Pastor ‘Exiles’ Family To Kenya To Escape Canadian Persecution Of Christians

[Kamaji]

Pastor ‘Exiles’ Family To Kenya To Escape Canadian Persecution Of Christians

For peaceably assembling to petition his government, Rev. Harold Ristau says, he was threatened with the removal of his security clearance and government confiscation of his life’s savings.

BY: JOY PULLMANN
JULY 24, 2023

ACanadian pastor has “exiled” his family to Kenya after his government invoked emergency war measures to punish citizens who attended a protest where he prayed and sang the national anthem.

Harold Ristau, a decorated veteran and seminary professor, participated in the “trucker convoy” against lockdowns last February, when The Federalist interviewed him last. He is now party to a lawsuit arguing the government’s response to Covid that included treating dissent as terrorism violated Canadians’ fundamental rights.

“The fight is far from over,” said Marty Moore, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which is litigating Ristau’s case. More than 14 months after the protest, police arrested another convoy leader this May. Lockdown litigation will likely continue for several more years, Moore said. The same is true across the West.

For peaceably assembling to petition his government for one day last year, Ristau says, he was threatened with the removal of his security clearance and government confiscation of his retirement nest egg, kids’ college funds, and other life savings. Ristau says he’s also experienced serious damage to his reputation, career, and friendships after the government used anti-terrorism measures against peaceful protesters.

“There’s no protection, if a pandemic started tomorrow, from future mandates. So that’s why I was really open to coming here,” his wife, Elise Ristau, said, sitting beside her husband in a recent video interview from Kenya.

Besides dealing with overbearing health restrictions, their children were mocked at school for their family’s religious and political views, Elise Ristau told The Federalist. After enduring more than two years of severe social and government repression, the Ristaus moved outside Nairobi with their five children last August.

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Source:  https://thefederalist.com/2023/07/24/pastor-exiles-family-to-kenya-to-escape-canadian-persecution-of-christians/

[mountaineer]

Probably not the best destination, given the number of Islamoterrorist attacks on Christians in Kenya (which isn't as bad as many other African nations, I grant you).

Overview: Kenya is predominantly Christian, but several tribal groups in the north remain largely unreached, and much of the coastal region is predominantly Muslim. Additionally, in the region known as Greater Somalia in northeastern Kenya, 90 percent of the population is ethnically Somali and fervently Muslim. In these areas, Christian missionaries from other parts of Kenya and converts from Islam are often attacked and have been killed. There are some churches in these regions, but their activities are severely limited by the local communities. The Kenyan constitution grants every citizen freedom of religion, but local governments in resistant areas are led by Muslim officials who do little to protect the rights of believers.

Major Religion: 78 percent of Kenyans are Christians, including 48 percent evangelicals. However, parts of the country have a Muslim majority with significant Islamist activity and influence.

Persecutor:  Islamic extremists are most active in the north and east, and their activities extend to Nairobi in the south. In the coastal areas, community members and local governments also persecute Christians.

Voice of the Martyrs

[sneakypete]

Seems hard to believe,doesn't it?

[libertybele]

Trudeau has turned Canada upside down.  It is unbelievable what has happened to Ristau for standing up for his rights, and in addition an attack on his Christianity is alarming to me, as I always thought of Canada as free.  Obviously not.

When we lived in the Detroit area many years ago, we visited Canada and Toronto several times without even a thought of it not being similar in freedom to the U.S. at that time.

[sneakypete]

Trudeau has turned Canada upside down. 

@libertybele


Canada is one BIG-ASS place,with few people. The majority of Canadians live in just a handful of real cities,and the majority ends up controlling the vote.

So THEY end up being the ones who decides what happens in the vast rural lands,as well as the cities they live in.

I read about this years ago,but never really paid any attention to it  because I am not Canadian,and Canada represents no real threat to the US.

Also,I wasn't so sure what I was reading was accurate.  I now guess it was.