Christine Whitaker is a writer from the town of Edgeley, Saskatchewan.  Seems small towns and common sense go hand in hand, if her December 2nd editorial in the Regina Leader-Post is anything to go by.

Here's a few excerpts:

I have no problem with putting my purse through a scanner, but I object to a
stranger rifling through my personal belongings. The excuse for these
procedures is that they protect everyone's safety. The reality is the
assumption that we are all criminals until we prove otherwise.

Canadian law has been written this way since the late 70's. While most have completely ignored it, almost all of our laws now contain some form of reverse onus. In other words, you must prove you are innocent. The government doesn't have to prove you're guilty.

Take a read through the Firearms Act, the Explosives Act, or pretty much any other part of the Criminal Code of Canada if you really want to terrify yourself with the reality of Canada in the 21st century.

The long gun registry is the manifestation of a belief that anyone who owns
a shotgun is a potential murderer; the requirement to obtain a licence to
take a small boat to the lake assumes that a person is a danger to everyone
else.

A license is merely a government permission slip to break the law. Look it up. The phrase you want to search for is "Every person commits an offence who, without lawful excuse"... your license to do anything is your "lawful excuse" to break the law.

How long will it be before we will be obliged to seek permission to use the
Internet; to carry a licence listing our e-mail address and service
provider; to register every computer we own?

Governments have been trying to figure out how to get away with this for a while.

On Canada Day and Remembrance Day, we pay lip service to our freedoms, but
just how free are we these days? We are hemmed in by regulations, our
wallets bulge with licences and photo identification cards, and our names
are on too many official lists.
Individual rights and freedoms are being abused by all levels of government,
and the Orwellian state looms ever closer.

Well said, Christine. We're not free at all. We just refuse to face the truth of it, that's all.

You can read Christine's entire article, "Ever more government intrusion into our rights and freedoms" on the Regina Leader-Post website.

And if you happen to know Christine, please ask her to contact me.  I'd love to talk with her about her views on our Rights and Freedoms, and how we can best protect them.  I couldn't find a contact email address for her online.