Juno News - CBC takes aim at Christian advocacy group (ft. Faytene Grasseschi)

00:00:00.000 I want to talk about the story that really piqued my interest at CBC, which I should say I do so

00:00:17.260 you don't have to. I read CBC so that you don't have to, and I just deliver you stuff that I feel

00:00:22.580 might rise to the level of being relevant, or at least relevant in the sense of being fodder for

00:00:28.120 why the pledges to defund the CBC are increasingly compelling. This was a story that was framed as

00:00:35.980 though it was alerting us to the existence of some far-right radical Christian cultist conspiracy

00:00:42.660 of some kind. Breakaway believers warn PC party of dominionist religious movement. Now, I'm a

00:00:51.260 religious person myself. I understand trends in the religious world and trends in the political world,

00:00:56.200 and they were using terms in this that I've really not been familiar with, like dominionist

00:01:01.680 and the other one that they acronymize as NAR. I think it's like the, now I forget what it is,

00:01:08.780 what it stands for, but it's like apostolic, there we go, the new apostolic reformation,

00:01:13.180 which is kind of used more as a smear than anything else. But they talk about this group of

00:01:17.740 folks that have been assembling that are generally people of faith that have been mobilizing on a

00:01:22.000 number of issues, particularly in New Brunswick, where right now people of faith, and I would

00:01:27.240 point out people who are not at all connected to any religion, organized or otherwise, have been

00:01:33.100 speaking up in support of parents' rights and in support of the New Brunswick government's defense

00:01:38.220 of parental rights in school. And there was a photo that I thought was quite lovely from the Canadian

00:01:44.440 Prophetic Council, which is one of the groups that has attracted the ire of CBC, reenacting in front of

00:01:51.860 the Lieutenant Governor's residence in Charlottetown, this famous photo that you may recall from 1864

00:01:58.680 in the lead up to Confederation. And Justin Trudeau should be very happy because unlike the original,

00:02:03.800 we've got gender balance in this. We've got women represented, unlike those old sexist, misogynist, 1.00

00:02:09.200 white supremacist, homophobe, neo-Nazi fathers of Confederation that Canada had. These ones 0.99

00:02:14.660 are gender balanced and ethnically diverse. Do you think that would make Justin Trudeau

00:02:19.080 and CBC happy? But nevertheless, they are not. And they've actually found a few religious dissidents

00:02:26.460 to cast dispersions on this group and its motivation, saying they want to make a Canada that's unsafe

00:02:32.460 for marginalized communities, which if you look at what they're doing is actually nowhere near

00:02:37.020 what they're doing. But I wanted to get to the bottom of this. Fetine Grzeski joins us. She is

00:02:41.620 a fantastic television host and also the founder of a group that is very much name-checked in this,

00:02:47.980 that is For My Canada. And I've had the great privilege of being on Fetine's show, and it's

00:02:52.240 lovely to have her back here as well. Fetine, good to talk to you. Thanks for coming on today.

00:02:57.060 Hey, Andrew. Always a pleasure to chat with you.

00:02:59.900 So just for context here, what is For My Canada and what is the Canadian Prophetic Council? Because a lot

00:03:05.740 of people, I think, have only heard of these for the first time through the CBC lens, which is

00:03:10.480 through the CBC lens. Yeah. Well, you know, and then there would be a good reason why people haven't

00:03:16.580 heard of it because we're actually not super, super active on, quote unquote, the national stage. So

00:03:22.360 For My Canada, ironically, was a group that we used to go down to the streets in Vancouver and give out

00:03:29.800 food, give out chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate to the poor and drug addicted on the

00:03:35.260 corner of Maine and Hastings there. And it was during that time, this was like mid-2000s, that

00:03:41.820 we just got this desire. Like I was not a political kid at all. My dad played NHL. I thought the senators

00:03:47.980 were a hockey team, you know, so politically illiterate. But we just got this burden to begin

00:03:53.720 to speak to our leaders about issues we cared about. And so I took this little band. We rented

00:03:59.720 a minivan. We went across Canada and, you know, we were covered in lots of media at that time. The

00:04:05.320 Winnipeg Press, I think, covered us and there were different periodicals. And we just booked meetings

00:04:10.040 with members of parliament and senators and just talked to them about things that we cared about.

00:04:14.040 And there was a wide range of things that we would chat about. We talk about human trafficking. We would

00:04:18.440 talk about freedom of speech. You know, a lot of the things that we're still talking about today,

00:04:22.680 you know, in different capacities. And that began this basically almost a decade long journey where

00:04:28.840 we just started bringing teams to parliament. Usually a couple times a year. Had over 1500 sit

00:04:34.600 down meetings with members of parliament and senators. I met with Justin Trudeau in his office

00:04:40.200 when he was very first elected. And you know what he said to me right out of the gate, Sandra?

00:04:44.200 He said, let's talk about my Christian faith. That was that was his opening line, you know?

00:04:49.000 Yeah, let's let's talk about it. I would actually accept that offer from him now.

00:04:53.240 And so I have to admit, though, we haven't been super active the last couple of years because

00:04:58.120 those young people became older people and we have babies now and jobs and, you know,

00:05:03.560 we've gotten a lot busier, but we still have an email list and we still push stuff out, you know,

00:05:08.280 when we feel people in our network need to know about something and be given opportunity to take action.

00:05:14.360 I mean, I'm all about civic engagement. I'm all about, you know, if you care about something,

00:05:18.840 get involved. You know, that's why we worked with Joy Smith on our human trafficking bills. 1.00

00:05:23.160 And that's why I do my TV show, you know, because I think there's a lot of stuff I care about. And so,

00:05:27.640 you know, that's basically the heart of it. In terms of the Canadian prophetic council,

00:05:32.280 honestly, it's pretty benign as well. It's just a group of leaders from across Canada,

00:05:36.920 some pastors, people that lead different kinds of ministries that usually about once a year,

00:05:41.880 we kind of got shut down during COVID, usually about once a year, we'll just come together and

00:05:45.320 we'll just pray together and share hearts together about what we're feeling about the state of our

00:05:49.960 nation and what we can do to be positive contributors. So it's really as simple as that.

00:05:55.080 Yeah. And it's funny. And I, and I don't mean this to besmirch any of the work that you're doing,

00:05:59.480 because I think it's wonderful, but this doesn't come up on any of the discussions that I have as,

00:06:04.840 you know, being these like really top, really hyperactive and hyper influential political

00:06:10.440 groups, because by your own definition, that's not really what you've strived to be. But

00:06:14.040 the way CBC talks about it, it's that, you know, it's you and a few evil, scary Christians, 1.00

00:06:18.120 just like pulling the strings on the political system from behind the scenes. And I, I mean, 0.97

00:06:22.760 it's like, if, if you guys were running the show, we wouldn't be in the problems we're in right now as

00:06:27.160 a country. Well, who knows, you know, but you know, yeah, you're absolutely right. And like I said,

00:06:35.480 a few moments ago, I'm just all about civic engagement. So when I see something that that's

00:06:39.560 happening, and here I live in New Brunswick, we actually moved here, we were part of the COVID

00:06:43.400 Exodus out of Ontario, you know, you know, New Brunswick has had a real surge of people actually

00:06:48.520 from Ontario and other parts of the nation. And, and so we're here just raising our family,

00:06:52.440 we moved here for community. And, you know, and then Premier Higgs, you know, he sticks his neck out

00:06:58.040 on this amendment to 713, saying, Hey, we want to ensure that things aren't being hidden from parents

00:07:05.960 in terms of, you know, what's happening with their kids at school, in terms of their sexual

00:07:10.360 health journey. Right. And so, you know, I was taught. Oh, we lost 18. See, this is what happens

00:07:17.160 when you, you know, get Bill C11 is that anytime something like this comes up, people all get

00:07:21.640 suspicious that Justin Trudeau might be mucking around in the engine room. We'll get 18 back on

00:07:26.760 the show in just a moment here. But I want to just go back to the CBC article for a moment here. And

00:07:32.440 the reason I want to is because the framing of this is that they talked to three people

00:07:39.240 that used to be Christians that now are no longer Christians that really just take out their grievances 0.99

00:07:45.400 on religion itself and their grievances on Christianity itself and Christian values and

00:07:51.160 Christian communities. And then they use that as sort of their wedge to criticize the stuff that 0.97

00:07:57.240 this group is doing. I mean, the one woman in particular here, again, a former Christian who

00:08:02.600 says that now all of the things that these folks are doing are quote, making a really unsafe place

00:08:08.920 for a lot of marginalized groups, especially queer people, especially trans people. I think we have

00:08:14.600 Fetine back with us. And we're sorry about that brief interruption, but we have her back on the line

00:08:19.720 now. Fetine, that that's one of the big concerns I have here is that CBC is doing this thing that

00:08:24.840 we often see from the media, where they take former Christians, people that have had whatever

00:08:29.480 their grievances are with the church, and they use them as sort of authorities on what the church

00:08:34.520 represents. When a lot of the time, I mean, as we know, these stories come from a place of pain

00:08:39.560 in any number of other issues that really have nothing to do with the subject matter.

00:08:43.480 Yeah. And I, you know, my heart goes out to anyone that's been hurt by anyone, you know,

00:08:51.880 and just to say that I'm not exactly sure what's happened with each of the individuals that were

00:08:57.560 interviewed. One of the individuals did go to the same church that I went to. I'm not exactly sure

00:09:03.800 all the stuff that might've happened there. I wasn't directly involved. I did, you know,

00:09:09.160 try to love on her in different ways that I could, but we were just really faint acquaintances really,

00:09:15.160 like I would see her on a Sunday or whatever. But I, I, you know, I think we should all do whatever

00:09:20.360 we can to make peace, right? Like the Bible does say that blessed are the peacemakers. And so I

00:09:26.920 encourage people to pursue those that have been broken and hurt in whatever way they have. But,

00:09:32.120 but that's not what we're talking about here. Like what we're talking about here with the current

00:09:36.680 situation is in New Brunswick is that parents have a concern. It's a legitimate concern. Our

00:09:42.360 parents actually have an appreciation and a legitimate appreciation, and that's an appreciation

00:09:47.240 for what premier Higgs is doing. And they're seeing him getting beat up in the media, cabinet ministers

00:09:52.600 falling off the shakeup call for the leadership review. And so, you know, parents organize, you know,

00:09:58.280 to support something that they appreciate in government. This has nothing to do with religion,

00:10:04.360 other than the fact that there might be a few of us that we happen to be Christian, you know,

00:10:09.080 in the mix. But we actually, after we kind of felt the sense that CBC was starting to go this way and

00:10:13.880 others, we actually put a survey question on the petition and said, Hey, just let us know what

00:10:19.320 background you're from. You know, are you Jewish? Are you Muslim? Are you Christian? Are you from a 0.91

00:10:23.400 secular background? And, and I can verify now that there really is a cross section of support. And so,

00:10:29.880 obviously, you know, it's disappointing to see the conversation kind of drug into the mud of

00:10:35.880 what might even cross the line of religious discrimination, like coming at me for my faith.

00:10:40.520 You know, it's like, man, this is nothing. What happened with these people really has nothing to

00:10:44.440 do with me, though. My heart goes out to them. You know, but let's keep focused here because,

00:10:49.240 and I think if I could just say this, Andrew, like I long for a day, I don't know about you,

00:10:54.600 but I long for a day where we can just raise the water level of civil discourse in the media,

00:11:01.000 where we can actually talk about the issues that Canadians care about, stop with the labeling,

00:11:06.280 stop with the shaming. You know, I heard somebody say once that if I can label you,

00:11:10.360 I don't have to listen to you. And, you know, we've seen that time and time again, you know,

00:11:15.400 we've seen that with, you know, I hate to say Justin Trudeau, you know, calling people that

00:11:19.720 disagreed with his management of COVID-19, racist, misogynistic, you know, a little Métis 0.99

00:11:25.160 woman, you get like, how can you call a Métis woman, you know, but if I can label you,

00:11:29.800 I don't have to listen to you. Right. And that's like, I just want to say as media people, let's

00:11:33.960 take it higher. Like, let's just stop with the labeling and go a little bit deeper with the

00:11:39.240 listening. And I think that's what was really disappointing about this, but hey, I'm keeping my eye on

00:11:43.480 the goal. We're going to continue to encourage people to be a voice, sign the petition and support

00:11:48.040 Premier Higgs and what he's doing. Yeah, no, you're quite right about that,

00:11:51.720 Fatine. I mean, it was confusing because the article was conflating two organizations,

00:11:55.560 two movements. I mean, obviously, they share a common participant in you and by extension,

00:12:00.760 really trying to muddle the discussion around an issue that has been tremendously unifying. I mean,

00:12:05.640 the number of Canadians that, as you know, not from religious backgrounds, and even if they are

00:12:10.280 religious, not necessarily from evangelical Christian backgrounds that are supporting what Blaine

00:12:15.480 Higgs is doing, that are supporting in general, this cause of parental rights is massive. The

00:12:21.480 governments that oppose this are in minorities and certainly the media's narrative on this

00:12:26.040 is in the minority. Yeah. Yeah. And I would just go back to, let's just do more,

00:12:31.320 more listening. And there is an overwhelming, this was actually one of the reasons that I felt to get

00:12:35.880 involved in this because I thought, man, if Blaine Higgs, excuse me, Premier Higgs falls on this

00:12:41.240 mountain, so to speak, this political mountain, it really will be an injustice to democracy because

00:12:47.240 I really believe authentically he is representing the majority of parents. You know, I had one parent

00:12:53.480 say, and I think it was Chris Austin that actually said this in the legislative assembly that,

00:12:57.240 you know, parents, you know, they, they need to sign off on, on if their kids go on a field trip,

00:13:01.720 you know, if their kids, their kids go up the road to the zoo, you know, and to exclude parents from

00:13:08.280 any part of their child's health and wellness journey at school, it just feels so counterintuitive

00:13:14.520 for so many. And so, um, I, I, you know, I just think we need to stay focused there and, you know,

00:13:19.960 it's unfortunate that some, you know, some people want to take it off of that, but I'm committed to

00:13:24.920 keeping my focus here, Andrew. Well, I certainly wanted your voice to be out there to correct the

00:13:29.480 record. You're doing a tremendous work on air and off. Uh, Fatine Grzeski is the host of Fatine TV,

00:13:35.800 the founder of For My Canada, and it's been my pleasure to be on your show and I'm glad to,

00:13:40.520 to repay the favor. Uh, thanks so much, Fatine. Thanks for your time, Andrew. Thanks for listening

00:13:46.120 to the Andrew Lawton Show. Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.

Juno News - July 30, 2023

CBC takes aim at Christian advocacy group (ft. Faytene Grasseschi)

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