I, Ashu M. G. Solo, filed the following:

1. Civil rights case against the City of Saskatoon (Mayor's Office) and Councillor Randy Donauer for prayer recitations at government organized events

2. Code of Conduct complaint against Mayor Don Atchison for potential online campaign advertising violations

3. Civil rights case against the City of Saskatoon (Saskatoon Transit Services) for promoting holidays from only one religion on city buses

4. Human rights complaint against the City of Saskatoon (Executive Committee) for retaliating against me by not reappointing me to the Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee and not appointing me to another civic committee or board

5. Human rights complaint against the City of Saskatoon (City Solicitor’s Office) for retaliating against me by trying to deprive me of my right to directly communicate with members of City Council and by telling employees of other City of Saskatoon departments to not talk to me

6. Human rights complaint against the City of Saskatoon (Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Office) and City of Saskatoon (Living in Harmony Ad Hoc Subcommittee of Cultural Diversity and Race Relations Committee) for retaliating against me by not considering my submissions to the Living in Harmony Contest

This site contains my media releases, some case documents, emails to City Council, etc.

I don't waste my time arguing with opponents.

The backlash makes me much more determined to fight against bigotry and shows the need for these civil rights cases, so I'll be filing more civil rights cases. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

MEDIA ALERT: Solo Proposes Secular Thanks and Calls for Attempt at Mediation

From: Ashu M. G. Solo [mailto:amgsolo@mavericktechnologies.us]
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 8:21 AM
To: amgsolo@mavericktechnologies.us
Cc: city.solicitor@saskatoon.ca; shrc@gov.sk.ca
Subject: MEDIA ALERT: Solo Proposes Secular Thanks and Calls for Attempt at Mediation

Dear Media:

I’m willing to drop my civil rights case against the City of Saskatoon (Mayor’s Office) and Councillor Randy Donauer for prayer recitations at civic events if they eliminate prayer recitations or come up with a secular thanks that has wording agreed upon by me in settling the case, that doesn’t reference a God or higher power, and that isn’t spiritual. 

While a moment of silence is better than a Christian prayer recitation, I’m unwilling to accept an official moment of silence because this is still an attempt by the municipal government to get people to pray and thus still violates the freedom from religion inherent to freedom of religion.  If people want to pray before they eat, they can take their own moments of silence or even say prayers aloud to themselves.  Nobody cares.  Nobody is stopping them.  There doesn’t need to be an official moment of silence. 

The Executive Committee has indicated that it would like a more inclusive pre-meal prayer or thanksgiving.  If the city wants to have a pre-meal thanks that is inclusive to everybody and socially conscious, I suggest the following: 

Let us be thankful for this food and the time together.  Let us think of all of the people in this city, country, and world who do not have enough to eat.  Let us think of those who have barriers or burdens they need lifted.  Let us think of those whose lives we can improve through our work.  Let us strive to use our knowledge, skills, and talents to help all of these people.

This pre-meal thanks, which I wrote, is much more inclusive than a Christian prayer recitation.  The only reason they wouldn’t be okay with this is if they want to push religion or a belief in God(s) on people.

I call upon the City of Saskatoon and Donauer to attempt mediation with me at the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission to agree on a secular thanks that can then be approved by the city’s Executive Committee.  However, instead of attempting mediation with me, the City of Saskatoon is wasting taxpayer money with a frivolous and vexatious application for summary dismissal of my case.  This shows they don’t care about discrimination against religious minorities, spiritual people, agnostics, and atheists.

If you have any questions, I can be reached at amgsolo@mavericktechnologies.us.  You can also talk to my advisor Justin Trottier, spokesperson for the Canadian Secular Alliance and founder of the Centre for Inquiry Canada, at info@secularalliance.ca.

Best regards,

Ashu M. G. Solo

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