Hello blogging world!

My name is Tamara Crampton, and I have been an intern with Faytene since January 19th 2006. However, it is now my time to leave our nations capital and move to Edmonton. As my time in Ottawa comes to a close, I have been thinking of all the things that I have learnt and experienced as an intern.

Before moving to Ottawa, i had no grid for politics, did care about politics, probably couldnt have told you who was the Prime Minister let alone who my member of parliament was. Then God ransomed my heart for the nation at TheCRY 2006 and I knew that I had to do something more. So i moved to the heart of the nation (Ottawa) where I was changed for ever!

Some of my favorite stories from my time as an itern:

One day, I had this urge to go to McDonalds (which is not something i normally crave) but I had a feeling we should go. So we pull in and initally i wanted to go through the drive through but had a feeling we should go inside, so we go inside and there are all these men in suits and little walkie talkie things in their ears. We were both super crious as to what was going on, and we were just chatting to each other and the guy in front of us says, "The Prime Minister is here". Ashley and I were shocked when from around the corner comes, yes the Prime Minister. So Ashley and I sat down near the PM and prayed for him from our booth. So funny!


What I have picked up as an intern:

One of the things that I picked up interning here was that members of parliament are just men and women who are simply doing their job. I came to a realization that so many (myself included) just bashed these men and women not having an understanding that if we are not speaking they only hear one side of the story and their job is to represent the people and so if only one side is speaking they are going to represent what they are hearing. I began to have a huge appreciation for the nations leaders. I also realized there are many who have a heart for God and are doing their best to see God come to Canada.

I also began to see that being a voice in the nation isnt all that hard, all you have to do really is show up. Some of my favorite times are being on Josiah teams. For those who dont know a Josiah team is when we have young men and women from all over Canada come to Ottawa and we meet with MP's and Senator's to talk to them about the issues we feel are affecting us in the nation. Its amazing to sit with the people that are shaping and changing our nation everyday and we get to share with them the issues on our heart. It's tangible changing the nation stuff and I love it. I love it because you dont have to be a genius or even know a lot about politics (if you know me you would know that I am not much of a political kid) but you just have to have a heart for Canada and our generation and you are set!

I am going to miss this beautiful city and the fact that I can see the Peace Tower whenever want, but I am excited to see what God is going to do with my life in the future. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has stood with me in the past season of my life. Who knows what the future holds only God and thank the Lord he knows and I dont.

Tamara Crampton

Don't Be Fooled: The Truth Behind Bill C-543

Most of you reading this are probably aware of Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act (if not, see blog post below). However, you may not be aware of Bill C-543, a bill which claims to be a better, "less controversial" alternative to C-484. Don't be fooled, you savvy reader, and here's why:

- Bill C-543, brought forward by Liberal MP Brent St. Denis, is simply a counter-bill made solely for the purpose of detracting support from Bill C-484.

- To understand Bill C-543, let's look at Canada’s legal system. When sentencing, judges are permitted to consider “aggravating circumstances”. These are facts or situations that a judge thinks should make the offender more guilty, and therefore deserve a longer sentence.

- All Bill C-543 does is specify that pregnancy can be used as an aggravating factor. However, pregnancy can already be used as an aggravating factor. So basically this brings ZERO change to the legal system. Absolutely nothing new. So why does Bill C-543 even bother?

- Basically, those who oppose Bill C-484 believe that it will recriminalize abortion by making the fetus a "person". This is not true at all. They also believe that the bill will be used against pregnant women. This is false; the goal of the bill is to protect pregnant women. So, all C-484's opponents want to do is bring down the bill, which is the purpose of Bill C-543.

- If that's not enough, you should know that Mr. St. Denis has already introduced a Private Members Bill this Parliament. Basically, that means that Bill C-543 cannot come up for debate in this current government (or Parliament), so it has no chance of being passed.

In summary, don't be deceived into thinking both bills do the same thing. Bill C-543 does nothing new to protect women's rights, whereas Bill C-484 is making real progress. Lets not halt progress; lets expose the truth behind Bill C-543.

You can:

- Write letters to the editor; you would think that Bill C-543 would be easily exposed, but no one has pointed out its obvious flaws.

- Tell everyone you know about this, so that they don't support Bill C-543 without knowing its true and deceptive purpose.

Thanks so much for responding to this call to action. You are being a righteous nation changer.

- Jonathan -

Bill C-484 by Sarah

Just a quick note to let everyone know what's new with Bill C-484 (The Unborn Victims of Crime Act). For anyone who hasn't heard, Bill C-484 is a Private Member's Bill sponsored by Ken Epp, and it passed second reading on March 5, 2008. It would amend the Criminal Code by creating a new offense, so that anyone who attacks a pregnant woman and kills or injures her unborn child would be charged not only with an offense against the woman, but an offense against the unborn child. THIS IS HUGE. And, it's just common sense.

If I was pregnant, having baby showers and decorating a nursery, picking out baby names and putting money aside for diapers and baby clothes, and on the way to my car late at night some person jumped me with a knife and stabbed my stomach and killed my baby, I would be horrified to find out that s/he couldn't be charged with taking my baby away from me.

But, right now, in Canada, the only charge that could be laid would be aggravated assault. At least 15 pregnant women have made the headlines for being severely attacked since 2004, and only 2 of those women survived. One of them was stabbed multiple times with a sword in the stomach; she survived but her baby did not. The person who did it was only charged with assault. Another woman was beaten to death for refusing to have an abortion. This is a very real situation.

We already instinctively know that a woman who is expecting considers her unborn child to be extremely valuable. And yet, we don't reflect that in the law, because babies are invisible until they are born alive. To me, that's ridiculous. They aren't invisible in the natural; everyone knows when a woman is getting ready to birth and you can't tell that woman that she's not carrying a life inside of her. But the law does all the time.

Needless to say, I became very excited about Ken Epp's bill after I recovered from my shock that this was not already law. The bill doesn't attempt to make unborn children recognizable persons under the law (that would outlaw abortion because you can't kill people; hence C-484 creates an entirely new offense instead of adding unborn children to the list of homicide victims) but it would be the first bill that gives any protection to unborn children in the past 20 years.

The bill is currently in the Justice Committee awaiting debate and then third reading. As part of a campaign to ask Members of Parliament to support this bill, we have postcards on our website that can be downloaded and printed to mail to your MP.

We also have a 3 minute informational video plus mini-poster that is available for churches or other groups to promote awareness on Bill C-484.

AND, there is an on-line petition that is collecting signatures in support of Bill C-484, to be presented to Ken Epp in the fall. Please sign it! Unofficial polls cannot be tabled in Parliament, but they can actually have more influence, especially when they get media coverage.

Go here to sign the petition:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/BillC484/signatures.html