The Word is Getting Out: Canadians Defend Local Rights Against Global Agendas
These Canadians are working together locally to fight the UN’s global agenda
Thanks to recent coverage by LifeSiteNews—a platform with a wide readership—we’re reaching more then just Canadians with our message of protecting local rights against global influences. I am excited to share this insightful article written by Dorothy Cummings McLean and published by LifeSiteNews on November 8, 2024. This article highlights our work and upcoming event in Renfrew County, “The Solution to Globalism is Localism,” which focuses on the challenges global mandates present to local governance and property rights. Thank you to Dorothy and LifeSiteNews for capturing our goals in this piece.
Original Article and Image by Dorothy Cummings McLean, published on LifeSiteNews.
These Canadians are working together locally to fight the UN’s global agenda
PEMBROKE, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) –– A discussion of the ways in which the United Nations goals are breaking municipal laws and violating property rights will be held later this month.
The two-hour meeting, entitled “The Solution to Globalism is Localism,” will be held on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, from 7 PM to 9 PM at the Rankin Culture and Recreation Centre in Pembroke, Ontario. Attendees will be addressed by both Maggie Hope Braun, the founder of Kicking International Council out of Local Environmental Initiatives (KICLEI), and Donna Burns, a vice president of the Ontario Landowners’ Association.
Maggie Hope Braun told LifeSiteNews via email that the meeting will address how global agendas, “particularly UN climate initiatives” are reshaping municipal priorities and policies across Canada.
“One of the primary goals of our localism initiative is to empower municipalities to make decisions based on the unique needs and values of their communities, rather than implementing one-size-fits-all global mandates,” Braun wrote. “By discussing key concerns diplomatically and openly, we hope to encourage greater transparency and foster a renewed focus on community-based priorities, underscoring the importance of strategic civic engagement at the local level.”
Braun is particularly concerned about local governments feeling pressured to adopt policies set by international organizations rather than responding to local priorities.
“Programs aligned with UN climate goals often come with strings attached, especially regarding federal funding, which can compel municipalities to follow UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to access resources,” she wrote. “This reliance can dilute local autonomy, making it difficult for municipalities to allocate budgets according to their own needs, as funding is often tied to specific climate-related expenditures—like electric fleets—that may not suit every community’s practical or economic realities.”
She added that these programs often introduce costly mandates, increase taxes, and, in some cases, affect privacy through the use of data-monitoring smart technologies, all of which can strain communities financially and socially.
“Canadians are beginning to feel these pressures, and many are questioning the long-term impacts on their rights, privacy, and economic well-being,” Braun stated.
She wants to protect Canada from international interests and ensure residents have a say in the shaping of their communities’ future.
“I believe local governments need balanced information so they can prioritize their communities’ needs over international agendas,” she wrote. “Municipal councils should serve as a buffer between their residents and external lobbying interests. They have a duty to ensure that decisions reflect local values and practical needs rather than advancing global or corporate objectives. Development schemes, particularly those encouraging centralized control over land use—as seen in some UN policies—must be thoroughly scrutinized.”
‘This is private land; they don’t have the authority to do that’
Donna Burns is passionate about educating residents, their representatives, and civil servants about existing legislation that protects ordinary folk from government (not to mention United Nations) overreach.
“My objective is to get the people (property owners, municipal staff members, and municipal council members) to understand our democracy and the legislation that was created that protects and surrounds it,” Donna Burns told LifeSiteNews. “This is knowledge that has been hidden from us for many, many years which has made us vulnerable in having our rights and freedoms eroded away from us in such a way that we have never realized it.”
A vice-president of the Ontario Landowner’s Association (OLA), Burns is also the president of its Renfrew County chapter, a post she took in 2011. Burns, who has lived in Renfrew County since 1977, told LifeSiteNews that she joined the OLA after hearing of then-Premier Dalton McGinty’s proposal to meter—that is, tax—well-water on private land. Such an undertaking, Burns assured LifeSiteNews, would be illegal—a violation of the Municipal Act, as well as property rights.
Through her research and activism, Burns has discovered that municipalities sometimes create bylaws which are in violation of the Municipal Act, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and even the Constitution.
Unfortunately, not only do municipal governments not read these documents, but ordinary citizens don’t either.
For example, many people do not know that Ontario governments have management of only 87% of the province’s landmass, and they cannot write laws for the land they don’t have authority over—private land, ceded by the Crown. This goes right back to the British Government’s drive to attract immigrants to the country by giving them land.
“When the Crown granted the land to the first settlers, the Crown gave up all rights, title and interest to that land,” she said. “They no longer have any entitlement to it.”
The situation is worsening, Burns believes, as municipal bodies are now using UN climate and environmental goals to usurp landowners’ authority over their land.
“With environmental assessments … they’re trying to tell you that you can’t do this on your land, or you can’t do that on your land,” she said. “But this is private land. They don’t have the authority to do that, but they imply that they do.”
In 2016, the Province of Ontario brought in UN goals under a provincial policy statement, hoping to designate certain land as a “wetland” or “heritage” or “environmentally protected.” Burns went to her local government and said, “Look, you cannot enforce a designation on land that you do not own.”
Burns has advised local landowners to write to Renfrew County saying that they do not give their consent to having designations placed on their private property.
At the November 20 meeting, Burns will be talking about how the United Nations wriggled itself into governance of Ontario municipalities.
She explained to LifeSiteNews that the UN had introduced Agenda 21 for sustainable development, founding the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which was later given the less suspicious-sounding name Local Governments for Sustainability. Agenda 21 was renamed “Comprehensive Planning, Growth Management, [and] Smart Growth.”
“The United Nations’ name wasn’t even in there,” she said. “And this is how they tricked your municipalities, your local officials into believing that this was something of Canadian origin.”
“ICLEI is now partnered with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and they have a programme called Partners for Climate Protection that’s funded by our Canadian government,” she continued. “They use these funding programmes to push these Green Energy initiatives onto us. All of this is introduced through our local governments—a foreign policy. They don’t realize that it’s foreign interference [meant] to remove our rights and freedoms from us and to erode our property ownership.”
Burns stated that the Green Energy initiatives are making it more and more expensive to own property and that farmers in particular are threatened.
Read the original article on LifeSiteNews by Dorothy Cummings McLean here.
Thank you all for what your doing. join www.watersheddebacle.ca TORT LAW SUIT
Our Family’s Story – How the Conservation Authorities Act took away our children’s future homes.
My name is John Tait. To help understand our story, here's a summary of the events over the past ten years regarding our family's property in Severn, Ontario. As we have learned, we aren’t alone in our experiences and many other landowners have faced similar challenges.
Ten years ago, we initially attempted to sever lots on our 160 acre property and have been navigating bureaucratic roadblocks and legislative barriers ever since. Amid this housing crisis, we wanted to help our two daughters and four grandchildren own homes on our expansive Severn, Ontario property. However, we have been told that outside of a tiny corner of property with an existing residential zoning, we are unable to severe any lots or provide homes for our children, as they are considered green space within the Conservation Act. This restriction on the use of our property significantly decreases the value and utility of our land.
Over the years we have learned more about the implications of the Conservation Authorities Act, and how it has prevented us from having the ability to use our private property to benefit the lives of our children and grandchildren as future homes. While we do believe in protecting the beauty of our natural Canadian landscape, the inflexible nature of labelling all this private land protected greenspace is not reasonable for the individual Canadian landowner who works to provide a future for their children. The Conservation Authorities Act can unilaterally decide that any land is protected and unavailable for development or building, including simple shed structures. This primarily impacts the small, individual landowners.
I am now in my mid-seventies and as a retired Toronto police officer I have been involved in investigations and case preparation for several private-sector legal matters. I also serve on the board of a junior mining company in Ontario. In my research, it has become apparent that as property owners, we do have the ability to advocate for our rights and there is a potential for a class action lawsuit for property owners in similar situations.
My intention is to act as the “representative plaintiff” for the property right infringement on behalf of all affected parties in this potential class action lawsuit. We have had preliminary legal consultations and the lawyers agree that this situation constitutes a “classic tort,” and our role is to inform all potential plaintiffs. If you are a property owner and are interested in following this issue, we encourage you to register on our website and spread the word to at least ten other landowners. Join us in protecting the value of our property and ability to use it freely.
The main focus of this investigation can be found at www.watersheddebacle.ca. Stand up, Canadians!
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