{"id":15820,"date":"2025-11-10T18:36:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T22:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/?p=15820"},"modified":"2025-11-11T15:52:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:52:40","slug":"escaping-neverland-a-canadian-refugee-in-ecuador-mark-vandermaas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/archives\/15820","title":{"rendered":"Escaping Neverland\u2014A Canadian refugee in Ecuador | Mark Vandermaas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class='videoWrapper'>\r\n\t            <iframe src='https:\/\/rumble.com\/embed\/pj.v6zbqza\/' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n\t        <\/div><br \/>\n\u201cWhen in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another&#8230;\u201d These immortal words from the Declaration of Independence heralded the birth of a great nation, forged in revolution against despotic rule. Today, however, one man has chosen a quieter path to freedom: relocating from Canada to Ecuador to escape the creeping shadow of political tyranny.<\/p>\n<p>That is precisely what Mark Vandermaas and his wife did after life in Canada had grown unpredictably autocratic. Host, Robert Vaughan, likened his homeland to the Neverland of Peter Pan, where the Lost Boys remained children, perpetually stunted in their growth and maturity, unable to become responsible adults and forever treated like children by a paternalistic, stern, and stifling government.<\/p>\n<p>Confronted by a relentless onslaught of encroachments upon their personal liberties\u2014assaults that permeated the lives of every Canadian\u2014they swiftly packed their belongings and departed for the serene, temperate elevations of that comparatively tranquil nation. They established their new home in the city of Cuenca, nestled high amid the majestic Andes Mountains.<\/p>\n<p>In our discussion, we explore Mark\u2019s activism in Canada, the pivotal decision he and his wife made to emigrate, and the striking contrasts in politics and culture between Canada and Ecuador.<\/p>\n<p>If you found this presentation valuable please consider making a contribution:<br \/>\n&#x1f9e1; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.me\/justrightmedia\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">PayPal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWhen in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another&#8230;\u201d These immortal words from the Declaration of Independence heralded the birth of a great nation, forged in revolution against despotic rule. Today, however, one man has chosen a quieter path to <a href='https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/archives\/15820' class='excerpt-more'>[Continue Reading]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,111,439,28,6,598,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","hentry","category-audio","category-governance","category-health-care","category-latest","category-politics","category-society","category-video","post_format-post-format-video","issues-ecuador","issues-emigration","personalities-blaine-higgs","personalities-justin-trudeau","guests-mark-vandermaas","category-12-id","category-111-id","category-439-id","category-28-id","category-6-id","category-598-id","category-27-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15822,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820\/revisions\/15822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}