 Posted
10/5/2009 8:02:00 PM
(You can listen to our interview with Mark Steyn via the player at right)
A fascinating day on Parliament Hill, as the Commons Justice Committee held hearings on Section 13 of the federal human rights legislation. As part of today's proceedings, Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant were invited to testify.
Two free-speech crusaders appealed to a parliamentary committee on Monday to do its part to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its power to investigate complaints of online hate, alleging that it is bad law that has been "corrupted and diseased beyond salvation."
Blogger Ezra Levant and author Mark Steyn contend that if anyone in Canada should have the power to investigate online speech, it should be police - not human rights employees who have behaved like out-of-control thought police.
"I call on this Parliament to assert its oversight role and compel a full inquiry into the commission," said Steyn, who was the target of a hate speech complaint by Muslims two years ago for an excerpt published in Maclean's magazine from his book, America Alone.
The House of Commons justice committee is studying whether Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act should be repealed in light of persistent complaints that the commission's powers to probe Internet postings that are "likely to expose"a complainant to hate are too broad.
You can view the opening statements of both gentlemen below:
I think it's encouraging that this issue is receiving this sort of attention, but I'm still not convinced there's an appetite in Ottawa to take the bolds steps needed on this file.
In the meantime, with word that the CHRC is going to challenge the recent Lemire ruling, this is likely to drag on before the courts for some time. That's not to say that we won't get the proper conclusion to all of this via the courts, but some political leadership could resolve things much more promptly (and cheaply).
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Rob Breakenridge
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