One small victory in Canada in support of evolution

There was a small Canadian victory for evolution and against intelligent design recently when Bruce Pendergast, a subscriber to SI, wrote all 306 of Canada's Members of Parliament in an effort to nip in the bud any invasion of Canada by the proponents of ID. Here is his story:

Gary Bauslaugh, a Canadian technical advisor to the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, sent me an email pointing out that two employees of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) harbored doubts about the validity of evolution. I had been reading about some almost successful assaults on evolution by the intelligent-design crowd in the United States and decided to do what I could to prevent such nonsense from invading Canada's educational system. So I wrote all 306 Members of Parliament, expressing my concern that two civil servants would voice doubt about evolution while apparently ignoring the utter lack of evidence supporting ID.

I admit my letter was deliberately written as if I was killing a flea with a sledgehammer, suggesting, as it did, far more outrage than I really felt. Though a published author with reasonable writing skills, I chose to write the MPs in a pedestrian style, assuming it would pack more punch than one of literary merit.

Much to my delight, I have received sixteen replies, including a personal response from the Minister of Industry himself, the Honourable Maxime Bernier. Apparently, many of those 306 MPs simply passed my letter on to his desk, since it is his portfolio that oversees SSHRC. Since then, I've had a delicious fantasy imagining Bernier getting yet more hordes of copies of letters each morning from this unknown nuisance.

For some reason, he addresses me as Doctor Pendergast. I am unaware whether he thinks I'm a medical man (MD) or a scholar (PhD). I am neither. However, it appears that my mild diatribe has paid off in some small way, for Bernier, a very well respected member of the Cabinet, also sent me a copy of the unofficial minutes of SSHRC, in which it is stated, "SSHRC issued a public statement on April 11, 2006, stating that the theory of evolution is not in doubt." Since that date precedes my involvement, I was apparently tilting at a nonexistent windmill. However, we must also remember that it was only in January 2006 when we elected a whole new slate of Members, and I suppose it is a good idea to keep them on their toes. More important, of course, is the fact that there are 306 elected Members of Parliament who now know there's someone out there who refuses to let sleeping dogs lie.

When I showed my letter to a friend, he asked me why I had written it in such a confrontational manner, and I explained how one trains an elephant. First, whack him right between the eyes with a baseball bat. When my friend asked how that could help, I said, "Now I've got his attention." Well, I suppose my letter at least got their attention.

For a copy of Bruce Pendergast's letter, e-mail him at brucep@golden.net.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning