On Record!
Featured Quotes Featured Quotes “Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society…It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff
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– Stephen Harper, B.C. Report Newsmagazine, January 11, 1999
“During the years when my colleagues and I were labouring to create such commissions we never imagined that they might ultimately be used against freedom of speech.”
– Alan Borovoy, General Counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and foundational father of the first Human Rights Commission in Canada
Political Authorities
“… the arbitrary exercise of power by our Human Rights Commissions is a serious matter. People are being harassed over trivial issues. If Canadians cannot exchange simple greetings without incurring the wrath of power hungry bureaucrats, we need to change the human rights legislation. Canada’s Human Rights Commissions do not protect the rights of most Canadians. I for one think if major reforms cannot be accomplished, we need to consider abolishing these parodies of justice.”
– MP Brad Trost [Read his full article here]
“Under Section 13 of Canada’s Human Rights Code, Canadians have been prosecuted for holding beliefs that “may” offend someone…Freedom of speech is too important to be left in the hands of liberal activists. It’s time to scrap Section 13 of the Human Rights Commission.”
– MP Rob Anders [Read more from his mail-outs here.]
“I want you to know that I also have grave concerns with these troubling actions of the Commission, and look forward to receiving a copy of the response you receive from Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson.”
– MP Kevin Sorenson [Read his full letter here.]
“…human rights commissions operating at various levels of society are in need of major reform. In particular, the authority of these bodies to challenge the right of freedom of expression on grounds of offensiveness, without evidence, must be curtailed.”
– MP James Rajotte [Read his full letter here.]
Media
““Human rights commissions were never intended to act as a form of thought police,” said CAJ President Mary Agnes Welch. “But now they’re being used to chill freedom of expression on matters that are well beyond accepted Criminal Code restrictions on free speech.” The CAJ supports Liberal MP Keith Martin’s private members motion to have section 13(1) of federal human rights legislation, the clause dealing with published material, repealed. Similar provincial legislation should also be amended as required. “The lack of political leadership on this issue, apart from Mr. Martin and a few others, is appalling,” said Welch.
– Canadian Association of Journalists [Read their press release here]
“It’s time to rein them in before further damage is done to Canadians’ right to free expression.”
– Globe & Mail Editorial [Read the full article here.]
Religious Leaders & Organizations
“Canada’s human rights tribunals do not operate under the normal rules of the courts of law and have systemically violated the freedoms of conservative and Christian Canadians, including: freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of the press. It is time to curb their power or close them entirely.”
– The Interim [Read the full article here.]
“What Canadians needs now is citizens who will demand from our governments – provincial and national – that HRC’s, as presently constituted, be reformed. They must stop their role of censors of what may or may not be printed or said in Canada, as they are doing today without regard to the normal role of the press in society, or to the rights to freedom of speech and religion, and without the legal safeguards of the courts.”
– Catholic Insight Editorial [Read the full article here.]
“Human rights laws, designed as a shield, are now being used as a sword….The issue is rarely true discrimination but rather censorship and enshrinement of a particular ideology through threats, sanctions and punitive measures.”
– Bishop Fred Henry, the subject of two human rights complaints in 2005
From the Past
“I am a Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”
– Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, July 1, 1960, House of Commons
