Canada Goosed [Steyn being silenced in Canada]

The Washington Times ^ | January 9, 2007 | Pete Vere

[GratianGasparri]

Canada goosed

By Pete Vere January 9, 2008

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario

An attempt to have a Canadian panel stifle Mark Steyn poses a threat to American freedom of speech, the conservative columnist says.

The Canadian author told The Washington Times in a telephone interview that the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) agreeing to investigate a Muslim complaint against him opens a new front on threats to Canadians' press and religious freedom: speech that originates in the United States.

"There are attempts to circumscribe the First Amendment, and certain groups have become very adept at using legal and quasi-legal methods to restrict discussion and what's discussed," said Mr. Steyn, who spends half the year living in New Hampshire and writes for several U.S.-based publications.

Under Canadian law, the CHRC investigates purported incidents of hate speech and discrimination and refers some to the quasi-judicial Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which can impose fines or issue restraint orders.

Mr. Steyn became subject to a CHRC investigation last month when the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) complained about an excerpt Mr. Steyn had reprinted from "America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It," Mr. Steyn's best-seller published by U.S.-based Regnery Publishing.

[Don Joe]

Asked whether the CHRC was intentionally targeting religious or socially conservative speech, Ms. Gregoire said the question was "inappropriate,"

Whoa!

First they nail you for your political incorrectness (in this case, two Catholic groups, fined for refusing to knuckle under to homosexuals), and then, they nail you for even asking about their motives!

What kind of shit is this anyway? Stinks of "the divine right of kings to rule"!

They sit in absolute dictatorial judgement of every aspect of YOUR life, yet you dare not even question THEM???

Saddest part of all, is that this country is headed down the same path as Canada.

[Don Joe]

I think it would be interesting if Syeyn would request asylum, thus allowing him to remain here all year long. That would be VERY embarrassing to Canada if they proceeded with any action against Steyn.

Never happen. Might offend TRoP.

[Don Joe]

PS: Things might turn sufficiently ugly that his only viable option would be to move to Israel — like, pronto, before they yank his passport.

[Berosus]

I thought Mark Steyn lives in New Hampshire now.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[Ombudsman]

Oh Kan-uck-istan we stand on guard for thee,
No freedom of speech,
Only a ton of PC...

From far and wide
Like the eurolands
you’ve screwed us to the “t”
from far and wide
Oh Kanuckistan
we’re on our knees for thee

Allah keep our land
glorious and free
Oh Kanuckistan we’re on our knees for thee

[fanfan]

[secret garden]

O/T question for you. Is sizing pics for a thread in the HTML sandbox thread? That is useful info you just posted.

[dljordan]

That was pretty cool.

[Candor7]

As a former resident of Canada, I can say that this article portrays things accurately except for one fact. The Human Rights commissions across Canada were created to investigate not only complaints from employment and housing as the article says, BUT ALSO hate speech potentially focused on French language groups by English speakers. This effectively squelched public resistance to federal government bilingual programs in some parts of English speaking Canada, such as parts of New Brunswick. Now areas which hitherto had been almost exclusively English speaking are now populated my French speakers in their majority, such as the Mirimichi Area of that province. So the Human Rights Commissions have been effective institutions for socialist engineering of Canadian Society since their inception.

The Human Rights Commissions are very powerful in Canada. By their very nature they restrict fundamental citizens rights, and offend due process by not adjudicating the truth of any issue other than how the complaining party "feels."Therefore political correctness predefines which sectors of society feeling a certain way may be addressed or not, via accepted or rejected complaints.

It will be a chore to obtain a full judicial review process from the Human Rights Commissions which are composed as quasi- judicial administrative tribunals. In this way the issues and principles of trial by jury, confronting ones accusers, etc. are avoided. Hearsay evidence is admissible.Once a court review is convened, after the findings of the Human Rights Commission, which will be administratively couched to avoid judicial revue, by restricting the tribunal's role to the non-adjudicative task of finders of fact,the question will revolve around Canada's Charter of Rights and the freedom of speech clause therein:

Fundamental freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

a) freedom of conscience and religion;

b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

d) freedom of association.

This case promises to be a landmark case in Canada , but will take years to process.Very few cases have been decided under The Charter as courts have been reluctant to give it operative effect to overturn legislation in the face of the traditional doctrine of the Supremacy of Parliament.

Further brief on the Canadian Charter of Rights can be found at:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

(This writer is a graduate of a Canadian School of Law)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We have room for a guy like Steyn. c’mon down...

[Mr. Jeeves]

We can be certain that if a certain party regains power in the '08 election- these same tactics will be used here, to silence anyone who doesn't give blind allegiance to the far left.

Well, the USA has this little First Amendment thingy that cuts way down on this type of gratuitous government abuse...but I expect the Left to go after its Internet critics in a big way, since that's more of a gray area.

Free Republic might end up forced to publish solely as a weekly print tabloid. ;)

[3AngelaD]

This article's depiction of the war on Christianity is stunning. Left unchecked, Mr. Steyn said the CHRC could bring about a relationship between the state and the press similar to that of the former Soviet Union, in which "basically the state regulates the bounds of public expression." ...no accused has ever won a case once the CHRC referred it to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and that truth is not a defense when dealing with the commission or the tribunal. Whereas facts, quotes and statistics may be accurately cited by the author, what the commissions bases its judgment upon is whether the person reading it is offended....Citing previous cases investigated by the CHRC, Mr. Gray said Canada's human rights commissions are targeting Christians and social conservatives.

"The one case I know where a Christian responded by filing a complaint against an individual who had defamed him, the CHRC refused to hear the complaint," he said.

[ohioman]

These Canuck Star Chambers need to be violently opposed!

[Antoninus]

I wonder when Canada begins blocking some websites that contains opinions they don’t like—like China already does.

[GratianGasparri]

“I wonder when Canada begins blocking some websites that contains opinions they don’t like—like China already does.”

They tried earlier this summer with FreeRepublic’s official Canadian sister-site FreeDominion

[Joan Kerrey]

nice colors but don’t have time scrolling to find out what the picture is. Maybe someone can interpret.

[brityank]

I'm sure it's in one of the Sandbox threads somewhere, as this is where I learned about it. John's 'Preview' box comes in handy to check and make sure you haven't screwed up any of your links (hover over them and verify they are as expected in the Status Bar) and you haven't swapped the width and height. To resize I just change both values by the same percentage -- in this case that 2000 x 3008 I made 200 x 302.

Also, Getting started with HTML ^ from the W3C gives a good, easy overview of the basics.

Enjoy!

[brityank]

Page down. :^)

[secret garden]

Thank you!