Major victory for freedom of speech in Canada. (Americans, take note!)

Those who, like Walt, believe in freedom of speech can rejoice this weekend. At least in Canada, that is. [Paula D. writes: "Only in Canada, you say? Pity!"] The infamous Section 13 of Canada's Human Right Act, long criticized by free-speech advocates as overly restrictive and tantamount to censorship, has at last been repealed.

A private member's bill sponsored by Conservative Member of Parliament Brian Storseth was passed by the House of Commons recently, in spite of not having received the official endorsement of Steve "Stephen" Harper's Tory government. It duly worked its way through the Senate which passed it before going on holiday this week.

Thus Section 13, which allowed [encouraged, surely! Ed.] complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission for "the communication of hate messages by telephone or on the Internet" gets tossed into the dustbin of history... and not a moment too soon!

Mr. Storseth called the law a "flawed piece of legislation" and characterized the human rights tribunal as "a quasi-judicial, secretive body that takes away your natural rights as a Canadian."

"[Section 13] had actually stopped being used as a shield, as I think it was intended, to protect civil liberties, and started being used as a sword against Canadians, and it's because it was a poorly-written piece of legislation in the first place," he said.

Chief wielder of the "sword" was a champion of political correctness fittingly named Richard Warman. The barking mad human rights zealot who, since 2001, brought no fewer than 16 complaints under Section 13. Warman's frivolous and vexatious accusations were all funded by Canadian taxpayers, since the CHRC covers the costs of the complainant, even if the complaint is dismissed.

One person who found this out the hard way, as Agent 9 reminds us, is Father Alphonse de Valk, CSB, the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. In 2006 he got dragged into the war against the excesses of human rights commissions when the CHRC charged him with hate speech after a complaint (from "guess who?") about some writings critical of homosexual behaviour. He was eventually cleared of all charges but still had to pay 1000s of dollars in legal bills.

Producing and disseminating "hate speech" remains a crime in Canada, but regulating it will be left to the courts (as it was previously), not to human rights tribunals. But while anyone -- even a raving loony -- could file a human rights complaint, charges of "hate crimes" under the Criminal Code of Canada require the approval of the Attorney-General.

Also pleased with this unexpected victory for free speech and common sense should be Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant, who have been demonized for writing the truth as they see it. In "How 9/11 killed Canadians' appetite for human-rights speech codes", National Post columnist Jonathan Kay says that "confronting the human rights industry...wasn't just a matter of free-speech principle but a matter of civilizational self-protection. The average Canadian may not give a hoot about his freedom to use the N-word. But he'll be damned if he's going to let the government prevent him from saying what he things about burkas [sic] and terrorists."  

Further reading: "Father de Valk winner of CCRL award". The Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) assists in creating conditions within which Catholic teachings can be better understood, cooperates with other organizations in defending civil rights and opposes defamation and discrimination against Catholics on the basis of their beliefs.

"Hate" to say goodbye

At the end of the hippy-dippy 60s, the Liberal Party imposed on Canada, as its new prime minister, one Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The man Allan Fotheringham dubbed "Himself" promised Canadians that when he got through with Canada, they wouldn't recognize it. He was right.

One of the most pernicious laws passed by PET's government, to enact his liberal humanist vision of the future, was the Canadian Human Rights Act, an Orwellian name for a law that actually destroys real rights. Everyone has rights now -- infidels, atheists, pacifists, rioters, vizmins, sexual deviates. Or almost everyone. Certain rights are conspicuous by their absence -- the right to life, and the right to speak your mind freely, not to mention the right to be left alone by the nanny state.

As Ezra Levant wrote today in the Sun papers, the entire law is a corruption of justice. It creates a kangaroo court, run by non-judges, that doesn't follow the same rules and procedures of real courts, but has massive powers to punish and fine people who aren’t politically correct.

According to Levant, the worst part of the law is Section 13, the censorship provision. Section 13 creates a word crime: the crime of publishing or broadcasting anything that can cause hurt feelings. Levant has run afoul of it more than once. So has Mark Steyn, as mentioned here before.

Levant says, and Walt agrees, that Section 13 is an insane law. It is totally contrary to traditions of liberty that go back centuries, inherited from the United Kingdom and more recently the USA, where freedom speech is (supposedly) enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Last week, Canadian Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson rose in the House of Commons to answer a question about Section 13. The question was about a private member’s bill, introduced by Brian Storseth, a Member of Parliament from northern Alberta. His bill, C-304, would repeal Section 13. The effect would be to let people write and speak the truth, without having to answer to the PC police.

Unfortunately, in the Canadian parliamentary system, private members' bills have little chance of passing without the endorsement of the government. But Mr. Nicholson did endorse it. And he called on all MPs to support it.

So, Bill C-304, is now effectively a government bill. And with a Tory majority in both the House of Commons and the Senate, this bill is as good as enacted.

Canadians can look forward to the end of witch hunts by the Canadian and provincial Human Rights Commissions. The Forces of Good and Progress will no longer be able to persecute their political and religious enemies.

Repealing Section 13 would be the best thing the Harper government has done in five years. But C-304 could yet be derailed, if the lamestream media can rally "progressive public opinion" against it.

Walt encourages Canadians who value being able to speak truth to power to show their support for C-304. You can e-mail Brian Storseth and/or Rob Nicholson to let them know you're on the side of freedom. And wish them "Merry Christmas!" while you're at it!