The following story is an abridged open letter which I sent to the Mayor and Council of Jasper on July 8, 2017. Their email addresses are at the bottom, if you care to write to them. There is much irony in this story, especially in light of the fact that the award pictured here was given to me by the very organization which denied me a busking permit.
A Chronology of Promises & Broken Promises, Steps & Missteps
This story begins about 5 years ago. I made a presentation to Town Council that busking should be allowed in Jasper. It was not legal to busk at the time. I made the case that this little mountain town within a national park and world heritage site was a perfect place for busking, and that it would be a win-win-win situation. It would be good for the musicians, good for the tourists, and good for the town aesthetic. My presentation was well received, and the councillors enthusiastically assured me they would work on making it happen.
It took some time, but finally in 2016, the busking program was launched. To be specific it was Busking Pilot Project #2. Pilot Project #1 occurred during the Arts Days weekend late September 2015, and I took part in that. My band, the “Fiddle River Band”, played on the Saturday afternoon, and it was a great success. People were dancing on the sidewalk.
The 2016 Pilot Project was the first time that busking licences would be sold, and musicians could busk all summer, with a few guidelines stipulating where, when and how long.
Imagine my surprise then when I went to buy my licence, and was sent the curt email,
in light of your recently publicly proclaimed non-inclusive beliefs we have decided to decline a permit to you at this time.
There it was, clearly stated, that it was because of my thoughts that I was not going to be allowed to play my violin on the streets of Jasper.
https://freespeechmonika.wordpress.com/2016/08/07/busking-permit-denied/
That was last year. What came next? A season of surveys, meetings, emails, new process, newspaper articles, auditions, vetting buskers, guidelines, and rules.
Winter of 2016 – 2017
In response to numerous queries last summer by both myself and Prof Tony Hall from the University of Lethbridge, the town manager responded that there would be a survey in the fall to determine the success and what problems, if any, arose from the busking project, and then they would be in a position to answer our questions.
Autumn came and went, and there was not much action. There was a general satisfaction survey which included two questions on busking, and another survey for the business community more specifically related to busking.
On February 14th, 2017, busking was on the agenda of the Committee-of-the-Whole Council meeting. I requested a spot on the agenda. Marianne Garrah and Dave Baker of the Habitat for the Arts were also in attendance and made a presentation before mine.
I took note of Marianne Garrah’s comment that the vetting process for buskers should be based on talent and musical ability. This was noted in the minutes. To my understanding, that statement by Garrah was a tacit admission that they had erred the previous summer when they denied me a busking license based on my thoughts. This gave me confidence that this summer would be different.
At the same time, Councillor Gilbert Wall declared openly that I should not be allowed on the streets to busk, and that he could not separate my violin playing from my ideas. It was written about in both newspapers, as being “the elephant in the room” and “given what we know…” – how ominous – Councillor Wall made it clear that there must be “an out”, for them to be able to shut me out.
April 11 2017 Committee of the Whole minutes state that the management of the Busking Pilot Project for 2017 would once again be handed over to the Habitat for the Arts. They also stated that the selection committee should be comprised of people who are qualified to assess musical abilities.
During subsequent meetings, a clear outline of process was made for the busker vetting and selection process. There would be a panel of 5 judges. A point system would be used. Habitat for the Arts would choose a song from the auditionee’s set lists. If the performer “seems shaky on one song you may ask them to perform another song”. The performance would be recorded and sent to other judges who presumably could not all come together at the same time because of busy schedules.
This process implies open visibility of the panel. Several of the guidelines make it clear that this was to be a live audition process. For example, one guideline states
Judges are encouraged to interact with performers (but not for too long, just enough to make them feel comfortable).” Another states: “If a performer doesn’t show up, move on to the next performer on the list.”
After the May 2nd meeting, I immediately struck up a correspondence with the Habitat people to indicate my interest in auditioning for the purpose of acquiring a busking licence. I went in person, and I emailed.
When will the auditions take place?
Where should I show up?
How will I find out when they take place?
Will there be an announcement in the paper?
Will they email me? Phone me?
Responses to my attempts at communication were either absent or slow.
Finally I was told that I could simply send them a clip electronically. Pardon me???
What happened to the whole “select a song and if they are shaky pick another one, and please interact but not too much….” scenario? What was going to be a live audition in front of a panel of judges turned into an anonymous “send in your tape”.
I asked Marianne Garrah in person, “This process is open and transparent, correct? The judges’ identities should be public, yes?” She agreed. I asked who the judges are. She started to name them and after naming two, she hesitated, reconsidered, and said,
uhhhhh, I can’t remember who the others are, it’s not really my thing. This is not my project…
….Really??????
End of May, still no buskers on the streets of Jasper.
June – I left town for about two weeks, and when I returned, there were indeed buskers on the street, but only just.
I tried to visit the Habitat several times, to no avail, as nobody was there. I emailed, and asked when I could please pick up my permit, assuming of course that there would be no problem passing the audition process, having sent them the link to my music samples. They all had assured me that they knew I could play. And they did say it was based on talent and musical ability.
Imagine once again my surprise when I received the following unsigned email.
2017-06-20
Hello Monika
For 2017 the Jasper Busking program has been designed such that a ‘no meet’ e-committee of community minded individuals are given sound/youtube/audition files provided by the artists. Those files are listened to with the intent of realizing three things: skill of the artist (5potential criteria points), potential enjoyment by the listener (5potential criteria points), and to gain a preception [sic] of the artists stage presence (5potential criteria points). Those criteria points are calculated over the 5 community members and to be warranted a licence the total must equal at least 55 (or 11 out of 15 from each response).
Unfortunately the results that came back to Habitat from the committee did not reflect that total for you. Your application for 2017 has been declined.
Habitat for the Arts
for the Jasper Municipal 2017 Busking Pilot Project
Hab@iotad.ca
Who are these faceless nameless “community minded individuals”? They made rules and guidelines, then broke them all. Live audition process turned into electronic transmission to who knows who, and whoever they are, they reached their objective to keep Monika out. No accountability. No transparency. No legitimate reason was given. They got their way and evaded responsibility. Anonymous judges, faceless nameless individuals, awarding insufficient (zero?) points to one of the best-known musicians in this little town, is rather Kafkaesque, is it not?
The Farce
What did all of this amount to? New process after endless deliberations and meetings, it was all a big facade and nothing more. They did not quite know what to do with Monika Schaefer. They knew they could not openly deny me a license based on lack of musical abilities. They stated it many times, that it was not my music that bothered them, rather, it was my thoughts. My musical background and involvement in this community is extensive and well-known. In fact, some would say I had acquired local celebrity status as a violinist and fiddler, who was in much demand at community functions and fundraisers, both as performer and occasionally also as judge during competitions.
They must have struggled with this problem, because in spite of declaring at the May 2nd council meeting that they would like to see buskers on the streets of Jasper by the May long weekend, they did not appear until some time during the second week of June. I happened to be out of town then – how convenient.
False Diversity Project
Jasper advertises its Diversity Project while advancing ideological exclusiveness.
The Fitzhugh newspaper reported (March 16, 2017 article page 3 and editorial page 6) that I was the subject of debate in deliberations about a proclamation designating Jasper an “inclusive community”. The Mayor warned that the proclamation could have unforeseen consequences.
It seems to me that inevitably we will run into the elephant in the room that councillor Gilbert Wall spoke about a week ago, that is when you proclaim to be inclusive without limitation then you are forced to confront those with whom you might have the most profound disagreements. ~Mayor Richard Ireland
All the while there is the absolute assumption that I am guilty of a crime – a thought crime. Regardless of whether I am right or wrong – should that even be relevant for the acquisition of a busking licence? Did we once pride ourselves on having freedom of speech in Canada?
Various agencies in the town of Jasper have designated themselves judge, jury and enforcers against the alleged thought crimes of Monika Schaefer. All the while, there is never so much as a glimmer of introspection, not the slightest interest in making enquiries into the issues which I have raised. In fact, the opposite is true. The ferocious attack against me is designed to frighten anyone else from looking.
There is simply a blanket acceptance of the prevailing dogma, and anyone who dares question is guilty of “racial incitement”. The very act of questioning is criminalized. The nasty little label “hate speech” is applied, and that’s that. Evidence is not required when something is “self-evident”. The Doctrine of Judicial Notice allows courts to recognize as “fact” matters that are “common knowledge”. The victors write the history books, so when they say it is so, then it is so. They determine what becomes “common knowledge”.
Inclusive community is a fraudulent concept in Jasper. Diversity in Jasper does not include thoughts.
Dear Mayor and Councillors, is this what you call due process? Is this not an EXACT fulfillment of some of my concerns expressed earlier in the winter? I thought we had reached an understanding that playing music should have NOTHING to do with a person’s views. Are you going to stand by and support the Habitat in their fraudulent project? Is this your legacy, turning the righteous town of Jasper, all-inclusive Jasper, into a narrow thought-policing agency?
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the UN Declaration of Human Rights are not being respected here in this little town in the midst of a National Park and a World Heritage Site.
The Jasper Diversity Project is a sham. The Jasper busking program is a farce. The proclamation of Inclusive Community is a joke. And most especially, the Habitat for the Arts Values and Principles Statement, all about “learning never stops…, embrace new challenges and ideas…, grow through knowledge exchange and support…” earns all three descriptors: sham, farce and a joke.
Sincerely,
Monika Schaefer
sent to Mayor and Council:
rireland@town.jasper.ab.ca
rdamota@town.jasper.ab.ca
gwall@town.jasper.ab.ca
hkempey@town.jasper.ab.ca
dwacko@town.jasper.ab.ca
bnesbitt@town.jasper.ab.ca
as well as to the Habitat for the Arts:
hab@iotad.ca
please copy to:
Dave Baker: betabake@gmail.com
Mark Fercho: mfercho@town.jasper.ab.ca
Bob Covey: bob@thejasperlocal.ca
Paul Clarke: editor@fitzhugh.ca
Monika Schaefer: monika_schaefer@hotmail.com
10 Responses
To John Q. Canuck,
Yes, when you say the “warriors” among us were all either killed, or put on trial etc…, you must be talking about the millions of Germans who were killed during and after the war by the Allies. Cities like Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne, and countless more were firebombed, and many civilians were thus targeted.
Those who were put on trial at Nuremberg were tortured, and thus illegally murdered in that kangaroo court.
After open hostilities ended in 1945, millions more Germans were murdered, either in the Eisenhower death camps (POWs were renamed “disarmed enemy combatants” so that normal rules did not apply), or by deliberate starvation due to embargo. Millions more died during the largest forced expulsion in history, the Germans from the eastern German territories such as Sudetenland.
It seems that the campaign of hatred AGAINST the Germans, and all the invented atrocity propaganda had the effect of inciting our brothers and cousins to fight and kill each other in the blood bath known as WW2. The German bashing continues to this day, and the “re-education program” has brought the German populace to its knees, paying and apologizing for something they did not do. The victors write the history books, and that entails something other than choosing the font.
Don’t you find it strange that all these “bad people” are the only ones willing to defend you Monika?
I find it odd that so many “upstanding” people in this war to defend the right to speak from this semitic scourge are still thinking that somehow the warriors among us deserve to be sidelined.
So while everybody writes emails and runs around town posting fliers, the warrior is the only thing the Communist fears….in all his ugly truth, with his soul laid bare, it will be the warrior who preserves our freedom at the end of the day.
The “warriors” among you were all either killed between 1939 and 1945, put on trial at Nuremberg, died at their own cowardly hand, or lived out the rest of their little pathetic lives in fear and obscurity.
What you have left are weasels, posers, and wannabes.
We will never forget what your forebears did. Never.
Never Again.
29 July, 2017
Dear Jasper Leaders,
The Jasper town government demeans the people of Jasper and lies to its visitors with its specious campaign identifying the National Park’s core community as a place where diversity is respected. I feel embarrassed for those pictured as the faces of vibrant diversity in Jasper’s dishonest ad campaign. A more honest rendition of the community would picture Jasper as a place of enforced conformity intolerant of intellectual diversity. A genuine and authentic embrace of diversity would extend far beyond skin colour and sexual orientation.
The evidence is strong that Jasper is becoming a place of contempt for the finer spirit of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If the self-appointed enforcers of Jasper’s Thought Inquisition were honest with themselves and others, they would understand that, to be consistent with their “nondiscriminatory” rhetoric, they would have to subject all holders of business licences to standardized thought testing. The thought police would have to conduct across-the-board thought investigations to make sure no applicants for licenses to busk, or to conduct any other type of commercial activity, harbour what the inquisitors consider to be unacceptable heresies.
As it now stands, one individual has been singled out for special exclusionary treatment. She just happens to be Jasper’s best known and most civic-minded musician who just happens to combine a German background with an interpretation of World War II history that does not conform with the unrelenting Hollywoodized memes. The main message conveyed by withholding a busking permit from Monika Schaefer because of her ideas is that Jasper is governed by a narrow intolerance that makes it a dangerous place for even the most law-abiding of nonconformists. A main message is that Jasper is anything but a place where the smug platitudes of the Habitat for the Arts are respected and acted upon. It is time for the Jasper municipal government as well as federal park officials to afford arts policy in the community a higher priority than that of an extension of Dave Baker’s college project.
A conjuring with the history of the Salem Witch Trials might provide some background of where things can lead that start with the declarations of self-righteousness on the part powerful self-promoters. The evidence is now in, that Jasper is well along the trajectory leading to gross persecution of those that do not conform with the prevailing orthodoxies of time and place.
Jasper’s Diversity Project is a sham. The proof lies in the uncivil treatment of Monika Schaefer as evidenced, for instance, by the actions of the Jasper Civic Government, the Habitat for the Arts, the Royal Canada Legion, the Jasper Environmental Association, and the Fitzhugh newspaper. The inability or unwillingness of town leaders to create venues for some reasonable talk about the developing witch hunt adds to the view that there is something really rotten in a national park that belongs ultimately to all the citizens of Canada and the world.
Instead of bringing in propaganda movies to confirm the biases of those most inclined to see Monika Schaefer as a heretic deserving to be shunned and ultimately banished, perhaps its time for leaders of the more sensible constituency to come forward as diplomats and peace makers. Perhaps it is time to favour dialogue over thought policing. Perhaps its time to open the doors of intellectual exchange rather than slam doors in the face of those that do not agree with Jasper’s current arts policies. Its current custodians in the Habitat for Intolerance have once again opted to subordinate cultural creativity and acumen beneath misguided efforts to guard against perceived thought crimes.
What is the position of the RCMP and the federal government when it comes to enforcing the constitutional and international law of freedom of expression, conscience and association in Canada’s most majestic national park and world heritage site including Jaspertown?
Yours Sincerely,
Tony Hall
Lethbridge Alberta Canada
Sent to
Richard Ireland ,
rdamota@town.jasper.ab.ca,
gwall@town.jasper.ab.ca,
hkempey@town.jasper.ab.ca,
dwacko@town.jasper.ab.ca,
bnesbitt@town.jasper.ab.ca
cc: Dave Baker, betabake@gmail.com
Mark Fercho, mfercho@town.jasper.ab.ca
marianne garrah, hab@iotad.ca
Monika Schaefer, monika_schaefer@hotmail.com
Bob Covey bob@thejasperlocal.ca
Paul Clarke editor@fitzhugh.ca
Monika Schaefer – Raven’ About the Arts Award for Music 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtnxF37QDBc
Black Ravens – The “fly Thought, fly Memory” refers to Odin’s crows Huginn and Muninn
German lyrics:
Heil sei euch, dunkle Gesellen,
Schwarzgefiedert, schattengleich,
Die ihr diese Welt durchsegelt,
Jedes Meer und jedes Reich.
Alles, was ihr seht und höret,
Was euch flüstern Baum und Stein,
Was euch Wind und Welle singen,
Schließt in euer Herz ihr ein.
Kraftvoll schlagen eure Schwingen,
Scharf ist euer Augenpaar,
Voller Ehrfurcht jeder Krieger,
Der euch je am Himmel sah.
Denn ihr steht in Wotans Diensten,
Die ihr hoch am Himmel kreist,
Seid ihm Ohr und seid ihm Auge,
Wenn ihr unsre Welt durchreist.
Flieg Gedanke, flieg Erinnerung,
Kündet ihm von Midgards Los.
Sagt ihm, seine Kinder warten,
Seine Schar ist nicht mehr groß.
Doch noch lodert seine Flamme
In die kalte Nacht hinaus:
Heil den Hohen, heil den Asen!
Heil sei Asgard, ihrem Haus!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0qe5xMQSrU
We have a Norse-Celtic-Germanic pagan-Christian tradition
Understand the mystery and take the best of everything
That’s wisdom – isn’t it?
We do NOT have a “Judeo-Christian“ tradition
Judaism is Babylonian Talmudism, which is Luciferianism-Satanism (celebrated in Jewish Hollyweird productions) Judaism has always been the undercurrent, the opposite forces to Christianity, the Synagogue of Satan, the enemy of the free sovereign nations, the enemy of humanity, of life itself… Freemasonry is Jewish, it’s Judaism for the non-Jews (called “Goyim“ i.e. “cattle“); Freemasonic lodges are secretive, subversive societies, tools for undermining, subverting and destroying the white societies from within