Thursday, January 31, 2008

Motion To Bring Back The Freedom Of Speech

Keith Martin, Liberal MP for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca has introduced a motion (M-446) calling on the Parliament to delete subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

That's the very same subsection which makes it a discriminatory practice for individuals or groups to communicate messages that are "likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt", as long as those persons "are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination". It therefore provides legal grounds for "human rights complaints" against those who say or publish anything the special interest groups may not agree with. The most recent victims to such complaints are: a journalist - Mark Steyn, a publisher - Ezra Levant and a political party leader - Ron Gray.

There's no information yet on whether or not the motion will be placed in the order of precedence and voted on. But even if the motion is declared non-votable by the Committee, or voted down at later stages, it will allow us to see for ourselves which politicians and which political parties are willing (or unwilling) to defend our freedom of speech.

4 comments:

Patsplace said...

Good on ya' for posting this Len. It's made my night, for sure.

Regards,
Pat

Suzanne said...

Kudos. You did a great service to the Free Speech movement for posting this.

OMMAG said...

I'm with you on that.

detailer said...

WE NEED TO TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT ALL ASPECTS OF THE hUMAN rIGHTS. i THINK THAT THEY SHOULD HOLD AN INQUIRY, AND SHE IF THERE HAS BEEN ABUSE OF THE SYSTEM.