Audrey Tobias is an 89 year-old and she is one strong woman. Tobias has been in the news this week as reporters covered her ‘day in Court’. She is charged with violating the Statistics Act.
Audrey Tobias is a slightly built woman with fiery red hair and a heart for justice. She served in World War 2 and the veteran is now a peace activist. Tobias has nothing against the gathering of census information but she was not impressed when she learned that the processing of the Canadian census information is done by the American firm Lockheed Martin, an American arms behemoth. In defiance she refused to fill out the 2011 census form.
She says she will not pay a fine if convicted. This could mean up to a three-month-stay in jail for the octogenarian. In the standing-room-only courthouse yesterday she testified, “When I learned that the contract for the information technology was being given to a foreign company, I was shocked. I am ashamed of my prime minister in Canada who ultimately made the decision.”
Her defending lawyer presented the case saying that forcing her to complete the census would violate her freedoms of conscience and free expression.
Tobias must now wait until next week to hear how the court will rule. No doubt many will be waiting to hear his decision on October 9th.
In the meantime how do you feel about civil disobedience? Do you think it is okay to break that law if they go against your convictions? Does your faith and the example of Jesus influence you in this?
