From Charles Hughes re Canada's "Kangaroo Court"

     Now is the time for all Christians to rise up and protest the Human rights Commissions acting like kangaroo court. The HRC's action against Catholic Insight is another in a series of frightening moves against one's right to peacefully speak the truth. Eventually, the tax exempt status of Catholic Institutions may be revoked. Then the Catholic Catechism and the Bible could be proscribed.

       Catholic laity must petition our bishops to make a united stand. Better yet, Evangelicals and responsible Muslims, Jews and others of traditional religious faith should join them to circulate a petition against this imposed tyranny. Because the battle being waged is against all traditional religions, I believe some of our strongest allies can be among those of other traditions.

       When the Dali Lama called upon Western support for democracy in Tibet, he was in my view also calling us to awaken to the agenda of the New World Order whose tentacles reach out even from China. Real democracy censors demagoguery that seeks to stifle the historical rights of cultural and religious traditions.…

       In theory, even the members of the HRC believe in democracy. The issue we have with them is acting as proxies for a Corporate controlled order.

       The first thing the Canadian Bishops need to do is repeal the Winnipeg Statement that legitimizes contraception, contrary to Magisterial teaching. By having compromised authoritative Catholic truth, they have undermined their authority to proclaim contingent truth. Yet, through it is unlikely all the Bishops will concur, perhaps most of them could join other religious leaders and their followers in issuing a statement based on natural moral law decrying that dictatorship of relativism imposed upon us by our neo-pagan style Supreme Court.

Calgary, AB

From Bill Murphy re HRC

     I have been following the Canadian Human Rights Commissions for some time. It is amazing that many of their decisions have been tolerated in a society that claims the right to free speech. The arrogance of these Commissions has led them to the brink of their own destruction. Currently, there are HRC hearings against 1) a magazine publisher (Ezra Levant of Western Standard magazine), 2) Maclean's Magazine, 3) Father Alphonse De Valk (editor of Catholic Insight), 4) Mark Steyn (columnist and author) and Ron Gray (Leader of the Christian Heritage Party).

       On January 31, Liberal MP Keith Martin introduced a private member's motion (M-446) to delete subsection 13(1) of the Human Rights Act, which invests the Human Rights Commissions with some of its most objectionable powers. Many Canadians welcome this opportunity for Parliament to re-examine the role of the HRC.

       The commissions have censored and bullied a multitude of small businesses and private citizens. But these new defendants are not defenceless. They are quite capable and determined to mount a vigorous and public defence for the right to free speech and the right to a free press. At last, the light of public scrutiny will be on the commissions themselves.

       So you can imagine my surprise to hear the CBC news reports on radio and in print. "Liberal MP lauded by white supremacists" say the headlines. Oh, really?

       Alan Borovoy was involved in getting the original commissions established. When asked about the HRC, he commented in the Calgary Herald "we never imagined that they might ultimately be used against freedom of speech."

       The issue is not about white supremacy. It is blatant distortion by the CBC to pretend it is.

       Rather than engaging the story on its real and substantial merits, our national broadcaster dismisses the issues by choosing to quote obscure white supremacist bloggers who support M-446. According to the CBC, neo-nazis and Christian conservatives also support it. Oh dear, this is serious!

       This reporting is an embarrassment to journalism in general and Canadian taxpayers in particular. The CBC tried to discredit Mr. Martin and it has discredited itself instead. Canadians deserve better from our public broadcaster.

       Once Parliament examines the role of the Human Rights Commissions, perhaps they should turn their attention to the role and necessity of a state-owned, state-run media in a free country.

Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Jonathan Baker re HRC

     I just read about the recent complaint against Catholic Insight on Zenit, Rome's international Catholic news agency (Feb. 6, 2008). I wanted to write to you to encourage you to stick to your guns. The truth is the truth and it must be proclaimed whether people like it or not. We absolutely cannot compromise when it comes to good and evil, sin or virtue. And you know what?

       In the end we would gain nothing from the compromise even from a human point of view (it goes without saying that we would lose a great deal from the Divine point of view).  Activists such as Rob Wells want either to destroy the Catholic Church outright or cause it to so compromise its integrity that it becomes unrecognizable as itself. Either way the Church is defeated. They will never stop until it is so. It is better that we take a stand and lose our money, our freedom, or even our lives, than to compromise and lose our souls. In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

St. Bruno, Quebec

From Stephen J. Gray re the instigators of the HRC

     “What a strange place Canada is in 2008,… where fundamentalist Muslims use hate-speech laws drafted by secular Jews,…” (Ezra Levant, Globe and Mail, January 21, 2008).

            We were the instigators of HRCs that are the cause of the attacks on freedom of speech and freedom of expression in Canada? According to Ezra Levant who has been dragged before the HRCs it was “illiberal elements.” And he went on to say this: ‘…I blame the Jews. A generation ago, illiberal elements in the “official” Jewish community pressed Canadian government to introduce laws limiting free speech.’ (Globe and Mail, January 21, 2008)

     Mr. Levant went on to say that the people taking him to the HRCs were, “…using the very precedents set by the Canadian Jewish Congress.”

     Which makes one wonder, why would a powerful organization like “the Canadian Jewish Congress” not realize that the very “laws” that they “pressed Canadian governments to introduce” could also be used against Jewish people. After all, what’s sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander, as the saying goes…

     But, not only Jewish people are being dragged before the HRCs. Before they came for the Jews, the HRCs came for Chris Kempling, Scott Brockie, Knights of Columbus, Stephen Boissoin, Bishop Henry and others. Now Catholic Insight magazine, the Christian Heritage Party and MacLean’s magazine are under the guns of the HRCs. Nobody is safe from these appointed interrogators of totalitarian bent. So what can be done to return freedom of speech and freedom of expression to Canadians?

     I believe the HRCs must be abolished. Governments appointed them, therefore, governments can disband them. I would also make the suggestion that perhaps “the Canadian Jewish Congress,” who “pressed Canadian governments to introduce laws limiting free speech” now press Canadian governments to disband the HRCs.

Vancouver, B.C.