Complaint against Steyn piece thrown out in BC
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has thrown out a complaint alleging that a Mark Steyn piece in Maclean’s exposed Muslims to hatred and contempt, on the basis of their religion, in breach of s. 7(1)(b) of the Human Rights Code…
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has thrown out a complaint
alleging that a Mark Steyn piece published by Maclean’s in 2006 exposes
Muslims in the province to hatred and contempt, on the basis of their
religion, in breach of s. 7(1)(b) of the Human Rights Code.
The
complaint was filed against Maclean’s publisher Rogers and Ken MacQueen
by Mohamed Elmasry, President of the Canadian Islamic Congress (who
rather astonishingly claimed to speak “on behalf of all Muslim
residents of British Columbia”) and Naiyer Habib, a cardiologist in the
province. The pair complained about Steyn’s infamous “The New World Order,” an excerpt from his book America Alone.
Here’s how a panel decision summarized Steyn’s point of view: “that
Muslims, adherents of the religion of Islam, have serious global
ambitions for world religious domination, which they will be assisted
in achieving by demographically outnumbering the populations in
traditional Western cultures and, if necessary, by the use of
violence.”
The panel”concluded that the complaints are not
justified because the complainants have not established that the
Article is likely to expose them to hatred or contempt on the basis of
their religion. Therefore, pursuant to s. 37(1) the complaints are
dismissed.”
(It seems ironic that the decision includes Steyn’s entire article in its appendix, in effect republishing it.)
A Vancouver Sun story
noted, “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.”
UPDATE: The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) has since released a statement calling for human rights tribunals to stop hearing complaints against the media. CAJ president Mary Agnes Welch said:
“The idea that it’s okay for these bureaucrats to sit in judgment of what should and should not be printed in a
Canadian magazine is deeply offensive. We renew our calls for politicians to act to amend human rights legislation to end these witch hunts.”
