“And, he says, when he had a conversation with a Commission employee, mediator Bob Fagan, about the specifics of the allegation, he was astonished at what he heard.
“‘I told him that it seemed to be an abuse of the Human Rights Act for someone to try and use it as an instrument of censorship. And when I said that, on the phone, there was a pause and then he said, in a somewhat astonished tone: “But the Human Rights Act is about censorship.” Then it was my turn to be silent on my end, because I found that breath-taking. For the Human Rights Commission’s own mediator to acknowledge that censorship was the purpose of their Act.”
(…)
“Gray also says he’d be much happier fighting this battle in a regular court rather than before the Canadian Human Rights Commission, where the usual rules of evidence don’t apply. ‘If (Mr. Wells) truly believes I am motivated by hate, his complaint should not be before the Human Rights Commission. He should charge me under Section 319 of the Criminal Code (of Canada). That carries with is the possiblity of two years in jail, but in defence of the (free speech) rights of Canadians I am perfectly willing to risk going to jail.’
(…)
“‘The only reason these people are getting away with it,’ Emmanuel says, ‘is because there’s not enough of an outcry from the common folk in Canada saying: ‘Enough! You’re not going to short-change our Charter rights simply because you figure everyone either has to agree with what you’re doing or shut up.’ Emmanuel says there’s a real need to wake Canadians up to the ‘sorry state of Free Speech’ in their country.”
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