...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

There is no joy in Bernieville: Guess who’s really p.o.'d about the Moon report’s call to scupper state censorship? That’s right—Canada's intrepid “Nazi”-hunters/Somali mentors/mosque-twinning boosters, the Canadian Leftist Jewish Congress. Here’s the news release that was obviously prepared on the off-chance that the Moon report didn’t go their way:

Toronto---Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) expressed disappointment over today's principal recommendation in the report on combating Internet hate by Professor Richard Moon for the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC).

"We commended the CHRC for commissioning this study on statutory and policy changes aimed at eliminating cyber-hate. CJC met with Prof. Moon as part of his stakeholder consultations and we hoped that he would recognize the valuable role that the Canadian Human Rights Act plays in protecting vulnerable minorities in Canada from exposure to hate on the Internet," said Hershel Sahian, Chair of the National Community Relations Committee for CJC.

"Instead, Moon's primary recommendation - to repeal section 13 of the Act - is contrary to the pressing need to maintain the fence of protection against those who would use the Internet to spread hatred and intolerance."

Mark Freiman, former Deputy Attorney General of Ontario, an expert on Canada's human rights legislation and a legal counsel with CJC expressed concern over Prof. Moon's hypothesis.

"Prof. Moon has noted the potential connection between hateful words and hateful actions, but pins his hopes on the rational capacity of the audience as protection. History provides little support for such an optimistic view. It certainly provides scant justification to overturn Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence that affirms the reasonableness, not to mention the constitutionality, of s. 13 as a protection for vulnerable minorities."

Bernie M. Farber, Chief Executive Officer for CJC, disagrees with Professor Moon's primary recommendation but does support Prof. Moon's observation that certain procedural changes are necessary.

"Section 13 is a significant component of the civil approach to combating Internet hate. While we disagree with Professor Moon's primary conclusion, we are interested in exploring some of his recommended changes to the administration of the law, as we have always maintained that the real current problem lies with its implementation."

"The Jewish community knows from bitter experience how devastating hate propaganda can be. We are grateful to live in a country which recognizes that free expression must have some reasonable limits to eliminate hatred, since hatred undermines core Canadian values of civil discourse, respect for diversity and social cohesion," said Farber.

Sweet Mother Macree. He still doesn’t get it.

Update: A friend just emailed to ask me re the Ceej, "Don't they know when they're beaten?" I sent her this Monty Python and the Holy Grail clip in response.

Posted by: scaramouche at 19:33 | link | comments (5)

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