Mohammed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, had a commentary published on June 25 in the Record on the Canadian Human Rights Commission's ruling in the Maclean's case.
Media attacks against Human Rights Commissions in this country have continued non-stop since the Canadian Islamic Congress's case against Maclean's magazine was made public earlier this year.
But where were all those defenders of free speech in 1998, when a representative of the Canadian Jewish community filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Commission against North Shore News columnist Doug Collins? ...Similarly, where were all those defenders of free speech when the Canadian magazine Catholic Insight recently faced a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging it made derogatory comments about homosexuals?
The B.C. decision in the Collins case might well be one reason why the CIC filed a complaint in that jurisdiction -- as well as in Ontario and with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Ontario said the case didn't come under its jurisdiction, although it did issue a statement criticizing the Maclean's article. The CHRC has declined to hear the case.
In his commentary, Elmasry doesn't differentiate between offensive speech and hate speech. Possibly he holds the view that the two are the same.
He does offer the following:
After the BC hearings, Brian Strader in the Vancouver Province wrote of Mark Steyn's article that "It's the closest thing to Nazi and anti-Jewish posters I have seen. Nazi propaganda was meant to show that Jews were a threat. The current analogy with an ‘Islamic threat' is truly chilling ... I think Muslims have a right to be nervous. Freedom of speech is not an absolute. It never was. The lessons of history are too conveniently forgotten for the sake of profit."
Islamophobes are perhaps hoping that the HRCs will declare to the effect that "Muslims need not apply." Or, if this is too embarrassing, they may campaign to have hate speech articles in the human rights code abolished. The so-called free speech lobby is already trying.
Quick question: Who's Brian Strader? This great thinker on the dangers of hate speech has a very limited profile on the Internet when it comes to ... well, anything.