From: ‘Al Romanchuk’ [email protected]
Subject: The smearing of Monika Schaefer and her right to freedom of speech
Date: July 22, 2016
To: [email protected]
Mr. Clarke,
Not only was I disappointed in your article allowing the printing of the condemnation of Miss Schaefer by Ken Kuzminski and the two Jewsish organizations, I became downright angry. I am an 80 year old now retired in Kelowna but was once the alderman and Mayor of Grande Prairie where I lived and worked as a lawyer for 15 glorious years. Allowing Mr. Kuzminski to smear and degrade Miss Schaefer, along with the Jewish organizations THE CENTRE FOR ISRAEL & JEWISH AFFAIRS and the EDMONTON JEWISH FEDERATION, for no apparent good reason other than in your OPINION she went too far in her video questioning the so-called Jewish holocaust.
I have been an avid free speech advocate all my life. I believe that freedom of speech INCLUDES the right to offend. If people don’t like what I say or write they don’t have to hear me nor read my articles. But here you have allowed self-seeking groups and an individual to perpetuate a lie about Miss Schaefer when all she REALLY did was IN HER OPINION deny the holocaust. And there are many deniers out there.
As a lawyer I have been taught to question, question, question and question because you’ll never get an answer without questioning. So I took the liberty of writing to these two Jewish organizations, one of which labelled Miss Schaefer an ‘ignoramus’ and ‘anti-semite’, and asked them a simple question: SINCE YOU HAVE ASSERTED THE POSITIVE THAT THE GERMANS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE KILLING OF EXACTLY 6 MILLION JEWS DURING WW2, PLEASE PROVIDE ME WITH WRITTEN AND SUBSTANTIATED EVIDENCE OF YOUR ASSERTION BECAUSE IT IS YOU THAT HAS THE BURDEN OF PROOF. I have yet to receive answers.
KuzminskiNDP
As for Mr. Kuzminski he ought to be ashamed of himself as President of the Jasper Legion to inflame the public against Miss Schaefer for expressing her opinion. Quite frankly I don’t think that Mr. Kuzminski knows the first thing about the history of the so-called Jewish holocaust of WW2. His bigoted opinion against Miss Schaefer deserves the worst condemnation because as the grand pooh-bear of a prestigious organization he should know better. If he doesn’t believe in free, unfettered speech then he should have the guts, the mettle, to say so. The same goes for every Jewish organization in Canada.
I support Miss Schaefer and HER DEMOCRATIC RIGHT to say what she wants in a non-aggressive manner and her video is no exception. Blocking freedom of speech and of the press is nothing short of silencing those of us who believe in the unrestricted right to our freedoms.
ALEXANDER S. ROMANCHUK
Kelowna, BC
Email: romanesq@shaw. ca