Reclaiming Free Speech In Canada

David Warren gives a great overview of what happens to freedom of speech in Canada. No, the situation isn't getting any better. Rather the opposite.

In addition to the very ugly cases that have been brought before various so-called “human rights commissions,” to silence such “politically incorrect” Canadian writers as Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, frivolous lawsuits have now been brought against several prominent journalists and bloggers for their efforts in exposing how the human rights commissions work, and for their audacity in mocking ludicrous behaviour by members of the HRC’s “Anti-Hate Teams.”

Barbara Hall, the leftist former mayor of Toronto, who now presides over the Ontario Human Rights Commission, publicly pronounced Maclean’s magazine guilty of spreading anti-Islamic hatred (by publishing Mr Steyn), while declining to review the complaint which the radical Canadian Islamic Congress brought against the magazine. (The case had already been accepted by the federal and B.C. “human rights” commissions.)

So to the HRCs’ existing repertoire of star chamber tactics -- no due process, no standards of evidence, crimes defined and punishments assigned at the commissioners’ whims, etc. -- Ms Hall has now added the obscenity of conviction without a trial or hearing.

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The article also talks about Warman's recent law suit against bloggers and journalists who had the courage to expose the provocative tactics and dirty tricks that the thought-police goons (including Warman himself) use to incriminate those accused of "hate crimes".

If there is a silver lining in all that, it's that even a Cabinet minister in charge of the multi-cult has finally noticed that something is going wrong in his domain.

CALGARY -- The federal minister in charge of Canada's multiculturalism file cautioned an anti-racism conference Friday against exploiting the power of human rights commissions to silence offensive speech.

Addressing the annual gathering of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) in Calgary, Jason Kenney, a Cabinet member and Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, labelled "dangerous" the "illiberal tactics" employed by some activists in the name of tolerance.

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It sure took a while for the government to notice that, but better late than never. I wonder if that's the most we can count on in a minority Parliament or if we can expect them to withdraw federal funds from organizations like "race relations foundation", that view Canada's history as nothing but a "racist past", let alone - to have M-446 placed in the order of precedence and voted on...