Human rights activist speaks to multicultural forum on behalf of Metis host

Like most people I don't think about the ethnic or racial details of my friends -- unless it specifically comes up for some reason. And it generally doesn't come up -- unless some foolish political correctness demands that it come up, in the form of racial quotas or the like.

Needless to say, human rights commissions judge everyone based on those irrelevant criteria. They immediately assign you your political and legal status based on your race, sex, sexual orientation, etc. They ignore Martin Luther King's call to be judged by the "content of our character, not the colour of our skin". In that way, HRCs are the last blatantly bigoted institutions in the country. You won't find many golf clubs or country clubs boasting that they don't let in this race or that, but all 14 HRCs in Canada state right on their websites how they accord rights and privileges -- and hand out fines to some and tax-free jackpots to others -- based on a list of bigoted criteria. To use a phrase of the left, HRCs engage in "systemic discrimination".

Back to my headline: I spoke at a meeting of 200 people in Winnipeg last week, about Shakedown. It was a fundraiser for Rod Bruinooge, the MP for Winnipeg South. I think Rod's a great guy -- strong conservative, great fit for his riding. That's the beginning and the end of it for me. But if I was an HRC type, I'd reduce Rod to simply his race: he happens to be Metis.

And the 200 folks who paid $125 each to hear the talk -- the biggest fundraiser Rod has ever had, he says? I'd say a quarter of them were visible minorities, especially Sikh and Hindu. Again, I don't think that would register with most normal people, other than the room looked like Winnipeg looks. No-one was there as some sort of window-dressing or some sort of quota. They just like Rod and (I like to think) were interested in my book.

In fact, at the head table where Rod and I sat, there was precisely one WASP male -- the bright and good-humoured dean of the U of M law school, Chris Axworthy, who was excellent company. Everyone else at the table was what the HRCs would call a "designated group" -- a Metis, a Jew, a Hindu, a Sikh and two women.

I know this sounds ridiculous, this sort of statistical census. And, I swear, I never engage in this sort of ethnic "profiling", like the HRCs do. But I've been thinking so much about how HRCs judge people based on race and sex -- while their own bosses are all drearily the same. I mean, Barbara Hall, Jennifer Lynch, Lori Andreachuk, Shirlene McGovern, Sandy Kozak -- they're all middle aged, privileged white women with a bullying streak. Not a lot of "diversity" there -- let alone intellectual diversity.

Hey, I don't care that they're all the same demographically -- they're the ones who say they care.

Back to Thursday night: it was a hit. We talked about real human rights -- freedom, the reason why so many of the immigrants in that room had come to Canada. We talked about equality before the law, our great liberal traditions dating back to the Magna Carta. That got people genuinely excited -- both "old stock" Canadians, and newcomers, too. I loved it. And all under the aegis of a Metis MP.

I'd normally headline this blog post something like "Shakedown draws big crowd in The 'Peg". But why don't I write a sentence that no counterfeit HRC could write: "human rights activists speaks to multicultural forum on behalf of Metis host"?

Here are some pictures from that great event.

P.S. I've been thinking about partisanship lately, because I had a great complement of Liberal MPs and Senators at my book event in Ottawa last week, which was co-sponsored by Keith Martin, a Liberal MP. I mean what I say when I state that freedom of speech and rule of law belong to all Canadians, not just one party or another. I truly want all parties and all MPs to get behind the necessary reforms here.

At the same time, I am a Tory partisan, and some of my events (like Rod Bruinooge's) are to the benefit of the Tories. But I've made a personal decision: I'm going to put my money (literally) where my mouth is. If a Liberal MP or Senator asks me to do a fundraising event, themed around freedom of speech and reforming HRCs, I'll accept the invitation.

We brought in $25,000 in one night for Bruinooge (plus whatever they made in their silent auction and other revenue streams), all in the name of free speech, and Bruinooge himself made some excellent comments about freedom. He's a believer, and I know 200 people who are going to give him encouragement and support to fix it.

That's more important to me than his partisan stripe.

I'm a conservative and a Conservative, and I want Stephen Harper to be Prime Minister. But if a Liberal MP -- or Bloc MP, or NDP MP -- asks me to come to their home town to talk up freedom at one of their partisan events, I'll be there in a flash.

And I might even wear my Liberal Party cufflinks, as I did at the Ottawa event last week.

I hope that plenty of Liberals take me up on my invitation.

Let me close with a few snapshots of the Bruinooge dinner, and my visit to McNally Robinson bookstore in Winnipeg the next day. Thanks to Dr. Rob for the McNally picture, and Dave for the dinner pix.