Posted on 06/08/2008 12:05:11 PM PDT by moneyrunner
Steyn: ...while in Canada Lori Andreachuk, Alberta "human rights" commissar, sentences an evangelical pastor to a lifetime speech ban. He is never to utter anything "disparaging" about homosexuals ever again for as long as he lives. Note that legal concept: not "illegal", not "hateful", but "disparaging".
From Ezra Levant, another victim of the "speech crimes" commissars in Canada:
What could Mark Steyn's punishment look like, if he's convicted by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal?
It could look like this order, issued just last week by Alberta's human rights commission, against a Christian pastor named Rev. Stephen Boission. (The substantive ruling against Rev. Boissoin can be found here. See paragraph 357 where the right not to be offended "trumps the freedom of speech afforded in the Charter." And see a thoughtful response by the former executive director of the gay rights lobby, EGALE, here.)
The kangaroo court judge in this case is a Tory patronage appointee, a divorce lawyer from Lethbridge named Lori Andreachuk, (pictured at left). That's her expertise: divorce law. Not constitutional law; not freedom of speech or freedom of religion. And it shows.
Last November, she convicted Boissoin. Last week she ordered her "remedy".
It is the most revolting order I have ever seen in Canada. Ever.
(read the rest)
(Excerpt) Read more at moneyrunner.blogspot.com ...
In this case, there is no specific individual who can be compensated as there is no direct victim who has come forward...
That's insane already. No-one was hurt. The complainant was an officious intermeddler, a busybody, the town scold, an anti-Christian activist named Darren Lund who had an axe to grind, and Andreachuk gave it to him.
Dr. Lund, although not a direct victim, did expend considerable time and energy and suffered ridicule and harassment as a result of his complaint. The Panel finds therefore that he is entitled to some compensation.
So a busybody with no standing spends time filing complaints -- and gets a tax-free reward for doing so. Oh -- and for his "suffering". Not suffering at the hands of Rev. Boission, but "as a result of his complaint". People in the community ridiculed Lund for filing the complaint -- as they should. And so Andreachuk will get the pastor to pay for that. Why the hell not?
So free speech is dead in Canada based on laws they took from Britian. And they are supposed to be enlightened compared to the US?
How long before the next ruthless dictator takes these countries over and starts killing people?
Coming soon to the Good ole US of A, if Obamasiah gets in.
It won't be as drastic as that. People's natural rights will be steadily taken away. Unless the rest of the population starts reacting, the rest of their rights will be taken away. I'm worried more about these, and ours, countries, being so weakened that they're easy targets from outside rather than homegrown petty tyrants like this judge developing into Hitlers. But I have to admit that the trend is depressing.
You’re right, the first sign of weakness will result in destabilizing attacks which will accelerate the problem.
He needs to sue himself then, doesn't he?
What, exactly, are these Human Rights commissars accomplishing, besides taking away freedom of speech? If it’s tried here, I’ll fight it.
In deference to Godwin’s Law, I won’t call them Nazis.
What a bunch of Stalinistas!
What’s really scary is that they actually do re-educate.
What’s next? Mandatory incarcertation in mental hospitals, or banishment to the Arctic?
Of course you know it’s already here. A New Mexico photographer was fined $6,000 for not photographing a lesbian commitment ceremony by a New Mexico Human Rights Commission.
Socialism on the rise bookmark. See the tag line. It never changes.
Lori Andreachuk
Every event I have read about, they have taken away someone's human rights.
Lori Andreachuk
a divorce lawyer from Lethbridge named Lori Andreachuk
Lori is responsible for recommending to the Government of Alberta and seeing to the implementation of various programs including the Maintenance Enforcement Program, and the legalization of Midwifery.
The human rights panellist in question — Lori Andreachuk, a former Tory riding association president — wholeheartedly embraces this expansion of the definiton of “human rights.” “It is, in my view, nonsensical to enact … human rights legislation, to protect the dignity and human rights of Albertans, only to have it overridden by the expression of opinion in all forms,” she wrote. Though no harm was proved to have come from the pastor’s letter, it “was likely to expose gay persons to more hatred in the community” — precisely the same language used by the CIC in their complaint against Maclean’s.
In a ruling that spanned some 80 pages, Andreachuk spared just two paragraphs to explain why she was overruling the Charter’s guarantee of freedom of speech. In real courts, a demanding legal hurdle called the Oakes Test must be passed before that can be done. The reason for infringing a Charter right must be “pressing and substantial,” the infringement couldn’t be “arbitrary or irrational” and it must be as “minimal” as possible. None of that analysis was even attempted by Andreachuk — that’s boring legal stuff for real judges in real courts. The Oakes Test was named after David Oakes, a man charged with trafficking of hash oil, who beat the rap using the Charter. Accused drug dealers get the benefit of the Constitution, but not accused pastors.
Christian coalition fined $5,000 for anti-gay letter
Panel chair Lori G. Andreachuk handed down the fine on May 30 and ordered the Concerned Christian Coalition to stop publishing disparaging remarks about homosexuals and to remove such comments from its current websites and publications. She also ordered the group to give Lund a written apology.
Good for Canada! I love how quickly and to what extent they show us how stupid laws on hate speech will be abused.
I think it’s funny.
On internet message boards , I often come across many haugty Euros and Canadians who claim America is no longer free. This is simply hilarious to me!!!!
About the headline: If you burned this one you might need a permit for a long term burning project. The resultant CO2 might be enough to noticably alter the climate.
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