The Ottawa Senators and their Anti-Choice "charity" fiasco

That's right. The hockey team, or more specifically, the charitable foundation which bears the team name. Read the whole entry on that link. In order to even be considered for funds from the Ottawa Senators Foundation a group must be a registered charity with Revenue Canada, must be able to provide a registration number and must be able to provide a tax receipt.

So then, how did this fetus fetishist group get in there? First Place Pregnancy Centre, not a registered charity, is receiving funding via the Ottawa Senators Foundation from the Ottawa Senators wives group, The Better Halves.

This first came to my attention from Fern Hill. At the time I thought it was unfortunate that the Ottawa Senators' wives group could be sucked in to this particular anti-choice, anti-birth-control group. But then something else rose up through the bushes.

Heather Mallick.

Heather is always on my "must read" list, but this time I'm just going to tell you to go and read every word. She picks up where Fern left off. From a lack of due diligence on the part of the Ottawa Senators Foundation to obfuscating language on the part of First Place Pregnancy Centre, Heather leaves a smoking heap of well-deserved wreckage. Here's a sample:

Revenue Canada tells me that First Place is not a registered charity.

Terri Mazik, executive director of First Place, sent out a press release attacking "our colleagues at Planned Parenthood" for their press release. She says First Place makes its position clear by saying it doesn't do "abortion referrals," ignoring the fact that no one does. Referrals aren't necessary; all anyone needs is to be guided to a phone book.

Her website and her press release are full of fact-concealing cotton puffery. But why conceal them? This is Canada. Say what you want, but on your own dime.

I don't know how the Sens Foundation got itself into this mess, which will surely lead to some hard questions from Revenue Canada.

Go read.

CORRECTION: As pointed out by Cheryl and Scotian (in comments) First Place Pregnancy Centre IS a registered charity under a different name, Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Ottawa. In fact, there was an editor's note at the bottom of Heather Mallick's column which I completely missed. My fault. And I apologize if I have mislead readers.

So, why would First Place Pregnancy Centre operate under a different name? Maybe it's because of what they're known to be.