Epic Fail: Paper Tries To Stand Up For Free Speech, Ends Up On Its Knees

Bold ours.

Chilliwack Times, Open Letter to Readers – There has been much discussion lately about “free speech” in Canada. I use parentheses [sic] to denote a term that causes many individuals to have a gag reflex as they consider the term to be a uniquely American concept that has no relevancy with our sense of Canadian values. Call it “freedom of expression” or what have you, but I do have concerns about our willingness to acquiesce to seemingly arbitrary standards of conduct and speech imposed by quasi-judicial bodies. Their willingness to take away your right to expression should concern all of us.

Brave Journalists Settle In Toronto, Bring Light To The Darkness

Digital Journal – A voice in the darkness bringing light to the world. That is often the role of a journalist. In areas where that voice is often silenced others must work to spread awareness on rights issues. Journalists for Human Rights, based in Toronto does that.

BBC Caves To Bigotry Charge

[Guardian, Peter Salmon, BBC Chief Creative Officer] A snail could crawl the entire length of the Great Wall of China in just slightly more time than the 200 years it will take for women to be equally represented in parliament. That was just one of a series of striking statistics from the Equality and Human Rights Commission in their Sex and Power report published last week.

It added that women hold just 11% of FTSE directorships, with the judiciary and others also strongly criticised. At the BBC, the figures are a bit better – almost 38% of all senior managers are women – but it does bring into sharp focus the challenge the whole media industry is facing to improve diversity among its workforce.

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We seem to be moving in the right direction, increasing opportunities for people from ethnic minority backgrounds at most levels.

We will transfer large numbers of staff from London but we will also recruit many new faces – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to add something substantially new to our gene pool of talent, to change the BBC’s DNA a little.

Slate: What’s The Matter With Canada/Heaven?

Buttheads at Slate aren’t known for objective journalism, but this article made us laugh. We especially like the notion of “free” health care, whatever that is. Enjoy.

[Slate] Last Sunday, news came that Canada—sensible, quiet, some would even say boring Canada—will hold an election on Oct. 14, its third in four years. Those outside the country may wonder what the problem is; in Canada, after all, health care is free, the dollar is strong, same-sex marriage is legal, and the government had the good sense to stay out of Iraq.

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Just scan the headlines. In June, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that Canada—for years the only G8 country to post regular budget surpluses—was likely to fall into deficit this year, thanks to a reckless cut to the national sales tax. In February, the government proposed denying funding to films and TV shows whose content it deemed “not in the public interest,” sparking cries of censorship from a sector that has historically received public support. In 2007, a member of the governing Conservative Party proposed a bill that would reopen the debate over abortion, a topic that governments both liberal and conservative have avoided for decades.

Nope. No Media Bias Around Here

No booze? Count us out.

Ottawa Start:

Book Launch: Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror

by Kerry Pither

Wednesday, AUGUST 27 @ 7:00 PM

Alcohol-free Reception and Signing @ 6:00 PM

Library and Archives Auditorium, 395 Wellington Street

This is a free event

Join host Ken Rockburn and outspoken human rights advocate Kerry Pither for a roundtable on Canadian national security investigations, featuring Shirley Heafey, former two-term Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP and former Head of Investigations of the Security and Intelligence Review Committee; Sheema Khan, Globe and Mail columnist and former Chair of the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations; Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada; and Jeff Sallot, Professor of Journalism at Carleton University and former Globe and Mail Senior Political Correspondent.

Whatever Happened To “Join The Navy, Learn To Weld”?

[Harper Index] Another example of the same kind of framing shows up in the current recruiting ads with the slogan “Fight with the Canadian Forces.” In the past, recruitment ads for the Forces have featured the virtues of peacekeeping and learning a trade. Today’s ads show young soldiers in battle fighting “chaos and despair.” It is likely that new recruits have been only one audience for the ads, which ran frequently during the Stanley Cup playoffs when airtime is most expensive.

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The troops are troops because their role is to support their government’s foreign policy. It is not the public’s job to support the troops since there is really — beyond hanging yellow ribbons and affixing stickers to their cars — nothing the public can do in a war thousands of kilometres away.

The rest.

Ferguson: Smearing Morgentaler Bad. Smearing Religious People OK

[The Province] But I am disappointed with the outrage Morgentaler’s award has stirred up across the country, in particular from the princes of the church.

Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins was the first to lead his flock into a feeding frenzy when he pronounced the doctor’s award as a “dishonourable act” that “must be revoked.”

Frothed the bishop: “Canada’s highest honour has been debased. We are all diminished.”

Hold on a bit, bish. It’s been 20 years since our Supreme Court struck down the criminal code’s anti-abortion provisions because they violated a woman’s constitutional right to security of person.

The rest.

CHRC Punts, Press Buys It

A little more free because the CHRC dismissed the case, huh? They chose to dismiss it, airheads, after the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal got the ball rolling on their own hearing.

We’re a little more free today

In the other decision, the Canadian Human Rights Commission dismissed a complaint by the Canadian Islamic Congress against Macleans magazine over an October 2006 column by Mark Steyn called “The Future Belongs to Islam,” in which the author argued Islam “has serious global ambitions.” The Islamic Congress argued Steyn’s column was likely to expose Muslims to hatred or contempt.

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Canadians’ rights and freedoms — as they are practised in the press — were strengthened last week.

The rest.

Jonas: Never Thought I’d See The Day

[Ottawa Citizen] The state continues to be on the rampage, not only in tyrannies where it’s on the rampage by definition, but also in “free” countries like Canada or present-day Germany. When I stepped ashore in New Brunswick 52 years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that one day I’d have to put the word “free” in quotation marks with reference to Canada.

The rest.

Rousing Editorial Celebrates Canada Day

Some excerpts from a real winner:

[Calgary Sun, Jose Rodriguez] As Canadians, we don’t need a ticker tape parade to affirm our patriotism — which comes in the quiet confidence of tolerance.

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We have our own language with uniquely Canadian words like pogey, poutine and toonie.

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But in the end, destiny and a referendum always keep us together.

Three cheers for welfare cheques, cheese gravy, and referendums.

Columnist Harrassed At Ottawa Airport For Discussing Terrorism

[Christie Blatchford, Globe and Mail] About 10 minutes later, a fellow passenger warned me that she thought the clerk had called security. I couldn’t believe it, and kept reading, and sure enough, within a few minutes, a young woman with a walkie-talkie in her hands (I guess so if I suddenly turned into a human missile she could call for help) asked to speak to me. She’d had a report about “an incident,” she said. So I told her through gritted teeth what had happened, she magnanimously agreed it was “not illegal” to say what I’d said, apologized and went on her way.

When we boarded a little later, I asked for the ninny’s name. He refused and hissed, “If you make a scene, I’ll call the pilot and you won’t be flying tonight.”

The rest.

Toon Therapy: Editorial Cartoonists Get Together To Tell Of Threats

[Editor and Publisher] Panelist Bruce MacKinnon of The Chronicle Herald in Nova Scotia, Canada, described receiving lots of flak for a 2008 cartoon showing the wife of a man suspected of terrorism. The cartoon’s burka-clad woman (she’s a devout Muslim in real life) was pictured holding a sign that read “I want millions!” as she said “I can put it towards my husband’s next training camp.”

MacKinnon, who has a history of promoting tolerance and minority rights in his cartoons, was hit with a “hate propaganda” criminal complaint (since dropped) and a human-rights complaint (still pending) from an Islamic group in Halifax.

The rest.

Note: MacKinnon, the Canadian, is the only cartoonist with a story involving a government body investigating him.

Reporter Dies, Country Struggles To Carry On

[CBS host Harry Smith to Bob Schieffer] “Bob, are there any words to describe what we’ve lost?”

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[Harry Smith, in a later tribute] “Tim Russert was the sentry at our gates of democracy.”

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[Newsday] “This is a loss for the entire nation,” said Steve Capus, NBC News president.

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[MLB.com, Commissioner Bud Selig] He was one of the great journalists of our generation and a great fan of baseball. His untimely passing leaves a great void for our nation and Major League Baseball.

Vancouver Sun: Please Don’t Complain About Us Next, We Hate Incendiary Sarcasm, Too

By pursuing this blatant assault on free speech in such an inappropriate forum, the congress drew far more attention to Steyn’s two-year-old article than it deserved or would have received.

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From the start, the tribunal should have agreed that Steyn’s Oct. 26, 2006 piece was insulting and wrong-headed. It might even have said it’s regrettable that Maclean’s gave space to this kind of incendiary sarcasm.

The rest.

Michael Coren To Human Rights Commissions: Let’s Party

[Edmonton Sun] I know that some people have complained about me to certain commissions, but I also know that the commissions in question have rejected the complaints. Yet as the B.C. Human Rights bunch takes on Maclean’s magazine I am ignored. Why? It can only be because I am a Roman Catholic, half-Jewish, heterosexual, bald Conservative immigrant. It’s offensive, unfair and horribly un-Canadian.

For years now these kangaroo courts — fear not, Australian marsupials are not yet protected under our hate crimes legislation so I’m okay — have gone after relatively anonymous teachers, tradesmen and church ministers who have few resources and limited connections. Come on guys, you’re missing an opportunity here.

The rest.

Calgary Herald: End The Human Rights Commission Farce

[Calgary Herald] All of which leads to this simple question. If the section of the Canadian Human Rights Act that enables all this anti-democratic nonsense is such a dog, why doesn’t the liberty loving Conservative government do something about it? Introduce a bill that simply removes Section 13, end of story.

There’s lots of support. It’s an open secret this comes up every week in caucus, (so the part of the Tory base that thinks their people aren’t trying needs to know that and give them due credit.) The more the story gets out about people like Steyn, or Calgary’s Ezra Levant, or Bishop Fred Henry getting hounded for a pastoral letter to his congregation, the more the general public will be on side.

The rest.

Toronto Star: Freedom Of The Press So Interesting, We Think It Deserves 138 Words

[CP in Toronto Star] The lawyer for an Islamic man says an article published in Maclean’s magazine was hateful and contemptful of Muslims.

Faisal Joseph told a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal panel that the article by Mark Steyn failed to show the vulnerability of the group it focused on – Muslims – failed to show alternative points of view and presented its argument as fact.

Joseph was making his closing submission to the panel.

The rest (only 69 more words to go).

Columnist: Cluster Bombs Mean Americans Are “Terrorists,” Too

[Brandon Sack] But for the U.S. and Israel to continuously rant about the depravity of “terrorists” while simultaneously reserving the right to use weapons which they know maim and kill almost exclusively civilians and children, brings a whole new depth to the word “hypocrisy.”

Sadly, we have now lost all moral credibility in the eyes of the world community. We do not have the right to label any person, organization or state a “terrorist” until we actually walk the walk and start holding ourselves up to the same standards we so disingenuously demand of the rest of the world.

The rest.

Canadian Mainstream Media Fires Dud

Headline, Canwest, June 2nd:

Human rights panel hears claim Maclean’s article denigrated Muslims

Now we know how Canwest is going to play it for the rest of the week.

From The Canadian Press, headline:

Canadian Islamic leaders argue “anti-Muslim” article in Maclean’s fostered hatred

Looks like the CP is following the same line.

Paper: Let’s Face It Canada, We Suck

[Sudbury Star] It is tempting to dismiss criticism of Canada’s human rights record by Amnesty International in the group’s annual report, given more pressing problems elsewhere, but we must not be so complacent.

Simply saying we’re not in the same league as those notorious regimes – Myanmar and Zimbabwe, for example – is not the way to ensure human rights are preserved, and not lost incrementally.

The rest.

Careful. Quoting Is No Defence

[Nigel Hannaford] Now, if I — as an unreconstructed white guy, and a Christian to boot — made these assertions based on no more than my own observations, I would probably be up to my knees in paperwork from somebody’s human rights commission. Pointing out the lack of human rights in Islamic states, you see, is the kind of seditious talk that human rights commissions in Canada hate.

However, I’m actually just quoting the gist of what Tarek Fatah says in his new book, Chasing a Mirage: the Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State.

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[Tizona] In December 2007, the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) filed Human Rights Commission complaints against Steyn and the magazine in three different jurisdictions, charging them with “exposing Muslims to hatred and contempt” for, among other things, accurately quoting a Norwegian imam who boasted that Muslims were breeding “like mosquitoes.”

CRTC To Regulate Internet

Huh. Another Canadian bureaucracy wants to tell you how to live your life. Surprise, surprise. But hey, you pay their salaries, so they must be doing a good job. Write them a thank you note while you’re at it.

The CRTC will immediately look into issues pertaining to the TV and radio content Canadians receive through their computers or mobile devices.

It will also address the issue of “Net neutrality” — the idea that all content on the Internet should be equal regardless of the topic — by reviewing the controversial practice called “traffic shaping,” in which some Internet providers slow the connection speeds of certain customers.

The decision to become involved in Canadian Internet regulation runs counter to a CRTC decision in 1999, when the commission decided it would not impose rules on Canadian Internet businesses.

With the increasing popularity of online broadcasters such as Joost, Hulu and even YouTube, the CRTC has grown concerned that traditional broadcasting regulations outlining required levels of Canadian content are threatened.

The rest.

No problem as far as DWE is concerned. We’ve got Canadian content galore.

Entering The Mainstream

As the debate over human rights commissions and free speech became a media gong show this week, it was easy to forget that just two months ago, it was on the fringes of Canadian political discourse, focused on the travails of a little-known white supremacist.

The rest.

What’s With This “Our” Stuff?

You’re in Canada, pal. Get in line.

St. Kits Standard:

Our journalists are generally free to catalogue the actions of our various levels of government, our police and military services – our society in general – without fear of arrest or murder.

But acknowledging the challenges and hardships around the globe gives us all the more reason to appreciate what it means to have a free press.

The rest.

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[OHRC website} 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.

They’re My Toys And You Can’t Play

The internet’s influence has drastically changed the media landscape, often to the detriment of print newspapers. Is new media edging out accountability and standards with ill-informed opinion and user-generated rants? Or is it the evolution of journalism, breaking down barriers which previously restricted the flow of information and narrowed the range of debate?

Our panel of experts debate the implications of new media on journalism and what it means for press freedom in the digital age.

Speakers include:

Andrew Keen – Author of the critically acclaimed book The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture. A Silicon Valley veteran, prominent media commentator and regular contributor to numerous publications including the Guardian.

The rest.