Show axed after criticism of 'gay' curriculum

Word TV announcement about its future

A television show that tackled family-oriented issues from a Christian perspective has been pulled from the air in Canada, and Word TV's executive producer and host, Charles McVety, is calling it a simple case of censoring a message that is politically incorrect.

"The crux of this problem is that last year I led a protest to stop our minister of education from presenting a new curriculum that would teach, starting at grade three, that there are six genders and that the children can't be happy and can't have a positive image of themselves until they accept their inner gender which may not coincide with their physical body," McVety told WND.

Now he's caught in a dispute with Canada's Crossroads Television System over its decision to cancel the Word TV programming over what it describes as issues of "ethics."

CTS communications director Carolyn Innis says McVety refused to comply with her code of ethics, even though the network tried to work with him.

"Word TV failed to keep its agreement to comply with the code of ethics as indicated. This is very unfortunate for CTS, but we made numerous attempts to work with Dr. McVety, but they were unsuccessful," Innis said. "It was clear that it was just a refusal to comply with our code of ethics in future broadcasts."

However, Innis declined to explain what was happening in violation of her code.

"Word TV wasn't compliant with our code in spite of our efforts to help and we can't provide details because they're considered a private [issue] between broadcaster and show producers," Innis said. "Out of respect, we have said in our code that we will not share that information."

Listen to an interview with Innis:

McVety said it's just censorship by CTS TV on behalf of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

"Back in December, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, which is really a censor board, came out with a decision against us. CTS from that day forward said they were going to be hypersensitive to everything I said, that they were going to screen all of those programs," McVety said.

"They came up with a reason for my last three shows not to go to air and then they permanently cancelled my contract and took me off the air," McVety asserted.

Word TV's website has a statement that explains McVety's belief that federal pressure was involved in the decision.

"In December, the CRTC, through their Canadian Broadcast Standards Council began to censor Charles McVety and his television broadcast Word TV for unapproved political speech. Fearing the heavy hand of the CRTC the new corporate leadership at CTS bowed to the censors, rejected three subsequent Word TV programs for frivolous reasons and then publically announced that CTS will no longer air the program," the statement read.

McVety says the issues became clear.

"On radio, I debated a female atheist pastor and I mentioned I debated this pastor who is part of the United Church and CTS [said] I am not allowed to say that," McVety stated. "Then I said that I'm under attack and CTS for the next show said I'm not allowed to say I'm under attack."

CTS promotion

McVety believes that there is some political history behind the sudden attention given to his program, and it goes back to his criticism of an educational program that advocates for alternative sexual lifestyle choices.

"The people in Canada rose up after I spoke about this and the Ontario Ministry of Education was forced to withdraw that curriculum and I talked about that on my television program and this Canadian Broadcast Standards Board then came out with a decision against me claiming that I mischaracterized that curriculum," McVety explained further.

"They said the curriculum was about tolerance. I said it was all about nonsense and they somehow politically censored me and say that I'm not allowed to really critique the curriculum," McVety continued.

Listen to an interview withi McVety:

"The other issue they came forward with was my criticism of the gay pride parades in Canada that were being funded by our federal government and I called them sex parades. I thought I was being inclusive because they parade every type of sex known to man in these parades. They didn't like that so they came against me on those two counts," McVety added.

Innis denies that the Canadian government had anything to do with CTS' decision. She says her concern was why Word TV couldn't comply with CTS's guidelines.

"We've worked with well over 100 ministries and we've used our broadcast platform to effectively communicate their message of faith and values, which is one of the reasons we exist. We want to be that platform for ministries," Innis insisted.

"It's really unfortunate that even though we made numerous attempts to try and work with Dr. McVety to play within those rules, through the code of ethics that every other ministry on the station has to abide by. It became clear that that wasn't going to be the case and there was going to be a decision and a refusal to comply with our Code of Ethics moving forward," Innis asserted.

McVety, however, said CTS gave in to pressure to be politically correct by the government.

"CTS unfortunately has their license to operate threatened by the censor board and therefore they told me – they put it in writing – that because of this now they're going to be hypersensitive and screen all of my programs," McVety observed.

"For some inexplicable reason, CTS has put out a press release saying that they're doing this on their own and they're not being pressured in any way. That appears to be … contrary to everything they said to me and in all of their letters to me," McVety declared.

CTS stated the network regretted that it would no longer run Word TV and claimed that McVety was wrong in his public comments.

"CTS (Crossroads Television System) regrets that Word TV will no longer be broadcast due to its lack of compliance with the CTS Code of Ethics to which Word TV agreed under contract," the statement read.

And it tried to change what McVety was reporting.

"Last week, its producer and host, Dr. Charles McVety erroneously communicated that CTS was being pressured to censor Word TV; these comments are inaccurate and misleading. The fact is that Word TV failed to keep its agreement to comply with the CTS Code of Ethics and indicated a refusal to comply in the future," the statement added.

The pertinent part of the code provide: "Crossroads Television System affirms that all eligible religious communities have access to it. This right includes both freedom of expression as well as protection against comments which may incite or contribute to discrimination, hatred or violence.

"CTS supports and adheres to ... all other Canadian laws guaranteeing freedom of expression and prohibiting discrimination, abusive comment and hate propaganda," the code continued.

"Religious groups who purchase time on CTS are entitled to state their faith and beliefs freely and clearly within a framework of responsibility. The tone and content of programming must not abuse, misrepresent or incite hatred against any individual or identifiable group. It must not call into question the human rights, equal rights or dignity of any individual or group," the code continued.

"While differing points of view will be broadcast, programs must not have the effect of provoking or abetting domestic or international religious or political conflicts," the code said.

McVety said there are some subjects that he is duty-bound to discuss, whether or not they fall within the government's politically accept views.

He said he now is in contact with U.S.-based organizations that have signals reaching into Canada.

It is far from the first time that Christian comment on biblical issues, such as homosexuality, have been censored in Canada.

One man faced a trial and thousands of dollars in fines – before the case ultimately was tossed out by an appeals court – for his criticism of homosexuality.

And WND reported when a Christian ministry that used to be called MacGregor Ministries was shut down by the government.

Its work was to point out the differences between Christianity and various cult beliefs and the ministry simply was unable to operate under the demands from the government that it represent all religious paths as equal to Christianity.

Even the powerhouse of Christian broadcast and publishing, Focus on the Family confirmed to WND several years ago that its programs were edited before they were broadcast in Canada because of the speech restrictions that nation imposes.

In a statement attributed to Gary Booker, then-director of global content creation for Focus, the organization confirmed to WND that broadcast standards have a "dynamic nature."

"Our staff at Focus on the Family Canada works proactively to stay abreast of the dynamic nature of broadcast standards, Canadian Revenue Agency legislation and both national and provincial human rights laws," the statement said.

"Parameters regarding what can be said (and how it should be said) are communicated by Focus on the Family Canada to our content producers here at Focus on the Family in the U.S. To the best of our ability, programming is then produced with Canadian law in mind," Focus continued.

"In particular, our content producers are careful not to make generalized statements nor comments that may be perceived as ascribing malicious intent to a 'group' of people and are always careful to treat even those who might disagree with us with respect. Our Focus on the Family content creators here in the U.S. are also careful to consult with Focus on the Family Canada whenever questions arise. Focus on the Family Canada, in turn, monitors the content produced in the U.S. and assesses this content against Canadian law," the group said.