When we look at the scriptures God is perfectly clear that true love is manifested in action; in other words, whatever your passion is, that is what you will pursue. I know that we are called to obey, and usually this starts with simple little things. This is the story of Street Church.

I remember years ago, when all of us had to chip in a few dollars, so that we could afford a few pizzas to give away to the homeless along with the word of God. At that time, no one even imagined, that one day the ministry and its volunteers would be able to preach to millions of people around the world. We also didn't realize that, that was God's beginning of testing. One day He told me, "do not despise small beginnings because they are huge." It reminds me of a question that I asked someone, "What is bigger a grown up person or a baby at conception?" Of course, the answer is simple and obvious. The beginning of life is the biggest miracle that here on this earth we can experience - LIFE. Everything else is built upon this foundation.

Through the various persecutions, call them adventures, I came across different comments and write ups on the Internet that suggest that instead of defending our rights, we should be doing something more productive. For example, why don't we feed the poor or do something for humanity? Why not take care of those that cannot take care of themselves? How about giving hope to the hopeless? Of course those statements are really ridiculous and ignorant, those that make them don't even have the decency to check for themselves what this ministry is all about. Assumptions and biased point of views are not helpful and in the end those that make those statements prove themselves to be fools. It's not wise to speak about something that you yourself know nothing about.

Street Church's existence is a story about what God can do with those of His children that are committed to obeying. God's heart is stretched toward the poor, widows, and orphans and it's no wonder that He fulfills His word when He says, "whoever gives to the poor lends to God". The volunteers at Street Church are little people in the eyes of men with a powerful and big God on their side.

Here let me boast, not about what a man can do with huge resources and powerful allies, but about what a powerful God can do with a submissive heart and faithful stewardship. We do not receive support from any arm of the government, even being denied the right to have charity status, which would enable us to give receipts to those who give to the ministry. Yet, against all odds, this is what God does on a regular basis.

Every week we have been blessed to distribute over 600 loaves of bread, thousands of buns and thousands of pastries, hundreds of pounds of meet, not to mention huge pots of hot chilly, soups, clothes and other goods to the poor, on a weekly basis. We support with food five different ministries, also on a weekly basis. Overall, Street Church is able to distribute between $50,000 to $70,000 worth of food per month.

How, I do not know, with man this seems impossible, but with God all things are possible. Through history we can see that when God decides in His heart to raise "nobodies" - faceless, nameless, a generation of willing servants, He chooses to defy all odds through them. Remember, that those small beginnings, in God's Kingdom are the foundation stones for the future. Through the years of ministry, I have seen so many talented, gifted and anointed people that simply refused to be faithful with what God had entrusted to them. They were eager to go for the big spoils, but not willing to pay the cost of obedience - faithfulness, humbleness, perseverance, desperate dedication, hardship, etc. Without those, how can God build a person's character, that in the future He would be able to use such a person for great and mighty exploits.

Shallow Christianity, loves just on the surface, but when the difficulty comes, what's left is just a whining bitter, miserable, wanna be hero of "faith". Children of God, who are willing to do His work, no matter what the cost will always see the mighty hand of God. One day, when I will stand before the creator of the heavens I want to hear the words, "Enter into my peace my good and faithful servant. Good job. Well done my son." Let me answer one question that many may be asking - how it's possible that after seven years of resisting the City's attempt to destroy us, we are still standing? And not only just merely surviving but growing in blessings and influence.

So, to answer the question, let's go back to scripture; Proverbs 19:17 states that, "

So we see that God rewards the ones He calls righteous because they follow His commandments. How about you? Are you following His commandments? IF you do, you will defy all odds, if you don't, today is the day of salvation.

Let me leave you with the words recounted by Pastor Owen C. Carr, founder of Chicago's Christian Television, that his father told him when he was a young boy, "'If you're going to start, don't stop!', his dad told young Owen, 'and if you are going to stop, don't start!'"

Our Heavenly Father says something very similar, "I wish that you would be either cold or hot..."

Be hot and be on fire for Jesus Christ, He is worthy, then you will see the miracles of His mighty hand!

Street Church in Calgary

Africa, orphanage in Kenya

 Poland, Street Church in Warsaw

January 6, 2012 

Pawlowski claims Mayor Nenshi anti-Christian

By Christopher Walsh and Kevin Olenick

Street church minister Artur Pawlowski, centre, listens to City Hall official.

Art Pawlowski, better known as Calgary’s street preacher, will be taking a break from praying for city councillors’ souls to sue both the city and the police service for damages associated with years of harassment and persecution he says he’s suffered.

Pawlowski and six of his flock were arrested December 20 inside city hall for holding a church service without filing the necessary permits.

But Pawlowski and well-known right-wing mouthpiece Ezra Levant are claiming the arrest is part of an anti-Christian crusade perpetrated by Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

“I believe this guy is biased, either because he’s Muslim or he’s a socialist – because clearly he is,” Pawlowski said.

“Either he doesn’t like conservative people – and I am a conservative person and a Christian. There has to be some connection.”

Pawlowski has been arrested eight times since 2005, been served with over 100 court summons and has appeared in court over 70 times. He says the latest arrest, which saw him and others escorted in handcuffs past an LRT station, was the breaking point.

“We’re going to file a lawsuit against the city and the police department for damages,” he said.

“They walked us like Nazis out of concentration camp for everyone to see, handcuffed and escorted by the heavy arm of the police force. There was no need for a display. I think what they wanted was to achieve embarrassment.”

Nenshi’s office would not comment on the accusations of religious intolerance, citing the perceived absurdity of the claims, but did confirm Nenshi did not call the police to have Pawlowski and the group removed. That decision was made by the city’s corporate security and was based on the group not filing the necessary paperwork to appear in city hall.

Ashley Wedderburn, a corporate administration spokesperson with the city, says the city was following proper protocol on a group that did not file an application.

“The municipal building is a public building and all visitors are welcome.  As it is primarily an office building, we ask those who visit to conduct themselves appropriately and not disrupt normal business activities,” she said in an email. “The City requires those who wish to hold a meeting or gathering to apply through the appropriate process to receive permission to hold an event.”

But Pawlowski says the application itself is biased and prohibits religious activities during regular business hours at city hall, requires a $2 million liability and can only be done once a year. He says he was negotiating with city representatives in hopes of working out a resolution that would permit him to hold services in the atrium from time to time or in another room.

Pawlowski says he will not file a form that prohibits religious activities during business hours.

“I’m not going to hide that we are praying. I’m not going to say I’m mumbling something that’s not religious, because it is,” he said.

And he will be back, he adds.

“I decided, no, we have to go to the heart of the city, to the very core of the city where the politics is happening and we have to start being not only visible, but also be in the heart where we can pray and preach and influence those people,” he said. “Obviously, they need to be influenced. They are like little children running around with the clubs hitting everyone that doesn’t like them or says something negative.”

Although the Street Church has had difficulties with city hall, other Christian-based organizations in the city have found city hall to be supportive.

Maria Nndem, who has worked for Street Light, an outreach group that focuses on homeless youth, says they have a long standing supportive history with the city.

“Our relationship with the City of Calgary is a good one,” Nndem said. “They have always been supportive of us. Even back to the days of Mayor Al Duerr. When we were struggling to find a safe and parking-secured location for our ministry, the city alderman came to our rescue and fully enabled us to continue our outreach.”

Allyssa Burnhham, a spokesperson with the Mustard Seed echoed the sentiments.

“Although there has been some struggles , we have come to place of respect and real partnership with the City,” Burnham said.

Pawlowski says those groups have not had issues because they are conducting their business out of the public eye. Feeding hundreds of homeless people on the streets attracts a lot of attention that the city doesn’t like, he says.

“The homeless are visible and not looking very good,” said Pawlowski. “They don’t like that because it shows their inability to deal with the issue or the problem.

“The second thing is we are very vocal about our faith. We don’t hide it. We’re very vocal and because of the name Jesus Christ constantly being listed. That makes them very nervous.”

Pawlowski would not give a timeframe for the lawsuit, but did say he’s still willing to discuss the issue with the mayor or city representatives.

“This is not a game for me. This is life and death. We’re fighting for our own survival in this city.”

http://beaconnews.ca/calgary/2012/01/calgary-street-preacher-ready-to-sue-city-for-religious-persecution/

Listen to the audio for this article here

There is a lot of buzz on the Internet regarding our arrest outside the mayor's office at Calgary's old City Hall, and about who's problem this matter is anyway (Mayor Nenshi or Mayor Bronconnier)? Some have suggested that the current mayor has nothing to do with the matter of Street Church vs the City, but that this matter is really just the remaining remnants of a previous battle between the street preacher, Artur Pawlowski, and the former mayor Dave Bronconnier.

Did the battle start with Bronconnier? Yes. But since Calgary's new mayor took over, Street Church has made several attempts to meet with the mayor to discuss the ongoing matter with him and to give the current mayor an opportunity to review the matter first hand, in order that all the mistakes of the previous administration could be put behind us and that the City and Street Church team up for the benefit of Calgary's homeless population, moving peacefully and co-operatively forward along side one another (bare in mind that Street Church Ministries prepares over 200,000 meals per year and delivers them to the most vulerable segment of Calgary's population, its homeless citizens)

Please review one of the letters that was sent to the mayor requesting a meeting to discuss the ongoing persecution of Street Church which can be found here.

To this day, Street Church still awaits a meeting with the mayor. Another aspect of confusion comes into this matter relating to the use of amplification. The media continues to incorrectly report that the issues that the City has had with the Street Church mininstry is completely to do with illegal amplification. Yet, to this day, Street Church has never been charged or convicted of being too loud, even though bylaw officers came with their noise meters to test for sound level breaches, they were never able to find any merit in the idea that Street Church has exceeded noise level restrictions found in the city bylaws or park usage rules. Also, Street Church has never been convicted of disturbing the peace.

A number of judges, including the appeal judge in the most recent court case, relating to Street Church versus the City of Calgary, all agreed that many of the bylaws used to prosecute Street Church were unconstitutional. Although there is a balance that a city must try to maintain, between the rights of all citizens, the bylaws that the City created were too vague and could be widely interpreted and applied by bylaw and police officers on the scene. For example, giving a half sandwich to a starving child would, under the City of Calgary's bylaws, make you a criminal worthy of fines and if you would continue to do such a horrible thing, the result could be an arrest and court appearance to prove your innocense.

Also, due to the bylaw relating to gathering a crowd in a park, if you were to gather with your family and friends for a picnic, you could be fined for gathering a crowd, if you did not first obtain a permit to 'gather'.

These are merely a couple of examples of bylaws that the City of Calgary uses to try to shut people up they don't like, including in this case Calgary's street preacher Artur Pawlowski.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms clearly states the following are Guaranteed Fundamental Freedoms in Canada as seen here (http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/charter/page-1.html#l_I:s_1):

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Fundamental Freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association

These freedoms are foundational to our democracy. In Canada, the Charter is a master law which other lower laws, such as bylaws, are subject to. When it comes to public life, the mere dislike of other people's opinions does not give you the right to deny them their guaranteed fundamental freedoms, not through law making nor application of the law by law enforcement personnel.

Back to the matter of who's fight this is now. The truth is that the fight initially started, under the Bronconnier administration relating to 'illegally' gathering in a park and 'illegally' giving away free goods and services in a park.

Here is the first media coverage of the problems with the City when the City decided to go from positive to negative in relation to their dealings with Street Church in 2005 – http://streetchurch.ca/index.php/2005082541/News/Media/park-preacher.html

Our current mayor, Naheed Nenshi, by refusing to meet with Street Church, for over a year, by not calling off the City law department and by allowing both the City's Corporate Security and the police department to continue to persecute this group of Christians, made this an issue which directly relates not only to the past administration but also to himself.

If this were the only reason, perhaps one might say, that this is not enough to connect Nenshi with the current matters that have happened under his administration, including the recent arrest of six Christian people including Artur Pawlowski and five others at Calgary's City Hall. By this action, which was clearly not unbiased, Mayor Naheed Nenshi, showed not only that he fully supports what has been happening in the past, but that he is picking up and continuing these strategies in an effort to silence the voice of these Calgarian citizens.

The public should be aware that after the arrests, Street Church sent an e-mail requesting a response from the mayor of why I, Artur Pawlowski and four other Christians were arrested for waiting in the lobby of the old City Hall to talk to him regarding our treatment in the Atrium of Calgary's new City Hall building. Yes, you read correctly, we were not arrested because we refused to leave the Atrium. All thirty of us who came to peacefully gather in the Atrium were peacefully escorted by the police out of the new City Hall building. Most did not receive no trespass notices, but some did, yet all were escorted out. So to be clear, It was not until we went to talk to the mayor about the matter that the arrests took place. What's really ironic about our place of arrest is that it was outside the mayor's office, right beside the sign which states, 'cutting the red tape the mayor wants to hear from you.' (I guess 'from you' does not refer to Street Church, CCC or perhaps other Calgarians who want to question the tactics of the current administration)

By the way, to this day, Street Church has not received the courtesy of a personal reply to their e-mail requesting the mayor's clarification on the issue (later on in this article I will reference the public e-mail that the mayor sent to third parties who contacted the mayor complaining about our arrest, but Street Church never received his reply). I have also, personally, sent e-mails to the mayor on these and other issues and have not received a reply.

It was upon being kicked out of Calgary's 'living room', as Mayor Nenshi calls it, that we went to discuss the matter with him personally. We did not re-enter the Atrium, nor the new City Hall building. We all felt that the acts of Corporate Security and the police were accessive and were not in alignment with the new found tolerance of the City of Calgary to democratic freedoms as demonstrated with the multi-month incident with Occupy Calgary. Occupy Calgary was extended great and wide birth even to the point of destroying city property and lighting unauthorized fires in the park along with deficating in the park. Although we wouldn't desire these allowances, they were extended and yet they were clearly unlawful.

Occupy Calgary gave away free goods and services, set up tables, gathered crowds and stayed there in tents they errected, fixed signs and banners and flags to trees and posts, distributed pamphlets, had public debates and press conferences, at times using amplification, and all without permits. These activities were allowed to continue for weeks upon weeks and Mayor Nenshi continued to state that the city could not act for fear of stepping on the Occupiers rights. When the mayor, along with the other city councellors finally decided it was time to move the occupiers out, they did so by first getting permission from the courts to do so, through an injunction hearing. That's when they came in with the police to remove the tents of the Occupiers. The mayor then made it very clear, publicly, that the Occupiers were still allowed to protest, even at City Hall.

This is completely unlike the incident that happened between ourselves and the City. Artur Pawlowski had a meeting with Owen Key, the head of Corporate Security, who inicated that he had already had a meeting with Mayor Naheed Nenshi and that the mayor was already aware of the situation and he was therefor very confident to take action against us in the form of removing us from the Atrium. We found this hard to believe since the mayor repeately stated in the news the importance of protecting the rights of all citizens and he had on the public record indicated that the Atrium and Olympic Plaza needs to be made available to all citizens regardless of whether or not one likes those people or their views.

In the recent reply that came from Nenshi's office, it was not stated that Artur Pawlowski had tried to negotiate with Owen Key the head of Corporate Security, for over a month, for the right to use the Atrium for occasional peaceful gatherings or a room to gather and pray for the City and its administration. The very purpose of meeting with and speaking with Owen Key, on a number of occasions, was to negotiate usage of the Atrium with advanced notice and to ensure that there was understanding and agreement between both parties. This differs greatly from the Occupy Calgary approach, in which, they just showed up and carried out a Tibetan religious service in the Atrium, without permits or prior permission, without being bothered by corporate security or the police.

Also, the mayor's reply did not state that Artur Pawlowski refused to sign the application for Atrium use that was given, in its current form, as the application requires that a person agree to the usage rules pertaining to the Atrium, which are riddled with direct conflicts with the Charter and with the nature of the event that would be carried out (namely a religious event which the usage rules prohibit).

Here are the main problems with the usage rules as they pertain to the nature of the gathering Street Church was holding (direct quotes from the usage terms for the atrium):

The following events or activities are not allowed in the "space":

• Spontaneous activities

• Religious activities during business hours

• Political demonstration or any activity that is considered political

• Public rallies

• Campaigning or soliciting of any kind [including giving out pamphlets or other documentation]

• Press conferences

RESPONSIBILITY OF APPLICANT

The applicant must maintain a commercial general liability insurance policy in the amount of not less than Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000) inclusive limit for any one occurrence and such insurance policy shall include:

• The City of Calgary as an additional insured

  • A cross liability clause; and

    • Products and completed operations coverage.

Marketing / Signage

• All signage and banners must be approved by the City Clerk’s Office. The City reserves the right to remove any signage deemed inappropriate.

• No hand-written signs permitted.

APPLICATION

Applicant can only apply for the use of the “space” once per year.

So, the City wants all citizens to fill in their unconstitutional application which requires them to agree to the terms laid out in the External Users Guidelines. The problem is that those 'guidelines' prohibit them from doing the very activities they are desiring to do. What does this mean? It means that if Street Church filled in the forms and signed off on it and then proceeded to hold the service they were desiring to hold, they would in fact be breaching the agreement that they signed, which is a legal contract. Not to mention the fact that the behaviours the usage rules prohibit are protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, especially on public property, which the municipal buildings are. This is not just my opinion, but has been demonstrated by Canada's courts over and over again. Here is an example of a ruling from the Canada's highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada -

“If Members of the public had no right whatsoever to distribute leaflets or engage in other expressive activity on government-owned property...then there would be little if any opportunity to exercise their rights of freedom of expression.“ [defending the right to post on public utility poles and hand out leaflets in public government-owned buildings]

~ Supreme Court of Canada

The Mayor's office, in their reply to those who complained to the mayor about our arrest, made several incorrect statements which may lead the public to believe we were wrong in our dealings with City Hall. I will address them one by one (The Mayor's responses are italicized and my answers are below):

The column written by Mr. Levant and published in several Sun Media news papers ("All Means All") contains several significant errors.

This comment is not correct, and we will demonstrate that as we deal with each of his other comments one by one.

Mayor Nenshi did not call in the police, nor a private security team, to evict Mr. Pawlowski from City Hall. City security discovered that Mr. Pawlowski had refused to submit the necessary paperwork to use the City Hall Atrium in the manner he wished. The decision to call the Police was made by the City's security staff when Mr. Pawlowski refused to leave the Atrium following this discovery.

Before the church service, we were told by Owen Key head of Corporate Security that he had a meeting with the mayor discussing our intention to return to City Hall, to exercise our democratic freedoms, and Mr. Key told us that they spoke of how to handle the matter. So the mayor definitely was not only aware of the matter but was also involved in the decision making process of how we were to be dealt with. As indicated before, Street Church and Owen Key were in negotiations over paperwork relating to Street Church's desire to exercise their freedoms. This was not some kind of dramatic revelation of a sudden action by a militant group, no, it was something that was previously discussed with City Hall and City Hall knew of their intentions well in advance.

This procedure is the same for all groups, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or anything else.

Clearly this procedure is not the same for everyone. Occupiers were allowed free reign for weeks. They were allowed to carry out a Tibetan religious ceremony in atrium and for several days occupied the area right outside the council chambers. Also, on one occasion, we are aware of, they took their vocal protest right inside the council chambers and were yelling and chanting whilst in there. Yet, though they had no signed permits, they had no problems with Corporate Security, no tickets and no arrests. Also, at the time the occupiers were holding their gatherings/protests in the Atrium, Artur Pawlowski questioned Owen Key as to whether Corporate Security were going to do anything about the occupiers and he said no. Is this the same tactics, the same approach, the same application of policy that the City and the mayor used only weeks later with Street Church?

Violating city bylaws is nothing new for Mr. Pawlowski, as he has been charged with more than 70 violations over the past six years, most of which were a result of citizen complaints about his use of amplification equipment in public spaces.

Firstly, this response is clearly trying to continue to paint Artur Pawlowski as a lawbreaker and a trouble maker even though he has been repeately vindicated by the courts, time after time. The mayor is correct, though, in pointing out that Artur Pawlowski has had to defend his democratic freedoms on almost countless occasions. To this day, he has never been criminally convicted and even though he has received over a hundred summons and stood countless times before the courts with a total of nine arrests, the only penalty he had to pay was a symbolic $1 fine (for using an electrical cord in a park, which the judge used as slap the City for their audacious behaviour. The City also indicated in this statement that the violations over the past six years 'most of which were a result of citizen complaints about his use of amplification equipment in public spaces', which is also not true. Ninety-five percent of the fines and summons had nothing to do with amplification whatsoever; most of the tickets were things like, giving away free goods and services, placing materials on the ground, gathering a crowd, erecting signs, stunting (for being a distraction to vehicles passing by), operating a barbecue in a park, etc... The fact that the Mayor's office would make such a statement indicates that the mayor is either completely incompitant, making public replies without checking his facts, or intentionally misleading the public. This civil servant should be embarassed to imply, in communications with the public, that a citizen should have to continue to defend himself over and over in the courts, even though the courts have repeatedly indicated that the city has abused its power and has created and applied unconstitutional laws that have infringed on the charter rights of that citizen.

In the last court judgement on this matter, the courts upheld The City's right to enforce its bylaws, a decision Mr. Pawlowski is appealing.

This is once again a misleading statement. In his decision, the judge ruled that seventy five percent of the bylaws presented before him were unconstitutional. He did uphold the right for the City to exercise their bylaws when it comes to amplification limits. That's all.

Mayor Nenshi has said that the Street Church is welcome to use the Atrium for their gatherings, provided they follow the proper process.

This is completely inacurate. As we stated before, Street Church asked for meetings with the mayor on multiple occasions, and so did I. They tried negotiating the use of the Atrium for over a month and indicated their concerns with the application process, especially as pertaining to the usage rules. Suggesting that Street Church could use the Atrium if they would follow proper procedure is rediculous. Even in an interview with Owen Key, the media asked if Mr. Key believed that Street Church would be granted permission if they followed proper procedure, and Mr. Key indicated that he couldn't say that they would be granted that permission.

The City of Calgary's approach to the Occupy Calgary protest was to obtain a municipal injunction against the protest to have it evicted from Olympic Plaza.

Firstly, the injunction acquired by the City had nothing to do with Occupiers being inside of the Atrium, but had everything to do with the Occupy Calgary tents at Olympic Plaza. Mr. Mayor indicated in the media a number of times that he welcomes Occupiers to protest at City Hall during working hours. Artur Pawlowski was at the, Occupy Calgary versus the City of Calgary, injunction hearing and heard all of the requests being made by the City and there was no mention of the Atrium or City Hall.

So again, Occupiers were welcomed, yet Street Church and CCC are not welcome. Occupiers were granted every freedom, including being allowed to cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage to Olympic Plaza, such as the destruction of the public bathrooms in the park, without any reprocutions, or harassment.

So whether or not the different treatment is related to the mayor's religious or ideological beliefs, the extreme treatment of Street Church in comparison to the overly lenient treatment of Occupy Calgary begs many questions.

It's also worth mentioning that the mayor's office is not the only one misinforming the public. Add to the mix, the reply by the Calgary Police Department, who immediately after our arrest gave the following public statement:

We were called by the City of Calgary’s Corporate Security department, in response to a group who were creating a disturbance. Those causing the disruption had already been served a trespass notice by the agent for the property and refused to leave. The Criminal Code of Canada provides the authority for a owner of a property to remove a trespasser and that’s why CPS was called to do. The matter is now before the courts and we cannot discuss it further.

In this short paragraph there are three direct lies and one misleading statement.

I will address each comment. To start with, Street Church had notified the public and the media that they would be holding a service in the Atrium on the day in question during the lunch hour in honor of our savior, Jesus Christ, during the Christmas season. City Hall also received this notification.

To be clear, CPS was not called in after the fact in response to us causing a disturbance at all. When we arrived at City Hall Corporate security was already there waiting for us with the police officers. In fact, a Street Church volunteer was on site about an hour earlier and saw City Hall Corporate Security meeting with the officers that later escorted us from the Atrium. They were making their plans before we even arrived.

Also, at this point we had not received no trespass notices from Corporate Security. That didn't happen until Artur Pawlowski had read from the Bible out loud and shared a short sermon to his listeners in the Atrium (once again without amplification). That is what Mr. Pawlowski did to receive his trespass notice. As for me, I didn't receive a trespass notice until I was deeply bothered by the abuse of the Charter that was happening before my very eyes and walked over to the base of the stairs outside the Council Chambers and started reading Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Prior to this I had never been given either a warning from Corporate Security, nor a no trespass order (in fact, I have never in my life been given a no trespass order, until I read Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms in my city's municipal building and by the way, I have also never been arrested before until I went to speak to my mayor about this reprehensible behaviour).

Could someone please explain what was illegal about doing such a thing? The reason why I ask the question to you, is because when I asked the officers, they could not or would not tell me the answer. They merely indicated that I was trespassing. What? I was trespassing in my City Hall, a public building? That's the reason I was given a no trespass order? That's why I wanted to talk to the mayor, which I was arrested for doing. Once again, when I asked the officers why I was being arrested, they told me that I was trespassing. I asked them for the reason they were arrresting me for trespassing, specifically what law or bylaw I had broken and they, without wanting me to look at them, restated again and again that I was trespassing. This was shameful behaviour and a disgrace to our country and our democracy. So to sumarize, I was given a no trespass order, not for breaking any laws or bylaws, but because I was not wanted there, in a public building that I pay taxes to be in and use for appropriate reasons.

The next statement is that of ownership of the Atrium. Who owns the building? It is a public building, paid for by the public, designed for public interactions and information exchanges and repeatedly protected against charter infractions by various levels of courts throughout our country and other democratic nations around the world and throughout history. To put it bluntly, the civil servants are merely caretakers of your and my civic building. They are not the owners.

What seems certain with this whole matter and what clearly distinguishes Street Church from Occupy Calgary, and other groups that are given allowances and leniency that Street Church is not allowed to enjoy, is that the problem is with the message that is being delivered. If it's 'eat the rich', it's good, if it's the message of hope through repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ, it's damnable.

So here are some questions I have for everyone.

Why is the office of the mayor obviously lying to people about what truly happened?

Why did the police department lie to the public just hours after our arrest about what took place?

Why is Calgary City Hall's Corporate Security lying about Street Church's previous discussions and negotiations with them regarding the Atrium usage?

Why is the mayor stating, what is clearly a lie, that Street Church is being treated like every body else, when anyone with their eyes open can clearly see the bias applied to Street Church, especially with the City's immediately recent dealings with Occupy Calgary?

When will the City of Calgary stop persecuting Street Church, stop spreading lies about them to the public and admit that they have abused their power and make recompense for their persecutions?

And the most important question I have is, if they acted righteously and lawfully then why the lies?

To the City of Calgary, to the CPS, to Calgary's City Hall's Corporate Security, and to our mayor and all others involved in this ongoing persecution repent for your wrong deeds...

"But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out" (Num. 32:23 )

 More details on the arrest and pictures are here: http://streetchurch.ca/index.php/20111220803/News/Journals/Six-arrested-at-Christmas.html

Well! appears that I am going Dixie yet again! I am ashamed that I live in a city with a muslim mayor!

Thats right! Mayor Nenshi aka a muslim has been proven to be racist and at christmas time in our fair city!

Our city, our Calgary...originally filled with Christian, Catholics and the like, who kindly let in other nationalities are now facing racism by our own mayor...the very man the majority of the public voted in!

While i was raised catholic, have since chosen to be christian, have never been racist before. Ironically though I have been accused of being racist while reprimanding a nationality not of the the canadian nationality, and only because I have treated this person as I would have any other person, and that person was told so.

Mayor Nenshi...you have your nerve. Really?! Having christians removed from city hall because they were having a christian christmas service? What were you thinking Mayor Nenshi?? I knew from the moment I first saw you on tv and you closed your eyes while talking to the public that you were not be trusted, and I was obviously right.

It was appalling in November when I found out that certain businesses forbid poppy wearing, but this is much worse! You will never have my respect Mayor Nenshi. It is a privilege for you to be in our country, in our province and yes in our city...How dare you be prejudiced against Christians!!!!!!! I hope those christians who reads my article never again support anything you do. You appall me! You disgust me! I am embarrassed to admit that you are the mayor of this beautiful city in which we live in! You give us reason to be prejudiced! I didnt vote for you because I didnt trust you, and I am glad I didnt but I am terribly sad that you got voted in, and I feel sorry for all christians, catholics and the like who voted for you and who support you. It's like leading a lamb to slaughter with you as our mayor!!!!!

Merry Christmas Mayor Nenshi, God Bless you Mayor Nenshi, God speed Mayor Nenshi and on and on and on.

Calgary mayor thinks religious tolerance is a one-way street, a point he made again brutally at Christmas

Ezra Levant ,QMI Agency

Calgary’s Muslim mayor, Naheed Nenshi, has been held up as a symbol of the city’s tolerance. Which is ironic, given his own anti-Christian bigotry in return.

Last week, Nenshi ordered city police, backed up with a ridiculously large contingent of private security, to arrest a Christian pastor and five of his congregants who had the temerity to lead a Christmas service in the public atrium of Calgary’s City Hall.

Artur Pawlowski, lead pastor of Calgary’s Street Church, had foolishly taken the mayor at his word when he described city hall as the city’s “living room,” open to all.

What Pawlowski didn’t understand is that Nenshi didn’t mean Christians. Nenshi meant his own co-religionists — no, not Muslims, but the leftist activists who had comprised the Occupy Calgary protests for two months with Nenshi’s blessing.

Nenshi permitted that two-month trespass in a public park, claiming the “Charter” prevented him from evicting the socialists, communists, anarchists and petty criminals who inhabited downtown Calgary’s Olympic Plaza.

Of course, there is no Charter guarantee to set up tents, do drugs and have public sex in a city park.

Here’s how Nenshi defended turning a blind eye to law breaking: “It’s funny, the number of people who have talked to me in the last couple of days who have said ‘the Occupy Calgary people need to get off Olympic Plaza so that all citizens can have rights to their front lawn.’ And I say, OK, so all citizens except the ones you don’t like should have a right to the front lawn. Because all means all in my opinion.”

All means all.

Unless they’re Christians having a peaceful, drug-free, sex-free celebration of Christmas in the people’s “living room.” Then Nenshi sends in boys with the billy clubs. For a pastor singing Christmas carols and reading Bible passages.

This isn’t the first time Nenshi — or the city of Calgary — has harassed Pawlowski or his Street Church. Over the past six years, Pawlowski has literally been to court more than 70 times fighting against a series of tickets, charges and other fabricated penalties cooked up by City Hall — none of which was applied to Nenshi’s favourites in the Occupy movement.

He has been charged by the City of Calgary for such horrific crimes as serving food and drink without proper permits.

But Pawlowski’s mission is to bring meals to the homeless who are turned away from official shelters because they are still abusing drugs or alcohol.

Occupy didn’t have permits for their food, either. But because Pawlowski does so in the name of Christian charity, Nenshi targeted him.

Don’t take Pawlowski’s word for it. Judge after judge has condemned the city’s behaviour. One trial judge said the city bylaw officers engaged in “abusive conduct.”

This year, an appeal judge said the city’s bullying of Pawlowski came “precariously close to being excessive and an abuse of power.”

For a few weeks, Nenshi’s policy of anything goes on public property was a reprieve for Pawlowski. While Occupy Calgary was allowed to break the laws, Pawlowski was allowed to minister to the homeless, too. But now that it’s cold and Occupy Calgary has gone back to their parents’ basements, Pawlowski’s brief enjoyment of his real Charter rights — freedom of speech; freedom of religion; freedom of assembly — has been curtailed.

Speaking of grown men who live in their parents’ basement, Nenshi is once again enforcing the law with precisely the brutality and bigotry that Calgary’s courts warned him against. And during Christmas, no less.

Nenshi is a left-wing mayor. That’s not new — Calgary’s last four mayors have been Liberal, as are most of its city councillors. He’s a minority politician in Alberta — that’s hardly new either, in the province that gave us everyone from the Famous Five suffragettes to Canada’s first Hindu and Muslim MPs.

What is new is that the Muslim mayor thinks religious tolerance is a one-way street — a point he made again brutally this Christmas.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2011/12/30/all-means-all