What's new in Alberta's human rights industry?

I thought I'd check in on Lindsay Blackett, the freshman MLA in Alberta who is now the minister of "Culture and Community Spirit". That's the ministry that runs the Alberta human rights commission, which is funny in itself (but no funnier than the fact that the Alberta government actually has a Department of Community Spirit. And if you think that's funny, they just renamed their Department of Government Efficiency, which had over 1,000 bureaucrats. You think I'm making this up; I'm not).

But is it really funny to have a Ministry of Community Spirit? Is it a good idea to have the government giving official direction to what you should celebrate or not, what you should feel or not? Alberta, which has a very strong culture and an enviable sense of community spirit, got along fine without such interference for a century. Were Albertans doing something wrong, that they needed to be re-educated by the government?

Apparently we were. When that ministry starts issuing bigoted, anti-Christian orders like the one in the Rev. Stephen Boissoin case, it's clear that even the most benign-sounding government power can and will be hijacked by radical activists, empire-building bureaucrats, and lazy, politically incoherent politicians.

Which brings me back to Blackett. I had previously expressed my hopes that Blackett, who seems on paper to be severely normal, would bring some common sense to an out-of-control ministry.

So, given the national -- and international -- media storm about his government's order in the Rev. Boissoin case, I thought I'd check to see what Blackett was up to.

His ministry just issued a press release today -- telling Albertans to "celebrate summer solstice with the magic of fire and water". I don't think it's an official order, like their order that Rev. Boissoin renounce his Christianity. I think it's just our friendly government telling us what kind of beliefs are acceptable. We just heard from them about what kind of beliefs aren't. Christianity: bad. Pagan celebrations: good.

Hey, a summer party sounds fun. I'm all for it -- Halloween is fun, too. I'm not against either. It's just creepy and sad to see the total obliviousness over there at our Ministry. 

I know: the order to Rev. Boissoin was issued by the human rights commission itself, not from Blackett. But that commission is Blackett's responsibility. And the Government of Alberta did something in that hearing I've never seen them do before: send in a Justice Department lawyer to intervene, to make sure Rev. Boissoin was indeed convicted. More than any other decision of Alberta's HRC, this one reflects the views of Blackett and the rest of his government.

And those are just the cases that go all the way to a ruling. 90% of Alberta's human rights targets fold without a fight -- they just can't afford the fight, either in terms of time (I'm well over 800 days in their prosecution of me for publishing the Danish cartoons) and money (I'm at the $100,000 mark -- thank you to my online donors for saving me from ruin). That's why Calgary Bishop Fred Henry copped a plea three years ago, when he was targetted by the Alberta government for being a Catholic.

I think they're so tone deaf up in the provincial government, so immune to public accountability, so drunk with power after their last majority election, that they just don't give a damn. In fact, they're doubling down. They're not reining themselves in; they're going on a propaganda mission.

I came across this other press release, too: 60,000 copies of an HRC propaganda brochure are to be given to new immigrants to help teach them to read. They'll learn English by studying Alberta's version of Mao's Little Red Book. No "see Jane run" for them. More like "see the Christian thrown in jail".

You can see that propaganda document here. It's not meant to teach English. It's not meant to educate newcomers about their "rights". It's meant to drum up complaints, to get new business for the HRC, to keep their grievance industry going at full tilt.

I've read every human rights ruling in Alberta over the past five years, and the examples that this propaganda document outlines just don't happen. The majority of HRC rulings are little financial shakedowns, usually construction workers injured on the job who want more than they're entitled to at the worker's compensation board. There hasn't been a single ruling about say, anti-immigrant graffiti on a wall, or a Muslim praying at work -- examples used in this document. Not one case. Which is precisely why the HRC is advertising for that new business. Their last annual report showed that complaints in Alberta declined 15% last year. Albertans had better complain more, of some bureaucrats might have to get productive jobs in the private sector. And to get that new business, the HRC is slurring Alberta, making it seem like a bigoted community, where newcomers aren't welcome.

You want bigotry? That's bigotry. Anti-Alberta bigotry. You wouldn't think it would come from the Alberta government, but it does.

But I can't conclude without pointing out a particular lie in that propaganda document. On page 8, it says that "the Commission does not take your side or the respondent's side". That is a damnable lie.

The Commission does indeed take the complainant's side. For 800 days, it has investigated and prosecuted me on behalf of radical jihadis in Alberta -- the anti-Jewish, anti-Christian imam from Calgary, Syed Soharwardy, and then the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities. For 800 days, they've had their fatwa prosecuted using tax dollars, while I've had to foot my own bill. No fewer than 15 bureaucrats are working on my case. And if I ever get to have my day in kangaroo court, the commission will prosecute me -- perhaps with their in-house Muslim supremacist lawyer, Arman Chak. Again, I'll have to foot my own legal defence, but the jihadis against me will get a free prosecution, courtesy of the Alberta taxpayer.

It's grotesque that Lindsay Blackett is hijacking ESL classes to foist his "human rights" propaganda on new immigrants. It's despicable that newcomers are being taught to see themselves as victims, as complainers, as ingrates, and taught to view their new home as a hostile, racist place. But it is completely predictable that the corrupt "human rights" industry, and its government enablers, lie about their tactics, and claim to be merely neutral.

They're not neutral. They are destroyers of inter-ethnic harmony, and underminers of the rule of law. They are not protectors of human rights. They are destroyers.

What do you think of what newcomers to Alberta are being taught? Do you think that Alberta's new reputation as an anti-Christian jurisdiction ought to be in this propaganda document? Or do you think it should stick with imaginary bigotry, not the real stuff perpetrated by the government?

Let me know -- and let Blackett and his boss, Ed "Ed" Stelmach know, too. Here and here are their e-mails.