NHPPA’s booth at Toronto’s Total Health Show 2015 was, yet again, a vibrant meeting point for the discussion of health freedoms Canadians should be enjoying. Our focus shifts as politics, health regulation and international concerns wax and wane, and this year our message was focused on “Censorship”. Shawn’s lecture, and our conversations revolved around how our government agencies and increasing regulation impede our ability to make informed choices for our health, treatments and prevention of disease by censoring the information we need.
Day 1 of 3 | The Big Event – Friday April 17, 2015
Set up and ready to engage with the public!
Our T-shirts took pride of place again, they always are great talking points. People have trouble choosing a favourite.
Why do we want to ban Lightning? A Canadian is 17 times more likely to get struck by lightning than harmed by a natural health product. (Taken from Ron Law’s analysis with the Government of Canada’s own statistics.)
The T-shirts quote some of our freedom-fighting heroes. Shawn, Dr Zoltan Rona and Robert Verkirk. Your back can start a conversation as easily as your front.
Yes, the petition for the Charter of Health Freedom began the weekend at 93,759 signatures. All of our informational literature and support packages have been updated to keep pace with the every-changing political and regulatory climate.
Our new Censorship Compendium, compiled to accompany Shawn’s presentation. It contains original submissions by Shawn Buckley, Dr. Zoltan Rona, Helke Ferrie, Montana Jones, Deane Parkes (adpated article), Genevieve Eliany, Ian Stewart, Dr. Shiv Chopra, Jeffrey Smith, Heather Fraser, Michael Schmidt, Josh Gitalis, Meghan Telpner, Karen Selick, Patrick Holford, Rick DeSylva, Udo Erasmus and Dr. Robert Verkerk. The compendium sold out during the show, but is now available online for you to purchase and download.
Shawn’s lecture “Suppressing the Truth • Gambling with your Safety • Deciding for Yourself ~ an update on the government’s effort to “protect” you. This presentation was brand new, written for 2015, but the Warm Buddy bear story still resonates with issues of freedom Canada faces today.
Enlisting the support Natural Health Practitioners to add their patients’ voices to the petition for the Charter of Health Freedom. They are uniquely placed to understand the ongoing challenges of compliance with inappropriate regulation.
As well as our new material on censorship, we always have our most popular articles on hand, written by Shawn and many of our NHPPA advocate partners.
People love to pick up these aids to explaining the problem of current NHP regulation to their friends and colleagues. The comparative risk chart is an old favourite that never fails to run out by the end of the show, no matter how many we print. And, for a longer read, the ‘Safe or Unsafe’ Controversy which saw Health Canada sit up, take notice and attempt to rebut Shawn’s writing for the first time.
Thanks to Chris Sutton for our eye-catching new banner.
We added several hundred signatures to the Charter of Health Freedom petition. We are always delighted when people who have signed inprevious years bring their family and friends to our booth to add their voices.
The 2015 information team at work with the show’s first booth visitors ~ Melody Byblow, NHPPA’s Events, Campaigns and Social Media Content specialist, Tasha Grafos, Contributions Manager and Julia Rickert, National Campaign Director and Executive Co-Ordinator.
Day 2 of 3 | The Big Event – Saturday April 18, 2015
Shawn arriving at the show and reviewing NHPPA’s Censorship compendium for the first time. We are all delighted that so many respected voices took time to contribute unique, incisive and timely content for this publication.
The new comdendium provided a great springboard for talking censorship.
As usual a line up to subscribe to NHPPA’s mailing list.
Shawn Buckley, Ian Stewart and Julia Rickert, NHPPA’s Directors discussing the way forward and NHPPA’s new projects.
These opportunities for us to meet with you face-to-face are invaluable for hearing what`s happening and listening to stories of citizen’s latest inaccessibility to products and practices.
Shawn’s Saturday lecture. See the full video at the bottom of this post or find it on NHPPA’s YouTube channel. This year he shared how “censorship and freedom cannot co-exist.”
Do we really cherish the truth? In order to do that we sometimes need to examine our beliefs.
Government drug policy, the move away from the precautionary principle in legislation and corporatism ~ among many of the topic to help Shawn’s audience think, consider and act.
Will Bill C-51 really make us safer from terrorism? Or just criminalize disagreeing with the government?
Closing in on 300 signatures. Every sheet of paper will be validated by NHPPA staff before heading to Ottawa.
A weekend of sharing news, ideas and stories. Everyone gains courage, energy and hope when we share our resources.
Booth traffic always increases after Shawn’s lecture. People who are waiting to speak with him can pick up information, become subscribers and contribute to our costs.
Shawn makes himself available at the booth for as much time as he can, to hear from citizens and stakeholders alike.
The last few copies of our Censorship Compendium.
The booth needed all of our team all of the time. Tiring, but a great sign of increasing engagement with the ongoing issues in protecting your right to choose health.
Plenty to take away and read, then use as aids to having the conversations with your networks.
Practitioners and NHPPA supporters such as Rick Tufts discuss the new issues facing natural health products and practices.
Edible Toronto magazines, with Montana Jones’s brilliantly written article, “Farmed and Dangerous” illustratng the bias of our authorities.
Tasha Grafos triples as NHPPA’s contributions manager, booth assistant and co-designer of the Censorship Compendium.
The petition goes from strength to strength.
A rare quiet moment gives NHPPA’s Directors the chance to discuss strategy in the light of conversations held over the weekend.
Julia Rickert, Shawn Buckley, Ian Stewart and Melody Byblow still smiling at the end of a long Day 2 of the weekend.
Day 3 of 3 | The Big Event – Sunday April 19, 2015
Shawn’s second lecture was at the end of Sunday.
“…the second form of censorship is more insidious. It is the total denial of all truthful treatment information other than approved structure function claims.”
“It might surprise you to learn that many doctors do not put much weight on the expensive double-blind clinical trials conducted to get drugs approved by Health Canada.”
“It might also surprise you to learn that a significant number of prescriptions written by doctors are for conditions for which the drugs being prescribed have not been approved. This is called off-label use.”
The petition continues to grow all weekend.
Four censorship compendiums left! The booklet has been updated with more opinions and you can buy your downloadable copy here.
One of our favourite mentors, Helke Ferrie, and her husband Dr. Robert Ferrie stopped by the booth.
Helke and Robert get Shawn fired up. At the end of a long weekend, the companionship of like-minded seekers after truth and freedom never fails to encourage us all. Thank you to all our friends, colleagues and mentors who were there when the camera wasn’t!
Watch Shawn Buckley’s 2015 Censorship lecture.
