I, Ashu M. G. Solo, filed the following:

1. Civil rights case against the City of Saskatoon (Mayor's Office) and Councillor Randy Donauer for prayer recitations at government organized events

2. Code of Conduct complaint against Mayor Don Atchison for potential online campaign advertising violations

3. Civil rights case against the City of Saskatoon (Saskatoon Transit Services) for promoting holidays from only one religion on city buses

4. Human rights complaint against the City of Saskatoon (Executive Committee) for retaliating against me by not reappointing me to the Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee and not appointing me to another civic committee or board

5. Human rights complaint against the City of Saskatoon (City Solicitor’s Office) for retaliating against me by trying to deprive me of my right to directly communicate with members of City Council and by telling employees of other City of Saskatoon departments to not talk to me

6. Human rights complaint against the City of Saskatoon (Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Office) and City of Saskatoon (Living in Harmony Ad Hoc Subcommittee of Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee) for retaliating against me by not considering my submissions to the Living in Harmony Contest

This site contains my media releases, some case documents, emails to City Council, etc.

I don't waste my time arguing with opponents.

The backlash makes me much more determined to fight against bigotry and shows the need for these civil rights cases, so I'll be filing more civil rights cases. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Friday, January 11, 2013

MEDIA ALERT: Update on Complaint about Christmas Greetings on Buses


From: Ashu M. G. Solo [mailto:amgsolo@mavericktechnologies.us]
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 2:54 AM
To: amgsolo@mavericktechnologies.us
Subject: MEDIA ALERT:  Update on Complaint about Christmas Greetings on Buses

Dear Media and Saskatoon City Solicitor’s Office:

Saskatoon City Council referred the issue of Christmas greetings on buses to the Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee, one of the advisory committees to City Council.  The Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee met yesterday on January 10, 2013.  I sent significant information about my complaint to the committee before their meeting yesterday.  I made a short presentation on January 10, 2013 to the Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee about this issue and answered their questions.  They deferred making a decision on the issue of Christmas greetings on city buses until their retreat on January 26, 2013.  Following is a summary of what I told them yesterday in my presentation and in response to their questions:

My opponents are being extremely petty by insisting on having “merry Christmas” instead of a more inclusive greeting like “happy holidays" on the programmable bus signs for Saskatoon Transit buses.  The only reason that there would be so much backlash and such a petty position by my opponents is because they want to use the state to promote Christian holidays, to promote Christian traditions, to promote Christianity, and for Christian proselytization. 

The idea of allowing greetings for other holidays in addition to Christmas greetings is not a practical idea.  There are over 10,000 religions, 150 of which have one million or more followers.  This doesn't include branches of each religion.  This has been documented by author David Barrett in the World Christian Encyclopedia:  http://www.adherents.com/misc/WCE.html.  Most of these religions have multiple holidays.  Therefore, it would be impossible to have messages for holidays in all other religions. 

Are they going to have greetings for Scientology holidays and Voodoo religion holidays?  Are they going to have messages for L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday, a holiday that is as important for Scientologists as Christmas is for Christians?  They would have to hire a staff just to figure out all of the religious holidays and program all of them into each of the 110 buses with programmable messaging signs.  They can’t display messages for all religions, so they should display messages for no religions.

The bus drivers can choose which programmed messages they want to display at their discretion, so I doubt if many of them will display messages for religions that they don’t believe in.   Do they think bus drivers are going to display messages for Diwali or Ramadan?  A bus driver told me that most drivers said that they will not display messages for religions that they don’t believe in.  Are they going to force bus drivers to display messages?  How is this going to be enforced?  Are they going to discipline bus drivers who refuse to display messages?

A bus driver told me that to save time when starting a shift late, many bus drivers change the messages while driving.  Also, many bus drivers check that the messages have been properly changed while driving.  These actions take their eyes off the road.  The programmable bus signs alternate between displaying the bus route name and number and sometimes displaying another message like “merry Christmas.”  The “merry Christmas” message can be on for three seconds before the bus route message, so this takes the driver’s eyes off the road for significantly longer.  This is a safety hazard.  Therefore, only the bus route name and number should be displayed on the programmable messaging signs. 

A bus rider told me that sometimes he can’t see the bus route message on the scrolling sign at the back or on the front of the bus because the Christmas message or another message is on there instead and the bus is about to leave.  Therefore, only the bus route name and number should be displayed on the programmable messaging signs. 

If “merry Christmas” messages are so important to people, they can stick them on their own personal vehicles or even pay for private advertisements inside the bus containing this message.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion and creed.  It's my position that freedom of conscience in section 4 of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code includes freedom from religion.  It's my position that a Christmas message on Saskatoon Transit buses violates section 4 of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code and discriminates against people on the prohibited grounds of religion and creed.

It's my position that freedom of conscience in section 2a of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes freedom from religion, that section 15 of the Charter guarantees religious equality, that the Charter forbids attempts to coerce, limit, or otherwise influence the choice of religious observance, and that section 27 of the Charter on multiculturalism forbids conferring special privileges or benefits on any particular religion.  It's my position that a Christmas message on Saskatoon Transit buses violates these sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The freedom of religion includes freedom from religion.  Separation of religion and state is a fundamental aspect of freedom of religion.  Christmas messages on buses violate the separation of religion and state, impose religious beliefs on people who don't share them, and give preferential treatment to one religion over all other religions. 

I will proceed with a civil rights complaint to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission unless the City of Saskatoon adopts a fair and nondiscriminatory policy.  The only fair and nondiscriminatory policy is to not have any messages pertaining to religious holidays on the programmable signs.  The only safe policy and passenger friendly policy is to only display the bus route name and number on the programmable signs.  If this complaint goes to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, I will seek a seminal judgment that has the effect of banning religious messages by the state throughout the province of Saskatchewan and that has persuasive value in other provinces too.

Best regards,

Ashu M. G. Solo
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