O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, may the courts find a home for thee

sanctus

The Padre
Oct 27, 2006
4,558
48
48
Ontario
www.poetrypoem.com
By Keith Leslie
TORONTO (CP) - Ontario may need a "Christmas tree placement policy" for the 165 courthouses in the province after a Toronto judge ordered a small tree removed from the lobby of a courthouse, Attorney General Michael Bryant said Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Bryant visited the courthouse where Justice Marion Cohen had ordered the Christmas tree moved to an out-of-the-way corridor for fear it would offend non-Christians, and said he talked with Chief Justice Brian Lennox about developing a policy to deal with the situation.
"We agreed that once the season is finished we will sit down in January to have this discussion ... to see if we need to have some standard policy," Bryant said.
"We will continue to monitor the progress of this particular Christmas tree."
Bryant said he was told the tree at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto was moved back to the lobby overnight, but then moved again back to its more secluded location.
"The tree apparently in the dead of night was moved. No fingerprints have been located to date," Bryant joked.
"We don't see the need to bring a habeas corpus application to free the tree yet. Amnesty International has not called to date, but we'll continue to monitor the progress of this incredibly popular, interesting and mobile Christmas tree."
Opposition Leader John Tory didn't find Bryant's comments amusing, especially in light of Tory's failed attempts to get the attorney general to provide court statistics on the number of people on bail who reoffend.
"Here's a man who could muzzle your puppy in the drop of a hat, and can go around and make a personal visitation to a Christmas tree ... and yet he has no plan to look at how many bail violations there are or deal with some of the matters that are raised about sex offenders on the streets," Tory said. "Unbelievable."
But Bryant was unfazed by Tory's comments, and made it clear he wasn't taking the Christmas tree scandal very seriously.
"The Crown is retaining rights to any movie that might be made on the tree," Bryant quipped.
The attorney general also said there would be no disciplinary action taken against Cohen, despite the public outcry over the removal of the Christmas tree from the courthouse lobby.
Cohen came under fire from everyone from the Muslim Canadian Congress to the Canadian Jewish Congress to Premier Dalton McGuinty, who all said political correctness should not threaten such basic traditions as a Christmas tree.
McGuinty noted the Ontario legislature had recently celebrated the Hindu holiday of Diwali, the Islamic holiday Eid, and is currently marking Hanukkah in addition to being decorated for Christmas with several trees throughout the building.


Copyright © 2006 Canadian Press
 

Pangloss

Council Member
Mar 16, 2007
1,535
41
48
Calgary, Alberta
So, if we're going to have religious displays in government buildings, let's have all of them. Ramadan gets a display, a minorah sits beside the witness stand, the Koran in a glass case in the lobby, a statue to Atlas at the foot of the stairs, a bearskin rug for Pan, a pentagram in the marble floor for the Satanists, let's not forget the wiccans, the druids, the gnostics, the polytheism of the Hindus - perhaps someone could dress up as Vishnu to deliver verdicts.

My, my, but our public buildings would be so full of religious bric-brac nobody could ever get any work done.

Stupid that in the one place where everything depends on reason and testable, provable truth - a courthouse - we have a gris gris to superstition.

Pangloss
 

tamarin

House Member
Jun 12, 2006
3,197
22
38
Oshawa ON
Cohen's a spineless reprobate. Out with the jellyfish! Canada, despite the machinations of that twit Trudeau, does have a culture and a heritage and traditions. Christmas trees belong in all public places during the season. Those attempting to put their own imprint on relevant public policy should expect the shortest of shrift.
 

hermanntrude

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jun 23, 2006
7,267
118
63
45
Newfoundland!
west edmonton mall still has christmas trees up. I did also notice that some of them are missing ornaments in all the places physically within reach of the railings