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When the knock came at the door at six in the morning, Sergei and Maria Silaev feared the worst. The couple first thought it was the Russian police, coming to arrest them for being Jehovah’s Witnesses. But it was the upstairs neighbour, telling them there was a water leak above their apartment. They were relieved, but after that had many anxious nights. "I couldn’t sleep," said Maria. From that moment on they knew they needed to leave Russia. The Silaevs life changed in 2017 when the Russian Supreme Court labelled their church an extremist organization and banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations and gatherings in that country — a ruling that forced them, and other members, to go underground and meet in secret in their homes. Although no official reasons have been given for the persecution, it could be because members of the church are pacifist, refuse to serve in the military, don’t vote, and won’t salute the flag or take part in other nationalistic displays of loyalty. According to Human Rights Watch, Russian authorities have carried out at least 780 house raids since 2017 in more than 70 towns and cities across Russia. Altogether, more than 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been charged, are on trial, or have been convicted of criminal "extremism" for practising their faith. At least 32 are in prison, with sentences ranging from two to six years for leading or participating in church meetings. There are allegations of torture. "For Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, practising their faith means risking their freedom," said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch for Europe and Central. The Silaevs decided not to wait to see if they would be added to the list of the accused and arrested. In January they came to Canada as tourists, seeking refugee status after arriving. Soon after, they moved to Winnipeg to await a verdict on their claim. Speaking through a translator over Zoom, they shared their story with me. The Silaevs who have no children, lived in Tver, a city of about 400,000 people 200 kilometres north of Moscow. Sergei, 29, worked as a maintenance supervisor; Maria, 27, was a hairdresser and also helped her husband in his work. The effects of the persecution were felt gradually, they said, starting with a ban on the New World Translation, the version of the Bible used by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The couple got rid of their printed version, but kept a copy on their computer. This made Maria sad. "I enjoyed turning the pages and reading it," she said of her physical copy of the Bible. Then there was a ban on door-to-door and street witnessing — a hallmark of the church, in that country and around the world. Read more: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/jehovahs-witnesses-flee-russia-572391362.html

Institutions such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Presbyterian Church and the Disability Trust have not signed up to the national redress scheme, delaying compensation for child abuse survivors. While some institutions, such as the Brisbane Boys' College and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, have flagged their intention to join the scheme, others have not. The government has publicly named and shamed the groups singled out in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that have not signed up to the redress scheme. There are expected to be more unnamed institutions where abuse occurred. Ten per cent of applications lodged by survivors - about 700 - have been put on hold because the organisations responsible for their abuse have not joined. "It is a lot but some of those are in the process of signing up," Social Services Minister Anne Ruston told ABC radio on Tuesday. Institutions have until June 30 to join the redress scheme, which was launched two years ago. While some organisations responsible for abuse no longer exist, others claim they do not have the financial capacity to compensate their victims. Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6636102/hundreds-of-child-abuse-payments-held-up/?cs=14231 Some institutions are still signing up to the redress scheme, Minister Anne Ruston says.

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But, there is a way out. First, as a country we need to get back to the basics of our history and the history of the struggle for religious freedom. It seems to me that we are simply repeating the mistakes of our forefathers. In the past, individual conscience was denigrated to such an extreme that every citizen had no choice but to accept the religious views of the monarch and his or her established church. That program was a dismal failure, as the European wars of religion amply illustrate. Second, we need to be educated about the legal significance of freedom of conscience and religion. Throughout the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, Quebec was the site of some of the greatest challenges to this right. The Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) were maligned and mistreated for their anti-Catholicism, and Premier Maurice Duplessis decided something had to be done. Not only did he arrest the JWs for distribution of their literature, he broke up their religious meetings and denied any government approvals, such as liquor licences, to any JW sympathizers. In affirming the rights of JWs, Justice Ivan Rand in Saumur v. Quebec (City of) [1953] 2 S.C.R. 299 pointed out that religious freedom has been recognized in the Canadian legal system “as a principle of fundamental character.” He also pointed out that freedom of religion was among the “original freedoms” that was a necessary attribute and mode of human self-expression which forms the primary conditions of “community life within a legal order.” In other words, freedom of religion and conscience is integral to our individual and national well-being. Quebec’s “secular” position today is eerily similar to the discriminatory stance it took decades ago. Despite the reluctance of our political leaders to intervene, we can still hope that the outcome will once again be a legal and social recognition of the foundational importance of religious freedom. https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/15934/struggle-for-original-freedom-in-quebec-daunting-proposition-barry-bussey

Flin Flon’s Jehovah’s Witnesses will soon have a new building to call their own. Construction on the congregation’s new Kingdom Hall is underway. The former Kingdom Hall was demolished earlier this summer, with the new hall being built on the site of the former church. According to statistics supplied by Jehovah’s Witnesses Canada, about 85 Jehovah’s Witnesses live in Flin Flon, with around 100 people coming to each of the group’s biweekly meetings. “We needed a new hall because the congregation has outgrown the old hall,” said congregation elder Kelly Flodell in a press release. Read more: https://www.thereminder.ca/news/local-news/new-home-under-construction-for-jehovah-s-witnesses-1.23964617

Jehovah's Witnesses may appeal a judgment that gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit against them for alleged sexual assault on minors. Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec may appeal a judgment that gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit against them for alleged sexual assault on minors. The Quebec Court of Appeal on Monday granted them the right to appeal a judgment authorizing the class action, handed down in February by Justice Chantal Corriveau of the Superior Court. At the heart of the class action is whether the church failed to protect its members when they tried to denounce sexual abuse. The class action argues the church’s internal reporting policies conceal abuse and have silenced hundreds of sexual assault complaints through the years. It seeks at least $250,000 in damages for each alleged victim. The lawsuit targets the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, the parent company of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the country, and another society based in Pennsylvania that’s responsible for the church’s communications and publications. At the heart of the class action is whether the church failed to protect its members when they tried to denounce sexual abuse. According to the lawsuit, Lisa Blais, now in her 40s, first spoke out about the alleged abuse when she was 16 years old. She sought help from her parents, another Jehovah’s Witness and an elder — members who act as spiritual leaders in different congregations — but says she was discouraged from reporting the abuse in order to protect the community. Blais left her family at 17 and was officially disfellowshipped at 24. In seeking leave to appeal Corriveau’s judgment, Watch Tower Canada described the decision as “unprecedented in Quebec.” The alleged assaults did not take place in an institutional setting, the organization noted, and it was not leaders or employees of the religious organization who allegedly committed the acts. The Quebec Court of Appeal found that the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ arguments deserve to be further assessed. Jehovah’s Witnesses will now have to plead their case before the Court of Appeal, at a date yet to be determined. https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/jehovahs-witnesses-can-appeal-judgment-allowing-sex-assault-class-action

We’re learning more about the victims of a tragic shooting spree that left four people dead in Penticton on Monday. John Brittain, 68, has been charged with four counts of murder in the attack, which spanned about an hour and took place at three locations. Rudi Winter, the first victim, was allegedly shot in the back while pruning a friend’s tree in downtown Penticton, according to his nephew Jeff Schwarz. “He was a hell of a guy. He had a heart of gold, he couldn’t hurt a fly,” said Schwarz of the 71-year-old grandfather and father of two, who he said had “raised him like a father.” “There couldn’t have been a kinder soul out there, it’s tragic… He had just a heart like you wouldn’t believe.” Schwarz said Rudi had emigrated to Canada from Germany in his youth and that he and his wife Renate sold their business in Vancouver and moved to Penticton in the 1980s to operate a motel. Rudi had since retired and focused his time on helping people out as a handyman, being active in his Jehovah’s Witness congregation and maintaining his garden and grape vines. “He had a fish pond in the back and that was his passion, feeding them, covering them up, protecting them from raccoons,” he said. “He had the back yard looking like a European village.” https://globalnews.ca/news/5174148/penticton-shooting-victims-remembered/?fbclid=IwAR1XoJbTuLfcN2RYCsQ44rBBGuxg5UUCYvckwwGuRPUezAGR76Ab7WVYtlo

In February, a Russian court sentenced a Danish citizen who was a legal resident of Russia to six years in prison for such an extremist offence as organizing other Witnesses to shovel snow from their church’s property. A month later, Sergei Skrynnikov, a Russian and allegedly a Jehovah’s Witness, was charged with “participating in an extremist organization,” an offence under Russian law that could earn him up to six years in prison. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been fleeing Russia and seeking asylum in Germany and Finland to escape such harsh sentences. In China, state authorities harass Jehovah’s Witnesses and raid their meetings. Authorities also deport foreign Witness missionaries from countries such as South Korea. South Korea has only recently dropped a 2003 law prohibiting conscientious objection to fighting in its armed forces, a law that confined young Witness men — as well as other men — to jail. All these states violate international laws that protect religious freedom, including the freedoms of unpopular minorities. Article 18, 1 of the 1976 United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects everyone’s freedom to “have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice” and “to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.” A long history of persecution Jehovah’s Witnesses were among the first groups the Nazis persecuted. There were about 25,000 to 30,000 Witnesses in Germany in 1933. About half of those who did not flee were convicted of various crimes and between 2,000 and 2,500 were sent to concentration camps, where about 1,000 died. About 250 were also executed. Some years ago I met a Jehovah’s Witness in the city where I live who told me the Nazis had beheaded his grandfather. Germany’s Jehovah’s Witnesses were not merely passive religious group that refused to adopt the Nazi ideology: they also actively tried to expose Nazi atrocities. In the 1960s and ‘70s in Malawi, entire villages of Jehovah’s Witnesses were burned, and many villagers were raped, tortured or murdered as they tried to flee. Their crime was refusal to participate in rituals of loyalty to the newly independent Malawian state and its president, Hastings Banda. The Malawi government denied me a visa in the early 1980s when I told its High Commission in Ottawa that I wanted to know what had happened to these Witnesses for research for my book, Human Rights in Commonwealth Africa. Many Witnesses in Rwanda, both Tutsi and Hutu, lost their lives during the 1994 genocide, many trying to hide people at risk of being murdered.Even now, Rwandan authorities expel some Witness children from school and have fired some Witness teachers because they refuse to sing the national anthem or participate in religious training. Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada Here in Canada, Jehovah’s Witnesses have not always enjoyed their rights to freedom of religion and expression. During the Second World War, Witness children were banned from schools in several locations because they would not salute the flag, sing the national anthem or repeat the pledge of allegiance. A Witness father sued the Hamilton Board of Education on behalf of his two sons, who had been expelled from school in 1940. In 1945, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, saying the Board was required to excuse students from participating in religious exercises to which their parents objected Read more: https://theconversation.com/jehovahs-witnesses-neglected-victims-of-persecution-114141

"The organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is very hierarchical, led by men, and encourages a culture of silence," the judge ruled. Citing a hierarchy that “encourages a culture of silence,” a Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit for current or former Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec who were sexually abused by other members as minors. Authorized last week, the class action argues the church’s internal reporting policies conceal abuse and have silenced hundreds of sexual assault complaints through the years. It seeks at least $250,000 in damages for each alleged victim. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Lisa Blais, a Quebec woman born into a Jehovah’s Witness family. She alleges she was repeatedly sexually abused and assaulted by her brother, 13 years older, beginning when she was only 10 months old. It’s estimated there are roughly 27,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec. “Given that the lawsuit is based on sexual assaults, a class action is the appropriate measure,” Quebec Superior Court Judge Chantal Corriveau wrote in her 27-page decision. “It would be difficult and impracticable for members to individually come out of the shadows and try to make their claims known.” The lawsuit targets the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, the parent company of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the country, and another society based in Pennsylvania that’s responsible for the church’s communications and publications. At the heart of the class action is whether the church failed to protect its members when they tried to denounce sexual abuse. According to the lawsuit, Blais, now in her 40s, first spoke out about the alleged abuse when she was 16 years old. She sought help from her parents, another Jehovah’s Witness and an elder — members who act as spiritual leaders in different congregations — but says she was discouraged from reporting the abuse in order to protect the community. Blais left her family at 17 and was officially disfellowshipped at 24. Lawyers arguing against the class action contended Blais’s allegations were too vague, that her wounds stem from the incest and her parents failing to protect her from it, and that it isn’t the court’s place to interfere with religious practices. But Corriveau found otherwise, ruling Blais’s allegations are “based on a set of substantiated facts.” “The organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is very hierarchical, led by men, and encourages a culture of silence,” Corriveau wrote. “The internal treatment of complaints of sexual abuse illustrates that. “It is easy for the Tribunal to conclude that, as a result, victims who have not been encouraged or supported to denounce these assaults also do not have the courage to confront their aggressor and the organization in court by instituting an individual lawsuit.” Reached for comment on the ruling, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada said it’s considering its options for appeal. “The class action was authorized solely on the basis of unproven allegations,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement. “If this matter proceeds to trial the facts will clearly show Jehovah’s Witnesses report allegations of abuse to the authorities, in line with the Youth Protection Act,” he added. “The well-being of children is of utmost importance to Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Blais’s lawyer, Sarah Woods, said her client was pleased with the ruling. Lead plaintiffs in class-action suits involving child abuse often remain anonymous through the proceedings, but Blais chose not to. According to the class-action application, filed two years ago, Blais wanted to lead the suit “in order to assist other victims” and “to provide access to justice” to other potential class members. “There is a sense that if victims are willing to be the face of such a recourse,” Woods said on Monday, “that hopefully it will encourage other people to come forward and speak out.” https://montrealgazette.com/news/judge-authorizes-class-action-for-jehovahs-witnesses-sex-abuse-victims

Vidéo par écrit « La reconnaissance de notre oeuvre au Québec »-Semaine du 21 janvier.docx Vidéo par écrit « La reconnaissance de notre oeuvre au Québec »-Semaine du 21 janvier.pdf https://download-a.akamaihd.net/files/media_periodical/ab/jwbiv_F_201611_01_r720P.mp4 « La reconnaissance de notre œuvre au Québec » La prédication dans la province du Québec était un véritable défi. L’église catholique était présente dans pratiquement tous les aspects de la vie publique. Au début des années 40, la persécution s’est vraiment intensifiée. De nombreux Témoins ont été arrêtés sous toutes sortes de prétextes. Le colportage sans autorisation était le principal prétexte utilisé. Les Témoins de Jéhovah étaient emprisonnés pour simple possession d’ouvrages religieux. La situation était devenue tellement difficile au Québec qu’on a décidé de faire circuler une pétition, pétition qui a d’ailleurs été diffusée dans tout le Canada. C’était une demande faite au gouvernement du Québec de mettre fin à cette persécution. Chose intéressante : 600 000 personnes ont signé la pétition. Les Témoins ont distribué un tract enflammé intitulé : « La haine ardente du Québec ». Ce tract dévoilait ce que subissait vraiment les Témoins, ce que faisait les policiers, les arrestations illégales, les émeutes et dans l’espace de 4 mois, il y a eu 800 nouveaux procès. Donc pour 400 Témoins de Jéhovah, il y a eu 1600 procès. Les affaires portées en justice sont devenues de plus en plus graves car les frères étaient désormais accusés de sédition. S’ils étaient jugés coupables, ils pouvaient être condamnés à 10 voire 12 à15 ans de prison. Il y a un frère, Aimé Boucher, qui a été arrêté et accusé de sédition. Aimé Boucher était un frère très pauvre qui habitait une région rurale du Québec. Il est d’ailleurs venu au Tribunal avec sa charrette tirée par un bœuf. Sur le chemin du Tribunal, il prêchait encore et il a été donc arrêté de nouveau. A l’issue du procès, il a été condamné et déclaré coupable de sédition. Son affaire a été portée devant la Cour d’appel et à cette époque, la Cour d’appel du Québec était très hostile aux Témoins. Il a donc perdu en appel. L’affaire a donc été portée devant la Cour suprême du Canada. A cette époque, plusieurs frères et sœurs avaient été accusés de sédition. Donc si frère Boucher perdait son procès, plusieurs frères et sœurs seraient condamnés à de très longues peines de prison Frère Boucher a perdu son procès devant la Cour suprême à une voix près. Tous les juges catholiques se sont prononcés contre lui et ils ont jugés que le tract « La haine ardente du Québec» était de nature séditieuse. Nos avocats ont examiné la situation, ils ont prié à ce sujet et ils se sont dit : « Que va-t-on faire ? On ne peut pas perdre cette bataille». Puis ils ont appris qu’au Canada, il existait une clause très rarement exploitée consistant à demander à la Cour suprême la révision d’un procès. Au cours de la nouvelle audience, l’un des juges catholiques voulait encore débattre de la question de la sédition. Pour être déclaré coupable de sédition, il fallait une incitation à la violence. Notre avocat a donc demandé ; « Regardez le dossier s’il vous plaît. Montrez à la Cour, là où les Témoins de Jéhovah ont incité à la violence ». Ils ont finalement réussi à convaincre la Cour qu’ils avaient tort. Le jugement initial a donc été renversé et frère Boucher a été acquitté. Cette victoire a mis fin à toutes les accusations de sédition ainsi qu’aux persécutions brutales car le gouvernement pensait bien gagner cette affaire-là. Une autre affaire importante a eu lieu au Québec. C’est le cas d’un prêtre qui a téléphoné à la police fédérale pour lui demander d’interrompre une réunion des Témoins de Jéhovah et d’expulser l’orateur hors de la province du Québec. Les policiers ont obéi au prêtre. Ils sont arrivés sur les lieux de la réunion, ont pris le frère et l’ont escorté jusqu’en Ontario, la province voisine. Interrompre un office religieux était un acte criminel. Pour la première fois, au niveau de la Cour suprême, les 3 policiers qui avaient interrompu l’office, ont été condamnés à indemniser le préjudice moral causé au frère. Cela n’était jamais arrivé auparavant. Quand l’affaire a été portée à la Cour suprême, il a été jugé à l’unanimité que la province du Québec était coupable. Les textes actuels sur la liberté de religion résultent de ces procès. Chaque avocat canadien, que ce soit au Québec ou au Canada anglophone, doit revoir au cours de ses études en droit, ces affaires juridiques. Ces textes sont à la base de la liberté de religion. Qu’ils traitent de différents domaines, des interventions de la police, de celles du gouvernement, et des actions criminelles. Ces cas ont posé un bon fondement pour les libertés dont nous jouissons aujourd’hui. Notre objectif est de pouvoir prêcher la bonne nouvelle et d’attirer l’attention des personnes sur la Bible. Mais nos affaires en justice ont aidé des gouvernements, des Tribunaux, des juges et des fonctionnaires à avoir le bon point de vue sur la liberté de religion. Questions du Cahier Vie chrétienne et Ministère : Quelles difficultés nos frères ont-ils connues au Québec ? Quel tract spécial ont-ils diffusé, et quel en a été le résultat ? Qu’est-ce qui est arrivé à frère Aimé Boucher ? Quelle a été la décision de la Cour suprême du Canada concernant l’affaire de frère Boucher ? À quelle disposition légale très rarement exploitée les frères ont-ils eu recours, et qu’en est-il résulté ? Que s’est-il passé quand, sous les ordres d’un prêtre, des policiers ont interrompu un office des Témoins de Jéhovah ?

An article in the PRINT edition of Le Journal de Quebec, a major French-language daily newspaper distributed in Montreal, Québec, Canada. Le Journal de Quebec has a distribution of 228,000-copies each midweek day. I understand that an abbreviated version of this article (with no picture) also appeared in the PRINT edition of Le Journal de Montreal on the same day. Quebec will study the sectarian excesses

Court document reveals more details in bizarre naked kidnapping case in Alberta Chris Purdy LEDUC, Alta. The Canadian Press Published 2 days agoUpdated September 24, 2018 They thought it was Armageddon and wanted to save their neighbours. They believed police were monsters. They showed super strength after being pepper sprayed and Tasered. And all but one of them were naked because, with the end of the world, they didn’t have time to get dressed. A court document has provided more details in a bizarre naked kidnapping case that happened last year south of Edmonton, but some questions remain. Two women and one man, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, each pleaded guilty in Leduc provincial court last week to a charge of unlawful confinement. One of the women also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. Her two teenage daughters were involved in the case, but not charged. The girls’ father, who was not part of the group, has said the five may have unknowingly drank some hallucinogenic tea. But the agreed statement of facts submitted in court says alcohol and drugs were not factors and there is no mention of tea in the document. The group, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, had gathered at a home near Leduc on Nov. 2. The mother, who was then 35, had taken her daughters there to visit her 27-year old nephew and his 30-year old wife. But over the next three days, the court document says they didn’t leave the house and they barely ate. One of the teens recalls watching movies but also hearing screaming and banging and seeing ashes in the air. Some of the five hid in a bedroom or a bathroom. “They did so because they believed that they were in danger, either from bad or wicked people outside or from demons,” says the document. It says the group believed that the Great Tribulation had happened and Nov. 6 was Armageddon. So they rushed off to find safety and save a neighbouring family. “Four who were naked were changing but they had to leave right away because it was unsafe, so they left without clothes,” the document says. The mother, the only one dressed, drove them all in a BMW SUV but was in such a hurry she went through the garage door. When the vehicle headed to the neighbours’ home, it apparently bent a metal gate. The neighbours – a man, his adult daughter and her six-week-old son – were forced out of their house and into the snow without shoes, the document says. The woman and her baby were put in the back seat with the teen girls, who were naked under a blanket. The man was put in the trunk and ordered to chant “Jehovah” ten times. The group also chanted “Jehovah” as the SUV sped down roads and went through a red light on the way to nearby Nisku, says the document. Because the trunk didn’t latch shut, the man was able to climb out when the vehicle slowed. His daughter, after getting her hand slammed in the door of the SUV, was able to get out with her baby. A passing truck stopped to help the trio and they climbed inside. The document says the SUV then rammed the truck from behind and the woman and her baby were thrown into the truck’s dash, although they were not injured. The SUV then went into a ditch. When Mounties arrived, the group continued to chant and refused to get out, at times clinging to the vehicle and each other. One of the teens believed the police “were monsters who would kill them,” says the document. Officers said the people in the SUV “displayed extreme strength.” Two were unaffected by pepper spray. The three adults were also shot with Tasers between two and four times before they relented, although one then slid under the vehicle and had to be dragged out with a strap. The neighbours later told police the group seemed “demonized” and “obviously not in their right minds.” A judge has ordered pre-sentence reports and risk assessments, which could include psychological testing. The three adult offenders are to return to court for sentencing Dec. 20. --------------------------------------------- I wonder when we will be seeing this news on the JW.ORG Web Site?

OTTAWA -- The Supreme Court of Canada says a Jehovah's Witness who was expelled from his Calgary congregation cannot take his case to a judge. In a decision today, the high court says the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench has no jurisdiction to review the congregation's decision to shun Randy Wall over alleged drunkenness and verbal abuse. Several religious organizations took an active interest in the case, given questions about the degree to which the courts can review such decisions by faith-based bodies. Wall, an independent realtor, was summoned in 2014 to appear before the judicial committee of the Highwood Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, a four-person panel of elders. He admitted to two episodes of drunkenness and, on one of those occasions, verbally abusing his wife -- wrongdoing he attributed to family stress over the earlier expulsion of his 15-year old daughter from the congregation. The judicial committee told Wall that he, too, would be expelled because he was not sufficiently repentant. https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/jehovah-s-witness-cannot-appeal-expulsion-to-a-judge-supreme-court-1.3953336

Last September (2017), there was internet info regarding a $66 million dollar lawsuit being filed against Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada, for Child Abuse / Pedophilia. I haven't been able to find out any more information this year and would be very pleased if someone could update me on outcome or ongoing situation. http://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2017/10/23/jehovahs-witnesses-hit-with-66-million-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-in-ontario/ This is probably not a good link to add but it's just one of many online.

(NOTICIAS YA).-Tres personas que fueron detenidas cuando, desnudas, habían secuestrado a una familia, eran miembros de la iglesia de los Testigos de Jehová quienes estaban seguros de la inminente y pronta llegada del fin del mundo, de acuerdo a nuevos documentos de la corte. Medios canadienses han obtenido documentos de la corte que revelan que tres personas arrestadas, dos mujeres y un hombre, se han declarado culpables de secuestro y haber tenido como rehenes a una familia; una de las mujeres admitió haber conducido de forma peligrosa. En noviembre de 2017, este caso fue noticia luego de que autoridades canadienses atendieran un llamado de emergencia por un choque en un parque industrial. Cuando la policía llegó, encontraron a un grupo de personas cantando “Jehová” y negándose a salir del vehículo. Dentro del vehículo, un BMW blanco, estaban cinco personas, cuatro de ellas estaban desnudas a pesar de las bajas temperaturas, que llegaban a menos de 10 grados Celsius, o 14 Fahrenheit. Las personas en el auto, de acuerdo a las declaraciones de la policía, presentaron “extrema resistencia y fuerza” a la hora de negarse a ser detenidos y al recibir descargas eléctricas de la policía. Leer más: https://noticiasya.com/las-vegas/2018/09/27/testigos-de-jehova-desnudos-raptaron-a-familia-esperando-el-armagedon/

The Supreme Court of Canada concluded that disfellowshipping procedures “are not adversarial, but are meant to restore the member to the Congregation.” Source