Rogers - Write of Way | Writing For Your Life |

| Petitions |

When Rick Foley of the Alliston and District Humane Society saw the Irish setter, he was sickened: "It's the worst injuries I've ever seen on a dog—when a dog is like this it's usually dead." An elderly woman had tied the dog to the bumper of her car and dragged it half a kilometre to teach it not to run away. "Its legs were burnt, hunks of flesh were torn out of it," said Foley (Mahoney).

What really outraged the public, though, was Foley's comment about the law: "The dog has to be given back to the owner" (Mahoney). Foley urged concerned citizens to ask their MPP's and the premier to change that law.

This kind of event leads some citizens to petition their government. The good citizens of Alliston could have petitioned their provincial government to create a law that prevents Humane Societies and veterinarians from returning pets to owners who have physically abused them. They would write a petition, ask people to sign it, and ask their member of provincial parliament to present it to the legislature during Routine Proceedings. If the petition was in order, it would be numbered and recorded in Votes and Proceedings. Within eight sessional days, the government would file a response to the petition with the Clerk of the House. The member who presented the petition would also get a copy, and the response would be printed in Hansard. These actions might lead to a change in the laws governing the treatment of animals.

Recently in Niagara Falls, two young sisters-Trinity, nine years, and Chelsea-Rose, six years of age-began collecting signatures on a petition to City Council. Why? They were disappointed that their letter two weeks earlier to the Mayor hadn't yet got them a stop sign to slow the drivers racing down their street (McLauglin 3).

Both these efforts would be wasted, though, if the government refused the petition because it was not done conventionally. Once again, you'll write better if you remember the COSA formula.

To create the content of your petition, you may have to do a little research. A government will only accept a petition about an issue within its jurisdiction. It's no good petitioning the Alberta government to toughen the Young Offenders Act: That's a federal law. Once you've identified the correct government to petition, ask your MPP or MP to send you a copy of the guidelines. You'll need them to create the content, organization, and appearance of the petition.

Consider your audience. The tone of a petition should be respectful. Think, too, about the information needs of your audience. You need to be quite precise about the action you wish the government to take.

If an elected official will be presenting the petition, be sure to have the member sign the petition, preferably on the first page.

There are several conventions that ensure petitions represent only willing signatories. All signatures must be originals, not copies. Signatures cannot be glued or stapled onto the petition. Each page of signatures must begin with the text of the petition. Some governments require signatories to sign and print their names.

Check the guidelines to be sure that you've organized your petition in a way acceptable to your audience. Look at figure 1; it shows the order of the elements and the appearance of a petition to the Ontario legislature: the title, the party petitioned, the preamble (if necessary), and the text of the petition. You can read, later in this section, the guidelines for submitting a petition to the House of Commons; you'll note that they are slightly different.

Figure 1: Example of Correct Format for a Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Remember the dog that was so terribly abused for running away? Let's examine the process of creating a petition by studying how concerned citizens could have petitioned the Ontario government to change a law. Then you can test how well you understand the process of petitioning by creating a petition addressed to the federal parliament.

The scenario could well have unfolded like this. Tina and Mohammed decided to try to get the law changed so that a pet could not be returned to an abusive owner. They contacted their local MPP and got the guidelines for submitting a petition. The MPP agreed to submit the petition to the legislature. Figure 1 shows the petition Tina and Mohammed created. Tina phoned a local talk show about the petition. During the show, Masud called and offered to create a Web page for them. He said that Internet users could download the petition form and circulate copies in their communities. Masud said that people could mail the petitions to Tina and Mohammed. A local businessperson said Tina and Mohammed could also fax out copies of the petition from the office. Local newspapers picked up the story, giving the petition drive further impetus. Quite quickly, Tina and Mohammed had many copies of the petition to present to their MPP.

Activity 1: Practice Creating a Petition to the Federal Parliament

You've read that an eight-year-old drug-dealer taunted police: "You can't arrest me: I'm not twelve years old." You talked it over with friends and decided to petition the House of Commons to change the Young Offenders Act to apply to children from their eighth birthday. You're hoping to make this a Canada-wide petition drive. Refer to this outline of a petition to create your own, and then compare your effort with the sample answer.

Figure 2: Example of Correct Format for a Petition to the House of Commons

Answer to Activity 1: Practice Creating a Petition to The Federal Parliament

Works Cited

Mahoney, Jill. "Owner 'Dragged dog Behind Car.'" Toronto Star 29 July
1996:A2.
McLaughlin, Marty. "Won't You Please Help?" Niagara Chronicle. 24
July 1996: 3.

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