Monday, February 14, 2011

A win for freedom

Sometimes you can fight City Hall.

Just ask Marta and Lech Jaworski, a courageous couple who took on a bunch of bullying municipal bureaucrats and won.

Here's the back story:

For the past ten years the Jaworskis have allowed their son, Peter, to use their rural Ontario property to host the Liberty Summer Seminar, one of the premier libertarian/conservative events in Canada.

Never had a problem.

But last year, acting on an anonymous complaint, officials from the Municipality of Clarington claimed by hosting the LSS the Jaworskis had violated an obscure zoning by-law.

The charge carried with it a staggering $50,000 fine.

The Jaworskis, who were barely making ends meet, would have been ruined.

When they tried to talk reason with local officials the only advice the mayor could give was they should “beg for mercy.”

Well, the Jaworskis, who escaped from Communist Poland, didn't do "begging" . They decided, instead, to fight back.

And fortunately, they soon had the support of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, an excellent organization that mounts legal challenges to defend individual liberty.

The CCF argued by banning the LSS, the Clarington authorities were infringing on the right to free assembly.

It was a good argument. So good, in fact, the charges against the Jaworskis were dropped. Read about the case here.

This story provides two key lessons.

First, sometimes the best way to stand up for freedom is just to show a willingness to fight. Bureaucrats and politicians often don't expect us to fight for our rights. And when we do, they will sometimes back off.

Second, it's important to have organizations out there that care about promoting and protecting conservative values, organizations like the CCF.

Please contribute to this worthy organization.

There are a lot of battles yet to be won.



6 comments:

Agata said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Agata said...

Very well put Gerry. It certainly was a decision to fight and thanks to the CCF we won!

Anonymous said...

I'm very happy that the Jaworski's prevailed - i remember hearing about this a while back and wrote a missive to Clarington municipality deploring their ham fisted behavior.

Kudos to the CCF

Agent Smith

Anonymous said...

we need to fight as hard or harder when it comes to freedom in our country. how about we push just as hard against the hrc's. hmmm. old white guy.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear it.

johndoe124 said...

Sincere Congratulations to the Jaworskis. Unfortunately I don't feel a whole lot freer in a country where our only choices are for authoritarian ruling elites who take its people and its resources completely and utterly for granted.