Sunday, January 13, 2008

Freedom of Speech North of the Border

Ezra Levant is a Canadian publisher who published the Danish cartoons. For that act, a Saudi cleric living in Canada made a complaint to Canada's HRC which Mr. Levant was hauled into the commission to answer. He was kind enough to videotape these proceedings and post them to the net.


















You can find Ezra Lavant's website here.

And do see these post's from the Volokh conspiracy on freedom of speech in Canada:

Canada Restricts Freedom of Speech.

Canadian Islamic Congress Website Reveals Its Views.

Free Speech Challenged in Canada.

The Strange Canadian Human Rights Statute Might Have a Loophole.

Another Attempt to Restrict Speech in Canada

Calling Speech Restrictors "Enemies of Free Speech" Can Now Lead to Legal Liability in Canada

And lastly, there is this rather amazing exchange chronicled by Mark Steyn at NRO:

. . . .this exchange from the Warman vs Lemire hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Commission (page 4793 of the transcript). Dean Steacy is the principal "anti-hate" investigator of the HRC:"

MS KULASZKA: Mr. Steacy, you were talking before about context and how important it is when you do your investigation. What value do you give freedom of speech when you investigate one of these complaints?

MR. STEACY: Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value.

MS KULASZKA: Okay. That was a clear answer.

MR. STEACY: It's not my job to give value to an American concept.


1 comment:

Alice said...

Thanks for putting these on the web. Fascinating and disturbing. Definetly worth taking a few minutes to watch each one. I'll be sending these to a friend who wants to move to Canada. The gentleman could not be more on target.