WARMINGTON: Mayor says he refuses to be bullied or pay fine for not flying Pride flag

(Toronto Sun, Dec 02, 2024) • Last updated 3 hours ago • 8 minute read

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A Northern Ontario mayor fined for voting against flying a Pride flag says he will not be bullied into paying the $5,000 penalty. — In this file photo taken on Nov. 20, 2022, a community member’s silhouette is seen through a Pride flag while paying their respects to the victims of the mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photo by JASON CONNOLLY /AFP via Getty Images

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A Northern Ontario mayor who was fined for voting against flying a Pride flag at his town hall says he will not be bullied into paying the $5,000 penalty.

Nor will Mayor Harold McQuaker be taking LGBTQ training as he has been ordered to by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO)

And, McQuaker, insisted he won’t cave to demands that he must host a Drag Time story hour in the local library, either.

Canada may be a free country in some places. But not in Emo Township — 380 kilometres west of Thunder Bay on the Canada-U.S. border. In this township, defying LGBTQ demands can not only land you a stiff fine, but also an order to attend a re-education camp, too.

This story which has had coverage in the United States and Europe is happening in Premier Doug Ford’s Ontario where they can’t seem to keep repeat gunman from being let out on bail but they can throw the book at a soon-to-be 77-year-old rural mayor of a tiny village.

“I utterly refuse to pay the $5,000 because that’s extortion,” McQuaker told The Toronto Sun

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Whether Emo, located across from Minnesota, pays its $10,000 fine from the HRTO will be decided Tuesday.

“I have a lot of respect for our four councillors,” said the mayor. “We have a special meeting of council, and they will decide that and what to do next. Either pay the fine or appeal it?”

Their choices are simple: Either buckle and bend to the pressure being brought on them by the OHRC and a local Pride group or tell them to go pound salt.

“The Township shall pay to Borderland Pride the sum of $10,000 as compensation for infringement of the Code,” said HRTO Commissioner Karen Dawson in her Nov. 20 ruling. “Mayor McQuaker shall pay to Borderland Pride the sum of $5,000 as compensation for infringement of the Code.”

Emo Township in Nothern Ontrario has been ordered to a $10,000 pay a fine by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for not voting to fly a Pride flag -- photo courtesy of Borderland Pride — Emo Township in Northern Ontario has been ordered to a $10,000 pay a fine by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for not voting to fly a Pride flag — photo courtesy of Borderland Pride

She added “Mayor McQuaker and the Township’s current CAO shall complete the OHRC eLearning Module, titled Human Rights 101, and provide proof of completion of same to Borderland Pride within 30 days of the date of this decision.”

It sounds like a prison sentence — only tougher than most criminals ever receive. It also shows when the motion was brought to council in 2020 to fly a Pride flag for Pride month, it was not a request but a demand, punishable by fine should council not play ball.

Police Remove Citizen From Council Meeting For Holding American Flag

SMG News WireDecember 2, 2024

[Perhaps, Nishith Patel, Edison Township Council President just doesn’t get the importance of the American flag and the Constitution. The fruits of diversity!]

The Edison Township Council in New Jersey has banned citizens from having American flags, copies of the U.S. Constitution or “other props” at meetings.

A citizen who objected to the new rules was told by council president Nishith Patel that he was in violation ordered police to remove the man from the council chamber.

“To consider the American flag and the Constitution a prop when someone raises it is an insult to what the flag is, what the flag stands for and what this country is,” resident Maryann Hennessey told MyCentralJersey.com. “For you to consider the use of the American flag a prop is disgusting.”

READ: Twilight’s Last Gleaming: Can America Be Saved? President Trump Says It’s a “Must Read” book.

Patel told the Edison Reporter that “any props will be considered not conducive to good order and as the President I am making that call.”

“The American flag is a symbol of our nation and our values,” resident Joel Bassoff told the Edison Reporter. “To suggest that displaying it is disruptive is an insult to everything it stands for.”

Patel then told Bassoff he was in violation of the council’s rules by holding the American flag.

“It’s my constitutional right to do this,” Bassoff said. “If you get sued, you will lose. My suggestion to you is that you get a second opinion from competent counsel because you are wrong.”

At that point police were summoned and Bassoff was removed from the room.

Residents can be heard clapping as Bassoff continued. “You are interfering with the decorum of this meeting by interfering with the right to speech of a member of the public. And it should stop now,” he said.

Edison Republican Chairwoman Sylvia Engle said that banning the flag from council meetings “goes beyond normal political discourse between parties and will be destructive to our diverse community. This goes beyond common sense, quite frankly it’s absurd.”

Men and women sacrificed their lives for that flag and it’s disgraceful to imagine elected officials would dare to ban Old Glory. Watch the entire encounter below.