What if I refused their "invitation"?
The Alberta Human Rights Commission has responded to the wave of criticism that has pummelled them since news of my interrogation has spread. Here is a letter to the Edmonton Journal by Charlach Mackintosh, the commission's chief; a version of it ran in the Calgary Herald, too.
Mackintosh and his drones aren't the quickest draws in the West; their rapid response took two weeks to get out the door, but that's pretty good for a bureaucracy that has taken two years simply to get me into interrogation, and took five full years to issue a ruling in the Boissoin case.
Of course, the commission's tone-deaf, weeks-late response isn't the point. It's that what Mackintosh wrote simply isn't true.
In his letter, Mackintosh implied that the commission was an easy-going, voluntary process. I was merely "invited" to participate. No bullying here. But look at what sections 23 and 24 of the Alberta Human Rights Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act actually says:
an investigator may do any or all of the following:
(a) subject to subsection (2), enter any place at any reasonable time and examine it;
(b) make inquiries orally or in writing of any person who has or may have information relevant to the subject‑matter of the investigation;
(c) demand the production for examination of records and documents, including electronic records and documents, that are or may be relevant to the subject‑matter of the investigation;
(d) on giving a receipt for them, remove any of the things referred to in clause (c) for the purpose of making copies of or extracts from them.
(2) An investigator may enter and examine a room or place actually used as a dwelling only if
(a) the owner or person in possession of it consents to the entry and examination, or
(b) the entry and examination is authorized by a judge under section 24.
Judge’s order
24(1) Where a provincial court judge is satisfied on an investigator’s evidence under oath that there are reasonable grounds for an investigator to exercise a power under section 23(1) and that
(a) in the case of a room or place actually used as a dwelling, the investigator cannot obtain the consent under section 23(2) or, having obtained the consent, has been obstructed or interfered with,
(b) the investigator has been refused entry to a place other than a dwelling,
(c) a person refuses or fails to answer inquiries under section 23(1)(b), or
(d) a person on whom a demand is made under section 23(1)(c) refuses or fails to comply with the demand or to permit the removal of a thing under section 23(1)(d),
the judge may make any order the judge considers necessary to enable the investigator to exercise the powers under section 23(1).
(2) An application under subsection (1) may be made with or without notice.
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