The Year Of Living Jenny: What Recession?

Jennifer Lynch, QC, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Travel Expenses, 2009: $27, 629.60

Jennifer Lynch, QC, Spends 4 Days In Ireland, Blows 8 Large

The Ireland Trip:

Flight: $6,055.79

Accomodation: $1,561.85

Total after food and other transport: $8,336.64

Jennifer Lynch, QC. Cheap Date?

Paid for by the Canadian tax payer. Have fun, Jenny!

The Winnipeg Trip (2 days):

Flight: $1,398.22

Other Transportation: $120.00

Meals and incidentals: $87.40

Total: $1,768.60

The Toronto Trip (1 day):

Flight: $687.35

Other transporation: $242.00

Hotel: $202.27

Meals and incidentals: $61.60

Total: $1,193.22

Jennifer Lynch, QC: Canadians Still Bigots, But The Struggle Continues

Earth Times – “Canada’s approach to promoting and protecting human rights is a model for the world,” said Jennifer Lynch, Q.C. “Our open, inclusive and culturally diverse society is the foundation of our social, cultural and economic prosperity, yet much remains to be done. We must continue to push through the barriers of discrimination and show our unwavering commitment to equality, dignity and respect.”

Want To Whip Out Your Tits? Cool

Toronto Star – The sticker, featuring a drawing of a Madonna-like woman, is part of Toronto Public Health’s “Anytime. Anywhere” campaign. Since 2008, some 6,100 stickers have been sent to restaurants, libraries and malls to make nursing mothers feel more comfortable, and encourage establishments to train their staff on how best to deal with prudish patrons. The decals are also a reminder that breastfeeding in public is sanctioned by the Ontario Human Rights Commission…

Dean Of Business Gets A Lesson In What School’s All About

CTV – Mr. Bates’ opponents, which includes most of the faculty, accuse him of bullying, harassment and intimidation, and say he has disregarded established academic rules and treated students like “customers.”…

The feud came to head last week when the university’s Office of Human Rights and Equity Services released a report on its review of the allegations…

Problems within the business school, named after retired Canadian businessman Michael DeGroote, aren’t new. The report said there had been a 20-year history of discord at the school, with deans being pitted against faculty members. Every dean ever except Mr. Bates served only one term and left in part because of the infighting, the report said.

When Human Rights Collide #16

Toronto Star – The posters, featured on the exterior of buses and streetcars, pose 24 questions, including “What is hell?” and “God, is 2012 the end?” Each question is followed by the address of a website where the topic at hand is discussed.

The one that’s drawing ire is “Does God care if I’m gay?” The photo of a tattooed young man directs transit riders to the page http://www.answerme.com/doesgodcare. The long answer to the question reads, in part, “We know from passages throughout Scripture that God hates homosexual acts BUT no more than any other sinful act.”

By Wednesday night, the answer on that site had been removed.

Bummer

Heather MacLean, St. Mary’s University, The Journal – Love Your Labia, And Other Parting Words…Over the year, I have tried to show that feminism is not only relevant, but vital…It was a busy year: Fem Fest, an international conference on reproductive justice, The Vagina Monologues, and Capoeira, to name a few projects…I want to talk a bit about vaginas…

This is my final column…

“Privilege” Doesn’t Come To Mind, But We Get Your Drift

Camrose Canadian – As Canadians, we take great pride in touting the notion that we live in a free country, where freedom of speech and expression are guaranteed as a fundamental right entrenched in our society. But are we as a people truly committed to upholding this principle in all cases, or would it be more accurately described as a privilege?

Stunning Human Rights Testimony: Warm Beer Served In Bar

Covenant Zone – Sam Ismail asked Samantha to comment on how, during the evening in question, the bar ran out of cold Corona and she had to get another case, which she said was somewhat unusual. Samantha told the Pardy table they would have to drink warm Coronas. The point of all this was not made clear.

Career In The Toilet? Try Human Rights

Salon – The once and eternal Mr. Sulu, for years relegated to the status of trivia answer, has in recent years attained a level of effortless cool that could annihilate an entire barful of Williamsburg hipsters…

Since officially coming out of the closet five years ago, Takei became a deeply adored advocate of and spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, showing up on more Pride Parade floats than the leather flag.

It’s Never About “Rights.” Just Land And Money, Baby

Victoria Times Colonist – Amnesty International has thrown its support behind a Vancouver Island First Nations treaty group in a land-rights battle that has gone international…

The treaty group represents more than 6,600 people from the Chemainus First Nation, Cowichan Tribes, Halalt First Nation, Lake Cowichan First Nation, Lyackson First Nation and Penelakut Tribe. The complaint centres on the claim that traditional Hul’qumi’num territory, making up the entire southeast corner of Vancouver Island, was illegally seized in 1884 for the E&N land grant.

A Whiner’s Two-Fer: Environmental Racism

CB Online – A commission that investigates human rights abuses in the Americas has taken up its first case of alleged environmental racism in the United States by agreeing to look into the complaints of black residents of a southwestern Louisiana community surrounded by refineries and chemical plants.

Better Late Than Never: MPs Look At Human Rights Commission Abuses

Montreal Gazette – Senator Doug Finley led a call Tuesday to scrap a section of Canada’s Human Rights Act that he and other Conservative senators say is being used to stifle free speech in Canada…

“Despite our 400-year tradition of free speech, the tyrannical instinct to censor still exists,” Finley said. “We saw it on a university campus last week. And we see it every week in Canada’s misleadingly named human rights commissions.”