By Milt Harris ——Bio and Archives--September 4, 2023
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America has many problems, but Canada has its share as well. Justin Trudeau has tap danced the country further down the liberal highway than any previous leader. A glaring example is a law in British Columbia that allows minors to transition without their parent’s permission.
The Infants Act states that children may consent to a medical treatment on their own as long as the health care provider is sure that the treatment is in the child's best interest, and that the child understands the details of the treatment, including risks and benefits. It is up to the health care provider to assess and ensure the child's understanding of the treatment.
A child under the age of nineteen is considered a "minor.” "Mature minor consent" is the consent a child gives to receive or refuse health care after the child has been assessed by a health care provider as having the necessary understanding to give the consent. A child who is assessed by a health care provider as being capable of giving consent is called a "mature minor".
A child who is a mature minor may make their own health care decisions independent of their parents' or guardians' wishes. In B.C. there is no set age when a child is considered capable of giving consent.
A health care provider can accept consent from the child and provide health care that is in the child's best interests without getting consent from the parent or guardian if the health care provider is sure that the child understands:
I’m not sure that I have ever heard a more contradictory term than “mature minor.” The very fact that they’re minors means that the lack the maturity, experience, and knowledge to make such decisions.
Laws should be rooted in sound principle, clearly this one is not and Robert Hoogland, a loving father is being treated like collateral damage in order to enforce it. Hoogland’s daughter is one of the minors in question and because he “misgendered” her by referring to her as his daughter, he was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $30,000. Fortunately, he won his appeal and was released after serving 45 days in prison. The fine was also dropped.
In an interview with the Daily Wire, Hoogland stated:
“I expected that I would finish if not all of that six months, a big chunk of it in prison. This is a huge win, because what it does is it was setting a precedent and what they wanted was a real deterrent for parents, especially when they are standing up against the trans agenda, with what’s being pushed through the schools, by the school counsellors and all of these different things.”
This entire nightmare started in 2018. At the time his daughter was only thirteen years old. It was then that a children’s hospital informed him that his daughter was going to be treated with testosterone injections. Obviously, Hoogland opposed this and started legal action to prevent it. However, with the “Infant’s Act” supplying the wind in the hospital’s sails the court ruled against Hoogland.
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The court not only ruled that his daughter could move forward with the testosterone treatment, he was admonished not to publicly misgender the child by referring to her as his daughter.
In spite of the court ruling, Hoogland continued to publicly speak out about the case. Even committing the horrible sin of referring to the child as his daughter. For continuing to speak out about the case, Hoogland was found to be in contempt of the court and was ruled to have committed “family violence.”
Think about this. Here is a father essentially trying to protect his little girl from herself. At thirteen, she is unable to rationally make a decision of this magnitude. Yet, her protector, her dad, is convicted of family violence, while the government proceeds to inject her with a substance that does not coincide with her biological gender.
“The hardest part is knowing that one day you have a healthy child, and no matter how much you’re fighting to protect that child of yours, who you love, and as a parent, it’s your responsibility to protect your child from these things, that all you can simply do is watch the tragedy.”
“One day your child is healthy and the next day your child is on testosterone. I think that’s the hardest part of it all, is being, I don’t know what the word is, just it’s helpless, I guess. Just that sense of being helpless.”
The left has so infiltrated every aspect of society, that the so-called “medical experts,” will always be on the side of this type of child mutilation and the court system protects those decisions. That’s why Hoogland’s appeal win is such a breath of fresh air. He believes that it is inspirational for other parents in similar predicaments.
In total, Hoogland still spent over two months in prison.
“To have a punishment that’s six months in prison and a $30,000 fine, I mean, not many parents are going to say, ‘Hey, I’m willing to take that risk. There’s momentum in Canada now, too. The tide is turning, and to finally get a big win after just all these horrific losses and the way things were going, I think that’s just critical for morale, at the very least.”
Sadly, Hoogland hasn’t seen his daughter since 2019. His daughter and his family have fallen victim to the radical Canadian government.
In spite of everything, he still holds out hope that his daughter will return not only the family, but her biological roots.
“It destroys families and it destroyed mine. I'm hoping one day, when my child realizes, when she possibly detransitions. I’m waiting. I’m waiting with open arms for that day.”
“When these kids come back and say, “Hey, mom, dad, where were you? I was like, 13, 14. Why didn’t you try and stop me from making this big, incredible mistake?” At least I can always say, ‘Hey, I tried, and you can look it up online; even I tried really hard and even I wasn’t able to do it with everything I gave it, but I tried … so my conscience is clean on that.”
I’m happy that a judiciary panel released Hoogland, but this remains a crime against humanity. The left forces these doubts into susceptible minds and then eliminates parents from the equation to complete their agenda. There is no way that this can be considered sound medical practice. This goes against every biological cell in a person’s body.
There will be a due date, and lives will be ruined. Liberal elites don’t care. They have a plan and it doesn’t include any of us.
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Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.