Canadian Missionaries
Evicted from Home
"If people
don’t think persecution is going on today, this
is a great example of what can happen."
—Drew Mariani, Relevant Radio
Who?
 John and Gay Caswell,
Founders of Our
Lady of the North School, Lay
Missionaries, Residents of Brabant Lake, SK since January 1996,
residents in
this particular Sask Housing House for about 11 years. They are
responsible
tenants who paid the rent and developed the yard and garden with years
of
labour. Gay
Caswell is a former elected member of the
Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.
John and Gay have seven children, three of whom are in religious life
in
the United States.
What
Happened?
On April 24,
Caswells were driving home through a snowstorm after
purchasing many supplies needed for summer camps. On arrival after a 7
hour trip,
they discovered their locks had been changed by Sask. Housing employees
and
there was an eviction notice on their door. Since they needed to put
the
groceries away, John Caswell broke a window to get inside. Vaughn
Skogstad,
chairman of La Ronge Housing Authority, and Sargeant Janes of the
Southend RCMP
Detachment arrived at their door to tell them they had committed unlawful entry
and had to leave. They were taken to the police station,
and later release
without charges being laid. They hitchhiked home and are camping at Our
Lady of
the North School
building with no access to their food, fridge, clothing, bath,
important
vitamins, printer and photocopier. They were told they had 15 days to
get their
possessions out of the house and yet the windows are boarded up and
doors
locked.
Why
did this happen?
Caswells previously applied to own
their house after paying rent for
many
years. Mr. Roger Parenteau of Sask Housing Corporation (SHC) said that
Caswells
could buy the house for $20,000. Within a week they sent SHC a cheque
for
$20,000, as well as the pertinent proof of income available at that
time. He
returned the money. Now Parenteau, Skogstad and others told the RCMP
Caswells
made no attempt to buy the house and didn’t pay their rent. This is
untrue. The
SHC have a policy to give one month’s notice to terminate tenancy.
Skogstad and
Sgt. Janes showed them piece of paper dated March 10, which Caswells
never saw
till April 24. Therefore they should have until May 24th to appeal.
John and Gay Caswell are all too familiar with opposition from the
people with
jobs in various areas of government. They run an Independent
Catholic School
which offers an alternative to the public school. They speak out about
abuses
in healthcare, for example forced abortion, birth control and
sterilization.
Gay Caswell recently wrote a children’s book, When the Children Prayed
about
a true positive experience of a northern residential school. Mr. and
Mrs.
Caswell recently travelled to 4 communities to pass out a thousand
Pro-Life
Newspapers.
For expressing their religious and
moral views they are being persecuted. They
were told by Sgt. James, “People keep their house who do what they are
told.”
Apparently, speaking up for the rights of northern babies to live,
helping
parents to have access to alternative education, and expressing their
religious
and moral views is not doing what they are told.
This is why they
have been evicted.
—Summary by
Naomi Charles
An Attempt to Stop a
Catholic Mission
Caswells see
that this is an issue of religious persecution—an attempt to stop the
work of Our Lady of the North
School. Mrs. Caswell writes on her blog: “The issue here
is La Ronge Housing is working to stop our Catholic
School
and Mission.
Once again they have taken possession of our files including the files
that
shows SHC agreement to sell us the house, photocopier, printer, paper
supplies
and half done latest issue of Brabant Lake Times. We cannot send out a
news
release except by asking our readers to see that media outlets get this
blog or
e- mail. They have locked us out of our present food supply, stove,
fridge,
washer and dryer, bath tub our water supply, our electricity and our
fuel.”
“The
goal is to wreck the school. This was stated very
clearly at the September 17 Appeals hearing. The two people from La
Ronge Housing
emphatically said that we can not have a school. That is why they are
after our
house to stop and punish us. The hearing is recorded and the words were
blatantly and bluntly stated.”
John
and Gay Caswell founded
the mission school, Our Lady of the North, in March of 1996. Since then
they have been teaching, catechizing, and spreading the faith. As the
mission website states: they "provide
catechism classes and resources for children and adults, make available
an academic education up to grade 12 for children and adults and do
charitable work." They recently began a organization to fight for the
pro-life cause in the northern Saskatchewan, called "North Star
Pro-Life". For years John and Gay have been writing about and exposing
the injustices against the natives, such a coercive sterilization and
abortion.
As far
as being arrested for "breaking and entering" into their own home. Mrs
Caswell writes this on her blog: “We are charged because we went into
our own home but mostly
we are being charged because we refuse to stop having a Catholic
school.” The Caswell’s refused to
leave willingly. They said they told the police “We have no food and no
home other than here so you better put us in jail.”
Caswells stress that
this is not so much about two people in northern Saskatchewan losing
their home for being pro-life as
it is about the injustices being
perpretated upon the natives of northern Saskatchewan. In
her April 29
interview on Relevant Radio, Mrs. Caswell said, “The natives who are
being persecuted, who are being
sterilized, are having more terrible thing happen to them then what is
happening to us. This is Canada,
we’re supposed to be the sensible human rights peacemakers, and this is
how we
are treating our native people. … If anyone protests they get it.”
"Forced sterilization—Sounds
bizarre doesn’t it? It happened
in our country. It’s happening up in Canada
right now. There is an evil spirit and it’s called the culture of
death," said radio talk-show host Drew Mariani.
I think
it will be
a short time before what happened to the Caswells will be
happening to our parishioners or to those who profess the Catholic
Faith. This is the type of story that should hit the news for no one
thinks
that this
could happen here." —Fr.
C Frank Phillips, C.R., Pastor of St. John Cantius Church, Chicago
What Can You Do to
Help?
"I think its time we went on
the offensive. I think that we
should do whatever is necessary to make sure that this doesn’t happen
to us or anyone
else. If somebody can take your home because of your views than you
really don’t
have any freedom.” —Gay Caswell on
Relevant Radio
- Pray
Pray
that the lies will be exposed and that the Lord will bring great good
out of this situation. Pray for all in northern Saskatchewan,
especially the native people that they will be freed from the culture
of death.
- Spread
the Word
Pass this page on to whomever
may be interested. "We
cannot send out a
news
release except by asking our readers to see that media outlets get
this." Spread the word about the injustices that are happening in
northern Saskathewan.
- Contact
Call,
write, or email those in authority and in political office and ask that
they do something about this. "Because this is a
human
rights violation, politicians at every level at every place at every
jurisdiction have a legitimate right to address the issue. We encourage
them to do so."
Anyone may address
concerns to:
Premier of Saskatchewan
The Honourable Brad Wall
Phone: (306) 778-2429
Fax: (306) 778-3614
Email: brad.wall@saskparty.com
The Sask Party
Phone: (306) 359-1638
Toll Free: (800) 966-9611
Fax: (306) 359-9832
- Support
 Our
Lady of the North School welcomes any financial support. Funds are be
needed for legal fees as well as for supplies for the mission and
school. You may also contact John and Gay to see how you can help.
Q. How long have you live in this
house?
A. We lived in this house for eleven years and in the community
thirteen.
Q. What is your main occupation
in Brabant Lake?
A. We are lay missionaries with several outreaches including a school
which makes available education from nursery to grade 12, Bishop
Charlebois Bible School , Camp Commitment, St. Mary’s Club, a
newsletter, educational packets to other communities and to other
countries to name a few things. Not all the grades and activities are
used all the time but the potential is always there.
Q. Where is your
home?
A. This is the only home we have. Our children were raised here for a
major part of their life. This is their home town. We are related by
marriage to a great portion of the North.
Q. Where do you intend to retire?
A. We don’t intend to retire. We will live here and work here doing
what we can as well as we can.
Q. Did you get kicked out of your
home because you didn’t pay the rent?
A. No, in ten years we have never missed a monthly payment. Sometimes
La Ronge Housing would refuse to cash our monthly cheques to make the
record look bad. They sent back all the last twelve cheques because
they said that we are no longer tenants of theirs. Since that is what
we requested we assumed that this would mean that we can and do own the
house.
Q. Are the natives stopping you
from having your house?
A. No! The natives are bullied as much or more than we are. There is a
clique
of socialist radicals in La Ronge who went up thirty- seven years ago
to play
at making their very own people’s republic of northern Saskatchewan.
They have a couple or so in every community who are their controllers.
These people are often feared and resented by others.
Q. Is this
religious persecution?
A. Definately. Billy Opipekew’s family lost their house after it was a
centre
of prayer due to Marian apparitions as did Burtha Durocher lose theirs
after
people gathered there for prayer due to Marian apparitions. Our house
and
mission is a centre of religious activity and distribution of materials.
Q. What type of pro-life
materials did you distribute?
A. We distributed the most recent copy of a pro- life newspaper that
has been published and distributed south of Prince Albert for
twenty-six years as well as some Catholic catechism materials.
Q. Is it true that we lost the
house due to distribution of a thousand pro-life newspapers?
A. Yes. These people are doing unjust things to us but there is nothing
that
they have done that is as bad as the practice of forced sterilisation
and
abortion. It is a terrible thing to deny people information of the pro-
family
movement and to deny them knowledge that they do not have to be coerced
into
abortion and sterilisation.
Q. Is there any
place else that you can live?
A. No. We can’t live in the school without a stream of resources from
the
house. The school is needed for a school. The chapel is needed for a
chapel.
The house has supplies and equipment that cannot go elsewhere.
Q. Do you intend to leave?
A. Absolutely not. We intend to stay in Brabant Lake and run the
mission that will include pro-life work.
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Click here to listen to the April 29 interview