HRCs in the news

This article in yesterday's National Post, by former Mossad agent Michael Ross, puts Canadian human rights commissions and their petty, vindictive work into perspective. There are real hate crimes in the world, but hate is the adjective, and crime is the noun. In Canada, we have it backwards -- hate is the noun, crime is the adjective. A real "hate crime" is a terrorist attack. Writing racist words on a website may be hateful, but it's not a crime.

Paul Schneidereit of the Halifax Chronicle Herald met with Irwin Cotler during the latter's visit to Halifax, and put questions to him about the human rights commissions and their failures. Like me, I think Schneidereit was underwhelmed with Cotler's response.

Finally: tune into the Rick Mercer Report tonight. I have it on good authority that Rick's rant will be on the subject of HRCs. That's an important media and political milestone in itself -- a sign that the subject is starting to enter the mainstream of Canadian discussion, not just the hyper-political world of blogs or the Parliamentary precinct. More than that, when the HRCs are the subject of humour and ridicule, it's a sign of how badly they've lost the argument. I can hardly wait to watch it!