point of view.

In addition is the financial burdens shouldered by the diocese and the ultimate liabilities when the cases go to court and guilt is established. A criminal action certainly will come with jail time if guilt is established. 

Father Hibbard told of one priest who did jail time for his crimes which was particularly hard on him personally because he had worked with this person as seminary candidate and felt that he had been let down badly. Priests he pointed out are just as human as their parishioners and he had a very difficult time with this situation.

The second week was a session with Sister Francis O’Brian of the Sisters of Providence. Sister O’Brian has counseled both victims and predators. She discussed the problem of sexual abuse as a trauma.  A trauma in your life alters the path of your life. She candidly used the example of her mother’s violent death when she fell down a flight of stairs and died alone.

Sister then took this example of trauma as the base of a sexual abuse experience. It is just as shocking and disjointing and it alters your life. If you are religious then any traumatic experience tests your faith.

She related this level of trauma to the Holy Rosary situation with Father Paul Hamilton’s removal eight years ago and the surfacing of this case in civil court this year. Sister then related this situation to anger, confusion and lack of information experienced attached to the recent case of Father Rene Labelle in Kingston who was recently charged by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). In short, there is no easy way to deal with a sexual abuse charge.

Sexual abuse has big effects. There is a loss of self esteem, depression, flashbacks, disassociations and even in her experience self mutilation by victims. Accused priests lose everything. They experience loneliness, they cannot work, and they remain in a silent legal limbo. Even when they are cleared of charges they remain stigmatized.

In an audience discussion afterwards trauma was seen as the best way to adequately describe the aftermath of sexual abuse. Everyone feels a certain powerlessness, vulnerability, and parents have anxieties about how safe their children are at church. 

Father Hibbard candidly answered questions about seminary screening these days to weed out sexual predators. He answered that  the Church denied sexual abuse cases the past as a gut reaction to protecting the organization. He also stated that in his time at seminary celibacy of priests was discussed but very little about sexuality. Certainly there was no course about sexual abuse. In contemporary seminaries all these topics are now on the curricula.

The sessions have been a refreshing examination of sexual abuse issues in the contemporary Catholic Church. These parish sessions go a long way to allowing the issue to surface and ultimately to be dealt with in a candid open fashion. Hopefully in the case of the Hanoski experience we get the know the outcome of that civil court proceeding. To do that the diocese cannot agree to silence after the settlement.

© Copyright, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.