The Canadian Human Rights Commission is seeking a judicial review of a controversial Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling that found an anti-hate law targeting telephone and Internet messages unconstitutional.
The CHRC maintains the tribunal erred in law when adjudicator Athanasios Hadjis refused to apply Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act in a 2003 complaint brought by activist Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman against Marc Lemire, a well-known figure in the Canadian far right and webmaster of freedomsite.org.Yesterday’s announcement was met with both approval and condemnation.
“We certainly welcome this,” said Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress. “There are a number of different decisions by human rights adjudicators that are all in conflict. The Federal Court will now be the correct instrument to bring the needed clarity.”
“I’m very upset about it,” Mr. Lemire said last night. “I’ve just gone through a six-year legal proceeding. At the end of it, the adjudicator relied on a lot of evidence that shows Section 13 is applied in a punitive fashion.”
The CHRC and Mr. Warman could not be reached for comment last night.
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Marc Lemire needs your help, guys. Let’s save this neo-nazi for frrreeeedom!
“Ah Jeez” — who knew this was going to happen as” Bad Momma” tries to put out the “ring of fire”on her burning ass?
She should stop eating those jalepenos. They do bad things.
Unless I’m mistaken, there’s no need for us to help Marc Lemire at this point.
Lynch and the HRC gang (aka the Lynch Mob) requested a judicial review. There’s no guarantee such a review will be forthcoming… and if it does, all is not lost. A judicial review is exactly that: a review; not a trial.
The reviewing judge might find the tribunal didn’t go far enough in condemning the tactics of Warman. The reviewing judge might also find Section 13 is unconstitutional (a power which the tribunal lacks). If the reviewing judge does find fault, the remedy would be to recommend a trial. You’ll notice I didn’t say “retrial” because, at this point, in the eyes of the law, Marc Lemire has not yet been tried. The tribunal doesn’t count (pardon the expression) for Jack.
Should a trial be recommended, it would be up to the Crown to decide whether there was sufficient evidence, substantial likelihood of conviction and whether the public interest would be served by going to trial.
If a trial is ordered, at that point, Lemire might need legal help. Not before.
That being said, Lemire might choose to apply for intervenor status in the judicial review… or ask to have counsel appear with intervenor status… but that’s up to him…
Re: #3 — I’ll be watching this, Mac. You are correct I think and we’ll all get to see how it goes as time moves on.