Tag Archives: Free Speech

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Ezra Levant defends free speech on the Michael Coren show

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In Canada, the right not to be offended trumps freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression. If you offend someone, nothing can save you from the Human Rights Commissions. All that is needed is for a victim to feel offended. The complainant doesn’t have to pay anything to lay charges, but the defendant is on the hook for all of his own legal fees. The conviction rate is virtually 100%. Even if you could somehow win, you would still lose time and money while you defend yourself. Penalties can include fines, public apologies, bans on future speech, and even jail time! These are left-wing inquisitions created by left-wing governments who believe in controlling citizens through the force of government.

Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn are the two most prominent defenders of free speech in Canada.

Here is Ezra Levant’s most recent appearance on the Michael Coren show. (There is no clip 3) In this show, Levant gets to debate against two left-wing activists, and there are fireworks going off. Do not miss this debate!

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On the Michael Coren show in 2008, Ezra Levant explains the Human Rights Commissions. No debate in this one.

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And, as a special bonus, here is Mark Steyn’s appearance on the Michael Coren show.

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Here is a summary of Ezra’s struggle against the Human Rights Commissions. He has spent more than $100,000 defending himself from charges that he offended people. Here is a summary of what happened to Mark Steyn. He authored the extremely popular book “America Alone”. Steyn was just hauled in front of the Human Rights Commission in Ontario to answer for offending people with his writings.

To see how this affects Christians in particular, consider the case of Stephen Boissoin. You will not believe the sentence that he gets after 5 years of being tried. These anti-free speech laws are not applied equally, they are almost always applied against groups that are hated by the left. When left-wingers get into power, they are not shy about using the full force of government to go after people who did not vote for them. Your human rights are irrelevant to them.

UPDATE: Welcome visitors from the Anchoress! Thanks so much for the link! New readers may want to take a look around since I cover a lot of different topics here, from free speech to economics to science to public policy!

News

How the left censors free speech in Canada

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Denyse O’Leary, a Canadian journalist, gives a helpful round-up of the latest news in the war against free speech in Canada. Did you know that it’s dangerous to disagree with certain special interest groups in Canada? If you say something that they find offensive, it can land you in front of a kangaroo court. It’s sort of like the secular equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition, because you are almost certain to be found guilty. You can be forced to apologize or pay fines, or pay off your accuser. If you don’t know what’s happening with the Canadian Human Rights Commissions, Denyse’s post is a good place to start.

UPDATE: WOW, Denyse has the full transcript of Mark Steyn’s speech during his Human Rights Commission trial. She even transcribes Steyn’s answers to the questions afterwards. You do not want to miss this post!

UPDATE 2: Things are even worse that I thought. It turns out that you can’t even disagree with pro-abortion activists at taxpayer-funded campuses in Canada any more. If a campus organization books a speaker, the other side can just show up and shut it down by screaming and shouting like banshees every time the speaker tries to get a word in. Here is a video of what happened on the campus. Here is an article from the The Chronicle Herald describing the incident. A radio interview with the pro-life speaker on Calgary’s CHQR 770 radio station is here.

UPDATE 3:  The Calgary Herald takes a stand against the Human Rights Commissions here. The Chronicle Herald defends the free speech of pro-lifers here. And this article from the Calgary Herald is the best one of all, it includes a link to the video of the pro-life speaker, Jose Ruba, being shouted down while he tries in vain to politely reason with the enraged protesters.

UPDATE 4: A Toronto Sun article on Mark Steyn’s vicious denunciation of the Human Rights Commissions and their war against freedom of speech.

UPDATE 5: National Post is reporting that the University of Calgary is going to ban the pro-life club.

News

Domestic violence and censorship

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Here is a fascinating article from the Canadian journalist Barbara Kay in their national newspaper, the National Post.

The article describes how the Justice minister of a Canadian province was stripped of his Cabinet position for daring to suggest that men could be victims of domestic violence (DV) and not only women.  He did this in an internal e-mail – this was not even said in public.

Some special interest groups and their government allies have a vested interest in making sure that the public thinks that all DV is committed against women. There is a lot of taxpayer money at stake. If it were discovered that male victims of DV existed, that taxpayer money might have to be shared. Canada might then need a Minister for the Status of Men, an Office on Violence Against Men, a Violence Against Men Act, a National Council to Reduce Violence against Men and their Children, etc. I think that we should condemn DV against women and men, equally.

Here are the numbers from official government surveys in the UK and Canada:

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In the event, the CASI method found relatively high levels of male victimisation, to the extent that men appear to be at equal risk to women of domestic assault (4.2% of both sexes reported an assault in the last year).

Canada numbers:

An estimated 7% of women and 6% of men in a current or previous spousal relationship encountered spousal violence during the five years up to and including 2004, according to a comprehensive new report on family violence.

Here is a related research paper by Dr. Linda Kelly, a professor of Law at Indiana University School of Law.