The last time we checked in with Canadian MRA group CAFE (Canadian Association for Equality), the group’s planned “Equality Day” music fest had just imploded after participants and sponsors of the event found out about the group’s Men’s Rights agenda and fled, saying they’d been misled about the group’s aims.
Now it turns out that the group’s application for charitable status may have also contained some, well, let’s just call it misleading information. In March, CAFE was granted charitable status, which came as a bit of a shock to a lot of people, myself included, given the group’s seemingly symbiotic relationship with the distinctly uncharitable Men’s Rights hate site A Voice for Men.
But will they be able to retain this charitable status? The alternative weekly Now Toronto is reporting that the group’s application for charitable status contains some pretty dubious claims. In its application, CAFE listed several feminist groups and a federal agency
as potential participants in its “regular panel discussion series” on women’s and men’s issues. … There’s just one problem: none of the groups listed has ever been involved with CAFE.
Needless to say, none of these organizations were happy to find out that CAFE had used their name without permission:
The executive directors of Egale and LEAF said they had no knowledge of ever being approached by the organization, and said they would not work with CAFE if they were asked. Before NOW contacted them, neither organization had any knowledge that CAFE had listed them on its application.A spokesperson for Status of Women Canada, the federal agency, told NOW in an email that none of its representatives had ever been involved in a CAFE event.
The group also claimed it was planning to work with university scholars from women’s studies departments, and specifically named Professor Sarita Srivastava, an associate sociology professor at Queen’s who studies anti-racist challenges to Canadian feminist groups. On its application CAFE said it was “currently” setting up a panel discussion to include Srivastava.Reached by email, Srivastava told NOW that she was “stunned” to learn her name was on the form … .
Damsel, there is nothing in the application about “potential” participation in anything. CAFE’s statement says that they host regular panel discussions “to feature representatives from a variety of different groups and perspectives,” and goes on to list all of the organizations. No mention of the fact that they hadn’t and would never agree to appear at a CAFE event. They do the exact same thing with Professor Srivastava, clearly implying that she had agreed to participate, when she had not agreed to anything.
Why can’t you acknowledge the plain facts in front of your face? CAFE tried to lie to improve their chances of being granted charity status, and were caught. They tried to claim association with social justice organizations in order to disguise themselves as one, and they failed.
@tesformes
In damselindetech’s comment, the stuff between the lines marked with asterisks is a quote from Karen Straughan.
Sorry damselindetech, I was talking to Karen!
@ tesformes – I think damselindetech was quoting Karen Straughn.
Straughn’s argument is bizarre. She can’t resist taking swipe at a feminist organisation, even if it overturns her argument. “Potentially, CAFE could have a dialogue with LEAF. Potentially. Even though LEAF is a total echo chamber and thus unwilling to enter a dialogue with CAFE. So I guess that if what I just said was correct, then it is not true that CAFE could potentially have a dialogue with LEAF. Um. Anyway, the article isn’t full of lies, but it is full of things that aren’t true. Also it’s spin.”
Straughn’s argument is doubly bizarre because while the article itself uses the word “potential”, it doesn’t appear in the application form at all, which reads:
Nothing “potential” sounding about any of that.
I feel like there’s this game being played; It’s called “Good MRA, bad MRA”. The only problem is that they forgot who was supposed to play the good MRA.
@xodima:
Is that the same game Paul Elam and Dean Esmay play?
@damselindetech:
I rolled my eyes so hard at Straughan’s argument that I think I sprained something. But thank you for providing it. What dreck.
It certainly isn’t looking good for CAFE’s charitable status. What’ll be interesting to see, going forward, is how much legal trouble this causes and how it’ll be spun into “oppression” of men and boys.
What is also concerning is that the charitable status could be used to apply for grants to fund their activities. One of the criteria for eligibility for many donor organizations is to have charitable status. It really opens to a world of possibility, for example, https://www.google.ca/intl/en/grants/index.html .
From what I could find, they even lie about the qualifications of the people on their advisory committee. Jacklyn Orsetto is listed as Dr., from her profile, she only has an MA. I am just wondering what other crap they are misrepresenting. Disgusting…
Either that, or they really suck at playing “Good MRA”.
No surprise from a group which constantly confuses feminism with its complete opposite…
The funny thing is, all they would have had to do to make their application true is to have organized (or started to organize) “a regular panel discussion series on women’s issues, men’s issues, equality and diversity, to feature representatives from a variety of different groups and perspectives.” It’s been quite some time since they filed this application, and they haven’t done that.
So “lies” does seem to be the proper characterization of the application, actually.
damselindetech – Blockquotes are done by doing this: (blockquote)Thing you’re quoting(/blockquote), only you use instead of ( )
Ahem. You use
Fucking hell. <
And >
I think it’s hilarious that “Mike” is accusing Auntie Alias of being David in the comments over there. Congratulations David, you’ve become the boogymangina. 😉
Also, Attila L. Vinczer…. just… wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone turn a microphone into a shovel that quickly.
@leftwingfox
Good old Mike Hunt. I hadn’t realized the significance of his user name until another commenter pointed it out. D’oh!
Here’s a quick reference to how to use blockquote tags
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_blockquote.asp
The cite attribute is optional.
Basically, this (assuming WordPress reads these characters correctly)
<blockquote>
Some text
</blockquote>
The link provided by Claudiah really seems to point toward using one charitable organization to leverage funding for CAFE. Can we say misdirection and misrepresentation? The link about the “event” : http://torontodv.com/
Sure, Stephan Molyneux is well known for being an activist on the behalf of children victims of domestic violence…
Honestly, it is sad that some of the speakers who seems legitimate associate themselves with the MRA.
It’s pretty amazing how much time that we, David Futrelle, spend running our website, and then maintaining the personas of our many many sockpuppets who make up the majority of the commentariat. Keeping their various ages and back stories straight; trying to imbue each with a writing style appropriate to their supposed ages, subcultural affiliations, and locations; it’s pretty exhausting for us, the David Futrelle. Which is why it is so impressive that we are now taking our sockpuppets and using them to comment on other sites! Truly, we are remarkable.
David Futrelle is also all of Jezebel, considering how often manospherians hold him accountable for articles they published several years ago and the opinions of their commentariat.
OMG, “boogeymangina” is perfect!
How utterly unsurprising.
That would be Elam, I believe.
It was indeed Elam.
And as I mentioned at the time, the racist British National Party were under a similar impression until they got clobbered by a lawsuit by the owner of a trademark that they reproduced without permission, and settled for a six-figure sum out of court.
Possibly not coincidentally, the BNP is now the palest shadow of what it was four or five years ago.
We can always dream.
Damselindetech, I’m dying at the feminazi joke. Well played.