Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ezra threatened with another suit, needs help!

CHRC lawyer threatens me with another lawsuit. (I'm still "serene") - Ezra Levant

It would seem to me that a government lawyer criticized for his work as part of a scandalous government operation shouldn't have quite the same status in a defamation case as would a person not in the public employ. Of course it is the responsible minister of the crown, and the government more generally, who should be held ultimately accountable for the CHRC fiasco; still, I don't see how Vigna has much of a case (but I know I'm not a lawyer). Anyone who prosecutes under Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act is enabling an evil law. But I doubt if Canadian courts will allow such an understanding of the facts when it comes to considering if a reputation has been unfairly lost. We are a people too keen to defer to government- and legally-constituted authority, even when it's morally wrong.

This is just more evidence that Barbara Kay is right that we need more protection in Canada against SLAPP suits:
...A billionaire Saudi sheik threatened a libel suit in Britain, where truth is no defence and libel laws are plaintiff-friendly. Ehrenfeld hadn’t the funds to contest, and lost the suit. The decision has hurt her career. Since the British market is now closed to them and they fear future liability, publishers shun her work.

Exactly the same thing could happen to Levant and Steyn if a negative HRC decision chills Canadian publishers and distributors. Steyn is presently poised to defend America Alone in its French translation if an HRC-type fatwa emerges in France — “And I’ll do that in every Western jurisdiction where bullies who can’t withstand free, open debate decide instead to use the legal system to shut the debate down.”

One way or another we must stop the fatwa industry in its tracks. Begin with removal of speech-regulation from the HRCs’ legal mandate. Build on that with legislation that imposes costs and damages on litigious third parties who seek to chill journalists.

Canada should also pass legislation imitative of the U.S. Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law, presently active in 24 U.S. states, which disallows harassment of those writing on matters of “public concern,” as well as the Libel Terrorism Protection Act, a New York state initiative that will combat libel tourism.

The HRC crisis is not a tempest in a teapot. Stanley Kurtz, senior fellow at the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, says: “I don’t think it’s too strong to say that the [HRC] complaint against Mark Steyn is a totalitarian document.”

It is therefore no exaggeration to say that Levant and Steyn are fighting for the defining ideal of Western civilization which, once lost, would spell the beginning of the end of all our other freedoms.
So help out Ezra if you can, financially. He alludes to many other legal attacks against him. I have some inkling of why he can't talk about them, given the ethics of professional organizations. The lawyer bills for his fight for our shared freedom must be considerable. Follow the link above to his paypal.

1 comment:

paulsmith198914@gmail.com said...

Of course, financial help is not possible for many reasons! Guys, I need to write my paper in Physics, so you can simply make money on helping me as you wish!