Tag Archives: Caledon Citizen

Ecclesiastical Crime

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The term “Ecclesiastical Crime” originally referred to the buying and selling of Church offices, or personal salvation, and covered violations like heresy and schism by church officials. Today, it is specifically used for misappropriation of donation monies. A recent study by the Princeton Theological Seminary estimated that over $62 billion USA dollars are stolen from churches, para churches and secular organizations all over the world. These donations by “Christian” believers alone are lost through a web of money-laundering, embezzlement, and fraud. It is equally widespread among Churches, Synagogues, Temples, Mandirs and other cult compounds.

Often a church or para-church will set up an arms-length secular charity that will collect donations for “community care” programs like homelessness, If the private business is also offering pastoral care and spiritual guidance to their customers, you know that a para-church is involved. Donated funds can disappear anywhere – private purchases, political donations, bribery schemes, the possibilities are endless. While making donors feel all warm and fuzzy about their charitable donations that are supposed to assist local support services and global relief initiatives, the monies collected are rarely accounted for properly.

According to the data assembled by my research assistant Claire Ayigh, the collection plate is most frequently tipped into pockets that “support the personal luxury, private business ventures and lifestyle inflation of the internal perpetrators, as well as complex cover-ups to hide the thefts from auditors.” If there is a religious component involved, these “scam churches or institutional ‘pulpit predators’ exploit the mercy, empathy, and deep faith of their parishioners by weaponizing sacred concepts to extract wealth, compliance and unquestioning devotion.”

The recent case uncovered by the police in an operation called Project Great One, led to fraud charges against the pastor of the Vaughan/Woodbridge branch of The Miracle Arena for All Nations (MAFAN) whose leader, (and Honorary Doctor of Divinity) Prophet Kofi Danso, stated that Pastor Issac Oppong has now been dismissed from the para-church.

In a time of great financial insecurity, societal upheaval, and global chaos, it becomes much easier to prey on the kindness of a community. To quote the Hunger Games President Snow, “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” And like fear, hope can paralyze us into inaction. We hope, and hope that’s enough. Pierce Brown, wrote in his science fiction series  the Red Rising Saga, “Hope is an opiate, not a plan.”

We need a really, really good plan to get safely out of this current age of madness. So let’s be very careful about where we put our energies and our empathies and our donations for community care and global relief. The scam artists smell blood in the water and they are circling.

It’s time to get our feet back on solid ground. The way I see it.

***

NOTE: Prophet Kofi Danso’s honorary doctoral degree in divinity was awarded by the Canadian Christian Theological Seminary in Calgary, Alberta.

 

Stop Signs and Literacy

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It should be quite simple. The big red octagon with the four large white letters spelling S-T-O-P. Even for a driver with severe dyslexia, the visual clue alone should do the trick. When we get our driver’s licence we are all taught to come to a full, complete stop at that Big Red 8 sided Sign. We are taught to stop completely being able to fully see the stop line, to  check left, right, left again for vehicles, and to scan for pedestrians before proceeding.

We are also taught that failure to stop completely, if observed by an attentive police officer, is worthy of a $110.00 fine and 3 demerit points. A reasonable deterrent considering we are now sharing the roads with 10 year olds cruising on electric scooters at 25 klicks. We will discuss Parental Literacy in another post. Back to Stop Sign literacy. If we can’t stop at a Stop sign properly, we should turn in our car keys.

First, there is no such thing as a “rolling stop” often used as an excuse by illiterate drivers in a hurry. Still the same fine for failing to come to a full, complete STOP at the big red sign. Having pulled bodies from cars at the scenes of failure to stop fully completely, I have absolutely no patience with people who fail to stop in my child filled neighbourhood in Bolton.

Let me recount a recent incident with a resident driver who I will refer to as Simple Simon. I was just leaving my local Fortinos the other evening, when a vehicle cruised right through the stop sign at the street I was about to enter. I slammed on my brakes and hit the horn. I was fearful that their brakes had failed. The vehicle turned right, right down my street and sped away, As it did so, the male driver waved to me to follow. It was then I noticed he had a birth defect, only one finger on his hand.

Fearful for his safety I followed him home to advise him of my concern. His family must also have been concerned, because they all came out to greet me when I pulled up beside his home. I noticed that they also had the same genetic disposition to only having one finger on their right hands, which they proudly displayed. When I explained that I was concerned that the vehicle’s brakes had failed and I wanted to make sure the driver got home safely, I was told to pleasure myself. It was then that I realized the whole family was illiterate. I also noticed that they were all heavily tattooed.

Ah, perhaps new immigrants from the indigenous population of New Zealand. Although they looked a lot like the cast from Sons of Anarchy. I should have been more sensitive. Special needs and adjusting to our North American customs.

I wished them a nice day, and drove off as hey all rushed out into the street and saluted me as best they could with only one finger. I drove home slowly, realizing that we must do more to educate new immigrants to our driving rules that keep our communities safe. But also recognizing the reality that if you are illiterate, perhaps you shouldn’t be given a driver’s licence. The way I see it.

The First Time

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On the weekend of August 8, 2026, I had the pleasure of introducing thirteen children to their first overnight camping experience.  It took place at Quarry Lake near Caledon Village. It was their first time overnight away from home, their first campfire under the stars, their first sunset and sunrise ceremonies. And it was perfect.

It all began when I took out a Dog Park membership at the Canadian Cross-training Club run by former Olympic coach Barrie Shepley. Thanks to the foresight of the James Dick family to share in his vision, Barrie established a successful private beach park on their spring fed Quarry Lake near Caledon Village. The south east side of this area is still a working gravel business, but it only compliments the beauty of the C3 site. Barrie’s wife, the late Caron Shepley, had dedicated a section of the beach as a fenced off dog park and that was the only section of the property that I knew.

My dog, Chase, refers to it as the Dog Beach Spaw, but to me it was a touch of paradise in the middle of Caledon. If you stand on the high point of the dog park outside the beach area and look North West, you could easily be in a Muskoka resort. During the day, the human beach area is filled with families playing, marathon swimmers training, and paddle boarders cruising the far shores. Beyond that are the forest trails used by walkers, runners and bikers. In the distance is a clear view of a meadow just begging for a tent and a campfire.

I had worked with Barrie in a previous life, and he was well aware of my background as an outdoor educator. He approached me one morning as we were exercising our Border Collies at the Beach Spaw and he said, “Hey Skid, you know we run a children’s Day Camp here, and a number of the families who can’t afford to send their kids to an overnight residential camp would love to give their children that opportunity. Do you think we could do an overnight camping program here?”

The gauntlet was thrown, picked up with joy, and I spent the next three weeks chain sawing, whipper snipping, and clearing debris to help his landscaping staff create a campsite clearing and a forest dining hall. Canadian Tire in Bolton gave us financial assistance in purchasing the tents, sleeping bags and sleeping pads necessary for the overnight. During that time Barrie had put out the call to his members and day camp crew  with an invitation to be part of a first ever away from home Inaugural C3 Quarry Lake Overnight Camping Program.

During the program preparation process, a friend asked me, “Doesn’t it bother you having the gravel pit operating across the lake?” I simply said, “How did we drive here? on roads built with that gravel. Where do we live? In homes built with cement and stone. Where do  you think it comes from? This Quarry Lake site is a testament to the wise use of resources and the foresight to create a local natural treasure. The best of both worlds,” But would it work as an overnight campsite given the closeness of main thoroughfares and big cities to the south?

We made it clear to parents and children that this was a test case, a trial run to see if the site was suitable for overnight camping. We also made it clear that the challenges we gave to the campers like to build their shelters (put up new tents), and cook food (getting a campfire going to roast their S’mores) were up to them to solve. It was my intention to nurture independence, and take them outside their comfort zones by removing the eternal parental helping hand.

Fifteen campers applied. Two left early due to family commitments, but my “Baker’s Dozen” survived the challenges to complete an amazing overnight adventure. The campers had hot, humid summer weather, a tough time setting up the tents, sudden microbursts of rain, strong winds, and wet tents and gear. But they persevered, dried out, trimmed the tents, and ended up with a secure campsite.

At one point, one of the tent groups sat down in frustration, looked at their floppy tent, and asked me, “Where are we going to sleep tonight?” I pointed to their tent and said , “There. Three times the other tent groups offered you help. Do you want their help, or do you want to sleep in that tent?” They finally asked for help and the campers worked together to fix the tent. No adults involved. Mission accomplished.

These children got to experience their first overnight away from home, watched the sunset as a community, lit their first campfire, listened to ancient stories, stargazed, went for a late night swim, and slept, safe and warm, in the shelters they had created. In the morning they awakened before dawn, came to the campfire circle at the point by the lake and experienced the most brilliant sunrise I have ever seen.

After morning breakfast, the team cleaned up, packed out their gear, and got in a little more beach time. Family arrived at noon to pick them up. The feedback from parents and the campers was overwhelmingly positive and humbling. We set out to enrich young lives with a meaningful first time overnight camping experience. And we did it right here in Caledon.

Special thanks to our wonderful overnight female staff and lifeguard Louise, and our intrepid reporter Kathryn for their commitment to the project. And for Barrie and Caron, your dream will never end. The way I see it.

***

Go to the C3 online site for photos and aerial videos.

What’s in a Name

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Obituary information for Rose Flores“A rose by any other name would would smell as sweet.”  Or the well-known, “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.” And how would our perception be swayed if we changed the name of “Rape and Pillage Project Management Corporation” to “Strawberry Fields Forever ULC”?

Now, if a company is called Greenfields Farms Lid. you would be forgiven if you thought it was an organization devoted to farming and sustainable food production. Alas, this fictional company is owned by an ambitious developer and is a landholding and development company with no attachment at all to agricultural endeavours. If it looks like a scam, and it hides in doublespeak like a scam, it must be a scam.

The owners of Greenfields Farms Ltd. are obviously very successful and wealthy businesspersons, able to donate tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars to  local politicians and charitable causes. They may even have their family names on medical centres or libraries or food banks for at risk families. These charitable endeavours would have cost millions, expenses that , fortunately for the philanthropic developer, can often be claimed for tax breaks.

When you hear a politician suspected of being too close to a wealthy developer say, “Mr. Doofensmertz makes financial donations to all political parties, and has contributed generously to our community’s charities and community groups, as well as to private political fundraising events.”  Why, when we hear this, we’re more than happy to stop our protests against Doofensmertz and Company’s plan to clear-cut our heritage forests.

When you look up Greenfields Farms Ltd., or any similar greenwashing company, on Google, it’s AI will tell you the “family” who runs the company will often be listed as “Philanthropists and Developers”  … go ahead, try the search on any company you may suspect is pulling the wool over your community’s eyes.

The deceptive headline would read: “Ms. Flim-Flam, a philanthropist and developer, denies any allegations that she has been bribing public officials. ‘I donate equally to all political parties,’ declared Ms. Flim-Flam

Note that “philanthropist” comes first in that descriptor. It creates a halo of goodness around the negative traits often associated with developers and their numbered or quaintly named companies. I confess, I have never used Google AI before so it was fascinating how quickly it cut through the BS (much like Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech in Davos) and informed me with cool robotic logic that:

“Philanthropy can act as a cover for ill-gotten wealth when it is used strategically to sanitize a donor’s reputation, shield assets from taxation, or exert undue influence to protect the immoral or illegal business practices that generated the wealth in the first place. This phenomenon, often referred to as “reputation laundering” or “impact washing,” allows individuals to appear benevolent while obscuring the source of their funds.“ 

I was shocked! How could AI so coldly smear some developers and their philanthropic gifts with such allegations of impact washing and ways of obscuring the sources and amounts of their wealth. Shame! It’s a good thing none of the politicians or developers operating in our little Town are guilty of reputation laundering.

However, as my old Dad used to say, “Son, sometimes when it looks like a cat, it’s really a skunk.”  And if it smells like a corpse flower, it’s probably not a rose.

The way I see it.

*****

*image, fittingly, from Maxwell P. Dunne Funeral Services

 

 

What’s the Rush?

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Some members of Caledon Town Council are in quite a rush to pass a new fill By-law for the Town. However, those same Councillors are not so keen to have legitimate public understanding of or informed input into the final version of that law. It is but another example of “developer influenced” democracy in the Town of Caledon.

Consider that a public meeting and Open House to review a new By-law dealing with procedural issues is being given five hours for presentation and discussion time. The new fill By-law, which will impact the health of Caledon for decades, is being given a two hour Open House presentation and discussion window. Someone is stacking the deck.

The Town has admitted that the urgency to pass the new By-law is being done “to accommodate a prominent developer.” The same developer for whom Premier Ford was going to change the route of the proposed 413  highway to benefit one of the developer’s projects. It seems that the philanthropic developer from Vaughan, Mr. Nicholas Cortellucci is the driving force behind Council’s rush to change the fill By-law.

The object of  his desire, in this case, is the property known locally as Swan Lake located at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad. Despite Ontario policies protecting water bodies from receiving waste soil, the developer and some members of the Caledon Town Council think it’s OK to change Caledon’s fill By-laws to allow this to happen quickly.

No, it’s not OK. It is a perversion of democracy and a betrayal of promises made to protect Caledon’s environment and greenspaces, to reduce dangerous truck traffic, and to listen to the voices of your constituents. The very successful and wonderfully philanthropic Mr. Cortellucci does not deserve to have his name dragged through the mud just because some members on Town of Caledon Council picked the wrong Lake to try to fill with waste soil.

Increase the Open House time, increase the question and answer time for this By-Law, and bring back participatory democracy.

Once upon a time our Strong Mayor, Annette Groves, said: “As part of Pits to Parks, the town would like CVC (Credit Valley Conservation Authority) to consider investigating the potential acquisition of the property at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad given this property’s proximity to the Pinchin Pit,”

Yep, time to reconsider. The way I see it.