Stephen Boissoin brought some of the tenacity that goes along with his being a boxer when he travelled to Ontario to speak about his human rights case recently. Ending a self-imposed media and public speaking boycott of some length in time, Boissoin spoke in Grimbsy, Ont., just outside Hamilton, on Oct. 16 at a meeting of ... (Continue reading)
The bizarre saga of Canada’s censorious human rights commissions took another freakish turn in September, when one of its own suddenly declared the very system that employed him “unconstitutional.” Even longtime HRC critic (and victim-turned-victor) Ezra Levant was taken aback. As Levant put it at his blog when the news broke: “Two years ago, Athanasios Hadjis was a human rights hack, sitting on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal full of other hacks. He mindlessly rubber-stamped the censorship litigation oozing from the ... (Continue reading)
The Roman Catholic bishop of Peterborough, Nicola De Angelis, has written a pastoral letter addressing a recent complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, brought against the bishop and 12 local parishioners. In the letter, distributed on Sept. 13, he strongly redressed the OHRT’s encroachment, asserted his authority as bishop of his diocese and the autonomy of the church from state control over internal church matters. This past April, de Angelis directed St. Michael’s pastor, Fr. Allan Hood, to dismiss Jim Corcoran ... (Continue reading)
In a classic 20th-century treatise entitled The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek observed that the hallmark of a free country is the subordination of ruling authority to the fundamental principles of the rule of law. He explained: “Stripped of all technicalities, this means that government, in all its actions, is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand -- rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty ... (Continue reading)
Montreal, Vancouver pride events denied Marquee cash OTTAWA – The Canadian Press reported that the Marquee Tourism Event Program, which doled out $400,000 to the Toronto Pride parade in June, refused in July to fund similar gay pride events in Montreal and Vancouver. Divers-Cite, the organizing committee in Montreal, had asked for $155,000 to promote their gay pride events and add performers, but were denied their request. CP noted, however, that the same committee received an unreported amount ... (Continue reading)
Pro-life MPP Frank Klees finishes strong second The early frontrunner for the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership ended up winning, but the pro-life evangelical who finished second surprised many both in and out of the party. On the eve of the June 27 announcement at the leadership convention in Markham, one news broadcast said that the convention would crown ... (Continue reading)
The Catholic bishop of Peterborough, Ont., Rev. Nicola de Angelis, is facing an investigation by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for barring a homosexual member of his flock from serving on the altar. When 12 members of St. Michael’s parish in Cobourg, Ont. strongly expressed concerns to their bishop about Jim Corcoran, a homosexual altar server ... (Continue reading)
PepsiCo, which owns Pepsi, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Gatorade and Quaker, has been reported to have donated more than $1 million to homosexual groups, while refusing to give money to organizations opposing the homosexual agenda. It's part of a long history of the company's support for homosexual causes, which has attracted a boycott (www.boycottpepsico.com). According to Children of God for Life (www.cogfor life.org), Pharmaceutical giant Merck has decided to produce measles, mumps ... (Continue reading)
Canada Sarnia Transit, the municipal bus service in the Ontario border town, banned a LifeCanada ad that read, "9 months: The length of time an abortion is allowed in Canada." A female high school student complained that the city seemed to be endorsing the pro-life position and so the advertisements were removed from six city buses. The city is now considering overhauling bus advertising rules completely, with Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley saying future complaints might be forwarded to the ... (Continue reading)
Editor's Note: On Sept. 22, Interim Publishing released The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights (and Why It Matters to Americans) as an e-book (electronic book) and two weeks later as a paperback (see advertisement on page 7). Internationally reknowned columnist Mark Steyn wrote the introduction. Interim editor Paul Tuns interviewed the ... (Continue reading)
Complainant appeals CHRC’s dismissal of case against magazine Canada’s human rights industry has resumed its persecution of Catholic Insight, a magazine edited by former Interim editor Fr. Alphonse de Valk. On July 31, Rob Wells requested a formal judicial review of the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s dismissal of his complaint against the magazine. The commission had spent 16 months investigating de ... (Continue reading)
The controversy over human rights legislation and its attendant federal and provincial commissions – as well as the conduct of their employees and associates – continues to simmer despite the usual slowdown in political activity during the summer season. Two significant recent developments that have kept the pot boiling were the dismissals of human ... (Continue reading)
Pete Vere Senior Writer The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal has rendered a decision against Pastor Stephen Boissoin, a Baptist youth minister who in 2002 wrote a letter to the Red Deer Advocate denouncing homosexual activism in local public schools. The letter, which was published during the height of Canada’s debate over same-sex “marriage,” garnered much attention due to Boissoin’s having compared ... (Continue reading)
In recent months, the media have finally begun covering the goings-on of human rights commissions, thanks to separate complaints by different Muslims against Ezra Levant (the former publisher of The Western Standard), Maclean’s magazine and now the Halifax Chronicle-Herald newspaper. It took a complaint against one of their own tribe for journalists to finally wake up to the danger that this country’s federal ... (Continue reading)
Editor’s note: Here is a form letter sent to people inquiring about what the Prime Minister’s Office will do to protect freedom of speech and other genuine human rights, whether the government will support removing Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act or what other actions it might take to review the scope of human rights tribunals’ prosecutorial activities. One recipient of this letter posted it at ... (Continue reading)
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