141 Replies to “Solidarity”

  1. You have to give Mr. Levant immense credit. His “opening remarks” are a full-on broadside salvo. I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this before. Could the HRC finally have met it’s match? I certainly hope so. Godspeed, Ezra.

  2. Good luck to the various members of the commission, and to the complainants.
    They’re going to need it — they picked exactly the wrong guy to try to silence or intimidate.
    It just couldn’t have worked out better.
    Go Ezra!

  3. Ezra, You have my full and complete moral and monetary support. Enough already, this is going to come to end….one way or another.

  4. Mr. Levant has another comment up now, which states: “my lawyer and I insisted that we be permitted to record the interrogation, for use when we appeal the commission’s decision to a real court”:
    ezralevant.com/2008/01/some-press-coverage.html

  8. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you or is that too radical?
    Go Ezra go. Down with this version of hrc!
    Jonah G. wrote it right. Liberal Fascism!

  9. “…for use when we appeal the commission’s decision to a real court.”
    That’s great. I’ve always wondered: How much power do these quasi-judiciary bodies have? Can they send someone to jail, say, for refusing to shut up, or for refusing to pay a fine for not shutting up?
    Ezra Levant is the right man at the right time. I think we’re going to find out exactly what the limits of their powers are.

  12. Go Ezra Go!! It is people like Ezra that give me hope for this country. I truly hope he exposes these leeches for what they truly are… a bunch of bureaucratic parasites trying to puff themselves up into something they will never be…important. They are insignificant to the betterment of society and only serve to drag this country into the morass of politically correct liberalism while sucking valuable tax dollars that could be left in the pockets of truly important people (taxpayers) that are actually doing something for this country.
    Thank you Ezra (and Kate) for all that you do for this country.

  15. Re: “the process has become the punishment”
    The taxpayers pay for the Imam’s prosecution, while the Western Standard has to pay for it’s own defence. While it may be true that, because this isn’t a real court of law, rules governing nuisance lawsuits don’t apply, it may also be true, for the same reason, that the real victim here, Ezra Levant (The Western Standard) may be able to sue for loss and damages. I think it’s only fair and reasonable, and I’d love to see the commission before a real court of law.

  16. We can not let this one man stand tall for all of us, as we cheer from the sidelines. The very fabric of our society is being threatened, not from without but from within our own governments, provincial and federal.
    I plan to email our Premier, Stelmach (I can’t email my MLA cause he’s a Liberal, and has no clue)that if he wants my vote next time, he better promise to change these tribunals. If we all make it a priority, we might be heard over the yelling of special interest groups.

  17. There in the HRC lies an enemy of Canada. To take the side of a hideous piece of pig $#!t against a publisher that published cartoons of the child molester is a sad day in Canada.
    It’s unbelievable that this would happen in Canada, but then, it’s come to my attention, that we have a very active 5th Column in various bureaucracies that are working to destroy the Canada I know and love.

  18. One has to wonder about justice in Canada.
    Must our champions of justice and the HRC protect these sweet meek people from cartoons at our collective expense?
    frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=4793D07C-A7AE-439F-8B9E-54F345BF6F77
    Current law, common law and common sense now seem completely unrelated. = TG

  19. This is a ‘turning point’ in Canadian history and it is all Canadian citizens who are on trial here.
    If Ezra goes down the rest of us go too.
    Like the smoking ban fanatics, the hrc is taking small nibbles to begin, soon any non PC speech will go the way of smoking tolerated areas. The smoking ban fanatics took this nation from smoking is allowed everywhere except where property owners request no smoking because they don’t like it or in areas where there is a danger of explosion (gas, hospitals etc.) to a ban in some public areas (offices, family restaurants) for the ‘sake of the children’ and to save on heating /cooling bills (by not having to air places out) to smoking permitted only in some ADULT public bars and private homes to smoking banned everywhere except private ADULT houses, hookah bars (to not offend some), CBC offices and in a car with no children aboard.
    The smoking ban action is a blueprint for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of any kind..the Bolshevik thugs nibble at the edges to stimulate the ‘anti people’ movement, damning and humiliating and bullying anyone who dares speak up in defense of freedom – then they sweep in to put on the chains, firmly enslaving all human souls.
    The WS stood up for smokers – they had many articles on the topic – you know the old saying ‘they came for the Jews and I wasn’t a Jew so I did and said nothing…..when they came for me there was no one left to say or do anything…The time is NOW Canada; speak up or be prepared to forever hold your speech…
    Ezra we are all on trial with you. Keep us updated and let us know when help is needed. I don’t have loads of $$ but I will send you what I can afford and do it gladly. Anything else that I can do to help you, I will do. God Bless you Ezra; thank-you for fighting for all of us. Thank-you for this post Kate.

  21. How could the smug and morally superior HRC even answer to that opening statement?
    What possible answer do they have?
    sadly, I fear, guilty.

  22. I suspect they probably looked blankly at him for a moment – and then proceeded onwards with exactly the same words that they had decided to use when they determined he was guilty, on the day the complaint against him was made.

  23. when we appeal the commission’s decision to a real court”:
    ===============================
    That says it all, doesn’t it. Go Ezra!!!!

  24. Jema54 I feel as you do. A great day for Canadians. We are all on trial, and we get to watch Ezra dismantle the star chamber. Ezra will not allow them to intimidate him. I do fear for Ezra’s life, going up against such radical muslims. It is a brave thing he does. Many others have died for speaking up against the oppression of islam.

  26. It’s over for Ezra. The commission has finally extracted their precious pound of flesh. I hope they’re happy.
    Citizen Ezra Levant acknowledges that it was absolutely wrong for him to do what he did:
    “When the Western Standard magazine printed the Danish cartoons of Mohammed two years ago, I was the publisher. It was the proudest moment of my public life. I would do it again today. In fact, I did do it again today…”
    He fully accepts the court’s authority to limit his speech:
    “It is my position that the government has no legal or moral authority to interrogate me or anyone else for publishing these words and pictures.”
    He is careful to show sensitivity to the religious beliefs of his accuser…
    “Now the commission…is taking it upon itself to be an enforcer of the views of radical Islam. So much for the separation of mosque and state.”
    …and he favourably compares the upcoming pronouncements of the judges to the sermon on the mount:
    “The commission is a joke — it’s the Alberta equivalent of a U.S. television pseudo-court like Judge Judy — except that Judge Judy actually was a judge, whereas none of the commission’s panelists are judges, and some aren’t even lawyers.”
    He admits, through racking sobs, that such commissions are for the good of all Canadians…
    “The commissions have leapt out of the small cage they were confined to, and are now attacking our fundamental freedoms…”
    …and, in a rocking motion, he struggles unsuccessfully for the words that could even begin to describe how very very fair the corrective process he is undergoing is:
    “Common law rules of evidence don’t apply. Rules of court don’t apply. It is a system that is part kafka, and part Stalin. Even this interrogation today — at which I appear under duress — saw the commission tell me who I could or could not bring with me as my counsel and advisors.”
    In his last desperate act the guilty man staggers, flailing knock-kneed, to supplicate himself in front of the judges; he pleads for mercy on the grounds that he doesn’t have a leg to stand on:
    “For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights and Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values.”
    All in all, a real disappointment. I was hoping he’d stand up for free speech.

  27. refuse to go , refuse to reply. refuse, refuse, refuse. see if the gestapo show up at your door. if they do kill them.

  31. We don,t See or hear a word from the state owned CBC, CTV, etc.
    Why are they all so quite? … Where Do they Stand?
    Do they agree with the HRC?
    Do they understand the treat these “Grand Inquisitors” pose to the fabric of our Democracy.
    I Think, they fear Radical Islam.
    They are cowards. and refuse to speak out on what is happening to freedom of the press in this country.
    Fear of what would happen to them if they dare speak out.
    They should be all over this story, not a peep,except from Rex Murphy.
    Cowards all.

  33. “For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights and a Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values.”
    Amongst the many hard-hitting and valid arguments Ezra Levant has made against the blatantly unjust and repressive Alberta HRC, this paragraph sums up, for me, the crux of the matter.
    There are many of us former Western Standard subscribers (former, because the magazine folded a few months ago–it can now be accessed via the Web) who, a year and a half ago, jumped in to support Ezra when he was first fingered by the Saudi Imam now living in Canada.
    Mr. Levant has had to wait much too long for his day in court, and my fervent hope and prayer is that now that he’s been hauled before his accusers, he blows this whole HRC farce right out of the water.
    The HRCs need to be shut down, otherwise Canada’s hurtling into the swamp faster than a greased weasel. Glug. Glug. Glug.

  34. Ezra IS the front line in the battle to preserve freedom of speech and association in Canada. We ought to be demonstrating in the streets, writing thousands of letters to editors and politicians, and talking about this on TV news shows every day.
    Every person who runs a blog in Canada and posts on a blog in Canada is the next target if the HRCs are not recognizes, or are taught, the limits of their mandate.
    There is also an epetition relevant to this issue. Everyone should sign, and write a letter as well, not only for Ezra Levant, but for Mark Steyn, who is next. A bunch of idiot schoolboys and a despised hate-spouting Imam cannot be permitted to try to “intimidate” Macleans.
    http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/a-free-dominion-against-the-hrcs/signatures.html

  35. Can someone with good memory and legal sense please educate me:
    Since these HRCs seem incompatible with the Charter (e.g.), why are they still allowed to exist?
    Was there no debate on the legality of these commissions at the time they were invented?
    (Sorry, wasn’t in the country then.)

  36. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ae4275af-001b-4d7c-be24-aa6c1822fc97
    Definitely slanted article, seems to suggest that what he’s doing is some sort of hate speech.
    But the gem is at the end:
    The commentator said he was asked about his rationale for publishing the cartoons.
    “I don’t need to be reasonable. I have maximum rights of free speech,” he said later. “I have the right to publish this for the most offensive reason, for the most unreasonable reasons.”

  37. Why is CBC allowed to run a show called Little Mosque on the Prairie? It’s a spoof. Aren’t cartoons the same?
    This has to be fought right to the highest court in the land.
    Allowing a complaint on what is essentially one of our freedoms is inciting more crazies into a frenzy and people will be killed. It’s a serious issue. We need someone from high office to inform all comers to this land we have freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
    To quote Fred Thompson,”the nutcases are not the only ones who have freedom of speech”.

  38. Liz J asked…
    Why is CBC allowed to run a show called Little Mosque on the Prairie?
    Simple, Liz. It’s because creative control for the show belongs to a Muslim woman. If any white person were to produce the EXACT same show with EVERYTHING the same as it is now, it would be a hate crime. It’s like with blacks and “the N word.” It’s only offensive if the person saying it does not belong to the proper racial group.
    If someone can show me any law (either domestic or international) that says there is a fundamental right to not be offended, then I will begin supporting bodies like this HRC. Right after that, I will start launching my own slew of complaints regarding things that tick me off and that I want banned.
    Until then, there is no argument for these abominations existing.

  39. Kudos to Ezra Levant for his stand.
    Particularly for his statement to the “commission.”
    Too bad he didn’t then leave the room, after reading his statement.
    At that point I suspect MSM might even take interest in this farce.
    Particular mention and kudos as well to Kate for making the photos available to the blogosphere and many thousands of her visitors world wide.
    This is a story that may have profound consequences if the “commission” is successful.
    However, the very fact the HRC can drag anyone before it for “hurt feelings” is a tragedy in its self.
    I truly hope the Mark Steyn farce will be the end of these kangaroo one sided courts in Canada.
    (Complainants getting a free ride insofar as costs go)

  40. There is one Canadian, standing tall in the middle of the dusty street, hand poised, waiting for the clock to strike noon. Justice will be extracted. I tip my hat…

  42. I threw a couple of bucks in the pot when the Western Standard started up, watching Ezra boot Harry Forrestal around the CBC studio was worth every penny. Then watching him mop the floor with various Imans and other liberal journalists was a bonus.
    Now is the time to get out the cheque books and support Ezra and Macleans and Mark Steyn anyone else dragged in front of these tribunals.
    Send a couple of subscriptions or books to friends.
    It could be anyone of us dragged in front of these tyrants, a misunderstood remark at work or any sort of conflict could result in a false accusation of racism and an expensive trip to these travesties of justice. Even if you win you lose.
    Being innocent would not be a factor.
    The HRC’s have been perverted and are being used by arseholes to bully decent people.
    Let’s stop them.

  43. “the separation of mosque and state”
    Exactly Ezra! The HR star chamber seems to have a bias in enforcing it’s ad-lib state enforced secularism….I seriously can’t see them defending a Christian minister as they do some radical Imam or some Jewish political pressure group.
    What’s good for the cathedral is good for the synagogue and is good for the Mosque. 😉

  44. Taking one step back to look at the situation causes me to snicker and say “forgive them lord, they know not what they do”.
    The HRC ( and the Imam)is being set up by Ezra for a defamation trial. The HRC is used to beating up the accused. It is not used to being taken to court, which is what I feel Ezra and company are preparing to do.
    As for the Imam’s suggesting that someone might kill him he needs to understand that Islam believes everything that happens is the will of Allah. If he is opposed to the will of Allah he is not a real muslim and we all know what the Koran says about that.

  45. Why do some proudly tout the Charter and allow Socialist Cabals like the HRC’s to infringe on our freedoms for complaints no matter how asinine?
    Even with a threat of someone going to the HRC’s a basic freedom can be squelched. Most ordinary people can’t afford lengthy legals battles.

  46. Now them’s fighting words.
    That’s some “submission” to the “commission”.
    Aha, I sense a slogan for T-shirts.
    NO SUBMISSION TO THE COMMISSION!

  47. “The officer allowed the video camera, but asked that we keep the recording confidential.”
    It is clear from that sort of nonsense that Human Rights Commissions need to be abolished entirely or at the very least, they need to be very significantly curtailed. This is an absolute outrage. In fact, everything in these “hearings” should be recorded and made public….but like Ezra says, this group operates in the legal shadows and would not stand up to public scrutiny. (Those accused should walk out of the room if their request to record the proceedings is denied.)
    Kick ass, Ezra. It’s time to show the public what this kangaroo court has turned itself into……a radical Star Chamber.

  48. I can’t find any actual newspaper article as such but the content is to be read and understood by all of us.
    ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ….
    The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez and published in a Spanish newspaper on 5-22-07.
    I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth – Europe died in Auschwitz . We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.
    The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
    And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.
    They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.
    Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
    And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition
    We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for hoping for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.
    What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe.
    A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves. These events are actual events from history. They really happened!
    1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
    2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    4. During the 1980’s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
    So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President’s security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling. Let’s send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Aldreds and other dunder-headed attorneys along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense, feel ashamed of themselves — if they have any such sense .
    As the writer of the award winning story “Forrest Gump” so aptly put it, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

  49. “Interrogation”? The word should probably be “Inquisition”. Somehow it seems more fitting. Merriam Webster defines “inquisition” as “an investigation conducted with little regard for individual rights”. Seems to fit perfectly.

  50. It’s about time the HRCs were outed for the repressive thuggery they represent against law abiding Canadians, who are forced to PAY for this threat to their integrity and security. Only in Canada . . .
    Johan i Kanada asks some good questions. I can’t exactly answer them, however, I know that a marginalized group in Canada, “despised and rejected” by all the elites of this country could. The pro-life founders of this group fought against the very existence of the Charter, which, like the HRCs, it knew would be a vehicle for social engineering. This group has been saying much the same thing as Ezra—BRAVO!—for decades.
    So, why has no one heard what they have to say? As I said, being “despised and rejected”, especially by the MSM, they’ve been made fun of and shunned: because they reasonably present politically incorrect information, well documented, the MSM ignores them.
    1) Here’s what this group wrote about our HRCs, in November, 1998, nearly ten years ago:
    “[We have] criticized the Human Rights Commissions over the years.
    “In September, however, we received substantial confirmation that our objections were valid when the federal Auditor General, Denis Desautels, issued a scathing report of the federal Human Rights Commission.
    “He stated in his report that the role of the Commission was blurred by the many roles it plays. On the one hand, it is supposed to be an impartial investigator with a mandate to reconcile the parties, representing the public while doing so. Instead, it represents mainly the interests of the complainants. That is, the Commission loudly and aggressively promotes its favourite causes, such as homosexual rights [homosexual activists have made substantial use of the HRCs to advance their agenda: now Muslims are] which it has promoted since the agency was created in 1977 . . .
    “In short, the Human Rights Commission can scarcely be regarded as a neutral or impartial agency.”
    2) Re the Hugh Owens case in Saskatoon, this group wrote, in September, 1999:
    “A recent Human Rights Tribunal in Saskatoon exposes yet again why Human Rights Commissions should be abolished and be replaced by an impartial court of law . . .
    “The fate of Mr. Owens lies in the hands of a young, politically correct female lawyer, Valerie Watson, appointed by the Human Rights Commission to act as judge, jury and executioner during this hearing. Impartiality is clearly not a characteristic of Commission hearings since they receive the complaint, investigate it, judge it, and then decide to present it to a one-person Board of Inquiry to rule on it, based on the facts that they themselves have determined! . . .
    “An account of this kangaroo court cannot be complete without a comment about the media coverage of the hearing. Having personally attended 3 full days and 2 half days of the 7-day hearing, I can state forthrightly that the media coverage was biased . . .
    “Unfortunately, many people seem to think that Mr. Owens’ ad was and is the issue and that it doesn’t affect their lives. Of course, Canadians want to appear to be reasonable and tolerant of others, so why be concerned about a Human Rights Tribunal? The issue at stake here, however, goes to the very centre of basic freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Do we, as individual citizens, have the right to discuss, debate, disagree and/or dissent on the homosexual issue (and any other issue) or do we not? The matter isn’t whether we approve or disapprove of the ad or Mr. Owens [a Christian, BTW, an HRC favourite whipping boy group]. The bottom line is, do we want to live in a democratic country where the basic freedoms to believe what one wishes are protected? If our answer is in the affirmative — this tribunal hearing should be the cause of serious concern to us all.”
    The loss of Canadians’ basic rights has largely been deep sixed in our country, even though, as demonstrated here, reasonable voices have been criticizing the HRCs for a long time. So, why has this voice not been heard? The reason is, it’s the voice of REAL Women and, as the “tolerant and inclusive” Canadian elites—whose agenda the HRCs promote—have made perfectly clear, these women don’t count! (Item 1, from REAL Women’s newsletter, was likely written by the estimable Gwen Landolt, lawyer, and founder of REAL Women. Item 2 was written by Cecilia Forsyth, when she was President of the Saskatchewn Chapter.)
    The Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn/Macleans cases have, thankfully, raised the profile of this crucial issue. Maybe Canadians will finally take note and start to fight back.

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