Juno News - June 15, 2023


Here’s what really happened at the Ottawa gender ideology protest


Episode Stats


Length

9 minutes

Words per minute

129.89734

Word count

1,240

Sentence count

65

Harmful content

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Rupa Subramania investigates a recent protest in which a coalition of counter-protesters organized by far-left NGO Horizon Ottawa attempted to counter an anti-gender ideology protest organized by a far-right group in the Westboro neighbourhood of Ottawa.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hi there, everybody. Welcome to the Rupa Subramania show. I am Rupa Subramania. On today's show,
00:00:24.280 we investigate a recent protest in Ottawa involving two opposing groups. I happened to
00:00:31.020 attend the protests in the Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa, and I wrote about it for the National
00:00:37.660 Post this past week, and some of what I say here is inspired and excerpted from my column in the
00:00:45.860 National Post. So this past weekend, this last Friday in fact, a protest against gender ideology
00:00:52.760 was organized by Chris Elston. He's a prominent anti-gender ideology activist. He's popularly
00:01:01.520 known as Billboard Chris because he walks around, he goes around the world wearing a sandwich board
00:01:08.120 on his chest, protesting against gender ideology and the medical transitioning of minors. It also
00:01:17.680 featured Josh Alexander, a high school student from Ontario. You might recall I interviewed Josh a few
00:01:24.860 weeks ago on my show. He was suspended from his Catholic high school for protesting against gender
00:01:32.100 ideology. It's very important to note that the goal of these protests, of this protest organized by Elston
00:01:39.620 and Alexander, was to advocate against the medical transitioning of children rather than gay rights.
00:01:46.620 Indeed, the protest included gay people who shared concerns about the transgender agenda
00:01:52.380 and the indoctrination of kids with radical gender ideology. In response to this protest,
00:02:00.760 there was a counter protest organized by a far left NGO called Horizon Ottawa, known for advocating
00:02:08.820 progressive social causes across the city. They collaborated with labor unions such as the Public
00:02:14.780 Service Alliance of Canada and community groups in Ottawa's West Borough neighborhood. While for the
00:02:21.980 most part the protests were most part remained peaceful, I did notice two individuals wearing masks
00:02:30.120 completely covered in face masks from the counter protest. They attempted to physically confront
00:02:36.840 billboard Chris, but he stood his ground and took it on rather stoically. One of the things that struck me
00:02:45.320 about the protests and the counter protest was the demographic makeup of these two groups. On the side
00:02:51.880 opposing gender ideology, I saw a coalition consisting of people of color, devout Muslims and Christians, and
00:03:02.600 children. It almost represented a cross section of Canada. In contrast, the counter protest was primarily led by
00:03:10.520 masked white Canadians. Now, I point this out because I remembered something from the Freedom Convoy. One of the
00:03:17.800 accusations made against the Freedom Convoy from its critics was that it comprised mostly of white people, white
00:03:26.520 Canadians, so therefore it must mean that the movement is far right and white supremacist. It's really ironic
00:03:34.840 that the progressive left, which is often quick to label, causes they disagree with as being far right because it
00:03:41.880 mostly features white people in this instance found themselves facing a more diverse group opposing the
00:03:49.720 transgender agenda. Now, these counter protesters seemed embarrassed by the fact that their supposed opponents
00:03:59.400 included people of color and also included socially conservative Muslims. This completely shattered the 0.98
00:04:06.760 progressive narrative that they were the only ones standing up for minorities and fighting
00:04:11.480 against what Muslims perceived to be Islamophobia. Suddenly, they found themselves confronted by devout Muslims
00:04:20.920 holding differing views. It almost appears that the progressive support for minority causes comes with the
00:04:28.360 expectation that those they supported must align with their social agenda. But here's the thing, the hypocrisy runs
00:04:37.000 both ways. Muslim Canadian advocates gladly will accept progressive support in combating what they perceive 0.98
00:04:43.800 to be Islamophobia. However, when it comes to social causes, including gay rights, many conservative Muslims
00:04:52.680 expressed their opposition, as some did during their protests. The progressive push on gender ideology
00:04:59.480 has unfortunately and inadvertently brought religion into the equation, leading to what I think is a
00:05:08.120 regression in the consensus around gay rights that Canada has long held. And that would be most unfortunate.
00:05:16.280 Now, to be fair, the Muslim community, to my knowledge, had no problem with pride as it existed a few years ago.
00:05:23.160 But things have clearly changed now. And a lot of it, I think, has to do with the successive focus on gender
00:05:28.600 ideology and pride in schools across Canada. They've simply had enough of this, and they're now speaking up.
00:05:36.040 The progressive advocates for gender ideology, such as the counter-protesters in Ottawa,
00:05:41.160 undermine their cause by taking an extreme position where any disagreement, particularly regarding children,
00:05:48.040 is dismissed as reactionary and far-right. I made several attempts to interview the counter-protesters,
00:05:55.160 but they simply refused to engage and insisted on speaking only to accredited journalists from the CBC or CTV.
00:06:03.480 I found a real unwillingness by the counter-protesters to consider alternative viewpoints.
00:06:10.040 Now, these so-called progressives really exposed their hypocrisy by suggesting that ethnic minorities
00:06:17.880 and immigrants who disagree with their agenda should leave Canada if they feel betrayed. 0.96
00:06:23.000 It's not just hypocrisy. I mean, this is just xenophobic. 0.56
00:06:25.640 It displays an illiberal attitude and a complete disregard for free speech and diversity of thought.
00:06:34.280 It's really quite astonishing to witness the lengths that they're willing to go to discredit their
00:06:40.040 opponents, such as the alleged feigned assault by Joel Hardin, an NDP member of the provincial parliament.
00:06:47.480 To my mind, this protest and the counter-protest highlighted the hypocrisy and negative consequences
00:06:54.360 resulting from the forceful promotion of gender ideology by the progressive left, especially in our schools.
00:07:01.720 Also, Canada's stance on medical transitioning for minors and the use of puberty blockers
00:07:07.640 differs from that of other major Western democracies. Countries like Sweden and Norway,
00:07:13.880 once pioneers of transgender rights, have now restricted gender-affirming care for minors.
00:07:20.360 The UK's National Health Service recently limited puberty blockers to clinical trials only.
00:07:27.320 However, here in Canada, our regulatory bodies have remained silent. They seem to be accepting the
00:07:33.480 extreme progressive view that such medical treatments should continue to remain as they are.
00:07:39.240 Meanwhile, our political leaders across the political spectrum choose to ignore this debate, avoiding
00:07:47.000 taking a clear stance on this crucial issue. Their silence reflects cowardice rather than virtue.
00:07:54.120 If our political leaders fail to engage in sensible discussions, we really risk escalating the debate to
00:08:00.520 extreme levels. For example, endangering the hard-won rights of the gay community, which were achieved through 0.99
00:08:07.400 decades of struggle. Canada is experiencing a tragic regression driven by a progressive elite that is
00:08:14.200 eager to push the boundaries even further. It's very important for our political leaders to step up and
00:08:20.280 participate in a thoughtful and balanced discussion about the limits of medical transition for minors.
00:08:27.240 Ignoring this issue will not make it disappear. It will only allow it to fester and deepen the divide in our
00:08:33.400 society. We need leaders who are willing to advocate for the rights of all Canadians while respecting the
00:08:40.200 concerns of those who question the prevailing gender ideology orthodoxy. If we continue down this path of
00:08:48.120 ideological absolutism, dismissing any dissent as bigotry or ignorance, we risk alienating a significant
00:08:56.200 portion of society, including minorities. Canada's values should not be dictated by a select few
00:09:02.920 who are easily outraged, but by a genuine commitment to freedom, diversity, and respect for differing opinions.
00:09:10.680 In the face of this growing divide, it is vital that we approach these complex issues with nuance,
00:09:16.520 empathy, and a sincere desire to find common ground. We should not allow the strident voices of extremism
00:09:23.480 to drown out those advocating reason and moderation. On that note, thank you for joining me and I hope to
00:09:30.760 see you again soon.