OPINION: Matt McEachran suggests we picture this
Opinion — By JD Booth on May 29, 2012 at 3:32 pmOPINION: By MATT McEACHRAN
Did you know if someone draws a picture of you holding something like drugs or a gun, you can be arrested and charged for possessing it?
Did you know government controlled social workers can take your kids out of school without your permission or knowledge, and take them across town for questioning if they don’t like a picture one of your children has drawn?
Did you know school authorities are co-parents of your children?
Well stick around because this isn’t Cuba, North Korea or Red China we’re talking about. It’s the socialist paradise of Ontario, and you and I barely have any rights left.
By now you have probably heard about the so-called Crayon Gun Dad. The story first hit the news about three months ago and then again last week when the Crayon Gun Dad, Jessie Sansone, announced he was going to be suing the pants off everyone involved. I’m not usually a proponent of a litigious society, but in this case I couldn’t be more supportive. It’s great to see someone with enough spine and patriotism to stand up for their rights in this Province.
Mr. Sansone, who lives in Kitchener by the way, not Russia, arrived at his children’s school to pick them up at the end of the day. Instead, Mr. Sansone was arrested by police who were there waiting for him, and charged with possession of a firearm.
Did he actually have a firearm? No, of course not. That’s the kind of “evidence” there isn’t time for in today’s Ontario. Get with the times man… safety is too important for things like evidence! All the police need now is a drawing his 5 year old daughter made in class of him shooting monsters with a gun. (As a side note, thank goodness she didn’t also draw him in a car driving fast or he would have gotten a speeding ticket on top of it)
Yes that’s right, Mr. Sansone’s kindergarten daughter’s picture was so alarming that the teacher questioned her about this “gun” and then raced out of the room to make a panic-stricken call to social workers. Apparently teachers in Kitchener are unaware that guns can be legally owned (for now at anyway) in Ontario?
But wait, that’s still too much logic. Apparently teachers in Kitchener are unaware that 5 year olds draw pictures that may contain imaginary items? You know, things like monsters. And hey, maybe if the monster is fake, so might be her dad’s gun?
Apparently, even though a trained and educated teacher, that basic logic escaped him or her.
So the next problem, Mr. Sansone arrives and is arrested for possession of a firearm. How on God’s green earth could this happen? On what possible grounds can police charge someone for possession of something they don’t actually possess?
To the few of us left in Ontario that actually believe in personal liberty, that’s a problem. A big problem.
But it gets worse.
The police then search his house. How on God’s green earth could the police get a search warrant in this asinine situation? Did a judge really issue a search warrant based on a 5yr old’s drawing? Or did the police just search without a warrant?
That’s a problem.
While the police were booking Mr. Sansone and strip searching him (if you don’t think that’s a big deal, please go down to your local police station and volunteer for a strip search. I think afterwards you’ll be singing a different tune) they were hauling his pregnant wife downtown for questioning.
And while they were questioning his wife, social services was busy driving his children across town and questioning them.
That’s a problem. A big problem.
In this “free” country we live in, shouldn’t taking children away from parents pretty much be the last resort?
If the government can take your kids away on a whim, do we really have anything else left?
Why weren’t the children taken home to their mother? Oh right the police were questioning her. Nice. The kids should have been taken home to their mother, where she could have been questioned by the police, and the kids could have been questioned by social services in the less-frightening circumstances of their own home at least.
None of this questioning was even necessary by the way. But it doesn’t matter. In the knee-jerk, over reacting, government-knows-best attitude that now permeates our schools, social services, and our police force, your family doesn’t matter. It’s that simple. A picture of a gun completely destroys any rights you or your family have.
Is this the Ontario you’re proud of?
The police by the way didn’t find any firearms. Oops. What they did find was a clear plastic gun that shoots little rubber beads. It sells for about $17 at Canadian Tire. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
But wait, depressingly enough there’s still more.
The school board insisted they were right to overreact and ignore the family’s rights because they “co-parent” the children at the school and so do the social workers. Co-parent? Are these people for real? What planet did they come from? And why haven’t they been paying for half my son’s hockey registration and grocery bills?
School boards better get this right, right now. They don’t co-parent, and neither do teachers. They are paid, teaching is their occupation. There is no co-parenting going on, and Ontario’s parents better scream this loud and clear while we are still able. Folks, the writing is on the wall on this one and we better not ignore it.
Lastly, and not surprisingly, the Kitchener Waterloo Police have yet to find anything wrong in their behaviour either.
In what has to be one of the truly greatest cases of blinded denial in history, every single one of the government bodies involved justified their actions. Outrageous, but surely their bosses in the McGuinty government jumped out to correct them? (Insert cricket noises).
Make no mistake this is exactly the kind of nanny-state McGuinty and his government love.
Oh, one last thing. Although social services should have been humiliated and offered an apology, instead in an impressive display of arrogance and disrespect for basic humanity, they told Mr. Sansone they were refusing to close the case unless he signed a document stating the “gun” would be kept out of reach of the children. (you know, the toy gun that shoots plastic beads?) In an act of bravery and fortitude Ontarians don’t get to see enough of, Mr. Sansone told the social workers to cram it.
Since this story came out, Canadians from sea to shining sea have spoken up to support the Sansone family, and even offer financial assistance to hire a lawyer to sue everyone involved.
If it can happen in Kitchener, it can happen in Sarnia Lambton.
It’s past the time to take a stand. With at least three government agencies completely out of whack, a provincial government that applauds the actions (or at least remains silent about them) the only one left to stand up for us, is us.
Support the Sansone’s, stand up for your rights at your children’s school, in the community, and at home. And for goodness sake keep an eye on what your kids are drawing.
Tags: matt mceachran, opinion, picture of gun, picture this
Tags: matt mceachran, opinion, picture of gun, picture this
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10 Comments
Love it!!! And people wonder why I won’t move back to Canada
Well said. I support the crayon gun dad! Well done, Mr. McEachran.
“Arrogance and disrespect” are in no short supply regardless of which tier of government we are talking about, or which end of the political spectrum. Mistakes happen, but it’s shameful when those in positions of authority don’t have the decency to admit when they’ve clearly erred. I hope Mr. Sansone and his family are successful in seeking out justice.
Just one of the many atrocities happening in our gov lately.. sad.. really really sad.
Matt, very well stated. Mr. McGuilty has put this Province into a financial mess, and has taken it upon himself to “improve our educational system”. This is a great way to demonstrate that. You are so correct, that Canadians can no longer sit back and be passive about these changes, your comments are the perfect example of why we must speak up.
It is appalling to me that not one of the organizations involved thinks they did any wrong. Seriously?? I challenge ANY teacher or social worker in my city to tell me that they ” co-parent ” my child — I would sue them for child support that day! I support this parent 100% in his response – the refusal to sign the paper and the suing of all parties involved. The only people hurt here are his children – Shame on all involved that caused these innocent children ANY unneccesary distress!
Un-freaking-believeable!!!
Do we know how to get in touch with this guy, to offer support? Thanks!!!
I stand with this dad. This is an insane miscarriage of justice. I also do not support this Liberal government in any way. That said, I think this article is grossly aligned with political partisanship. Is Matt jockeying to replace Pat Davidson as the next Con candidate? Probably. As for taking shots at teachers, I’d have to say that clearly this teacher was lacking in any common senses. It happens. A lot of teachers use this as a career, instead of a pursued passion. On the other hand, you completely disregard the role teachers play in the lives of your kids. In a world where many parents lack the skills or social graces to truly educate their kids, because they’re too busy watching UFC or the Bachelor, you know, wholesome entertainment, or they are too busy drinking to notice their child is in distress, teachers are on the front lines to monitor suicidal tendencies, self-esteem issues, medical and emotional illnesses, learning disabilities, and more. So, this teacher got it wrong, clearly. Do teachers co-parent? Perhaps that’s a strong word, but they are partners in raising your children, and in the case of many kids, they are the clearly stable leadership in their lives. Stop lumping all teachers into blanket statements for the sake of political opportunism. Besides, your writing is weak.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it!
Pam, I don’t have any contact info for the Sansone’s…. I took a quick look on google but still didn’t see anything.
Steven, although stories like this have certainly motivated me to get more involved in politics over the last couple years, I assure you this story has zero political partisanship. If you read my past columns you will find I have criticized every party. I believe in personal liberty and will support any party or policy that encourges it and will not support parties or policies that don’t. Its that simple.
As for taking shots at teachers and “lumping them all together” I’d say I was pretty clear at questioning teachers in Kitchener, as opposed to all teachers. The reason of course is because the Kitchener Board, the Kitchener principal, and the Kitchener Kindergarten teacher all favour (and defend) the action. I’d LOVE to hear from Kitchener teachers who are opposed to this (as I am sure there are many) but so far I haven’t heard, or read, any.
And as for co-parenting, I’d much rather see society focus on helping delinquent parents uphold their parental duties instead of increasingly dumping them on teachers like you support. Not only would society be better off, but my guess is Ontario teachers would overwhelmingly be in favour doing less parenting and more teaching.
Also, anyone can complain to the children’s aid, and do to get back at one another, and worse, CAS has no one over them to tell them what they are doing is wrong or right. It is common for people to get back at someone they are mad at by calling CAS. If you can have the case dropped it is still a black mark for ever. I mean they never let that false accusation go. It is just a mad world we live in. People,(mostly the people we have put in charge) are insane. How did McGuinty ever get back in. Ontario is completely destroyed. On the other hand, you don’t really have to worry about going to jail, since he has decided we can’t afford jails anymore. What an idiot.
Don’t blame the teacher, blame the system. (I just stumbled upon this article today and am DISGUSTED with the situation Mr. Sansone and his family was put in)
I am a teacher, but not one to support my brethren based on our shared occupation alone. But if this teacher got shoved ‘a duty to report’ from Administrators and Supervisory Officers at School Boards like I do at my staff meetings … then you can BLAME the EDUCATION ACT which states that teacher’s must make decisions of a ‘prudent parent’ as we are held to a higher standard being ultimately responsible for the student’s well being in your class as though they were your own children … apparently that encompasses taking every asinine precaution, for fear for their safety. We’ve become a society of fear. Child and Family Services says WE as teachers have a duty to report this instance, for fear of going to jail ourselves.
My dad was a teacher for over 30 years with a clean record teaching elementary school, safely educating over 1000 students – the last 15 yrs in Gr. 2. In his last year of teaching a student came home from school and told his parents that the bruise on his arm came from my dad hitting him in gym class. Though there were 2 other adults present, the principal had the “duty to report” and my dad went through over 8 months of hell as police asked other parents of his students if their child had a similar story, before asking the 2 adults in the room. After the interviews and questioning, of course my dad’s reputation was ruined at that school, he chose to retire … but did get a letter a year later from the police and F & CS saying “no charges will be laid” … no apology, only justification – just like Mr. Sansone.
I can imagine there is only countless others in this situation … so when are we going to take our heads out of our asses … and FIX the SYSTEM so this needless pain and embarrassment to good people can be avoided?