As the CBC story on Yukon robocalls set off alarm bells in my head (see here), so did this one from Jeff Davis of Postmedia (see here) in which a Ottawa mother, Dianna Sakisheway, complains about a high school presentation MP Garry Breitkreuz gave to her daughter’s class.
The obvious signal that something may be fishy with the story was that she emailed Minister Vic Toews about another MP and cc’ed it to a Newfoundland Liberal MP Judy Foot who then read it out in the House of Commons:
“(Breitkreuz) told a classroom of Ottawa high school students — some as young as 14 — that all Canadians should carry firearms, and girls in particular should be armed to protect themselves from sexual assault.
Does the minister of public safety agree with his colleagues’ extreme position that children should be carrying loaded guns into the schoolyard?”
Breitkreuz denied having made any such statements, and asked Foote to withdraw her statement and apologize to him.
“This is completely unfounded,” he said. “Its absurd and totally without foundations.”
So, who is this Dianna Sakisheway? Is she really “just a mother” and has no political associations as she told the reporter? Did Jeff Davis try at all to verify that claim before running the story?
A quick Google search uncovers a Dianna Sakisheway from Ottawa who is very politically active and whose Twitter account is loaded with this type of stuff:
Jack Layton:Tommy Douglas our 1st leader said Dream no little dreams. They said yes 2 a Cda where anything is possible. No 1 is left behind.
As well as many references to the Gaza Boat cause:
Cdn Boat #Tahrir will sail 2 help end #Israel ’s illegal siege of #Gazahttp://bit.ly/khoRa8 #cdnpoli #cdescom #Palestine #bds #apartheid
I’ve messaged Postmedia’s Davis and will update if I receive an answer
Update: CBC picks up this story and does no investigation into any history of the mother’s activism as well (see here)
Update: Reporter Jeff Davis is aware of my blog post and is responding to critics on Twitter. I have asked him a few additional questions and will soon post a follow-up.
Jeff Davis:
Here is a blog post about me and that article by @bcbluecon . Love the pic! http://bit.ly/GXHJII #guncontrol @LGR #molonlabe
@wullu5 @jfgroves @bcbluecon - For the record: @dsakishewaydoes not belong to a political party. She is entitled to her opinion.
And this is from the Dianna Sakisheway Twitter account to Davis:
@dsakisheway - Don’t let the ‘keyboard commandos’ get you down. They react en masse to any stories about guns. Loud but mostly harmless…
Correction: The above Tweet was from Davis to Sakisheway and not the way I first posted it
Update: I have just got off the phone with Jeff Davis (at his insistence that I call) but have nothing significant to add except my above correction
March 29, 2012 at 6:48 PM
Sure am getting sick of the opposition and their false smearing statements in QP. They should be made to pay a fine when they do this. The comment Foote made came up after QP when most people tune out but her remark was left lingering. Thats how peoples reputations get ruined.
March 29, 2012 at 6:53 PM
I guess we need to arm our Conservative MP’s with a high tech tape recorder when they honorably go and speak to school children because obviously there are chronic muck waders out there lurking and armed with pails of their slop.
This stuff is getting ridiculous and we need a few serious libel lawsuits.
March 29, 2012 at 7:18 PM
The National Post is going downhill trying to cater to their biggest market, Toronto. Do you notice how the “tone” has changed since Coyne has joined?
March 29, 2012 at 8:04 PM
I think the Post is trying to be the new gnm.
That’s where they think the money is.
Bye, guys.
The money is on truth.
March 29, 2012 at 10:28 PM
I agree Hunter… Andrew Coyne brought his negative Nabob trolls from MacLeans. Negative, Negative comments trashing the Conservative government day in and day out since the arrival of Andrew Coyne.
March 29, 2012 at 7:39 PM
The Progressive’s ‘modus operandi’ is to smear this legally elected Gov’t as much and as often as possible…hopefully,(in their minds,) ’till the next election. These guerrilla tactics are clearly designed to make the Harper gov’t lose traction in Parliament and to erode the CPC’s mandate.
As Bec previously mentioned; There should be penalties…to which I should further add that news media that prints unfounded & unchecked copy should be severely penalized monetarily.
In other words, back it with facts or back down with bucks!
As for dianna sakisheway… if she is guilty of mischief then she should al$o pay. Should be easy enough to check this accusation.
The civil war mentality of these people appears to need some harsh curbing.
Waiting for truthful facts.
March 29, 2012 at 10:16 PM
So I have to admit I’m a bit biased against the folks who supported the end of the long-gun registry (esp. since this seemed to go against the opinion of our law enforcement people)… but… I don’t get how you can take a couple of tweets supporting the NDP (or Green) and call this woman an activist? Maybe I missed something but google etc didn’t show me much to make me think that NP missed anything big when checking this story. Her last re-tweet (Green) was Dec. 31. Hardly an activist.
March 29, 2012 at 11:30 PM
I said that I did a quick Google search and that immediately popped up attached to a person of the same name. If a reporter was doing their job properly and saw that, they would have asked some additional questions.
March 29, 2012 at 10:58 PM
If people knew the rights we have as Canadians they would be up in arms like our American brethren when it come to gun control. We as Canadians do have the same rights as they do south of the border. The LGR and and gun control in general goes against our basic human rights as stated in the BNA under British common law which Canada was founded on.
March 30, 2012 at 4:45 AM
Another pass by the media over a fake bs story from the left… and they wonder why people will not respect them. They are akin to a flacid old tramp wondering why no one wants to marry them.
March 30, 2012 at 4:49 AM
In response to a critical email, Davis states that the woman “is entitled to her opinion”. Hello? We are not dealing with opinion here–we are dealing with slander.
Funny. Not a single corroboration has been found.
I could imagine the woman’s child saying, “Oh, Mom, shut up. You’re embarrassing me.”
March 30, 2012 at 7:05 AM
You emailed Davis and he responded?
March 30, 2012 at 5:19 AM
I came across this article (talk of the town) title ” Robocalls and the petrostate” written by Briony Penn
she writes about the January 2010 Manning Centre campaign school held at Delta Ocean Pointe Resort
she mentions John Fryer was invited she goes on to repeat the slanderous material about voter suppression and robocalls
she writes that both Fryer and the Observer received libel threats and goes on in details which seem stretched
if you are able to get a copy it is found in a magazine called FOCUS April 2012 a Victoria monthly magazine
fh
March 30, 2012 at 7:08 AM
That name sounds very familiar….
Ah, I thought I had heard it before:
Last fall, with the Liberals running well-known environmentalist Briony Penn and the NDP’s candidate having to withdraw after disclosure of a past incident of public nudity, Lunn was thought to be vulnerable, but still managed to win with nearly 28,000 votes. Penn finished second, just 2,500 votes behind. Another 6,700 votes went to Green candidate Andrew Lewis while the departed NDP candidate, whose name remained on the ballot, managed to win 3,700.
March 30, 2012 at 5:31 AM
To Anon @10:16: the police don’t want the LGR, the police CHIEFS do. The Canadian Assoc. of Chiefs of Police (CACP) lobbied hard to keep the gun registry, just as they lobbied AGAINST the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, saying it would make their jobs harder. The same CACP lobbies hard for C-30, the internet spying Bill.
The political chiefs are NOT your friend, friend. And gun owners aren’t the enemy, either.
March 30, 2012 at 9:42 AM
Dean, that last tweet was Davis re-assuring Sakisheway, not the other way around.
March 30, 2012 at 9:53 AM
Pretty well everyone has some political affiliation or preference. What does this have to do with this issue? What really matters here is what Garry Breitkreuz actually said to the students. Dianna Sakisheway is the mother of a student who was present during Garry Breitkreuz’s talk (unless confirmed otherwise). Ms. Sakisheway has every right to be concerned about what message is being sent to her daughter and other students. I see nothing in your blog post that attempts to address or determine any of the facts in this matter and what was actually said, yet without knowing the actual facts in the matter you seem to have no problem going on the attack against Ms. Sakisheway. How is your behaviour here any different than that of Liberal MP Judy Foot?
March 30, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Too funny… “without knowing all the facts”
March 30, 2012 at 11:12 AM
So you think it is wrong for Judy Foot to make accusations against Garry Breitkreuz without confirming the facts first about what he exactly said, but at the same time it is OK for you to attack Dianna Sakisheway also without knowing the facts about what exactly Garry Breitkreuz said? That is funny? I think you are in denial. What you should be doing is apologizing to Dianna Sakisheway and admitting that you should have waited untill the facts about what was actually said are confirmed. Your behaviour is no different than that of Judy Foot. I understand that it is common for “politically active” people like yourself to get carried away and make accusations and go on the attack without confirming all the facts first, and then due to your strong political bias be unable to see how you may actually be in the worng. Hey, Dianna Sakisheway has quoted NDP and Green party leaders on twitter so any attack against her is completely justifed, right? Hardly.
March 30, 2012 at 11:32 AM
Do you have reading comprehension problems or are just stupid? Do yourself a favour and keep your idiotic comments to yourself as it’s less embarrassing that way.
March 30, 2012 at 2:23 PM
I’m waiting for an apology to BC Blue from you Albert and no I’m not holding my breath waiting for you to realize that you owe him one.
March 30, 2012 at 3:57 PM
No chance there…still harping on about me “not answering the questions”
March 30, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Does this even pass a basic smell test? You seriously believe this is what was said to the students? Did this uber reporter even bother to ask the MP if this was true or not? How about the other people in attendence?
Is obviously exagerated, slanderous hearsay now considered “journalism” today? This toady is standing by this ridiculous piece. There was a time when this kind of stuff would be saved for the gossip column of your local bird cage liner.
March 30, 2012 at 1:21 PM
[...] Does the minister of public safety agree with his colleagues’ extreme position that children should be carrying loaded guns into the schoolyard?” (see here) [...]
April 21, 2012 at 8:35 AM
[...] falsely accused by a long-gun registry activist of saying things during a classroom presentation (see here) and he same question needs to be asked – did Davis intentionally hide another important [...]