Dimant pulls a Harding: Last week the B’nai Brith took out a full page ad in the National Post that was intended to be a wake-up call about the jihad. So far as we know, no one has complained to state authorities about it--yet--even though it is clear violation of the censorship provision in our “human rights” act and could conceivably be considered “hate speech” under our criminal code. Lest we forget (and, alas, we have, we have) some years ago a Christian pastor, Mark Harding, was convicted of a “hate crime” and sent to prison for saying things that seems fairly tame compared to the BB's Nazi stuff. Here’s how it went down, from a 2002 WND piece:
Harding was convicted in 1998 on federal hate-crimes charges stemming from a June 1997 incident in which he distributed pamphlets outside a public high school, Weston Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Harding – who said that until that point he spent most of his time evangelizing Muslims – was protesting the school's policy of setting aside a room for Muslim students to pray during school hours.
In one of his pamphlets, Harding listed atrocities committed by Muslims in foreign lands to back his assertion that Canadians should be wary of local Muslims.
The pamphlet said: "The Muslims who commit these crimes are no different than the Muslim believers living here in Toronto. Their beliefs are based on the Quran. They sound peaceful, but underneath their false sheep's clothing are raging wolves seeking whom they may devour. And Toronto is definitely on their hit list."
"The point I was trying to make is you shouldn't have a violent religion like Islam allowed in a school when Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism is not allowed," he told WND.
That’s it? A sheep’s clothing observation can get you tossed in the joint? And you don’t even have to draw comparisons between jihadis and Nazis?
So that’s how Canada “balances” free speech and “hate speech”.
After losing a Supreme Court appeal in Fall, 2002, Harding was ordered by “enlightened” authorities to resume
his sentence of two years probation and 340 hours of community service under the direction of Mohammad Ashraf, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America in Mississauga, Ont.
Ashraf, according to Harding, said that instead of licking stamps and stuffing envelopes, "it would be better if you learned about Islam."
The cleric made it clear, Harding recalled in an interview with WorldNetDaily, that during the sessions nothing negative could be said about Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.
"He said he was my supervisor, and if I didn't follow what he said, he would send me back to jail," recounted Harding, who had been prevented from speaking publicly about his case under a gag order.
I don’t think the BB’s Frank Dimant need fear having to endure similar treatment. Still, it seems clear that a Canada that has apologized to so many for past ill-treatment (to Chinese and Aboriginals and Japanese-Canadians and, last but not least, Maher Arar) surely owes an apology and compensation to Mark Harding.
Update: From a July '09 piece by Tarek Fatah in the National Post (my bolds):
Until 2007, only men had translated the Koran and interpreted it. That's because the very idea of a woman translating the holy book offends Islamists. Consider, for example, the reaction to the first-ever translation by a woman — Laleh Bakhtiar's The Sublime Quran — two years ago.
Mohammad Ashraf of the Canadian branch of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) — the same gentleman who this week told the CBC that there was no provision for honour killings in Islam — told The Toronto Star that he would not permit The Sublime Quran to be sold in the ISNA bookstore. "Our bookstore would not allow this kind of translation," he said. "I will consider banning it ... This woman-friendly translation will be out of line and will not fly too far."
What had Laleh Bakhtiar done to deserve the punishment of having her translation of the Koran banned from ISNA's Islamic bookstores? Her fault, in the eyes of Islamists, is that she believes the Koran does not condone spousal abuse, as claimed by Islamists.
If a woman's translation of the Koran is banned from an Islamic bookstore, what is available at such places? At one Toronto bookstore, the title of a gaudy paperback screamed at passersby: Women Who Deserve to Go to Hell.
Doesn't Pastor Harding's Islamic reeducator sound a tad, oh, I dunno, sexist? But he has even less worries about having to account for his "illegal" thoughts to Canada's thought police than Frank does. (After all, the BB has already been investigated by the inquisitors; no Islamist ever has.)
Update: Another interesting fact about Ashraf--he signed a letter of employment for an extremist Muslima, a foreigner. Maclean's wrote about it here.
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