May 15, 2010

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RE: Don Martin: Author warns of growing influence of religious right in Canadian politics

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In recent days the national media has be buzzing with their coverage of Marci McDonald’s book, “The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada”.  

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It has stirred a great deal of controversy, as McDonald presents her perspective regarding the political influence the “Christian Right” in Canada.

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As this controversy has been unfolding it appears that one of the more popular quotes from McDonald’s book, which was making some headlines, is from a speech I gave a few years ago to a small group of youth where the main point of the message was to encourage them to become responsibly engaged citizens.  

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In the speech I described youth movements of the past – one of which was during Hitler’s time.  I posed the question,  “If these young people could use their focus and passion for such evil, what could our generation accomplish with the same kind of focus but for ‘good’?” I was referring to combating things like human trafficking, poverty, life issues etc.

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At the time, my content and intent was to inpsire my audience to engage in the democratic process – showing them that they could make a difference for ‘good’ today.  However, now I can see how using this example was inappropriate.

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I would like to publicly apologize for my choice in referencing this historical example.  I will not use this example again and will seek to be much more sensitive to the impact my comments could have on a wider audience. I, of course, abhor the honlocause and do not want any young people to follow Hitler's eample.
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Faytene Kryskow