Jennifer Lynch, international embarrassment

Who does Jennifer Lynch, the chief commissar of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, look up to as a role model?

A grotesque speech that she gave a few weeks ago, at the ironically-named Discrimination Prevention Forum in Ottawa, gives us a window into Lynch’s warped world. You can see her full remarks here. Below is her speech in italics, with my comments interspersed.

Welcome to the 2008 Discrimination Prevention Forum. This marks the fourth year we’ve brought together decision-makers from the private, public and non-profit sectors to identify emerging issues, share knowledge and develop tools to promote human rights. We are certainly gaining momentum.

Gaining momentum? I like confidence in a gal, but this is just laugh-out-loud funny. The past year has been an annus horribilis for the CHRC; not a week goes by when some new illegal act on their part doesn’t come to light, or some gross violation of natural justice is traced back to them. They’re a national – no, international – laughing stock, and Jennifer Lynch herself is a source of major embarrassment in the Conservative government. The Justice Minister, once Lynch’s defender, is publicly calling for the trimming of her powers. Gaining momentum? I think Lynch must have hired Baghdad Bob as her speech writer.

I think Albert Einstein would be impressed… The Nobel-prize-winning scientist once observed that intellectuals solve problems, but geniuses prevent them. So thank you all for showing up to apply your particular genius to the prevention of discrimination.

Ah yes. The human rights commissions – full of geniuses, eh? You know, all the best people go to work for them. Winners like Muslim supremacist Arman Chak, who came in dead last in Alberta’s bencher elections; Sandy Kozak, drummed out of a police force for corruption. These are “Canada’s finest?” As Golda Meir would say, Lynch should be more modest – she has plenty to be modest about. But would Albert Einstein really be impressed with Lynch and her crew of bullies? Einstein was a German Jew who fled the Nazis. Lynch’s staff, as a matter of course, join neo-Nazi organizations, and spread anti-Semitic filth online. I’m guessing Einstein would use phrases like “national embarrassment” or “disgrace” or “offensive to the memory of the Holocaust” or "Never Again" to describe Lynch and her neo-Nazi staff.

From year to year, we generate more interest in the global human rights community. I extend a warm welcome to our distinguished international guests, Mr. Divine Chemuta Banda, Chief Commissioner of the Cameroon National Human Rights and Freedom Commission, and Mr. Moise Segue, also from the Cameroon Commission.

Sorry, did I say national embarrassment? I meant international embarrassment. When I worked in the Conservative Party’s war room during the election, I met two senior Conservatives who were involved in Lynch’s appointment. Both brought up the subject of Lynch with me, unsolicited. And both were quite sheepish about it. One told me that Lynch’s personal aspiration is to be seen as an nternational human rights champion, and that her passion is jetting around the world as some sort of Louise Arbour wannabe. What a laugh. It’s true, Lynch has spent tens of thousands of taxpayers dollars jetting to five star hotels in various continents, living the high life while talking about “human rights”. But look at who she’s praising here: Cameroon’s “National Human Rights and Freedom Commission”. She gives them a “warm welcome”. She calls them “distinguished”. Of course, that’s just Lynch’s way of hoping they’ll give her some invitation to go to Cameroon on Canada’s dime for some week-long junket. But who exactly is she praising so highly?

Cameroon is one of the world’s worst countries, in terms of democracy, human rights and freedom. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that there is an inverse relationship between countries that have “human rights and freedom commissions”, and countries that actually practice real human rights and enjoy freedom. It’s just like names of countries: democratic states have boring names like the Dominion of Canada or the United States of America. Dictatorships usually have names like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or the old Democratic Republic of Germany. If you have to use your name to assert that you’re a free country, you probably aren’t.

Cameroon has been ruled by a brutal dictator, Paul Biya, for 26 years. Transparency International ranks Cameroon 138^th in the world in terms of corruption – that is, it’s one of the worst. Is that where Lynch got the idea to hire Sandy Kozak as her right hand woman?

Parade Magazine’s annual list of tyrants ranks Biya one of the 20 worst dictators in the world. Here’s their charming write-up of the man.

And here’s part of Freedom House’s 2007 description of press freedom in Cameroon:

Journalists were arbitrarily arrested, detained, harassed, intimidated, and physically abused in 2006, while some publications were confiscated by the state. In January, unidentified assailants set fire to Freedom FM, a private radio station that had yet to begin operations. In 2003, the government had originally forced the station to close before it ever began operating and refused to lift the ban until 2005. In November, after receiving numerous threats leading up to a radio show asking listeners to offer their opinion about the Paul Biya regime, Agnes Taile, host of the popular program on the local Sweet FM, was abducted from her home, beaten, and left for dead. Other instances of harassment of journalists included the illegal five-day detention of Duke Atangana Etotogo, managing editor of L’Afrique Centrale, by the military security services in September after he published articles addressing corruption and incompetence within the army.

I bet Lynch is so jealous! In Cameroon, political censors don’t just get to harass websites – they can go after radio stations and newspapers, too!

And here’s an excerpt from Freedom House’s 2007 country report freedom about Cameroon:

The courts are highly subject to political influence and corruption. The executive branch controls the judiciary and appoints provincial and local administrators. Military tribunals may exercise jurisdiction over civilians in cases involving civil unrest or organized armed violence. Various intelligence agencies operate with impunity, and opposition activists are often held without charge or disappear while in custody. Indefinite pretrial detention under extremely harsh conditions is permitted either after a warrant is issued or in order to “combat banditry.” Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees are routine, and inmates routinely die in prison. Amnesty International called for an investigation into reports that dozens of extrajudicial executions were carried out in 2002 as part of an anticrime campaign. Despite repeated requests, the Cameroonian government has never granted entry to Amnesty International’s representatives. In the north, traditional chiefs known as lamibee control their own private militias, courts, and prisons, which are used against the regime’s political opponents.

I could quote Amnesty International, etc., etc., but you get the point.

Every dictatorship has a Potemkin “human rights” division like the one Lynch praised, designed to trap foreigners in a fake liberal discussion, while the dictatorship conducts its brutal activities. It’s a form of propaganda – a political front, designed to confuse. I don’t know if Lynch is stupid enough to buy it, or if she knows full well it’s a ruse, and actually appreciates fellow practitioners of Orwellian sleight of hand.

On with the speech:

We are pleased to have with us Mr. Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages, and Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall, from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, who bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to our gathering.

Barbara Hall brings a wealth of experience and knowledge? I suppose that’s technically true. It’s one of those ambiguous phrases, like when a friend writes a truly awful play or novel, and asks you “well, what do you think?” and you say “you’ve done it again!” Yes, Barbara Hall has plenty of experience as a politically correct censor and abuser of liberties.

Just last week, our Commission participated in the Kenya International Conference of National Human Rights Institutions. On behalf of the CHRC, I serve as Chair of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The aim of the ICC is to promote and strengthen National Human Rights Institutions. We do at an international level what the CHRC does here in Canada, through conferences, training programs and working groups.

Did you know that Jennifer Lynch chairs the “International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights”?

Do you think that’s a good idea? Do you think a woman who presides over a beehive of corruption like she does should be teaching Kenyans about rights and democracy?

Or – is it the other way around, again? She holds tyrannical Cameroon in the highest esteem. How about Kenya, a violent country where it’s universally accepted that the president rigged the last election, plunging the country into chaos?

When member organizations identify gaps in human rights protection, the ICC brings the issue to the attention of the international community through the United Nations.

Right. The United Nations, where human rights abusers like China and Russia have a permanent veto at the Security Council, and where dictatorships like Iran sit on the Human Rights Council. I’m sure they’ll get right on human rights abuses.

There has been an enormous advance in human rights in the last several decades, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Incidentally, 2008 marks the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a significant milestone in our history. So much has evolved and progressed, but we acknowledge that not all is perfect and that there are issues in the workplace that need to be addressed.

Of course there has been human rights progress since 1948, but it’s been slipping away. Latin America is falling under the thrall of authoritarians like Hugo Chavez; Islamic fascism is gripping Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and is seriously infecting Nigeria, and has eyes on Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, etc. Somalia and other African countries are failed states where human rights are meaningless. And Russia hasn’t been this unfree since 1989. China is more brazen than ever in its disregard for human life. This is more self-congratulatory blather from Lynch.

Other countries see the Canadian Human Rights Commission as a source of innovative ideas, and a catalyst that inspires advances in human rights around the world.

More self-love from Lynch. God help those poor countries if it’s true. Perhaps Lynch is teaching them how to get 100% conviction rates for political crimes like section 13.

The three-pillar approach we take – resolving disputes, expanding knowledge and, most importantly, preventing discrimination – is widely imitated by others.

Here in Canada, with your help, our emphasis is shifting more and more away from a focus on complaints processing and compliance, to a focus on prevention.

What does “prevention” mean in the context of hate speech? I know what it means: creating a chill in the public square such that journalists, bloggers, and even large media companies like Maclean’s are reluctant to talk about anything politically incorrect for fear of being abused by the CHRC’s processes. That’s hate speech “prevention”. Fr. Alphonse de Valk of Catholic Insight was toyed with by Lynch’s right hand woman, Sandy Kozak, for months – forcing the septuagenarian priest to spend $20,000 on lawyers – before being let go.

That’s prevention. Do you think Fr. de Valk will offend Frau Lynch (Frau Lynch – I think I’m going to keep using that) again? No. He’s been inoculated.

Of course, we must maintain effective methods for processing complaints, and we do.

That’s just a gorgeous sentence. Just read that again.

Effective processing of complaints? Forget their abusive investigations into hate speech. Look at some of the CHRC’s other abominable work – including a case that took them 25 years to try. That’s effective? Did Lynch’s audience giggle when they heard her say that whopper?

Yet human rights complaints are essentially the “back end” of the process. They represent a failure of prevention. And such failures are expensive. They cost us in civility, in morale, in time, in energy, reputations and in money.

Oh really? That’s true for the victims of Frau Lynch. Her victims spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars – or, more often, go to trial so poor they can’t afford a lawyer. It burns up their time, for sure. But for Frau Lynch and her brownshirts, such delays and expenses are the stuff bureaucratic empires are made of. Without such “failures”, they’d be out of work.

In increasingly tough economic times, it’s important to remember that the investment we make in preventing discrimination is not an expensive frill; it’s prudent business practice.

But it’s not tough economic times for the CHRC, whose budget and staff complement are at an all-time high – over 200 brownshirts, many making six-figures. And “tough times” haven’t slowed Frau Lynch’s jet-setting or expensive lunch tabs one bit.

Furthermore, resolving problems after the fact doesn’t deliver systemic change. To do that, we need to focus on the “front end” – to fully integrate human rights into daily practice so as to prevent violations from happening in the first place.

What would a world be like where Frau Lynch’s twisted view of human rights were “fully integrated” into, say, the workings of a newspaper’s editorial offices, or the correspondence of MPs? We have a word for the total integration of the state’s viewpoint into the lives of its citizens: totalitarianism, the exact word used by Stephen Harper in 1999 to describe HRCs.

Coming together in fora like this one has helped us clarify what it takes to create a respectful and inclusive human rights culture in the workplace: it means putting overarching policies in place, building employment equity measures into business plans, measuring human rights as a core competency, supporting it with training, and modernizing communications in tone and content.

It’s actually pretty hilarious to hear Frau Lynch talk about business practices. The CHRC was audited in a confidential government review, and received poor or failing grades in every single benchmark that was assessed. They received a total failure in having a written code of ethics – they simply don’t have one. If the CHRC was a country, and Frau Lynch was its president-for-life, I’m guessing Transparency International would rank it below Cameroon.

All of those measures add up to fulfilling the pledge of Corporate Social Responsibility, which can only be achieved when an organization’s internal culture is truly aligned with the expectations it sets for its frontline employees.

Hey. I’ve got a question. Again, it’s a touch rich for a “human rights” commissar whose staff join neo-Nazi organizations to lecture anyone about corporate culture. But who the hell appointed Frau Lynch to be the corporate nanny for Canada? "Corporate Social Responsibility"? From this corrupt political hack? Forget the personal chutzpah of it – where the hell does the Canadian Human Rights Act say that this sort of corporate meddling is Frau Lynch’s mandate? Like I’ve been saying for months, when you appoint Joe Clark’s chief of staff to be the chief commissar of the CHRC, you get what you pay for.

The emerging field of Integrated Conflict Management Systems offers some relevant methodologies for achieving this.

Here at the Commission we are currently developing a Maturity Model for human rights. This is a tool that your organization will be able to use to promote a self-sustaining human rights culture and monitor your success. Later this afternoon, you’ll be listening to and learning from world expert Deborah Katz from the United States Department of Homeland Security about how a Maturity Model works.

I’d like to see the CHRC try a “self-sustaining human rights culture”, on themselves first. How do hundreds of neo-Nazi posts on websites fit in with that "Maturity Model"?

We hope this initiative – and others that you’ll have the opportunity to explore during this Forum – will support you in continuing to build capacity, anticipate diverse needs and integrate the protection and promotion of human rights into your daily practice.
Your commitment to realizing these goals is evident in your presence here today, and we appreciate the contribution your participation makes to our shared understanding of current and emerging issues.

We trust that the dynamic exchange of information and experience will support us all in building on past successes to conceive and implement the measures necessary to enhance human rights in the future. 

At the end of the day, the differences we make in our individual workplaces have an enormous collective impact on the world we share, making it more just and more equitable.

Thank you for being here, and enjoy the next 2 ½ days.

Are you embarrassed that Frau Lynch was speaking for our country? I am.

But I think I have a better understanding of what she’s about. She’s want to be part of the global human rights industry, jetting around, first class, from five-star hotel to five-star hotel, reading meaningless clichés to people who are playing on their BlackBerries instead of paying attention. All of this goes on under brutal security, and with plenty of caviar. Outside, behind a row of riot police, are people whose real human rights are being abused. Seriously: Cameroon? Kenya? Those places are civil rights cesspools; Frau Lynch is meeting with their propaganda arms -- she's a willing part of their deception. And she's well-paid, and well-perked for it.

And who can blame her? Whenever she goes into her office in Ottawa, she’s met with more embarrassing stories about the conduct of her own staff. A real leader, loyal to Canada, would clean up her agency. Frau Lynch would rather travel the world – and hobnob with the tyrants of Cameroon, and pledge loyalty to the UN. Seriously -- at the Remembrance Day ceremony this month, she didn't even mention our Canadian wars, but she praised the UN. Exactly who is she loyal to?

Perhaps Cameroon will give her an honorary doctorate from the University of Yaounde. That’s about what she’s worth.

Fire. Them. All.