Intellectual freedom in Canada: The fire along the northern border is not people roasting marshmallows

Franklin Carter at the Book and Periodical Council's Freedom of Expression Committee informs me that the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) has appealed the ruling of its own tribunal in the online publishing dispute between Richard Warman and Marc Lemire. Let's hope this finally goes before real lawyers and judges, not social engineers and jet setters.

Blazing Cat Fur asks me to post this, so I do:

The CHRC has mounted a Kamikaze effort to defend the odious Section 13 (1). It is imperative that we ask those organizations who support 13 (1)'s repeal to seek Intervenor Status in the upcoming judicial review of Warman v. Lemire .

Do your bit, write the organizations listed below, where appropriate ask if they plan to seek official status at the judicial review, offer to assist if at all possible with a donation. Nag Harper, nag Nicholson nag your MP, nag the members of the Justice Committee. Send a letter to the editor of your local daily, or write your favourite columnist.

This is your fight, take a swing and make it count for Free Speech. Let our opponents know that we will not negotiate and we will not beg for what is rightfully ours.

Meanwhile, Brian Lilley explains why our Prime Minister does nothing, and will not do anything until there is an angry person on every street. And, as the shakedown continues, that will probably happen. Meanwhile, here is the latest "human rights" Commission outrage. A guy running a gay bed and breakfast had to pay shakedown to someone with a seeing eye dog, but he gets allergic reactions to dogs.

See, the mistake I think the Commissions made is this: They got greedy. Instead of just hounding Catholic bishops and priests, Protestant pastors, Jews, or journalists, they are now going after just anyone at all who can be shaken down.

If you run a Reign of Terror, that is a fundamental mistake. You should focus on groups like the above, whom the average Lotto ticket buyer, movie renter, and employment insurance lineup ticket holder does not care about. Once you start scaring absolutely everybody in town ... people begin to wonder if we are not just better off without you.

It is exceedingly difficult to get rid of a government bureaucracy in Canada, but it has sometimes happened. The eugenics committees, who could order compulsory sterilizations, were abolished - because people were justifiably more afraid of them than of daft kids. I sincerely hope the current "human rights" crowd joins them soon.

Kenyon Wallace reports in the National Post,

The CHRC keeps a file of privately published news stories, opinion columns and blog entries about the commission. According to Terry O'Neill, the CHRC has amassed 1,001 such articles but is unwilling to release the details unless researchers pay a hefty price in dollars.

O'Neill comments in the National Post.

When I asked about the Lynch "hate list" recently, the director-general informed me that they were not watching me. But I have no idea whether to believe them. This is a rogue agency, whose employees pretended to be Nazis for purposes of entrapment. So why should I believe anything they say? For one thing, if you really were a Nazi, the safest place in Canada to hide would be the Canadian Human Rights Commission. You could do it all safely there and pretend it was just a game.

That, by the way, is one reason that entrapment must be very carefully managed even where it may be justified (= infiltrating organized crime or terror cells, for example, to prevent imminent violence). Ordinary civil servants or government-paid freelancers should never have been doing this stuff, and in my view, the people in charge should just resign and seek other work.