Thursday, October 20, 2011

Brody's Notes... Conservative Members Of Canadian Parliament Call For Acceptance & Tolerance

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
Photo courtesy of the U. S. State Department
By Brody Levesque | OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA -- In a speech before the House Of Commons Thursday,Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, told the gathered MP's and ministers that there is no place in the nation's schools for the bullying that drove 15 year-old Jamie Hubley- a gay Ottawa teen- to take his own life.
“I know I would speak for all members of the House to offer our sincere condolences to the family of Jamie Hubley,” Baird said. “Bullying, homophobia, intolerance and incivility have no place in our schools. It underlies the real challenge of depression and mental health, especially among young people. Let us resolve, as a society, to promote tolerance and acceptance of each and every one of our fellow citizens.”
Jamie's father, Allan Hubley is an Ottawa city councillor. According to Hubley, bullying was part of the reason his son took his life. Hubley says the family knew of several occasions when their son was treated cruelly because he preferred figure skating to hockey. More recently Jamie's father says the teen attempted to start a Rainbow Club at his high school to promote acceptance of others.
“The posters were torn down and he was called vicious names in the hallways and online.”
In a statement released on his website Tuesday, Hubley says Jamie struggled with depression and was receiving care from doctors and professional mental health counsellors. His son's funeral services were held Thursday at the Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church attended by over 700 people. The Hubley family did not comment after the funeral but have asked for donations to be made to the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa in honour of Jamie.
Meanwhile, Conservative MPs and staffers posted a video on YouTube in honour of the teen. In it, they tell kids “it gets better” — a reference to the It Gets Better campaign to help young people facing harassment. MPs including Minister Baird, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose also urge teens to help other young people who need help. Earlier this month, members of Parliament debated mental health issues after the Liberals called for a federal suicide-prevention strategy.

1 comments:

Warren C. E. Austin said...

Looking to me like Mr. Harper and his government have had to shift gears rather more than they might have liked to.

First he appoints a constitutional authority as the new Governor General and now his government is having to affirm diversity and equality for all Canadians. His Religion Nazi backers in Chicago are not going to like this; but, once proclaimed publicly has they have done now, he's not going to be able to back away form this anytime soon.

Same-sex Marriage in Canada just got a little more secure than had previously be supposed under his new fangled faith-based government (which incidentally violates Canadian Constitutional Law), and he's been afraind to test for fear of losing his mandate.

Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada