Canada’s human rights police have rightly cleared columnist Mark Steyn of hate speech:
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled today that … the article, an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s book America Alone in which he describes the demographic and ideological dangers posed by a growing Muslim population in the West, was not likely to expose Muslims to hatred or contempt.
The Canadian Islamic Congress, which brought the complaint, has previously failed in two other jurisdictions: Ontario, which said it did not have jurisdiction over printed material, and federally, where the complaint was rejected as without merit.
But the damage is done. Which other commentator would want the stress, legal costs, distraction and calumny involved with being hauled through one forum after another over a couple of years to defend their good name?
One cure for this cancer, of course, is to make the Canadian Islamic Council pay the costs of its attempt to kill free speech – and pay so much that it learns that free speech is a lot, lot cheaper and healthier than expensive censorship.
Here’s THE VERDICT
The Steyn trial, along with other lesser known but equally troubling cases, are chronicled in the new book The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada crushes freedom in the name of human rights, written by Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere (www.TyrannyOfNice.com)
Authors Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere commented today on the verdict in the Steyn & Maclean’s case:
“Unfortunately, this decision is only a partial victory for Mark Steyn, Maclean’s magazine and every other writer and publisher in Canada.
