Well, Evelyn Beatrice Hall, actually.
Up in the Great White Up, a pastor has been found guilty of wrongspeak, fined $5000 (payable to the person who’d filed a writ against him, but whom the “court” admitted could prove no personal harm – a fact which, in an actual court, with, you know: actual rules – might have gone to standing), has been required to publish an apology for a “crime” he feels no contrition over and denied the right to “disparage” a protected class of citizen – a prior restraint on his freedom of speech.
To re-cap: A man’s property is held forfeit by the state because he spoke his conscience.
Natalie Solent: “Canada is no longer a free country.”
Well, not until they change the law.
Not with a bang…
I sorta thought I was kidding when I posted this.
Do we just let this happen here? Will we be called upon to act in the manner of our founders, and defy a corrupted court or will we just stop …living?
And, the Mark Steyn jackboot has yet to be dropped on their side of the border.
Fortunately, on this side of the border we have a bill of rights, including that stuff about freedom of speech. It also guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, which hopefully will be reaffirmed by the Supremes as an “individual right” any day now.
The Second Amendment is the one that guarantees the rest of them! Hopefull force will never be necessary to beat back tyranny. But, as Virginians note “Sic semper tyrannis!”
Mao’s little pink book will be next I suppose.
For some reason this computer won’t let me link properly to the actual decision. I guess I will have to wait until I am back home to actually read it.
But assuming this report is accurate “See paragraph 357 where the right not to be offended “trumps the freedom of speech afforded in the Charter” than I cry foul. Human rights legislation ain’t never gonna trump a consitutionally-protected Charter right. Balanced against one somehow perhaps but never trump.
So just because a politically-appointed divorce lawyer gets it wrong, it’s all over, eh? Me thinks not. Just from reading what Lex linked to, it appears to be a decision begging to be reviewed in court. Where someone can actually get it right.
What avenues does this pastor have for appeal? And what are the penalties if he refused to comply with theorder?
For the latter, I would guess that they can attach his assets if he refuses to pay. But how can they force him to issue this “apology”?
Michelle – There is a ton of info on the internet regarding this travesity of justice… Go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8XAgL8Bxs&feature=PlayList&p=26409FDAE17E1D6D&index=0&playnext=1
and just listen to the couple of radio interviews.
Go to Marksteynonline.com and read the last several threads.
Go to Ezralevant.com and follow the links… Branch off and read the opposing arguments.
There is an amazing video of Mark Steyn on a CBC (I think) TV show where he faces off against his “puppet” accusers (who are actually law school students standing in for the actual complaintent). You really ought to hunt that video down.
While I understand that you are an attorney and, you want to be fair… Fair is not making the accused pay for their own legal representation and anyone claiming to be “harmed” by “hate speech” being represented for free by the gov’t.
McLeans has had to pay for their own representation. Even IF they are found to be not guilty (which would fly in the face of the 100% conviction rate of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions regarding “hate speech” they are not allowed to sue for costs…)
Read about the insane situation where members and former members of the HRC staff hijacked into a private citizens wi-fi in order to post cloaked hate speech on a site (which most would find unpalatable) but… then turned around and brought the site owner up on charges of “hate speech” because he did not delete their comments… The whole thing is absolutely insane and needs to be stopped.
You and I went around on this several months ago. It is now playing out. PLEASE educate yourself on this issue as I would really appreciate your informed opinion. It seems to me that you need to do at least a few hours of homework on this.
The funny thing is that this racket was buzzing along, slapping little guys like the pastor and others unable to hire high priced attorneys to defend them until the CHRC’s snared two rather big fish; Mark Steyn, writer for McLean’s magazine, and Ezra Levant who will not go silently into the night.
Having followed this rather closely, I think the mistake made by the HRC’s was to try to grab two tigers by the tail at the same time. They have gotten way more than they bargained for… Hopefully, your legislators will abolish the hate speech portion of their human rights legislation some time soon.
Oh, and BTW, I “Support the Canuk 6.” These are 6 bloggers that have been cought up in the snare, also looking at facing this quasi judicial tribunal. Got the tee shirt and the coffee mug!
Joan-
That is exactly my point. The nature of governments is to amass power. They govern right? They will reach until they are resisted or dismantled. The question we should be asking ourselves is what will my reaction be? I cannot speak for anyone but it is a question I have seriously been asking myself.
Babs, I watched the two you-tube videos you linked to and read all the four of five days of live blogging of the MacLeans hearing that Lex linked to. I also read a portion of the actual decision in the pastor case, concerning human rights trumping Charter rights (which doesn’t quite say what it’s alleged to btw) and will read the rest of that decision later. As well, I have read a few articles and opinion pieces in the newspaper.
BTW would you mind checking the address to marksteynonline? I seem to only get an ad site and I would like to see it. But other than all that, I have neither the time nor the ambition for a couple of hours of ‘homework’. Heck, I don’t even have time to make my once weekly sojourn to the office this week to get in a full day of uninterrupted work.
As I said before, I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I continue to believe that HR commissions have an important role to play in Cdn society even though I feel they are being misused and abused at the moment. And yes, I do strongly believe that.
I have posted my thoughts on these human rights cases twice recently on my Free Falling blog. Unfortunately I can’t link for you because every time I try to open my blog page today, my computer freezes. What the hell is up with that?! Anyway, Lex has a link on the side of this page under ‘Wingmen” if you want to look. It’s not too far back if you are so inclined. The first one is entitled “Live Blogged?!” and the second one is called “Boggles The Mind”. The beginning of that second post can be found on The Flight Deck actually.