Charter to 308 MPs Campaign T-Shirt Winners and MP Responses Jul 31/13

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NHPPA WRAPS UP STEP 1 OF THE CHARTER TO 308 MPs CAMPAIGN

Our Charter to 308 MPs Campaign was a success! If you missed this campaign, you can read about it here. Our goal was for every MP to receive a copy of the Charter of Health Freedom from multiple sources, all at the same time so they had the facts they could not ignore. You can review the post- campaign report to see how the numbers stacked up.

Through citizen involvement, 89* Charter packages were delivered to 67* ridings around Canada by constituents in their own ridings. Another 241 Charter packages were delivered by NHPPA and very active NHPPA members who wanted to see more than their own riding covered.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate! Every photograph or email we received before May 31st confirming delivery of the package was entered into a draw to win one of our new T-shirts. We’d like to say congratulations and a big thank you to our winners:

  • Lesley P. in riding: Okanagan-Coquihalla, British Columbia
  • Paula C. in riding: Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, New Brunswick
  • Kat M. in riding: Charlottetown, PEI
  • Ethel L. in riding: Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Saskatchewan
  • Kelli E. in riding: St. Paul’s Ontario
  • Peter M. in riding: Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia
  • Bonnie L. in riding: Dauphin-Swan River- Marquette, Manitoba
  • Craig M. in riding: Edmonton Centre, Alberta

NHPPA would like to thank all of you who sent a package to their MP as outlined in our Charter to 308 Riding Chart. Many of you went above and beyond the call of duty! The Charter of Health Freedom is an essential piece of proposed legislation providing an all-encompassing solution to current and futures issues surrounding Natural health Products. Your support is invaluable in this issue.

*These counts are from the May 31st deadline. We are sorting through all of the emails that have come in after the campaign closed from citizens who delivered the full Charter package to their MP and to MPs outside of their riding. This count will be updated and posted on Facebook.

INCREASING OUR T-SHIRT ORDER

Several of you have already placed orders, and of course, some of you have just won a T-Shirt.

In order for us to get our printing cost down a bit more, we have been holding off getting the printing started to see if we can make the run larger. And by extension less expensive to print each individual shirt. We’d like to order more T-Shirts than we currently have requests for. Our goal was to use the T-Shirts as a fundraising initiative to help support our work. We would be able to drive our costs down if we place a larger order.  So, if you’ve been thinking about ordering a T-Shirt but didn’t get around to it yet, now is the time to order your favourite. All three designs highlight the absurdity of the current NHP Regulations in different ways, so you’re bound to find one that makes you smile.

We ran a test at the Total Health Show earlier this year. People liked all three yet Guilty Until Proven Innocent is in the lead as favourite. Wearing your opinion works exceptionally well for activists who are looking to create awareness. It’s an easy way for you to start a conversation about the issues around current NHP regulations.

Email us at info@nhppa.org, with your size and your mailing address. We will order the shirts and send them out with an enclosed invoice for $25 plus shipping. Then you can either mail us a cheque or authorize us to use your credit card.

IN WAITING?

If you placed your T-Shirt order a while ago or have sent an email that we have not yet responded to, thank you for your patience! We do have your email and have processed your request. We will wait to receive a few more orders, as mentioned above, and email you the shipping fee plus a confirmation that your T-Shirt is on its way!

MP RESPONSES TO CITIZENS FROM THE CHARTER TO 308 MPS CAMPAIGN

It is interesting to remember that in 2010 when we ran the Shawn to Senate campaign to address concerns in Bill C-36, one of the criticisms made by Senate members was that the emails and faxes coming from Canadians supporting Shawn and the NHPPA were either only a cut and paste of form documents or submitted entirely by one person! You will find the letters from MPs to all of you have a similar feel. There is a time and place that justifies pulling from core information to have it disseminated correctly, just as we all do with our campaigns. However, we feel that MPs receiving personal letters from constituents hardly the place to reply with “approved” statements designed to support one side of a complicated national health issue.

Several of NHPPA’s packages and personal letters from citizens have received responses from their MPs. We are finding that they are so similar, it is clear that canned responses are the preferred way to deal with your concerns. Each reply attempts to assure the recipient that they should have confidence in Health Canada’s NHPD, and the decisions being made to justify the current regulations.

Virtually, none of the letters address the questions or comments posed by the citizen.

To date, we have received eleven MP response letters forwarded to us by those who participated in this campaign. Many of you have asked if your fellow activists have received communications and what, if any, the replies were. To share contents among NHPPA’s members, public and industry stakeholders we have created a page on our website that reveals the contents of all these MP responses to citizens.

COUNTER ARGUMENTS

We have forwarded Shawn the letters. It may take a little longer than we anticipated to have him pull out the top points for everyone to build considered replies. The goal is to continue to educate our MPs so they are better informed and prepared to challenge the accuracy of what Health Canada is presenting. Shawn will also be drafting a short summary to express the validity and relevancy of the Charter of Health Freedom in a seemingly ever-shifting regulatory landscape at Health Canada.

If you have emailed us or mailed us your letter and you don’t see it here, we will send it to Shawn and add it to our website’s MP response letter page. All letters and emails have been blur-redacted to maintain your confidentiality.

Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” Thank you for supporting our efforts and the long-term, fair and sustainable platform found The Charter of Health Freedom.

We continue to press forward in ways that we can with your support, knowing together that doing nothing, is simply not an option.