Ezra Levant takes another look into the inner workings of the Human Rights Commissions. The closer you look at these things the uglier they get.
Ezra Levant takes another look into the inner workings of the Human Rights Commissions. The closer you look at these things the uglier they get.
Any exposure of this kangaroo court is a good one. Frankly, it doesn’t operate like a normal court of law, and it isn’t a matter of if the defendant did it, it’s a matter of how much they’re going to pay. Sad, really.
Whats a clown like Chack doing at the HRC, I guess the better question would be whats anyone doing at the HRC, and should the HRC even be. Excellent invetigative work by Ezra, he will truly be the cause of their slow and painfull mutilation as the quasi court bleeds to death. “Gay power!”
Kudos
Wow…..this is important stuff. There is a governance and legitimacy issue that runs so deep and Ezra has tapped it.
Amazing that in conservative Alberta that this kind of thing sets in. Who appointed them, how did they get appointed and why?
Imagine a member of some regulatory board being appointed with this kind of equivalent background and conflict of interest. How long would say, Ted Rogers brother (if he had one) last as a CRTC commissioner, or a current member of the board of Rogers communication (let alone a past one). The point is it wouldnt be allowed to stand.
This is indicative of two things, the lack of vigorous oversight of wihin Alberta’s political culture (how horrified would they be i Red Deer if they knew) and the lack of attention paid to the HRC’s in general.
Ezra has hit a really important point that ultimately should have little to do with individuals involved and more to do with what these commissions are, how they are run, who appoints them and what the boundries on their mandates are and should be.
As I said at the beginning….WOW!
It’s amazing and thoroughly shocking how Ezra has been able to connect the dots, and what they say. Why haven’t investigative reporters in AB been able to do so, or do they fear having homes torched and worse? What would we find in the pious operations of other HRCs? I truly fear it would be more of the same thing, haters dispensing judgments on anyone who dares to disagree. Time to put an end to this crap, sooner rather than later.
Ezra needs to get some sort of award for this. It’s incredible. If he was journalist, this would be Pulitzer material
As Stephen stated so articulately wow, I can’t add anything to Stephen’s post he nailed the issue on the head with a sledge hammer.
The time has come for Government Inquiries of all HRC, it’s time we were told the truth about how they are run, and if those that are hired are required to produce a Good Conduct Certificate from the RCMP or Regional Police Force? I think it’s apparent that the lawyers and those that investigate and adjudicate need lenghty background checks by CSIS, Ezra has clearly shown that there are those working for the HRC who have murky ties with Extremist Organizations or are sympathetic to them. Not acceptable.
Now lets see which venues will pick this up (besided the Michael Coren show/two bald guys).
This is pretty shocking stuff. As someone commented, it’s appalling that the journalists haven’t dug this stuff up before. Kudos to Levant.
Looks like Ezra just started a police investigation into the bias and corruption within the hrc’s. Wow! this is dynamite!
Harper iterated, during the election, that there wuz still a RED bureaucracy to contend with, how correct he wuz!!!!
Well, follow Chak back to his source–and, of course, it’s the Librano$, which is how he got his job with the HRC in the first place.
Good on Ezra! And wouldn’t you know it: It had to be a freedom- democracy-loving conservative who did the digging and came up with the gold.
The only gold the Librano$ and their colluding hacks in the MSM are interested in is OUR money–and how they can get their hands on it.
So, what’s the next step? What happens with this motherlode of incriminating information on Amram Chak? Ezra’s got the ball rolling. Who’s going to pick it up and play hardball now?
Sorry, ARMAN Chak…correction to above post…
The Librano$ probably call him OUR MAN Chak… 😉
Steve Janke of Angry in the Great White North is on this situation as well.
How can the complaint brought by the women against Soharwardy be dismissed so readily? What were the criteria?
These HRCs aren’t accountable, aren’t transparent, their decison-makers are patronage appointees and these HRCs are essentially government funded repressive agencies for these individuals on the Commissions.
I hope both Ezra and Steve continue the onslaught. Send the data to Keith Martin as well.
This is getting delicious! If these FOI request pans out, this could be a needle through the heart of the HRC’s.
Good luck Ezra. Go gettem tiger.
Islam’s war on the west is the stuff of a great espionage novel. We have spies and moles in liberal sponsored Gestapo style headquarters.
Thought crimes, and snitches turning in their fellow citizens on trumped up charges of feeling offended. There are brutal Imams that abuse their cult worshipers and send mafia thugs to burn the homes and beat witnesses to their atrocities. Each player rubbing the others backs in secret conspiracy to insure the success of their overthrow of the west. Money is disappearing within the communities quite possibly finding it’s way to wars that kill our troops. And that’s only Alberta.
One shudders to think of the implications of the rot within Europe and a potential US presidential candidate.
Ezra you may become a very rich man once you finish the story, god save us all.
These HRC appointees and employees are under the supervison of the Stelmach Conservative government. What the heck is going on!
Determine which department appoints the Commission Members and write a letter asking for more common sense.
Kate has archives on Farhan Chak:
“Sent: Thu May 03 06:31:18 2007
Subject: Re: Farhan Mujahid Chak
Dear Sir,
I write in response to your email requesting confirmation of the above named persons study at the University of Durham.
I can confirm that he first started his studies from 1 October 2000 on a postgraduate(research) course leading to a PhD, however for the academic year 2006/07 he is not registered with the University in order to continue with this course.
He certainly has not had this degree conferred, because he has not submitted his thesis yet and his name has not appeared on a pass list.
UPDATE – ” A Liberal candidate for the next election resigned Thursday amid mounting controversy over his intemperate views and exaggerated academic credentials. Farhan Chak offered his resignation after discussions with party officials, said Liberal spokesperson Elizabeth Whiting. The party accepted his resignation, effective immediately.”
Both Arman and Farhan are part of the Liberal ‘set’. Both have been rewarded by the Liberals – Farhan as appointed to run in the election, Arman as a member of the AHRC.
Remember, this inclusion of minorities is a major vote-getting strategy of the Liberals. Block votes from the whole community, as the notion of patronage rewards becomes a factor of life within the minority community.
This doesn’t mean that Arman is an incompetent lawyer or member of the AHRC. My point is only that these positions are patronage rewards more than they are merit assignments. As such, they are ‘unjust’.
As for the HRCs – section 13.1 of the Act ought to be removed.
Should the HRCs themselves remain? I’m not convinced either way. However, their present format as run by patronage appointees, without due process, and with a blatantly unfair legal representation, and without a requirement for actual evidence – they are a violation of the Canadian legal process.
Doesn’t surprise me that this type is in the government employ, even in Conservative Alberta.
In a vibrant economy, those that want to do for themselves prosper in the private sector while those that coasted through the system on others coattails prefer the system continue to sustain them…so they become part of the system. Like the cheerleading students of the professors I remember from lectures in college, they learned nothing except how to reguritate the information they had been fed back without putting any kind of creative thought into it. Where else would this ilk find any employment but within the relm of government?
Ironic that the current issue of Maclean’s has a letter (p. 4) from Bill Baergen, formerly of the Alberta HRC, assuring up that the Alberta HRC is high integrity.
Posted by: ET
How can the complaint brought by the women against Soharwardy be dismissed so readily? What were the criteria?
How about one of the women being attacked in her own home, and the home being recently fire-bombed. Police are apparently investigating the connection.
If the connection turns out to be true, a certain iman will hopefully find out what a democracy is all about.
Hank,
oops….snicker….
Of course thats the equivalent of asking the insane to assure us of our own reality.
Getting close to clean up time.
Here in Sask. a first nations employer can apply to the Sask. Human Rights Commission and receive an EXEMPTION and hire only first nations people when hiring. The add reads like this, People of First nations or Metis ancestry will be given preference. How is this guarding my HUMAN RIGHTS as a non Aboriginal persons?
Ironically, I am considering filing a human rights complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
I am representing a married couple who have been royally screwed around by a financial institution
simply because one of their relatives was charged with a crime.
It comes under the heading of “discrimination due to family status”.
I truly believe that this type of offense was what the framers of the HRC’s envisioned when they
introduced this legislation. Too bad it has attracted every malcontent and general whacko
living among us.
Unintended consequences, indeed.
Maybe this is happening in Alberta because of apathy. Not enough people are taking the trouble to pay attention. Remember, only 41% voted in the recent provincial election. Possibly this is an indication that Albertans are just too damn comfortable, and are letting their collective guard down. When the cat’s asleep the mice steal his stuff.
LJ,
Maybe we’ll see a cartoon like the one the Star published about the future former Lord Black…..I mean, the guy apparently doesnt like women right…..yells at them etc etc
If he played baseball would he be a pitcher or a catcher?
On March 14, along with two other complaints to the CBC Ombudsman (paper trail only), I sent the following:
____________
Dear Mr. Carlin
I am writing to find out why the CBC has largely overlooked a HUGE story, of very serious import to the Canadian public. That is, the controversy surrounding the draconian and possibly criminal modus operandi of the Canadian and Provincial Human Rights Commissions (HRCs).
Ezra Levant’s web site is excellent for an on-going analysis of this issue. Below are two excerpts from his site today: one that he posted and the second, a recent letter from MP Keith Martin to a constituent, I believe, both of which point out the very real and present danger the HRCs pose to the freedoms and rights of law abiding Canadian citizens.
While the CBC has devoted an inordinate amount of time to the far less important Cadman issue, it has given very little coverage to the HRC issue. E.g., Is the CBC going to cover the issue of the March 25th secret CHRC hearing that’s planned in order for an accused citizen to cross examine his CHRC prosecutors? (Now, isn’t THAT a quaint, due process idea?)
The CHRC has actually asked the public to submit reasons why the hearing should be open to the public: maybe the CBC should investigate why the onus is not on the CHRC to demonstrate why it thinks the hearing should be in camera. Shouldn’t the CBC be concerned about government agents acting, in secret hearings, against Canadian citizens outside the protection of due process?
I’d like to know if the CBC plans to cover this exciting and vitally important issue with the seriousness it deserves and, if not, why not?
Sincerely –
My Name
1) By Ezra Levant on March 14, 2008 12:02 AM
They’re laughing at us in the Cayman Islands, and not just because of our weather.
According to this report in the Caymanian Compass newspaper, they’re having a debate over there about whether or not to create a Canadian-style human rights commission.
Reverend Nicholas Sykes knows what’s in store for Caymanians. An excerpt:
Mr. Sykes detailed several cases taken on by the Canadian Human Rights Commissions.
“In [Human Rights Commission] the defendant’s right to due process is withdrawn. They reach judgments on the basis of no fixed law and by simply agreeing to hear a case, they tie up the defendant in bureaucracy and paperwork, and bleed him for the cost of lawyers, while the person who brings the complaint, however frivolous, stands to lose nothing.”
Mr. Sykes said over half all of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions “hate crime” cases have been brought by one person who was a former employee of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Here are a few other choice words of warning from Mr. Sykes:
“I can assure you that justice in the eyes of these newly–conceived bodies has been quite unlike the justice to which we are accustomed,” he said..
“The function of the commission and any related appropriate bodies is to assist the complainant, to assist the bringing of complaints, to help individuals… “What about the other side of the issue?… All the assistance goes to the complainant, but where is the assistance given to the defendant?
“The system is one–sided, and in this matter alone, is offensive to a reasonable person’s sense of justice.”
…“This is the sort of madness you’ll face in Cayman….
What good fortune for the Cayman Islands to have a man like that on guard. I have no doubt that, given our wintery conditions, a half-dozen Canadian human rights commission staff are proposing to fly to the Caymans on our taxpayers’ dime to lecture such obstinate men, and to stay there until they’re convinced, or spring arrives in Canada, whichever comes first.
Good for the Caymans — and for the Compass, which has already done more hard news reporting on the subject of Canadian Human Rights Commission than most Canadian newspapers have.
2) Sent by Martin: Thursday, March 13, 2008 12:03 PM
Dear Joe,
Thank you for writing me to express your support for the motion I recently introduced (M-446) regarding section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA). Good to hear from you! As a Member of Parliament, I am encouraged that my motion has brought more public attention to this issue and it is my hope that it will spur action within Parliament.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) was created in the 1970s with laudable objectives. At that time, we still had a society marred by bigotry and ignorance. As a dark-skinned immigrant myself, I know from painful, personal experience what it feels like to be on the receiving end of those beliefs. The Commission was originally created with the noble intent to investigate when people were allegedly being discriminated against as they sought employment or housing. However, the poorly crafted section 13(1) of the CHRA, has enabled the Commission to move into an entirely different area – investigating, prosecuting and fining people who communicate anything that someone else takes offence to. In other words, if an individual feels offended by what somebody has written, they can go to the Commission, lodge a complaint and the Commission’s lawyers will investigate the case at taxpayers’ expense. Although the plaintiff pays nothing, the defendant must defend themselves with their own money, and if they are found guilty, they must pay fines out of their own pocket and can be subjected to lifetime bans on their ability to talk about certain issues.
In the three decades of the CHRC’s existence, not a single defendant has been acquitted; not one. The Commission has a staggering 100% conviction rate. Interestingly, more than half of the complaints have been launched by just one person – a former employee of the CHRC.
In our country, we already have laws that protect citizens against slander, libel, discrimination and hate crimes. Civil suits, which are adjudicated through the courts, are another recourse for people when these laws are violated. But the Commission is using section 13(1) to investigate and prosecute people who they deem to have offended somebody. The Commission incidentally is accountable neither to the Canadian public, nor Parliament. They have their own rules where the balance that exists in our courts between prosecutor, judge and jury do not exist.
Thankfully, we have the right in our country to be free of slander, discrimination and hate crimes. However, we do not have the right to not be offended. Independent commissions that prosecute people for writings that do not meet the test of being a hate crime, slander or libel, is a very slippery slope indeed. To fix the problem, section 13(1) should be either amended, or deleted entirely.
Once again, thank you for taking time to share your thoughts with me.
Sincerely,
Dr. Keith Martin, P.C., M.P.
Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca
____________
CBC will, no doubt, say it can only comment on what is actually covered, not what isn’t. Very convenient, n’est-ce pas? We’ll see.
At least they can’t say they didn’t know.
Agree with all above with one exception — the Pulitzer prize for Ezra. The Pulitzer prize is for fiction. Even the so called-investigations which have been awarded Pulitzer prizes have frequently turned out to be pure fiction. Ezra’s stuff is the genuine article, founded in hard facts. Good on him. He needs to write a book about this stuff.
I keep hearing this phrase “Conservative Alberta”.
Alberta has granted one of the most blatant freedom crushing missions to its Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission based upon its Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act:
3(1) No person shall publish, issue or display or cause to be published, issued or displayed before the public any statement, publication, notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation that … is likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt because of the race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income or family status of that person or class of persons.
So this goes beyond the CHRA section 13 which merely allows censorship of telephone and internet speech. This provision lists even more protected groups and allows censorship of written speech as well.
Also it was the Alberta Human Rights Commission which interrogated Ezra for thought crimes.
How does this make Alberta Conservative?
Freedom to Alberta Conservatives are more to the left than one would believe. Stelmach has no clue what these HRCs do, nor would he answer my email properly just prior the election. The email I got said essentially ‘we can’t comment because the case is before the HRC’. They missed the point entirely. What a cop out. The PC candidate in my riding never responded at all. I did get a phone call from the liberals to find out what my concern was, so I explained it. Dead silence after that. After all I’m sure I was seen as a bigot for asking.
It makes them Red Tories.
DrD – Yes, some of the investigative journalism awarded the Pulitzer Prize–notably, Walter Duranty’s 1932 prize for his New York Times series on Stalin’s Five-Year Industrialization Plan–were mainly fiction. (‘Sounds like the Canadian MSM and the Liberals.)
However, it’s not true that only fiction can receive this award. There are all kinds of journalism categories, but only for US-based newspapers or news organizations. If not, Ezra would be a sure-fire nominee.
“So, what’s the next step? “: by batb.
The next step is to hold protest marches meeting in front of the HRC office building.
Carry placards and make speeches using a portable sound system.
You don’t need a hundred people for success.
How about it you organizers?
The Pulitzer has a category for investigative journalism.
However, as stated above, it is only for American based publications.
An indication of the double standard that exists with the HRC’s can be seen by the following link which I found on the Islamic website referenced in Ezra’s post:
http://musliminsuffer.wordpress.com/2007/06/06/holocaust-was-a-fraud-the-jews-death-totals-of-only-271301/
I seem to recall Ernst Zundel spending 3 years in solitary confinement and being deported to Germany for saying something similar. No sign that Richard Warman or the CJC have begun trying to have the site taken down. Or, perhaps, this is a post from “Lucy”.
loki >
I’ll agree with you, that is an amazing amount of hate propaganda that simply goes overlooked by the liberal left and the HRC. Sickening hypocrisy!
On a different note, whether their claimed “number” was 271,301 instead of the accepted almost six million, I personally think the systematic starvation, torture and eventual deaths of 300,000 people to be atrocious. But that’s just me.
Regardless I’m going to stick to the story provided by the thousands of allied liberators and the subsequent survivors instead of the people that strap bombs to their children. Again that’s just a personal judgment call.
Makes you a little curious who the last 01 was out of their 271,301 number doesn’t it?
Gunney99: do you know where this HRC hearing is taking place? I’d like to know.
Ezra is sooo putting every Canadian citizen in his debt. Thank-you Mr. Levant from the bottom of my heart.
batb – fabulous take on a name -Puffin Our man Chak – working in the boondocks for the good ol’ pinkos in the east.
dj – this is the norm for almost every gument job in the Yukon – has been for years – I thought it was the norm. They even launched a teacher’s certificate program at the college for North American Indians only – it was modified to ‘allow’ a few ‘others’ during the last election but it is still advertised as a 1st nation teacher’s certificate program.
I find myself shocked to see how cynical I have become! Nothing the silly servants dream up to abuse my liberty shocks me!
When I say that we have too much government, this clown Ezra has found is what I’m talking about. He’s precisely the type of person one would expect to find working at a “human rights” commission, a guy with an ax to grind using government power for his own purposes.
This is what makes government suck.
It is an inevitable feature of government too. These little worms bore their way in and set up shop in key places, perverting the operation of the office they hold and creating the irrational, abusive, wasteful environment we all know and love from our dealings with the bureaucracy. You dig into any government bureau, before you get in very deep you’re going to find somebody like this guy. Those are the kind of people who take these jobs.
The cure for this ailment is very simple: less government. In this case eliminating these HRC tribunals from the federal and provincial governments is the obvious, minimum step. Were it me doing it, I’d be going through the entire “cultural” and “social affairs” bureaucracy with a chainsaw, pruning off about 95% of it.
Mr. Harper, get out your red pen sir. Start crossing off some budget items. Tax cut now please!
In Alberta the six human rights panelists (adjudicators, not judges) and the chief are appointed by the Lt. Governor of Alberta on recommendation of the Minister in Charge of the AB HRC. So yes, It is the PC government who controls the HRC and what has been given can also be taken away.
The appointment is for 3 years and MAY be renewed without any competition (read rubber stamping). This was done with one of the Calgary panelists (the sitting alderman) in May/2007 so her term is now until 2010.
The chief commissioner is due for retirement so let’s see what happens. What a great time to begin dismantling the HRC but this is highly unlikely to happen with the election landslide.
Hector Goudreau – minister i/c prior to the election – pretty much did nothing as regards the HRC except to let it grow like Topsy. He had to have been sitting on mounds of e mails/faxes from all of us in the past two months. The same is true for Denis Ducharme, the minister prior to Goudreau in terms of doing nothing with the HRC. In both cases, the HRC was under Tourism, Parks, Recreation, & Culture.
Post-election, a new ministry has been created for Culture and Community Spirit. The HRC now falls within this ministry and is under the newly appointed, newly elected, Lindsay Blackett (do go to his web site he had up while the election campaign was in progress). Right now his focus seems to be on granting funding to the arts/film industries and a new $16M via the feds to help settle the fast-tracked immigrants – supposedly skilled – that are “desperately needed”.
He must be introduced to the HRC “industry” ASAP and we have to know that all of the e mails, faxes, phone calls etc re the negative aspects of the HRC sent to the former ministers are in fact turned over to him rather buried in a corner some place. My best guess would be that this new Minister knows little about the HRC but I hope I have a pleasant surprise on this one.
This strategy of opening a new portfolio/renaming an old portfolio, etc. is not unlike the PCs when they want to bury something very deep. With the hornets nest that Ezra has stirred up within the HRC under Goudreau’s watch, it may well be that the PC majority is trying to sweep the entire AB HRC thing under the rug with the MSM being pretty much complicit by under-reporting of the issue(s).
I’m still wondering where the March 25 HRC hearing is taking place, Warman vs Lemire. ‘Anyone know? I’ve got the day off…
i mentioned this before but no one seemed to have an answer. if you refuse to appear will the police show up with guns to kill you? and can you shoot back?