Still Batting Under .500

So retired police officer Frank Chauvin has finally returned his snow-flake to protest Henry Morgentaler being named to the Order of Canada two years ago. He'd originally promised to do this back in 2008, but then seemed to have a change of heart. Yesterday, though, Chauvin made it official, and the GG accepted his resignation.

For anyone whose counting, nine recipients of the award have threatened to return their award over the Morgentaler appointment. Mr. Chauvin is only the fourth to have actually done so.

PS and possible whoopsy! This story adds a couple more to my list of resigners. Tough nuts; I'm not changing the header.

Pro Lifer Loses Federal Court Ruling, Keeps Medal

The move to strip Henry Morgentaler of his Order of Canada failed last week. No surprise there. Probably the most interesting thing about how this story has ended though is: what happened to Frank Chauvin's Order of Canada? Mr. Chauvin, the man who launched the federal court review of Morgentalor's award, claimed last year that he was returning his own snow-flake--received in 1987--as a form of protest. On July 11, 2008, he said:

"Yes, it's [the Order of Canada medal] definitely going," Chauvin said Thursday from his Windsor home. "I don't want to be painted with the same brush as Morgentaler. It's definitely going back."

[...]

"It was a wonderful thing to have obtained.... but it's gotta go."

In fact, a story from the 17th asserted that Chauvin had already returned his medal:

This gruff, plain-talking former Windsor police detective has done more for humanity than just about anyone else in this region, certainly more than any of the sneering armchair critics who've assailed him for returning his Order of Canada because he chooses not to share that now dubious honour with abortionist Dr. Henry Morgentaler.

Except that...whoopsie!!...as reported by Lifesite over the weekend, Chauvin is now singing a slightly different tune:

'I have been quoted in the media as intending to return my award,' said Mr. Chauvin in response to the news of the decision. 'I may yet do so, but I first wanted Canadians to have a chance to take a close look at what can happen when an Advisory Council abandons a consensus model and uses the award to advance a highly divisive view, in this case the effective promotion of the tragedy of abortion in Canada.'

In fact it was reported here back in July that Chauvin had experienced a change of heart. I guess a few bucks in stamps is just too much to pay to stop a purported mass murderer. As Mr. Chauvin noted last year: "I'm not going all the way to Ottawa, that's for sure."