RELIGIOUS TOUR GROUP PRAYS ON LEGISLATIVE BUILDING STEPS
Winnipeg Free Press, August 20 2005
ABOUT 65 people prayed and took communion on the front steps of the Legislative Building yesterday as a busload of young "urban missionaries" stopped in Winnipeg during their trek from Victoria, B.C., to Ottawa.The "Siege 2005" tour is headed by a 30-year-old Vancouver woman, Faytene Kryskow of Fly High Ministries. Kryskow and about nine other young people have prayed for lawmakers at the legislative buildings in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan and added Manitoba to their list yesterday.
Their next step is Queen's Park in Toronto before winding up their tour in Ottawa.
Kryskow said her ministry stands for "traditional morality." People in Winnipeg who attended the rally said they want to pray for lawmakers because they are concerned about issues such as the recent legalization of same-sex marriages.Canada became the world's fourth country to legalize same-sex marriage when Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin gave the Liberal government's Bill C-38 royal assent. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has vowed to bring the law, or an amended version of it, back to the House of Commons for another vote, should his party form government.
"Churches need to pray for those in authority," said Ken McGhie of Winnipeg.
Kryskow invoked the name of a key figure in Manitoba history, talking to the group about how religion influenced Louis Riel."They actually called him a lunatic because he prayed so much," she said.