On December 15, 2008 I wrote: Fix Ottawa And We’ll Fix The Problem Of Quebec.
In the editorial, I wrote about my good friend and Constitutional Lawyer Brent Tyler. It’s important that you know more about Brent, since he’s the last man standing in the fight for EQUAL RIGHTS for all people within Quebec.
I met Brent immediately following the 1995 Quebec refernedum. What brought Brent to prominence at that time was his attempt to have a member of the Bloc Quebecois arrested for sedition.
During the heated referendum battle, Jean-Marc Jacob of the Quebec Separatist Bloc Quebecois Party in Ottawa exhorted the French speakers in Canada’s military to desert, and join the new Quebec army once Quebec won the referendum and formed their own separate country.
In any ‘normal’ country, a Member of Parliament encouraging members of the military to desert would be seen as an act of sedition. But, since this is Canada and the Member of Parliament was from Quebec – NO PROBLEM.
Even though the federal government wouldn’t pursue charges against this traitor, and in fact placed insurmountable roadblocks in the way of convicting him, Brent Tyler pursued the issue as far as anyone could, given all that was arrayed against him.
We met a few months later where we spoke of many common RIGHTS issues. It didn’t take long for Brent, myself and a few other very serious RIGHTS ADVOCATES to form a mutual admiration society.
Brent soon became the lawyer for The Quebec Political Action Committee (QPAC), the activist in-your-face group I founded and led from 1995 until the year 2000.
There was no threat to EQUAL RIGHTS QPAC wasn’t prepared to meet head-on in the most aggressive manner allowed by law.
But, even with all the greatest of intentions, bravado and posturing, none of it would have made a difference if we didn’t have the legal champion with the courage and ability to take our efforts before the courts.
BRENT TYLER IS THAT LEGAL CHAMPION.
But nothing is free. Or at least, nothing of value should be free.
During the QPAC days, we funded much of Brent’s challenges, because the Quebec government always focused on the weakest in our society, knowing that business people, such as a one-truck plumber couldn’t possibly be able to defend himself when attacked by the power and wealth of the state.
That’s where Brent always shone. When NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, would be willing to lift a finger to help the MOST VULNERABLE in our society, BRENT DID!
I can’t even begin to list the fights Brent took-on in defense of the most vulnerable targets Quebec’s language police singled-out. Without him, they were dead in the water.
To the ABSOLUTE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, I don’t know of one legitimate case Brent turned-away because the victims couldn’t afford to defend themselves from the xenophobic attacks based ONLY on language.
HERE’S HOW BRENT WAS TREATED FOR HIS COURAGE:
He has been physically attacked. His home and office were attacked. He has been attacked in the courts. He has been vilified in the French and the English media.
The English media, namely the Montreal Gazette, was so intent in showing the French community that they weren’t Anglo hard-asses, that they made a special effort to demean and diminish Brent.
So, when the enemies to Freedom of Choice in Quebec tried to pound Brent into the ground, the Montreal Gazette could always be counted upon to pile on with the rest of them.
But through it all, Brent NEVER ONCE backed down or let anyone down.
Brent received very little money from any of his clients. QPAC helped out as much as we could. Several others donated a few bucks here and there. But in the final analysis, Brent was always on his own.
THE COST TO BRENT:
While spending all of his time defending people who had no one else to turn to, Brent didn’t have the time to pursue lucrative legal work.
Since most of his clients couldn’t afford to pay his bill, they also couldn’t afford to pay the court costs for their own cases. This too came out of Brent’s near empty pockets.
The stress of it all led to the end of Brent’s marriage to a wonderful woman he still admires and cares about. But no spouse should have to live with the pressure caused by Brent’s commitment to fighting for the RIGHTS of all people against a vicious enemy with no morals, scruples or heart.
And then there is REVENUE Quebec, which is hounding Brent to the point where their goal seems to be to force him into bankruptcy, which will end his challenges to Quebec’s racist language laws.
BRENT HAS BEEN HANGING ON BY A THREAD, solely because he cannot imagine himself walking off the battlefield until the final battle is done.
This past Monday (December 15, 2008), Brent fought one of the fights of his life at the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of parents’ RIGHTS to educate their children at private ENGLISH schools, who could then be transferred to Public ENGLISH schools in Quebec.
The litigants against Brent Tyler on behalf of the government of Quebec were the Governments of Quebec and CANADA.
YOU READ IT RIGHT – CANADA!
Canada was an intervener on the side of ethnocentric Quebecois nationalist Quebec in their fight to disallow children from attending private ENGLISH schools in order to qualify to attend public ENGLISH schools within Quebec.
Those who were at the Supreme Court Hearing, said that Brent outdid himself in his defense of the linguistic RIGHTS of parents and children.
I should also mention from what I heard, not from Brent, but from others who were there, that the Supreme Court Justices weren’t all that friendly and warm to Brent. Defending Individual RIGHTS just doesn’t seem to be their thing.
Brent is an integral part of our exceptional legal team that will be fighting against the Township of Russell’s FORCED bilingual sign law. But, if he can’t hold-on because of the pounding he is taking from REVENUE Quebec, we won’t have Brent to help us fight and win our case.
Many of you ask how you can help:
If you are serious about helping, send a donation to Galganov Dot Com Inc, which in turn, we will give a major portion there-of as a retainer to Brent for his part in the defense of the RIGHTS of English speakers to put up signs in the language of OUR CHOICE.
Brent needs the same type of selfless help he has so generously given to others. I sent him $1000. A friend of mine just committed $500.
How grateful are you to Brent for all that he has done, and for all that he has sacrificed?
To help out financially, please go to the Galganov.com HOME PAGE, and click on the HOW TO SUPPORT button located at the top right side of the page.
There is no Galganov Radio Broadcast with the editorial.
Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
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One Comment
Interesting that Israel sees the need for medical personnel to handle the Ebola crises in Africa while our “noble” president sends young solders who will only bring back Ebola to spread across this nation. Soldiers can’t help that disease or any other; that’s not what soldiers do. Scientists and medical personnel are drastically needed, soldiers are not.
Marianne Hart
St. Louis, MO
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