Origin The Layman’s Petition 1986-2004

The Layman’s Petition can be traced to a letter written by the author in the winter of 1985-86.

• 1985-1986: From correspondence dated February 26, 1986 to David Suzuki: “... This series, “A Planet for the Taking,” has begun an investigation into the very nature and structure of human consciousness”.
• 1987: Responding May/June to a note of acknowledgement from David Suzuki, the author replied: “... I have been working on a letter that has been with me since early high school.”
• 1988: From a March 19, 1988 request for consideration for a Canada Council Explorations grant: “...Brief description of project: Small book (60 – 100 pages). High school dropout/labourer explores perceived disorders within school system following through to consider social structure. Includes detailed and developed explanations of the logic behind one student’s resistance to and final rejection of the educational process...” (Grant request denied.)
• 1989: The title “The Layman’s Petition” surfaces in developmental notes. The author drew inspiration from his father’s challenging 1970s work to petition against a proposed 36 story apartment building overlooking Bronte Beach in Oakville, Ontario. (Present day site of a museum and public park lands.)
• 1990: In an essay dated “February 1990” addressed to CBC Television and The Nature of Things, the author wrote: “...Purely intellectual or learned debates leave the participants in an artificial medium. Ordinary people cannot and more importantly will not acknowledge this approach.”
• 1990: In an unexpected February 20, 1990 letter from a Professor David Bohm of England, (concerning above essay) Professor David Bohm wrote: “...Thank you for your excellent letter, which I read with great interest. I feel you have a very good understanding of what Krishnamurti and I were talking about...I would like to encourage you to keep on with your keen interest in the key question of thought. I feel that you have a very good grasp of what it is all about.” David Bohm (1917-1992) was featured as a key authority in the 1985 CBC series “A Planet for the Taking” with David Suzuki. Albert Einstein considered David Bohm to be his intellectual son.
• 1990: In notes dated October 17, 1990 submitted to an Ontario Ministry of Education official, the author wrote: “...A system is a sequence of recollectable beacons aimed at achieving a preconceived goal. That is a system at its best; at its worst, a system is a sequence of unrelated fragments which can be recollected giving the appearance of order and then used as criteria for the behaviour of the particular practitioner. A system allows action without understanding.”
• 1991: In a letter dated April 23, 1991 to a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the author wrote, “...All we have done is express ourselves through the breakdown of intent as an expanding aggregate of consciousness. There is nothing infinite about this; always it is built around where ‘I have been,’ and where ‘I am going’. There are ‘infinite’ distractions for such an accumulative mind.”
• 1991: From a Discussion Paper sent to the Ontario Minister of Education and the President of the Ontario Teacher’s Federation, dated September 26, 1991. “...What happens when one party derives expression or confirmation of their own psychological reality while eroding the psychological reality of another?”
• 1992: From a letter dated March 11, 1992 to TVO Daytime/CITY TV live television debate ‘Why Stay’ “...The unquestioned assumptions which gave rise and form to the presentation ‘Why Stay’ trivialised the situation in which students find themselves.”
• 1994: From an October 27, 1994 letter to the Ontario Minister of Education. “...Young people have no intention of accepting a value system which does not value them”
• 1994: From notes provided to The Royal Commission on Learning. “...Imagine though what it is like as a young teenager, when you have nothing and see no possible opportunities to express what you are, or your actuality, and you discover that the first responsibility which is thrust onto your limited experience is to reject everything outwardly and place yourself at the direct mercy of those you trust least. Your first adult act is one you see will bring on isolation and redefine most social and family ties. (The author urgently desires to remove this particular excerpt from the website.)
• 1995: Work begins specifically on title chapter “The Layman’s Petition”.
• 1999: The Layman’s Petition as a book is essentially complete but due to punctuation problems becomes mired in a cycle of over thirty painstaking rewrites. This process does improve some aspects of the text but punctuation remains an issue to this day.
• 2002: First Canadian Copyright/Unpublished (Aug. 13, 2002)

Engagement Details 2004-2010

• 2004: The Layman’s Petition (development draft number 24 dated June 6, 2004) is test printed and distributed locally for feedback. The initial response seems encouraging generating several reviews found in the current Trafford paperback edition, the free downloadable ebook version and under the ‘Reviews’ section of this web site.
• 2005: The author’s highly regarded character and excellent employment credentials are suspiciously challenged through a factually ridiculous allegation. (See below)
• 2005-2006-2007: Development draft of a second book is completed.
• 2007: Work on The Layman’s Petition resumes. First (Trafford Publishing) edition is approved for printing September 14, 2007.   
• 2007-2009: From November 2007 to June 2009, fifty four copies of The Layman’s Petition are circulated to a total of thirty three parties with explicit occupational interest in education related issues. Of the thirty three parties receiving one or more copies, only three directly acknowledge receiving the submission, two others do so by representative communication only. No direct comment about the book is ever received. No copy is ever actually sold (as of Dec. 2009). 
• 2009-2010: On November 4, 2009 an advertising contract is signed by the author agreeing to pay $930.00 plus GST to Professionally Speaking (Ontario College of Teachers magazine) for an ad promoting the book to run in the December 2009 issue. The proposed ad was pulled from the December issue by the publisher, citing a ‘missed step’ in the approval process. The author reapplied to run the ad in the next issue (March 2010) affirming “the need for a transparent process.” On February 1st 2010 the author received an unspecified notification stating that the ad had been “rejected” by the editorial board of the Ontario College of Teachers. The author wishes to point out that the proposed ad was undertaken in order to provide all Ontario teachers with a timely, simple, and cost free means to have access to The Layman’s Petition document before a wider public promotion took place. This select invitation to the College’s membership was a natural expression of the author’s deep and abiding goodwill toward all sincere educators. It is of interest to note that the licensing body (Ontario College of Teachers) was prepared to forego the $930.00 in advertising revenues in order to effectively obstruct Ontario’s teachers from learning of or about The Layman’s Petition document.

Key Engagement Letters (author)

(Three key letters are provided for consideration.)

Jan. 1, 2010: Open letter to Alanna Mitchell, Atkinson Series Neuroscience Authorities

• “...Was the Alanna Mitchell Atkinson Series domestically engaged as a diversionary ploy to negate broader societal input? ...Are educators and parents both victims of an unhealthy alliance actively obstructing them from considering a former marginalised student’s meticulous impact statement?”

Jan. 9, 2009: Barbara Hall (Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission)

• “...I ask you as Ontario’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner to be the first person to separate yourself from this universal and overwhelming bureaucratic prejudice against the phenomena of the high school dropout and to break this cycle of systemic cultural exclusion by acknowledging this published work (The Layman’s Petition) as a legitimate social exercise in a healthy democratic society.”

Dec. 5, 2008: Rosario Marchese (NDP Education Critic)

• “...The Layman’s Petition, despite society’s socio-academic/developmental strike against its author, is a timely, generous and conciliatory document—yet see how even this co-operative thought-provoking treatment of the underlying issues is being actively and defensively targeted (by that same prejudice) for a ‘planned social/political irrelevance’.”

Download Key Engagement Letters (PDF format, 254KB)

Documents posted at author’s discretion

From 1986 to date, the author produced numerous letters pertaining to The Layman’s Petition project. These materials range from simple notes to complex and challenging essays. The Archives feature is intended to evolve as an expanding access to those materials as deemed relevant.

Press Release - March 12, 2010 (PDF format, 15KB)

Press Release - March 9, 2010 (PDF format, 15KB)

Volunteer Editor - Jan 26, 2010 (PDF format, 106KB)

David Suzuki - Nov 30, 2007 (PDF format, 68KB)

Governor General Michaelle Jean (re Adrienne Clarkson) - Nov 28, 2007 (PDF format, 67KB)