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styky
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 Posted: 09/ 17/ 08 9:51 am Post subject: Lawyer spells out sweeping impact of ruling |
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Lawyer spells out sweeping impact of ruling
Adverse decision would force shutdown of all Internet message boards, tribunal told
KIRK MAKIN
JUSTICE REPORTER
September 17, 2008
Every Internet message board in the country will have to shut down if an Ontario man - Marc Lemire - is found liable for vile comments that were posted on his website, a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal was told yesterday.
"It's preposterous," said Douglas Christie, a lawyer representing far-right groups who advocate free speech. "It is the same as the chairman of a meeting being held liable for someone who shouts something out."
He warned that an adverse decision would prove destructive not just to a sprinkling of characters on the "lunatic fringe," but to mainstream newspapers, magazines and other institutions that have launched online message boards and chat rooms.
Mr. Christie said a single paragraph on a newspaper website, left on an Internet message board for just a minute or two, could generate a complaint that would spawn three years of human-rights litigation.
His comments came in a closing submission to tribunal commissioner Athanasios Hadjis, who must decide whether Mr. Lemire should be held liable for posted material that ridiculed and belittled Jews, blacks, Italians, homosexuals and other groups.
Mr. Christie also warned against closing an important valve on heated expressions of dissent: "If you don't allow the ventilation and expression of extreme views, the alternative is extreme action," he cautioned.
"This is one of the most important decisions that could ever be made by this tribunal," Mr. Christie added. "What is at stake is control of the media of communications. The effect of this legislation is to create a political elite who can alone communicate their views - and decide who else can do so."
He also disparaged the Canadian Human Rights Commission for the way it dismissed a recent complaint by Muslim groups against Maclean's columnist Mark Steyn. The groups had used a controversial section of the Canadian Human Rights Act - Section 13 - to complain that Mr. Steyn's writing exposed Muslims to contempt or hatred.
Mr. Christie branded it a "politically convenient" decision issued by bureaucrats who had been cowed by a fierce attack mounted by mainstream media over the Steyn complaint.
"They dismissed the complaint and waved it around, saying: 'See? Aren't we fair?' "
The lawyer accused the commission of steadily throttling free speech, and said that every historical debate worth having - from the rightness of the Crusades to Genghis Khan's sacking of portions of Europe - runs the risk of offending particular races or religions.
"What controversial statement isn't seen as vile by somebody?" he asked. "Different religious groups are now aware that they can use this law for their own religious ends.
"It's so easy. It's a beautiful system for destroying your enemies. ... But the truth is more important than anyone's hurt feelings."
However, Mr. Christie also warned that the very groups who launch complaints to silence their critics may soon find that the tables have turned on them, should their opponents choose to adopt the same tactic.
A lawyer for Mr. Lemire, Barbara Kulaszka, told tribunal commissioner Mr. Hadjis that Section 13 complaints make up just 1 per cent of the cases the commission reviews, yet a wholly disproportionate number of them are referred to full tribunal hearings.
She also attacked the complainant in the Lemire case - Richard Warman - for allegedly making a career out of filing complaints that tie up in costly litigation those whose politics he dislikes. Ms. Kulaszka said Mr. Warman has targeted 26 individuals in his complaints.
Noting that Mr. Warman used to work as an investigator for the commission, Ms. Kulaszka accused him of coaching one of his successors in how to investigate and to use material against Mr. Lemire.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080917.LEMIRE17/TPStory/National
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styky
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| Posted: 09/ 17/ 08 9:53 am Post subject: |
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Hate-speech rule may be outdated in Internet age, adjudicator says
KIRK MAKIN
JUSTICE REPORTER
September 16, 2008
An adjudicator of a human-rights hearing involving an Internet hate case questioned yesterday whether a provision used to attack hate speech has any place in the Internet age.
The Human Rights Act provision permits anyone who objects to an Internet posting to expose the author to a costly, cumbersome human-rights adjudication process, said Athanasios Hadjis, who is presiding over a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against webmaster Marc Lemire.
Citing a recent case in which Maclean's magazine columnist Mark Steyn defended himself against a complaint from a Muslim group, Mr. Hadjis said it may be all too easy for an individual to be "dragged through the process."
Mr. Hadjis said the controversial provision - created in the 1980s to combat hate messages left on telephone machines operated by members of the far right - made sense in the past. However, he speculated that its usefulness may be in the past.
Telephone hate messages tend to be overt, Mr. Hadjis said. In contrast, he said, the Internet is an ocean of voices in which many opinions expressed may involve marginal instances of hate.
"Suddenly, the chilling effect catches not only individuals who set up telephone messages ... but just about everyone who posts anything on the Internet," Mr. Hadjis interjected during closing submissions at the Lemire hearing. "What we have is the reality of the Internet - open to all; everyone participates. ..."
The complaint against Mr. Lemire alleges that he exposed Jews, blacks, Italians, homosexuals and other groups to hatred or contempt by permitting hate mongers to post virulent screeds on his Internet message board.
Many of the messages involved jokes that ridiculed racial groups as inferior, imbecilic or deserving of death. Some messages propagated vicious stereotypes, while others blamed the racial groups for global economic chaos or the spread of AIDS.
Mr. Lemire has challenged the constitutionality of the provision - Section 13 of the Human Rights Act - arguing that it is an unjustifiable restriction on free speech.
However, lawyers for the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the federal Department of Justice argued yesterday that the ubiquity of Internet communication is the strongest argument for why society must protect minorities by policing cyberspace for expressions of hatred.
The messages posted on Mr. Lemire's message board were "voluminous and vile," said CHRC lawyer Margot Blight. "They were more than offensive. They showed extreme ill will toward designated groups."
Ms. Blight argued that the legal test under Section 13 is strict, and that the CHRC does not pursue a case unless it constitutes an unusually strong expression of "calumny or detestation" toward a minority.
Justice Department lawyer Simon Fothergill told Mr. Hadjis yesterday that, despite its being more than 20 years old, a Supreme Court of Canada ruling upholding the human-rights provision in the case of John Ross Taylor applies well to the Internet era.
A more recent rights-tribunal ruling, involving far-right publisher Ernst Zundel, also upheld the provision, he said. While the ruling was not appealed in the court system, Mr. Fothergill said, it should nonetheless have a "very persuasive" influence on Mr. Hadjis.
Mr. Hadjis also expressed concern yesterday that a mainstream organization such as the CBC could be charged under the hate provision were a listener to post a hate message on its audience feedback message boards.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080916.RIGHTS16/TPStory/National
_________________
FREE DOMINION FORUM RULES
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope ~ Sir Winston Churchill
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people''''s money." Margaret Thatcher |
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 free_life2
Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Total posts: 7703
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| Posted: 09/ 17/ 08 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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Wow from the Slop and Pail. Maybe Canadians will get to know the truth about what has been going on and is going on re: CHRC, the tribunals, warman, and Harper.
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