Canadian Ban on Criticism of Jews Upheld

Source: Canadian Jewish News
http://www.cjnews.com/community/aroundcanada.htm

Collins Loses Case

Paul Lungen | 12-20-01 Edition

TORONTO – A British Columbia tribunal has upheld the constitutionality of a section of the province’s human rights code that prohibits publication of material that promotes hatred or contempt of identifiable groups.

Tribunal member Tom Patch ruled the provision of the B.C. Human Rights Code is justifiable in a free and democratic society.

The ruling leaves in effect a 1999 decision by a BC Human Rights Tribunal that found columnist Doug Collins and the North Shore News had published four columns that were “likely to expose Jewish persons to hatred or contempt because of their race, religion or ancestry.”

The tribunal ordered Collins and the newspaper to pay $2,000 in damages to the complainant, Harry Abrams, to publish a summary of the decision and to refrain from further statements that expose jews to [...sentence ends here in origional article...editor must have been taking a crack break-- ECNS]

At the time, Patch, who headed the earlier tribunal, agreed to sever the constitutional issues from the factual question of whether the articles violated terms of the code.

Collins died after arguments on the constitutional issues were heard but before a decision was rendered. Nevertheless, the tribunal determined the issue was not moot, because its ruling could have an impact on the earlier order. In addition, Victoria lawyer Doug Christie, who represented Collins’ estate, told the tribunal that Collins’ widow wishes to publish her late husband’s writings, including the articles that formed the basis of the complaint against him.

Patch ruled that Christie failed to distinguish the Abrams case from an earlier decision that also involved Collins. In that case, brought by Canadian Jewish Congress for a single Collins article that appeared in the North Shore News, the tribunal ruled any limits on Collins’ Charter rights to free speech were justifiable in a free and democratic society.