On Thursday, Canada Customs, that wonderfully-democratic institution of unelected bureaucrats, decided that Canadians weren't capable of deciding whether Pastor Terry Jones, whose congregation held a Quran burning in March 2011, was worth listening to. This is the same institution that led a discriminatory moral crusade against LGBTQ bookstores Little Sister's and Glad Day Bookshop back in the 1990s, and just recently, prevented a PG-rated movie from being brought into the country, because it was destined to be played at the LGBTQ-focused Inside Out Film Festival. They have a long history of overstepping their authority, and today's denial of entry for Terry Jones is just another case of censorship at the hands of unelected and unaccountable government officials.
As for Terry Jones, I don't have a very high opinion of him, and I don't really care for what he has to say. Would his words constitute hate speech? Perhaps. If so, Canadian law allows us to hold him accountable for what he says while he's here. But that's a very different proposition than deliberately holding him up at the border based on what he might say, and refusing Canadians the right to make that determination for themselves. I believe that it's much harder to discredit a silenced voice than it is to legitimately criticize an outspoken bigot, and it simply empowers him further by making him feel victimized for his opinions.
However, by taking the choice away from Canadians to decide what they're capable of hearing and evaluating for themselves, Canada Customs has done our country yet another disservice. Unfortunately, that's exactly what they've been doing for decades, and this Canadian, for one, is sick of it.
Canada Customs, stop treating Canadians like children, and give us the respect and courtesy of letting us evaluate things for ourselves. Your job is not to tell us what we can or cannot read, or can or cannot hear; your job is to ensure that duty is paid on imported goods and that banned substances are stopped at our borders. Please stop taking it upon yourselves to police our thoughts and minds, and get back to policing goods and commodities like you're supposed to.
This post originally appeared on the author's website, www.MsNikkiThomas.com.
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Anyone? Whatever, at least stop regurgitating the 'official party line' of why he wasn't allowed into the country. They searched his cell phone and laptop, asked him what he was going to say at the rally, etc. They new who they were dealing with and concocted whatever excuse they could find to keep him out.
If you're going to employ that style of strongarm tactic to control public discourse, at least recognize it for what it is. There's no need to support bald-faced propaganda here. We're big kids. We can handle the truth...but I guess our government doesn't see it that way. Most don't. Power corrupts...
Our border agents are empowered by elected officials to evaluate people as they attempt to enter our country. Do they always get it right? No. In this case, I believe they did. This man has committed acts of hatred and inciting violence in his own country that would be considered illegal in ours. We have the right to bar him from entry. Our judicial system is overburdened enough without laying out the welcome mat for someone we know damn well intends to fly in the face of our hate laws.
No one has silenced him. He can go on saying whatever he wants within his own country. Canadians can evaluate his words from where he is. If Canadians want to see him in person, he can speak somewhere just on the US side of the border. No one can stop Canadians from going there -- unless American border guards deny them entry. And you can bet the US would have no qualms about that.
Mr Jones right to free speech has not been infringed. He can still say all he wants on any platform he chooses. Canadians can listen to what he has to say if Mr Jones makes it available through the various media available to him, including the Internet.
Mr Jones is free to try to enter Canada again, he simply has to bring the proper documentation with him to prove that he is admissible into Canada.
Now, tell me what country you might be trying to enter?
I grew up near a border city. I know people who got a DUI 20 years ago that have been denied entry to the US. Sovereign nations are perfectly within their rights making calls as to who gets in and who doesn't.
It should be noted that you and I are also perfectly within our rights criticising each of those decisions. Free speech, FTW.
"The statement said Jones and a travelling companion were refused entry based on an arrest in Michigan last year for refusing to pay a peace bond as well as a fine by the German government for using the title Doctor based on an honorary doctorate he received from a California university in 1993. Jones said he appealed both disputes and won but the statement indicated that border officials told him they needed more documentation in order to allow him to enter."