HONOUR SYSTEM:
HEROES AND VILLAINS

'It's blasphemy that this hasn't happened'

After repeated failures to secure the Order of Canada for Henry Morgentaler, supporters are going public with a controversial campaign of recognition for the aging and ailing abortion champion. André Picard reports


ANDRÉ PICARD
Globe & Mail
February 9, 2008`

A group of pro-choice (Il veut dire pauvre-choix ou culture de mort, J.C.) activists has decided that, protocol be damned, they are going public in a last-ditch attempt to have Dr. Henry Morgentaler invested into the Order of Canada. (Pour avoir aidé à faire dispaître les pauvres, les ignorants, les races qui ne doivent pas se reproduire. J.C.)

"Going the prim and proper route doesn't seem to have worked, so we need to change tactics," said Carolyn Egan of the Ontario Coalition of Abortion Clinics. (Les tueurs en blouse blanche dans les abattoirs d'enfants.)

Traditionally, all nominations for the Order of Canada as well as the deliberations leading to the selection of candidates are confidential. Public discussion of nominees is frowned upon.

In an unprecedented move, Dr. Morgentaler's supporters have decided to catalogue past rejections and spur a public debate about why one of Canada's iconic figures has never received its highest honour. (C'est vrai! Il faut reconnaître que l'industrie de l'avortement a fait plus de victimes que les nazi. Je suis pour qu'Hitler en personne vienne l'épingler de l'Ordre du culte de mort. Un chausson au pomme avec ça?)

Lawyer Clayton Ruby, himself a recipient, said he is at a loss as to explain why Dr. Morgentaler has been repeatedly overlooked. "There are a lot of deserving people who don't have an Order of Canada. But among them Henry stands out as a giant. (for being the most infamous & notorious abortionist in Canada - RJ) It's a monumental absence," he said. (Je me demande si tous ceux qui ont reçu l'Ordre du Canada aimeraient paraître en public, s'affichant devant le peuple comme des amis du faiseur d'anges et fossoyeur de la race. Combien retourneraient-ils leur médaille? Les députés du BQ vont cerainement voter en faveur du morticole, leur frère de sang!)

There have been at least three large, organized attempts to nominate Dr. Morgentaler for the Order of Canada, as well as numerous individual nominations. (Il fait bien pitié! Je vois très bien la cérémonie avec une ribambelle d'enfants offrant des fleurs à leur tueur, sous la conduite de saint Raymond Gravel et des libéraux. Avec Svend Robinson et soeur sourire du NPD, ce serait mieux que le 400ième de la Ville de Québec.)

In the early 1990s, members of the Humanist Association of Canada (La franc-maçonnerie) submitted a nomination. In 2002, Marilyn Wilson, president of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (Klanned Killinghood), rallied a number of public figures and submitted another nomination. (Soit des francs-maçons volontaires, soit par la menace ou le chantage, les francs-maçons peuvent convaincre bien du beau monde... Si la vie vous tient à coeur, joignez la secte la plus près de chez-vous!)

Next, members of the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics took aim at the 2005 list. The nomination letter was penned by bestselling author John Irving (The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules) and signed by dozens of high-profile Order of Canada members such as June Callwood and Pierre Berton. (Tous des infâmes libéraux humanistes du Canada: la crème de la crème des maçons.)

"It's blasphemy (dans la secte de l'avortement) that this hasn't happened, a national embarrassment," said Cathie Colombo, the long-time assistant to Dr. Morgentaler who is leading the charge. Ms. Colombo said a new nomination will be sent to the Chancellery of Honours within days. "Even if you don't agree with his views, you can't deny the impact he's had on Canadian society." (Certainement! la dénatalité et la disparition de la race canadienne française au Québec et son remplacement par les immigrants. Le mot impact est faible.)

It is widely speculated that Dr. Morgentaler has been overlooked because the Chancellery does not want to be seen as taking sides in the abortion debate.
But Mr. Ruby, who has never shied away from taking on provocative causes or clients (incluant le docteur Hyde Morgentaler), does not believe that being controversial excludes one from investiture. (J'ai toujours prétendu qu'Hitler était un personnage controversé et qu'il devrait recevoir l'Ordre du Canada. Ses victimes seraient tellelment contentes!)

"Clearly, Henry Morgentaler is one of the most courageous Canadians of our generation," (courageux pour avoir tué des bébés sans défense?) he said. "The longer his exclusion from the Order of Canada persists, the more peculiar it is." (Non, c'est le bon sens...la seule chose à faire dans notre pays autrement à l'envers dont les chefs ont rejeté l'héritage sain et sage judò-chrétien qui nous avait si bien servi jusqu'à maintenant.)

The sense of urgency is driven, in part, by a sense of history. It has been 20 years since the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada's abortion law (as well as 35 years since the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court). ( 20 X 35 000 = 700 000 bébés tués pour le Québec seulement. Hitler, dans ses rêves les plus fous, n'aurait pas osé penser à cette réussite et succès.)

The path to that decision arguably began in 1967, when Dr. Morgentaler presented a brief to the House of Commons health and welfare committee in which he urged that Canada's restrictive abortion law be repealed.

The next year, he performed his first abortion and then, in 1969, he defied the law by opening a private abortion clinic. In 1970, the doctor was arrested and acquitted, but the acquittal was overturned and he served 10 months of an 18-month sentence in prison.

Legal battles multiplied until the issue made its way to the highest court. On Jan. 28, 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada's abortion law, ruling that Parliament had a legitimate interest in protecting human fetuses but that the existing prohibition on abortion was disproportionate in its means and failed to protect women's right to security of the person. (Mais le bébé à naître a aucun droit en Trudeaumanie Morticolie. Le meurte est légal. Il s'agit de décider qui est un humain. C'est comme un restaurant chinois, au choix! Les gens de robe seul décident. Ils sont tellement remplis de compassion et de sagesse...)

Supporters of the nomination are also racing against a practical reality: There is no posthumous appointment to the Order of Canada and Dr. Morgentaler is 84 and in precarious health, having suffered a severe stroke. (Cela veut dire que les victimes du docteur Hyde ne recevront jamais l'ordre du Canada? C'est injuste pour le bon docteur...)

"Practically, time is running out. It's our last chance," Ms. Egan said. (Le boucher de bébés mérite la condamnation seulement. Idéalement, il devrait demander pardon et se repentir de sa façon diabolique et se prosterner devant Dieu pour Lui demander grâce et pardon pour le crime de masse. Il mérite aucun honneur, encore moins le plus grand honneur du pays.)

At its annual general meeting in January, Ontario university student representatives voted overwhelmingly in support of the nomination. "Choice (Tuer le bébé.. tout un choix!) is something that students - particularly women of my generation - feel strongly about," said Jen Hassum, chairwoman of the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students. (Pourtant le Gobe-Mouches Globe & Mail a terminé son sondage assez vite en voyant les résultats!)

Yet while pro-choice activists push hard for the nomination, anti-abortion (pour que l'enfant vive) activists warn that they will battle to prevent Dr. Morgentaler from being honoured. (Qu'ils sont donc méchants ces gens pour la vie!)

"I really can't conceive of why we would give Morgentaler the Order of Canada. I can't think of anyone less deserving," said Andrea Mrozek, founding director of ProWomanProLife. (Bravo Andrea pour vous battre pour nous tous. Saint Raymond Gravel et le BQ devraient en prendre de la graine!) (Je n'en revins pas! le Globe & Mail a publié les vues d'une combattante pour la vie et la protection des bébés et de la femme. C'est stupéfiant!)

Ms. Mrozek said the selection committee has been wise to reject nominations in the past and should hold firm. "Yes, he is a public figure, but this honour should be reserved for people who make a positive contribution," she said. "It would create a terrible precedent if a controversial figure who has done women irreparable harm gains a place in the hall of honour."

The Order of Canada was created in 1967 to "recognize a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation." Those recognized - 5,541 people to date - should have "enriched the lives of others and made a difference to the country."

Beyond those generalities, the criteria used by the selection committee - a blue-ribbon group decreed in the Constitution - are secret, as are their deliberations. Each year, no more than 220 people can be appointed to the Order of Canada, including 15 companions, 64 officers, 136 members and five honorary (non-Canadians).

Many are nominated, but few are chosen: There are about 800 nominations a year, and they are kept on file and open for consideration for up to five years.

In recent years, Dr. Morgentaler has been passed over in favour of such luminaries as CBC-TV host Valerie Pringle and country singer Wayne Rostad.

Then again, Dr. Morgentaler is not alone in being snubbed. Singer Neil Young has never been invested into the Order of Canada, but Bobby Gimby, whose one hit was the Expo-era Ca-na-da, is among the illustrious honorees. (Sans oublier Lucien Bouchar, Brian Mulroney, Lise Payette, Pierre Bourgeault et sa secrétaire Michèle Duclos, saint Raymond Gravel, TQS, Guy Fournier, Laflaque, Guy A. LeZouave, Ti-coune, le gouverneur des Trois-Rivières, Ronald McDonald, Ding et Dong, Séraphin Poudrier, Donalda Laloge, The Lone Ranger, l'Indien qui apparaissait à la télévision en noir et blanc, et Jean Passe... Par chance que le ridicule ne tue pas: plusieurs seraient morts.)

While it inflames passions, Dr. Morgentaler's case is not unique. In fact, it is similar to that of Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw, who founded Canada's first family-planning (klan killinghood) clinic in 1932 in Hamilton. Denounced as a heretic for her promotion of birth control (which was illegal in Canada until 1969), she was one of the first nominees for the Order of Canada and was rejected several times. (On se demande bien pourquoi! En 2008, c'est la terre brûlée qui est le résultat final de l'avortement sur demande.)

Dr. Bagshaw was finally invested in 1972 at the age of 90. Today, there is a Vancouver abortion clinic named after her, the Elizabeth Bagshaw Women's Clinic. (Les survivants de l'holocauste y font un pèlerinage tous les ans...)

The deciders
Appointees to the Order of Canada are chosen by an independent advisory council, whose composition is set out in the Constitution.

Six members of the council are appointed based on their positions. Currently, they are:
Beverley McLachlin, PC, Chief Justice of Canada;
Kevin Lynch, clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet;
Judith A. LaRocque, CVO, Deputy Minister, Canadian Heritage;
Karen Kain, CC, chair, Canada Council for the Arts;
Yvan Guindon, CM, PhD, president, the Royal Society of Canada;
Thomas D. Traves, chair, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
Up to five additional people named to the Order of Canada are appointed to the council by the Governor-General for a term of three years and not exceeding five years. They are:
Patricia A. Baird, OC, OBC, professor emerita at the University of British Columbia;
Daurene E. Lewis, CM, principal of the Nova Scotia Community College Technology Campus;
L. Jacques Ménard, OC; chairman of BMO Nesbitt Burns;
J.E. (Ted) Newall, OC, chairman of Nova Chemicals Corp.
The advisory council must also include one other person in its deliberations. She participates in the review of nominations but is not a member of the council:
Marie-Lucie Morin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
André Picard
André Picard is The Globe and Mail's Public Health Reporter. (Qui a nommé cette brochette en poste?)