Canadian Association Of Journalists Crashes Party

The Canadian Association of Journalists has formally applied for standing as an intervenor at the upcoming British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal hearings on a complaint of religious and racial discrimination against Maclean’s magazine.

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Minister That Drafted Human Rights Code: Rein It In

This writer’s first-hand experience as Deputy Minister of Labour, drafting the first Human Rights Code for B.C. in 1974, fully supports the view from Mr. Levant’s testimony: “The commission was meant as a low-level, quasi-judicial body to arbitrate squabbles about housing, employment and other matters, where a complainant felt that their race or sex was the reason they were discriminated against. The commission was meant to deal with deeds, not words or ideas.”

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Just Accept It And Give Us The Money

[ABC, Australia] “Women will pursue termination regardless of the law. All the law does is determine whether the high cost, whether they will pay a high cost or a low cost for doing that,” she said.

“So we need to just acknowledge that terminations happen and we need to ensure that for the majority of reproductive people, they’re able to make that decision for themselves.”

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Apology Sucks, Where’s The Cash?

“The residential schools apology sounds pretty similar: on paper, yeah, great news that the government is apologizing and acknowledging something horrible and disgusting. But when you actually look at the numbers, the apology is pretty … hollow. For example, Harper compensated head tax survivors or widows with $20,000 between 400 people. The children of head tax survivors were not eligible for payments, and since head tax ended in 1923 you can imagine that few of the people who actually paid head tax are still alive, though their children (and grandchildren) who were deeply affected by it are. They don’t get anything though.”

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The Second Legal System Does The Trick

Canadian criminal court doesn’t provide the answer you want? No problem. Here comes the commission to give you justice (read, cash).

Question: how long do you think it is before prosecutors say, “We’re overworked, and there’s not much evidence on this case. Send them to the human rights commission.”

A Canadian human rights tribunal in Quebec has ordered a father and son to pay $15,000 in damages to a Montreal-area gay couple they admitted harassing.

…

The youth was arrested but never charged, as prosecutors suggested an apology would suffice, along with psychiatric counseling.

An apology was made, but the gay couple went to the tribunal seeking $37,000 in damages with claims the apology was only a ruse to avoid prosecution, the report said.

The judge awarded the couple $5,000 each in moral damages and $2,500 each in punitive damages, the report said.

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Didn’t You Know It Was Just Business?

[CTV] “I’m surprised he’s upset [about my memoir],” said Blair, a human rights lawyer. “His job wasn’t to look out for me or the family, his job was to ensure the government’s business was put over.”

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Native Leaders Knew A Can Of Worms When They Saw It

[Canadian Press] The government originally wanted the legislation to take effect in six months.

Native leaders from across Canada said the bill in its original form gave cash-strapped First Nations too little time to prepare for potentially costly complaints.

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When Human Rights Collide

More from the Abortion/Free Speech file, and another example of why we’re called DWE. The human rights answer to everything? “Ban them all.”

In response to a series of controversies over abortion debates on Canadian campuses, the student government of York University in Toronto has tabled an outright ban on student clubs that are opposed to abortion.

Gilary Massa, vice-president external of the York Federation of Students, said student clubs will be free to discuss abortion in student space, as long as they do it “within a pro-choice realm,” and that all clubs will be investigated to ensure compliance.

“You have to recognize that a woman has a choice over her own body,” Ms. Massa said. “We think that these pro-life, these anti-choice groups, they’re sexist in nature … The way that they speak about women who decide to have abortions is demoralizing. They call them murderers, all of them do … Is this an issue of free speech? No, this is an issue of women’s rights.“

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Human Rights A Good Career Move

[Edmonton Journal] “I am absolutely thrilled and deeply honoured to be awarded this fellowship. It is something I have dreamed about as a journalist for years,” said Thomson, who was awarded the Kahanoff Journalism Fellowship at a gala event Wednesday night.

Thomson, a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s English co-op program, has worked in radio, television and print as a reporter, producer and political writer. His career has taken him across Canada as well as to Mexico, Russia and, most recently, Afghanistan. He appears as a regular commentator on television and radio. He has won a National Newspaper Award and a B’nai Brith Award for human rights reporting.

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NY Governor Recognizes Gay Marriage As Human Right

Governor David Paterson’s legal counsel has written to state agencies informing them that after a court ruling, failure to recognise gay marriages violates the state’s human rights law.

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