CIC “shocked” about something; must be Friday
In this case, the Canadian Islamic Congress is “shocked” (their words) that the CHRT failed to uphold it’s perfect conviction record in ruling on the Lemire case. Not only that, but the Tribunal had the temerity to state, in its ruling, that it had overstepped its bounds in applying section 13 of the CHRA and violated the Charter rights of Mr. Lemire.
The nerve!
What will Canada’s leading Islamists do now that their favourite means of silencing those of us who try and point out the nastier bits of Islam as it is practiced in many places in the world, including in a few Canadian communities and mosques?
Whine, it seems:
The Canadian Islamic Congress is calling it “shocking news” that a decision released this week on the impetus of a single member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal could strip future human rights commissions of much of their legal mandate to pursue hate-crimes, particularly those spread through the use of Internet technology.
We’d have to use Canadian criminal law again, which would just be a travesty! Why, that would mean we’d have to present evidence and argue our case…that’s haaaaaaaard!
(That, and the whole “evidence” requirement would mean we could only go after maybe a tenth of the people we would otherwise.)
In a minority ruling handed down Wednesday, the CHRT rejected the constitutionality of the controversial Section 13(1) clause of Canada’s existing hate-speech law on the grounds that it censors free expression of opinion by providing punishment (fines) for proven cases of objectionable speech that fall within the existing definition of hate-motivated crime.
No, really? You think?
The CIC is among a number of national human rights and social advocacy groups voicing strong objection to the ruling…
The CIC is big-time in favour of human rights, except for Jews of course. And they’re big-time into advocacy…especially advocacy for the murder of every Israeli over the age of 18.
…which if upheld by the federal court, threatens to gut Canadian human rights legislation and leave a number of ongoing cases in limbo.
“Gut?” That’s kind of a harsh term, no?Kind of a loaded word?
“Limbo?” Not so much…hate speech could still be prosecuted via the Criminal Code. Of course, the Code can only prosecute specific kinds of hate speech (e.g. incitement), which means it’s not a useful tool for silencing political or rhetorical opponents who aren’t saying anything that isn’t in the Koran or the hadith already.
“It is beyond the jurisdiction of a single member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to discard Section 13,” responded CIC National President, Mrs. Wahida Valiante.
Maybe…but when he’s the big cheese of the CHRT, his word does carry substantial weight.
“Canadian Human Rights Tribunal members are mandated to apply the anti-hate laws legislated by Parliament and upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.”
Yes, dear, but not at the expense of the Charter rights of Canadians…which, I’ll note, are also “legislated by Parliament and upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.”
Or should we force the Tribunal to change it’s mind?
“The constitutionality of our anti-hate law is within the purview of the Courts, which have repeatedly found it to strike a proper balance between freedom of expression, equality, and the preservation of core multiculturalism provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” she continued.
Even if this were absolutely true, and even if no court had ever erred in ruling on the matter…so what? Does that mean that anyone charged with hate speech must be convicted, whether guilty or not? Does that mean that the CHRT is incapable of overstepping its bounds in applying anti-hate laws?
The anti-hate speech component — Section 13(1) — of the Canadian Human Rights Act came into effect during the 1960s in response to a proliferation of racist telephone hotlines, but was expanded in 2001 to include the World Wide Web (Internet/electronic publication).
There may once have been justification for the existence of such laws…but today, that doesn’t really seem to be the case today. Unless one counts the fact that about half of all self-declared Nazis in Canada are CHRC investigators.
Many supporters of Section 13(1) say it should be amended rather than discarded.
Many non-supporters of Section 13(1) say it should be discarded rather than amended.
The CIC urges the Canadian Human Rights Commission and all those involved with pending or current hate-speech cases to appeal Wednesday’s unilateral Tribunal decision to the Federal Court, and to insist that the Government of Canada intervene to preserve Section 13(1).
Everyone else urges you to encourage the government to have the balls to scrap the Charter-violating legal figment that is Section 13(1) of the CHRA.
“It (Section 13) may not be perfect but it’s the best we’ve got and it stands as a legal deterrent,” noted Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, CIC’s National Executive Director.
“The best we’ve got,” eh? Perhaps it’s time to demand something better, something less statist and Orwellian!
“As frequent victims of hate speech in Canada and other parts of world, the Muslim community knows first-hand the dangers that come with relaxing our moral and legal vigilance against it.”
Jews and Christians persecuted in majority-Muslim countries, meanwhile, know first-hand the dangers that come from allowing Islamists to have access to a means of exerting power over who can say what.
And, like similar laws in other democratic countries, added Mrs. Valiante, “Canada’s anti-hate laws are an essential protection against hate-mongers who continue to undermine this country’s accepting, diverse, and multicultural society … we simply cannot afford to lose or weaken them.”
The Weimar Republic had the most aggressive anti-hate laws on all of Europe back in its day. Fat lot of good that did the Jews.
Canada doesn’t need more hate speech laws; she has sufficient laws against it in her Criminal Code. What Canada needs is true freedom of speech, even if it means the speech uttered freely is sometimes rather ugly.
Bad ideas can shrivel in the light of day; they can only fester and spread invisibly if driven into dark corners.
BCF suggests contacting Mrs. Valiante:
CONTACTS: Mrs. Wahida Valiante, CIC National President cicnp@canadianislamiccongress.com or phone 647-802-8024 (cell)
Be civil, good reader, if you do reach for the phone or the “New Message” button.
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