Canada, Free Speech and Human Rights Tribunals

[Toad]

What the heck is going on up there? This is too crazy to be believed.

Mark Steyn is on trial before a "human rights tribunal" in BC. Why?

In the Steyn case, what the Canadian Islamic Congress is objecting to are quotations Steyn used. They are quotes of what Muslim leaders have said. So the purported grievance is that a writer is quoting one of their fellow religionists, and that quote (though true) might in the minds of those ideologues staffing these tribunals expose someone to hatred, even though in fact there is not a scrap of evidence that this has actually happened.

This is bizzaro world. It gets worse. It would appear that no one has ever been found not guilty by one of these tribunals. Sort of an amazing record, isn't it?

Weird things in the Northland, eh?

That same year, the city of Kelowna, B.C., issued a proclamation for Gay and Lesbian Day, while omitting the word “pride.” A complaint was lodged against mayor Walter Gray and three years later, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal found Gray violated the province’s human rights code, because the exclusion of the word pride was “tantamount to a public insult, one which is mean-spirited, short-sighted, and damaging to positive, respectful relations between all people.” Gray responded by refusing to declare city proclamations, period. He was later re-elected with over 95 per cent of the vote.

[GtoRA2]

Well no one likes canadians. Now we have a reason.

[Elfie]

This is bizzaro world. It gets worse. It would appear that no one has ever been found not guilty by one of these tribunals. Sort of an amazing record, isn't it?

If true, it's pretty bizarre that not one tribunal has ever failed to find someone guilty.

[SirLoin]

Inciting hatred should not be a crime..If someone has something controversial to say,quote or write,not only should he be allowed to..he should be given extra protection.

"The moment you silence someone,you make yourself a slave to your own opinion."..Thomas Payne

You can't have a truly free society with hate speach laws.

[Elfie]

Inciting hatred should not be a crime..If someone has something controversial to say,quote or write,not only should he be allowed to..he should be given extra protection.

"The moment you silence someone,you make yourself a slave to your own opinion."..Thomas Payne

You can't have a truly free society with hate speach laws.

I'm not sure if I have ever agreed with anything you have said before, but I do completely agree with this. 

[GtoRA2]

Inciting hatred should not be a crime..If someone has something controversial to say,quote or write,not only should he be allowed to..he should be given extra protection.

"The moment you silence someone,you make yourself a slave to your own opinion."..Thomas Payne

You can't have a truly free society with hate speach laws.

Well said and true.

[mietla]

This is bizzaro world. It gets worse. It would appear that no one has ever been found not guilty by one of these tribunals. Sort of an amazing record, isn't it?

 they want to top the Spanish Inquisition.

[Bodhi]

Inciting hatred should not be a crime..If someone has something controversial to say,quote or write,not only should he be allowed to.. he should be given extra protection.

"The moment you silence someone,you make yourself a slave to your own opinion."..Thomas Payne

You can't have a truly free society with hate speach laws.

while I agree that free speech applies to everyone, I also feel that detailing extra protection to those that want to say things that incite is nothing more than reverse discrimination.

[mietla]

personally I am amazed how different the US and Canadian Constitutions are.

In US the Constitution acknowledges inherent rights of the people and restricts the government. In Canada it seems to be the opposite. The "rights" are "granted" by the government. Obviously in a Canadian model you have "rights " as long as you are a good citizen.

[AKIron]

Bardot was recently fined heavily for publicly complaining about Muslims in France. Guess freedom of speech ain't for everyone.

[Dowding]

With rights come responsibilities, and you can't have one without the other.

[AKIron]

With rights come responsibilities, and you can't have one without the other.

I agree. The corollary is that without responsibility you will have no rights.

[Toad]

Free speech as guaranteed by the US Constitution is not the same as free speech in other countries.

More from the Steyn witchhunt: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTY3NGU4ZDJmNDM1OWVkZmYwMjUzYTJiM2JlYmQ5Y2Q=

While only an administrative hearing, the human-rights travesty had the air and authority of an actual trial — except with few of the legal protections usually afforded the accused. Andrew Coyne, a journalist with Maclean’s, live-blogged the farce; his dispatches were as amusing as they were harrowing. The proceedings had no evidentiary rules — new evidence was routinely introduced without warning. Commissioners routinely recessed to determine the eligibility of evidence; legal representation would dash off mid-hearing to print Internet material to introduce as evidence; an “expert” witness was called whose chief credentials were academic papers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and still other witnesses were called under the prejudicial direction that “we anticipate that success in this case will provide the impetus for prohibiting discriminatory publications in the other provinces.”

That’s right: This was only a provincial trial. The Canadian Islamic Congress — the radical Muslim complainants — went jurisdiction shopping, so once the trial in British Columbia concludes, Steyn and Maclean’s will find themselves the targets of another witch hunt at the national Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC). Both “courts” can impose penalties separate from each other, and the legal costs are likely to be astronomical. (The complainant’s legal representation is conveniently provided by the state at no charge.) Incredibly enough, in 31 years, the CHRC has not once dismissed a charge that has been brought before it. Could the courts in Soviet Russia have boasted of such a success rate?

What a travesty.

[AKIron]

Free speech as guaranteed by the US Constitution is not the same as free speech in other countries.

More from the Steyn witchhunt: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTY3NGU4ZDJmNDM1OWVkZmYwMjUzYTJiM2JlYmQ5Y2Q=

What a travesty.

Viva la liberation!

Who's gonna do it if not us?

[Maverick]

PC gone to the extreme of madness.