DUC IN ALTUM

…kind of… The Human Rights Commission has stopped the prosecution.

Ezra Levant mentions this on his blog…

So they blinked. Against everything in their DNA, they let Maclean’s go. That’s the first smart thing they’ve done; because the sooner they can get the public scrutiny to go away, the sooner they can go about prosecuting their less well-heeled targets, people who can’t afford Canada’s best lawyers and command the attention and affection of the country’s literati.

Maclean’s response spells out everyone’s concerns about free speech in Canada:

TORONTO, June 26 /CNW/ - Maclean’s magazine is pleased that the Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed the complaint brought against it by the Canadian Islamic Congress. The decision is in keeping with our long-standing position that the article in question, “The Future Belongs to Islam,” an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s best-selling book America Alone, was a worthy piece of commentary on important geopolitical issues, entirely within the bounds of normal journalistic practice. 

Though gratified by the decision, Maclean’s continues to assert that no human rights commission, whether at the federal or provincial level, has the mandate or the expertise to monitor, inquire into, or assess the editorial decisions of the nation’s media. And we continue to have grave concerns about a system of complaint and adjudication that allows a media outlet to be pursued in multiple jurisdictions on the same complaint, brought by the same complainants, subjecting it to costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the inconvenience. We enthusiastically support those parliamentarians who are calling for legislative review of the commissions with regard to speech issues.

Well said.  Freedom of speech isn’t free.  Just ask Ezra Levant how much money he’s spent for his own defense.

And don’t forget that the Canadian Islamic Congress HAS NOTHING TO PAY HERE.  They bring up their complaint and we (the tax payers) pay the expenses of this circus.

^{Found this on LGF which keeps me updated on this issue.  Big thank you to Charles Johnson, I’m in Canada and this isn’t mentioned on Google News or on my local news outlets.} 

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The country’s top court has absolved former Vancouver radio personality Rafe Mair of defamation for a commentary in which he made reference to the Ku Klux Klan and Adolf Hitler.The Supreme Court of Canada decision in the defamation suit also broadened a key defence often used by journalists to ward off libel actions. In a 9-0 judgment Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Mair was engaging in fair comment in the 1999 radio editorial that was critical of Kari Simpson, a high-profile player in a campaign opposing the use of teaching materials about gay lifestyles in local schools.(…)

“We live in a free country where people have as much right to express outrageous and ridiculous opinions as moderate ones.”

A key component of the fair comment defence has long been that the person making the comment must sincerely believe in it. In the course of the ruling, however, the high court modified that test.

Commentary must still have a factual basis, be made without malice and be in the public interest, said Binnie.

But the test of honest belief is not whether the specific person holding the opinion believed it. The yardstick is whether any person might honestly hold the view based on the facts at issue.

Binnie acknowledged that is “not a high threshold” for any defendant to met. But neither is it appropriate to rule out “a piece of devil’s advocacy” in any debate on a matter of public importance.

1999. It took 9 years to be absolved. Wow.

Will this have any bearing on Mark Steyn’s case before the HRC? Yeah, ten years from now, maybe…

Start filling in the paperwork, boy!

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These three lesbians walk into a bar, which sounds like the start of a joke, except the punch-line will ultimately be delivered by a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
In yet another example of our burgeoning culture of complaint, three admitted sisters of Sappho took umbrage with a Toronto comedian who answered their incessant heckling of his act in a Vancouver nightclub by tastelessly riffing on their sexual orientation. According to the complaint, the three were subjected to a “tirade of homophobic and sexist comments.” In his defence, Guy Earle says he regrets the unsavoury exchange, but insists the tribunal hearing is taking him out of context.
If, by context, he means the setting of a comedy club, he’s spot on. What part of this unbridled art form don’t these three understand? When did bad taste or a perceived slight in any idiom become enough to invoke the full weight of the state’s bureaucratic complaints department? Going into a comedy club with delicate sensibilities is like heading into the deep end with water wings. Enter at your own risk, and if you’re in over your head, just leave the pool. Don’t drag the rest of us down with your petulant assault on one of our last cherished forms of free expression.

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I’ve always liked Neil Macdonald from the CBC. His coverage from the Middle East, where he lived with his wife and children, was always interesting to me. You always knew that people’s lives were in jeopardy and he made me feel the I knew what was going on, with just a few words.

Today, I find a brief article where he mentions free speech as seen in Canada or the USA…

In Canada, such a proceeding is evidently unremarkable. With the exception of Maclean’s and the National Post, the two national outlets that Steyn writes for, coverage in the Canadian media has been notably limited.

Here in the U.S, though, where freedom of expression and the public right to know is taken very seriously, it is front-page news when an organ of government — a neighbouring Western government at that — hauls a journalist before its bar to judge his writings.

The article is balanced and raises the same questions as anyone: Why is Mark Steyn in court at all?

Macdonald believes that we should have debates in our free society. And I agree.

…until I see Hezbollah flags in Montreal. That’s when I wonder if it’s free speech or if it could it be considered aiding and abetting a recognised terrorist group (which happens to be muslim).

Hezbollah is on Canada’s terrorist organisations list since 2002.

Image isn’t everything, but it does mean something. When Hassan Nassrallah’s face apprears on a billboard, when Hezobollah’s flag apprears on our streets, when I see a full niqab on the streets of Montreal, I know that some Canadians don’t feel Canadian. They see themselves as Muslim first.

Debate isn’t enough. Steyn did debate these individuals but was taken to court anyway. If it first you don’t succeed, try, try them again.

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Gitmo denounces Big Bird as a agent of Mossad.

You can see Jon Steward waterboard a muppet here, and just find the video for June 10, 2008.

Gitmo!

Gitmo picture taken upon arrest.

Jon Steward moments before he waterboards Gitmo.

 This seems to prove that YES, you can joke about everything.  Liberal rubbish does fall under “freedom of speech”.

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To be transparent here, I was involved in the B.C. hearings. As a member of the board for the Canadian Association of Journalists, my affidavit was part of a CAJ request for intervenor status, which was granted. Our lawyer, Jason Gratl, formally argued the tribunal had no business interfering with the Charter-given right of freedom of the press and that Section 7 of the provincial human rights legislation should be struck down.

Paul Schneidereit also gives us more on the BC Human Rights court session that ended this weekend. 

Hopefully, “testing the weakness” of our freedoms will actually work to our advantage.

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HALIFAX — Canada’s top soldier is defending the right of a father whose son died in Afghanistan last weekend to criticize the overseas mission.

Gen. Rick Hillier says David Snyder should speak his mind on the war even if the comments are difficult to hear. Snyder called the war in Afghanistan “stupid” and said he was concerned about his son deploying to the region.

Jonathan Snyder, who was a member of 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton, fell into a deep, unmarked well Saturday while on nighttime foot patrol west of Kandahar.(…)

Like Dennis Miller once said concerning Nancy Sheehan, they made the ultimate sacrifice and they can now say whatever the hell they want.  They have a free pass as far as I’m concerned.

Hillier, who was speaking in Halifax today, says the Canadian Forces are in Afghanistan to foster democracy and win the right for people to express their opinions.

Hear, hear.  Well said sir.  It’s just that simple.

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Anything I add to this would diminish Rex Murphy’s commentary.

Enjoy.

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When Code Pink protests, it’s sad.

When conservatives protest Code Pink, it’s funny.

She did have her little friends call the Police on us but we had a permit and they were very very nice to us. (…)

Hehehehe.  Read it all…

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