News From The Great White North

Tomorrow Bill C-304 Likely to be Reported Out of Committee

Bill C-304 is a private member's bill introduced by Alberta MP Brian Storseth (Conservative -- Westlake-St. Paul) to repeal Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act (Internet censorship).

The House Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights met yesterday and will hear one more witness tomorrow, Jean-Francois Page, committee clerk, told me and then will report, likely without amendment, this vital piece of freedom legislation back to Parliament where third and final reading is virtually assured.

Here is Brian Storseth's testimony yesterday to the Committee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA-zGm5Tq-0

·Was an “interested party” or intervener during the lengthy Sabina Citron & the Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations v. Ernst Zundel (1996-2002) case. Inter alia we argued that Sec. 13 – “telephonic”  communication – did not apply to the Internet. We led a number of witnesses to support our submissions.

·Was an “interested party” or intervener in the Mark Schnell v. John Micka Sec. 13 case. Again, we led an expert witness and argued that Sec. 13 did not apply to the Internet.

·Has been an active “interested party” or intervener in Richard Warman v. Marc Lemire. This was the only Sec. 13 case where the victim/respondent won. This decision by Member Athanasios Hadjis was the subject of a judicial review hearing in Federal Court, December 13, 2011. CAFÉ was represented by Gerald Langlois.

·As a complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act is considered civil litigation, most provinces do not provide legal aid for victims of a Sec. 13 complaint. I, acting on behalf of CAFÉ, acted as a representative for the respondent in a number of cases and have been able to see the unfair proceedings and the juggernaut that crushed Canadians, usually young and poor, for merely expressing themselves on controversial topics over the Internet.

·Richard Warman v. Jessica Beaumont

·Richard Warman v. Ciaran Donnelly

·Richard Warman v. Glen Bahr and Western Canada for Us.

·Richard Warman v. Terry Tremaine

·Richard Warman v. Melissa Guille and the Canadian Heritage Alliance

·Richard Warman v. Jason Ouwendyk and the Northern Alliance

·Centre for Research Action on Race Relations v BC White Pride & John Beck

Marc Lemire's brave and tireless battle essentially wrestled Sec. 13 to the ground. We still await the decision of the judicial review in Federal Court challenging the Hadjis ruling. However, Sec. 13 now appears dead should Bill C-304 pass as we're told it will.

Paul Fromm

Director

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION