NDP MP Rohini Arora introduced a motion censuring ARPA Canada on the day MLAs returned to the BC Legislature. Image from video
On April 29, Mike Schouten and Levi Minderhoud spent a pleasant day in Victoria, hosted by several BC Conservative MLAs.
The ARPA Canada leaders were well received, though their visit was opposed even by some Conservatives, and in the media.
Condemned in Legislature
It became clear this week that their perceived growing influence was not welcome, when Burnaby East NDP MLA Rohini Arora attacked the group.
Her fellow NDP MLAs, along with the Greens and independent Elenore Sturko voted October 6, the day MLAs returned to the Legislature, to condemn ARPA’s “intolerant views.”
The two OneBC MLAs and independent Jordan Kealy voted against the motion, while BC Conservative MLAs absented themselves for the vote. Larry Neufeld, the only Conservative speaker to address the motion, described it as “a thinly veiled political trap.”
An NDP trap?
Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer also characterized the move as a trap.
He wrote:
For the fall session of the legislature, the New Democrats looked for an issue to underscore the divisions among the MLAs elected last year as B.C. Conservatives.
They found one that delivered the goods with singular effectiveness.
The result, almost the first order of business when legislature convened Monday, was the following motion:
“That this House condemns the intolerant views of the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA), including its harmful discrimination against transgender people, its belief that homosexuality is ‘immoral’ and its explicit policy goal of restricting abortion access in B.C.”
ARPA bills itself as a “grassroots Christian political advocacy organization,” dedicated to bringing “a biblical perspective to our civil authorities.”
Conservative MLA Heather Maahs hosted ARPA at an information session in the legislature’s Hall of Honour last spring. Roughly 20 of the party’s MLAs, including leader John Rustad, attended.
Hence the motion, introduced by NDP MLA Rohini Arora.
Dwight Newman, KC, DPhil Oxford, is Professor of Law and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Rights, Communities and Constitutional Law at the University of Saskatchewan (also MA in Theological Studies at Regent College), commented on X:
Interesting by @VaughnPalmer (@VancouverSun) on British Columbia’s governing party passing a legislative resolution to condemn a religious organization with which some opposition MLAs met (which could just as easily have been a Catholic organization):
Awkward for BC Conservatives
ARPA Canada’s Mike Schouten, Executive Director of ARPA Canada (left) with Levi Minderhoud, Policy Analyst in front of the BC Legislature April 29. (image from ARPA Canada video)
I wrote earlier about the visit this spring by ARPA Canada leaders to the BC Legislature, and the negative response of some media and even some BC Conservative MLAs:
The warm reception of a Christian political action group at the BC Legislature has renewed discord within the Conservative Party of British Columbia.
It also demonstrates, once again, the limits of our society’s supposed appreciation for diversity. And how challenging it is for social conservatives to find a comfortable home in any of the major political parties.
CBC News posted an article by their provincial affairs reporter Katie DeRosa. She wrote:
A B.C. Conservative MLA says she is livid after her party leader, John Rustad, and more than a dozen of his MLAs attended a speaking event at the legislature by a Christian lobby group that opposes medical assistance in dying (MAID), abortion and gender transition for youth.
“To see a group that, in my opinion, actively works against the rights of other British Columbians, is not in line with what I want to see in the Hall of Honour,” said Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko.
Sturko has since left the BC Conservatives to sit as an independent MLA, but others in the party are thought to have agreed with her, at least to a point.
ARPA Canada’s response
The vote to condemn ARPA Canada at the BC Legislature.
ARPA Canada responded to the vote on its site October 8:
[Several NDP, Green and independent MLAs] argued that ARPA’s views violate various rights and freedoms and run counter to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and tolerance.
Now, it goes without saying that ARPA – and all Christians – are in favour of all of these things when viewed in a proper way. In fact, a recognition of rights and the practice of tolerance only really arose in the Christian West.
What this debate exposed is what happens when these things are unmoored from their Christian anchors and made our ultimate political goals. If the expansion of freedom becomes the most important aim of politics, then medical transitioning for minors makes sense. If diversity is the legislature’s most sacred value, then opposition to gay marriage is indeed out of place.
But orthodox Christians know all of these values – rights and freedoms, equity and tolerance – are not the ultimate basis for morality or justice. Rather, the ultimate basis for just laws is God’s revelation to us in His Word and creation.
MLAs spent a whole lot of time talking about rights in this hour of debate. But they spent virtually no time talking about what is right.
They refused to acknowledge how removing the breasts of a 14 year old girl in the name of “gender-affirming care” might not be in her best interest. They refused to recognize that providing euthanasia to the mentally ill might be a step too far. They refused to contemplate whether pre-born children at 35 weeks of age deserve any protections in law. . . .
Our motivation for raising these issues is one of love.
Go here for their full statement.
ARPA’s general stance
As I pointed out in my May 8 article (‘ARPA Canada welcomed by BC Conservatives, though not by all’):
ARPA Canada does not claim to stand for all Christians in Canada. The group, which has its main offices in Ottawa and the Fraser Valley, describes its role in this way:
The mission of ARPA Canada is to educate, equip and encourage Reformed Christians to political action, and to bring a biblical perspective to our civil authorities.
ARPA Canada believes that Jesus Christ is sovereign over all, including all civil governments. However, we also uphold the separation of the institutions of church and state. You can find this explained, alongside our other core principles, here. . . .
ARPA Canada has intervened in a number of legal cases, often alongside groups such as the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Christian Legal Fellowship.
Speaking with CBC News following Sturko’s comment, Schouten agreed that as a Christian organization, they do find homosexuality immoral, but said ARPA Canada is not trying to overturn Canada’s gay marriage laws.
The CBC News report added:
He said the group contacts politicians across Canada and tries to find “common ground” over issues important to Christians, including raising concerns about the rate of abortions among women who find out they have a child with Down syndrome. The group is also concerned about medical assistance in dying for people with disabilities or mental health issues.
Rohini Arora clearly did not accept any of this nuance, if she knew of it.
Diverse Christian voices
Christine Boyle finds ARPA’s views “incredibly harmful.”
One rather sad note in this story: Christine Boyle, former Vancouver City Councillor, now BC NDP MLA for Vancouver-Little Mountain and BC Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, said on X October 6:
I’m a person of faith and an ordained [United Church] minister. ARPA’s views are incredibly harmful and don’t represent most Christians. I stand with queer and trans folks, and for reproductive justice, and I hope every MLA does the same today.
Political divisions are real, and it is legitimate to express them. Boyle’s comment does represent the view of many Christians. But I do pray that Christian politicians would be more willing to engage with their political adversaries who are Christians (and others, of course) with a bit more grace.
(I have written about both Christine Boyle and ARPA Canada a number of times over the years.)