Opinio Rex

It is almost inevitably the hallmark of a stupid argument where it begins with a comparison of its subject to Hitler or Stalin. And indeed, cartoon squawk-box Rex Murphy, for once, completely failed to redeem his bombastic rant with a point predicated on substance.



Last night Rex got four minutes on The National to present "real human rights." This, according to Rex, is the stuff of Hitler. It isn't the stuff of MacLean's Magazine, a national newsmagazine in Canada, who last year just so happened to publish a conspiratorial piece about global Muslim domination. It's apparently A Muslim proclivity to "reproduce like mosquitos", and apparently, according to Rex, saying so is what "free speech" looks like. And so the four Muslim law students who filed a human rights complaint in BC, Ontario and federally in late November exemplify "fake" human rights, and are a discredit to the concept and show how useless these Human Rights Commissions are.

I encourage you to watch Rex's piece. Because it's crazy. And because Rex missed a few points which I think are rather wonderful.

The truth of the matter is that none of the human rights commissions in BC, Ontario or Federally have yet heard the matter, much less decided it in favor of the complainants. The Commissions may very well determine that the very same complaints levied by Rex amount to the "frivolous and vexatious" grounds on which a commission can freely dismiss an entire claim. For Rex to induce sweeping conclusions from a premature claim is entirely, and purely, inflammatory.

Furthermore, the Commissions could also decide that the matter is more appropriately heard more appropriately under other jurisdictions, such as the provision in the Criminal Code against hate speech, or as a Constitutional case through the regular court system. The later of course amounts to a horrendously expensive and nearly impossible task for the average citizen to contemplate and would more likely than not kill their claim in utero. This is what Rex should really be concerned about if he wants to protect freedom of expression. In my opinion, the mere presence of the Charter of Rights does little to protect any Canadian when it is practically inaccessible to them.

Finally, Rex implies through a drive-by argument that the "floodgates are open" to foolish complaints; that Commissions are nothing more than boondoggles; and that Respondents are unfairly disadvantaged with the burden of bearing legal costs.

The truth is that only Ontario provides complainants with Commission counsel, though even here often only late in the process, and even then most claimants hire independent counsel. Furthermore, filing a human rights complaint takes a great deal of courage, sacrifice, time, social risk, determination and effort for people suffering very serious and often intersecting disadvantage. A complaint is not something anyone lightly undertakes just because there are no fees. The cases are as heart wrenching as the decisions are vital. The decisions of the Commissions are reported and freely available on their websites; I would urge everyone who criticizes from afar to read a few before coming to a sweeping conclusion about what these institutions stand for. And the Commissions are not stupid; they do (at least in Ontario) have the power to award legal costs to a Respondent under a broad variety of circumstances. An affordable human rights process is a good thing. I would have thought that a smart guy like Rex would understand that a corner stone of a free society is access to justice, and that without it, justice is a sham concept.

What Rex has achieved, in other words, is precisely what he purportedly railed against. By abusing his privileged position as a national reporter to make a point that doesn't exist, he showed precisely how "free speech" so quickly turns to senseless, empty, hurtful and inflammatory rhetoric that is a disservice to the term.

January 5th, 2008 / 0 Comments / Tags: rex murphy, CBC, human rights, freedom of expression, stupid