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As revealed here a few weeks ago, the investigative unit of the Ontario "Human Rights" Commission recommended to the Commissioners that they not proceed against Maclean's for having the temerity to publish an excerpt from my book. The Commissioners have now released their final ruling and have decided not to hear the case. Of course, being apparatchiks of the pseudo-"human rights" establishment, they couldn't leave it at that. So they added the following:
While freedom of expression must be recognized as a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, the Commission strongly condemns the Islamophobic portrayal of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and indeed any racialized community in the media, such as the Maclean’s article and others like them, as being inconsistent with the values enshrined in our human rights codes. Media has a responsibility to engage in fair and unbiased journalism.
So in effect the Ontario "Human Rights" Commission, the world leaders in labiaplasty jurisprudence, have decided that, even though they don't have the guts to hear the case, they might as well find us guilty. Ingenious! After all, if the federal Human Rights Commission hadn't been so foolish enough to drag Marc Lemire to trial, their bizarre habits of posting their own hate messages using telecommunications fraud and identity theft would never have come to light. If they'd simply skipped the trial and declared Mr Lemire guilty anyway, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in.
So, having concluded they couldn't withstand the heat of a trial, the OHRC cut to the chase and gave us a drive-thru conviction. Who says Canada's "human rights" racket is incapable of reform? As kangaroo courts go, the Ontario branch is showing a bit more bounce than the Ottawa lads.
I'd be interested to know whether the Justice Minister of Ontario thinks this is appropriate behaviour. At one level, Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall appears to have deprived Maclean's and me of the constitutional right to the presumption of innocence and the right to face our accusers. But, at another, it seems clear the OHRC enforcers didn't fancy their chances in open court. So, after a botched operation, they've performed a cosmetic labiaplasty and hustled us out.
More here and here. And I'll have something to say about this in my speech in New York tomorrow, and in Toronto next month.
Oh, and in the full statement they say:
The Commission intends to further consider these issues in the coming months as it embarks on its new mandate.
"A new mandate", eh? That sounds reassuring, doesn't it?
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