Alberta cabmin: HRC acting like a "kangaroo court"
Dear friends,
It was almost exactly three years ago that the Western Standard magazine, and I as its publisher, were the targets of a complaint before the Alberta Human Rights Commission, filed by a radical Muslim imam from Calgary, and another identical complaint filed by his Edmonton allies. My crime? We had reprinted several of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, to illustrate a news story about the subject. I know that sounds nuts: showing artifacts of the news, in a news magazine, is normal in Canada; what was abnormal was the Saudi-style fatwa that was unleashed against us. Fifteen government bureaucrats and lawyers investigated me for 900 days, leaving me with $100,000 in legal bills -- and the taxpayers of Alberta out five times that -- before the charges were dropped.
It was an abuse of process. It was a corruption of the notion of "human rights" -- it destroyed real civil rights, like freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion. And it violated norms of natural justice and due process.
With legions of others, I have been raising a ruckus about this attack on our fundamental freedoms, especially over the past year. I've focused most of my energies at the federal level, where I perceived the Canadian Human Rights Commission to be a particularly egregious abuser, and where I thought that the Conservative government would be amenable to changing the law.
It is therefore with some surprise, and great delight, that I draw your attention to a huge scoop published today by the Calgary Sun's incomparable Rick Bell. Bell interviewed Lindsay Blackett, the freshman cabinet minister in the Alberta government who is in charge of that province's human rights commission -- the one that went after me, and issued an abominable sentence to Rev. Stephen Boission, too.
I'll be honest: I didn't hold out much hope for Blackett. Shame on me for my pessimism! I had confused public silence with private inactivity. It seems, though, that Blackett was doing his due diligence before wading into the debate in public. And he has waded in, indeed!
His words are stirring; and if he follows up in like-minded deeds, he truly will be a hero for everyone who loves freedom -- freedom of speech and religion, freedom to dissent from conventional wisdom, freedom to be yourself, no matter what political correctness demands. Freedom to breathe!
I simply don't want to leave a single word out, so here is Bell's column. I've bolded my favourite parts, including the great headline:
Alberta minister wants our human rights commission to get back to fighting for real freedoms ... hope he doesn't hurt anyone's feelings
Freedom of speech? What a concept. Glad it's coming back.
Lindsay Blackett is the minister responsible for Alberta's human rights commission.
He wants the commission to stop playing censor.
He wants to change the law so the commission will no longer investigate complaints from those offended by the opinions of others.
He wants the commission to go back to protecting people against discrimination in jobs, housing and access to facilities and not clamping down on those who make statements another person or persons don't like.
The minister, who is a Calgary MLA and a refreshing voice in the provincial Tory inner circle, says the original protections involve about 96% of the complaints currently made, though those whining about free speech hurting them sure suck up a lot of ink.
"People have the right to say what they believe and Albertans strongly believe in that right," says Lindsay.
"We've got to try and find what was the purpose of the human rights commission to start with back in 1972."
"For me, it's back to the future and the simplicity of what the human rights commissions is supposed to be. It was originally just intended to provide protection against discrimination on grounds of race, colour, creed, religion and so on with respect to employment, accommodation and access to services. That's it."
"It wasn't about hurt feelings. The reason a lot of human rights commissions are disrespected across the country is because they've forgotten that.
"We want the commission to be a quasi-judicial body that has some teeth, that has some credibility but doesn't operate like a kangaroo court."
Until 1996, Albertans, quite rightly, could not publish a notice or sign discriminating against a person or group.
You know, a sign reading: No This Group Or That Group Allowed.
In 1996, in a move echoed across Canada and instigated by those who do not respect human rights, statements and publications were added to the no-go list in this province. You suddenly couldn't say certain things or write certain things "likely to expose a person or class of persons to hatred or contempt."
You could drive a truck through that clause. It is political correctness on steroids. And everyone with an axe to grind was handed a sharpener. So here we are.
It doesn't take long for Lindsay to go into greater details about his feelings on free speech. The man is clearly passionate and he doesn't hold back, a refreshing quality in a politician.
He says he's talked to a lot of folks, from judges and law professors and human-rights advocates to former premier Peter Lougheed, who brought in this province's human rights commission back in 1972.
He has kind words for the Sheldon Chumir Foundation, a group recently recommending the nixing of those portions of current provincial law gagging freedom of speech.
"People shouldn't feel they can't come to Canada, like a university professor who talks about a subject matter and then there are reprisals," says the cabinet minister.
"They should have the ability to say what they say and somebody should have their ability to have the counter argument. That is what a free and open society does. Let's get away from trying to mediate everybody's feelings."
Lindsay talks about being turned down by a girl at a school dance with all his pals watching.
"You feel about two inches tall. I guess maybe I should have taken her to the Human Rights Commission because I had hurt feelings. Where does it end?"
His plans have not been taken to Tory MLAs for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, but he is preparing and sounds confident.
"We haven't talked about it at caucus or cabinet yet, but I've already gone through a few steps. Generally there's support, the support to make a change and do something and not just sit back and say because it's a tough subject we should stay away from it.
"I don't think provisions for more freedom of speech are a problem. I think people on both sides of the political spectrum appreciate it."
We can hope.
Lindsay adds he believes the Criminal Code of Canada could be toughened up to deal with actual hate crimes.
From the commission, he wants the procedure for legit complaints streamlined.
The right to be protecting against discrimination because of sexual orientation is already read into the law following a Supreme Court ruling in the '90s.
Since the right is protected, Lindsay says he will have to consider putting sexual orientation into the law in plain words when legislation gets a rewrite.
Lindsay does not name a specific time for any amendments, but you sense it will be sooner than later, as in sometime this year.
As with any fight for freedom, it couldn't come soon enough.
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