Lance

https://www.scc-csc.ca/cases-dossiers/search-recherche/41816/ I watched the Supreme Court of Canada take the appeal from the branch. We lost the court case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia regarding the privacy of documents in two men who left the congregation. They wanted all congregation records of their decision to no longer be a Jehovah's Witnesses. There were numerous intervenors in the case supporting religious privacy... So now the Supreme Court of Canada has to decide if they will overturn the BC Supreme Court https://supremeadvocacy.ca/2025/11/20/scc-today-1-leave-granted-11-dismissed-5/ Granted Charter: Freedom of Religion Vabuolas, et al. v. Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, et al., 2025 BCCA 83 (41816) The Respondents, Mr. Gabriel-Liberty Wall and Mr. Gregory Westgarde, former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, each submitted independent access requests pursuant to s. 23 of the B.C. Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) for the disclosure of religious pastoral notes held by the Applicants Grand Forks Congregation Jehovah’s Witnesses and Coldstream Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, their former Jehovah’s Witnesses’ congregations. Mr. Wall’s request was denied by the Grand Forks Congregation on the grounds the records contained “privileged and confidential religious communications”. Similarly, Mr. Westgarde was initially informed by the Coldstream Congregation no personal information was held, but the Congregation later acknowledged while personal records did exist, they constituted confidential religious communications protected under the common law and the Charter. Dissatisfied with the responses received, the Respondents requested the B.C. Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (“Commissioner”) review the congregations’ decisions. The matter was referred to mediation by the Commissioner. After the failed mediation, the Commissioner assigned an adjudicator to conduct an inquiry under s. 50 of PIPA. Because of the constitutional issues raised, notice was also given to the Respondent the A.G. B.C. Despite finding the impugned provisions infringed the religious freedoms of Applicants and congregational elders Mr. John Vabuolas and Mr. Paul Sidhu under s. 2(a) of the Charter, the adjudicator concluded the infringement was justified under s. 1. The adjudicator ordered the Grand Forks and Coldstream Congregations to produce all records in their custody or control containing Mr. Wall and Mr. Westgarde’s personal information, for her review as the Commissioner’s delegate. The Applicants filed a J.R. of the adjudicator’s decision. The B.C.S.C. dismissed the J.R. and the B.C.C.A. dismissed the appeal. “The application for leave to appeal…is granted with costs in the cause.”

God’s servants refuse to be pulled into identity based disputes, factional labels, or pride driven quarrels. Instead, they choose peace, mission, and spiritual focus. An example .. When asked whether Jews should pay taxes to Caesar (a politically explosive question), Jesus refused to join either political side. Instead, He reframed the issue spiritually…Render unto Caesar… and God’s things to God. He sidestepped the naming, labeling, and factionalism of the Herodians vs. Pharisees …a direct parallel to refusing political bait. Christ is our exemplar…

Update Sat at 5:20 pm Well the congregation in Summerland has had to evacuate… massive fire overnight. So far the fire has not come into the town they have set up retardant bombers and fire fighters from Mexico.. and Australia are assisting. So the Summerland people have had evacuate South … the only road open. The call for clothing and tool donations for the brothers in Vernon have ended for awhile.. In my area they are requesting temporary accommodation help for evacuees for Vernon and Summerland. The province of BC has declared a state of emergency… so interesting times.

Well if he gets violent or abusive phone the police and get a restraining order. If you can move.. move .. let your congregation know you are looking for alternative housing. Also be peaceable with everyone as far as depends on you…,

Update A relief center boutique is now established at the Okanagan Assembly Center in Vernon, BC to assist evacuated families with practical items that they need. Clothing… from ages 8 and up Tools for brothers in the trades like plumbing tools and construction.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/342189/Multiple-new-wildfire-evacuation-alerts-for-Vernon-Coldstream-Swan-Lake-RDNO 39 brothers and sisters displaced 3 brothers homes gone .. just got an update from our CO.

Please don’t post any personal information regarding any of the the film crew or actors… need I say more …

A nice write up https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Kamloops/621875/Thousands-expected-to-attend-2026-Jehovah-s-Witness-convention-at-Kamloops-Sandman-Centre

Lots of looking but not commenting.. we get a real uptick around annual meetings and popular events ..

Well there over 9000 members in total.

Basically it means nothing ... no free trips or extra days of everlasting life .. Just a feature in the commercial program.

If you are from Europe.. My heritage might be better since it is out of Israel and usually is more Europe centric .. Another option is go to https://www.familysearch.org/ and set up an account for free and see what they have .. they are actually pretty good but you can’t upload your DNA file at this time .. but it will link your relatives to other people who are also looking for their ancestors.., you won’t find any living relatives since that is an invasion of privacy.. On the commercial sites people may grant access to their tree including living relatives.. so that becomes a mutual sharing. …

Yes it does show percentage of your DNA distributed amounted the world … but that does nothing for finding a relative unless it is some remote island with a 1000 people on it .. you need the DNA of all subscribers to a specific company that have submitted their DNA .. Depending on who you subscribe to it will show all your relatives especially cousins for example I have 1000’s of cousins listed ..for example 55 cM is 55 centimorgans …a half sister or aunt is like 1500 cM so the higher the centimorgans the closer the relative. The goal is to find a cousin that has a listed tree that you can link up to in your tree.. usually there is a contact email listed so you can reach out.. I usually try to get all the 1st and second cousins nailed down first.. to make this work quickly usually you need to know all the family back to your great grandparents .. A lot of people only know their grandparents and that makes it a little harder. If someone is listed as 3 rd cousin and only lists a grandparent it is going to take awhile.. which is the fun part of finding a needle in a haystack. If it is very important to find a relationship or family tree you can always hire a genealogist to search things out.. for example in Canada if you have aboriginal native status there are certain tax breaks for education and taxation. The government demands a tree and especially legal documents to prove your status. Right now I have over 12,000 relatives listed back to around 1000 CE for some lines.. I have contacted in the last 15 years probably 100 3rd and 4th cousins that are alive and I know all of my 1st and second cousins Here is an example in my tree..

Well you can order what ever you want … to me it is rather useless to just find out what your ethnic mix is .. you might as well find out who you are related to.. MyHeritage and Ancestry are the big two in the ancestry business.. you basically get your DNA done .. get a subscription through one of the above companies.. put all relatives that you know in to their database and then let it do it’s work. There are free or cheaper alternatives like GedMatch where you upload you DNA file to their servers and it will look through their database of people and tell you how many first cousins to 6 or 7 cousin you are related to. FamilySeatch is also free but you can’t upload your GedCom DNA file but it does give you access to public records which holds slot of information. There is a learning curve in understanding DNA results like how many centimorgans your relative has .. and if they have a searchable tree.. most have an email address that will allow you to leave a message with .. I just helped a brother in my congregation who is 60 find his father… the only info I had was his father was born around 1932 and was a Swedish ship captain. He got his DNA done and I traced back through a 2nd cousin once removed to a common great great grandparents.. and found all the children .. I got him his whole family and photos of his father and grandparents.. he was blown away and had no idea where to start..

I have done about 50 different trees for friends.. I have found fathers and mothers for people whom their adoption records do not show. I would recommend if you are serious about finding your relatives that you get your DNA tested.Depending on your ethnicity it will show who all your cousins are that have submitted their DNA.. from there you can trace your family tree… and get photos and stories that have slipped through the cracks of time.