And This Time They Really Do It.... They took away one of our most fundamental rights - the Right to Free Speech.
You may have read about this recent decision of the Human Rights Commission of Quebec levying a fine of $12k against an individual for calling his neighbour a derogatory name for a Gay Person. Speaking as a lawyer, the ramifications of this Ruling is truly disturbing.
Some facts on this case which really matter little other than for general interest.
According to Lt. Col. (ret'd) Rusk, his Neighbour nearly ran over his son while playing ball hockey on the road. He claimed the Neighbour was driving in a totally reckless manner.
Lt. Col Rusk thereupon expressed a word to the Neighbour which the Neighbour found objectionable. We would find the world objectionable as well.
Neighbour takes Rusk to Criminal Court where the case is thrown out since to that point, Free Speech was allowed in our Society. It is indoctrinated in the American Constitution and here in Canada was initially brought into legislation by John Diefenbaker's 1960 Bill of Rights and then subsequently codified in our own Constitution via Pierre Trudeau's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
(As an aside - the one area of difference between the Diefenbaker Bill and the Trudeau Charter was with respect to the inclusion of Enjoyment of Property Rights - it is included in the former but not the latter. Trudeau, as a Socialist, had difficulty entrenching that right for the benefit of our citizens).
Now back to Freedom of Speech. Prior to protection in legislation, the Right to this Freedom was ingrained in the English Common Law indeed it along with Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Assembly were the corner stones of our Society.
Then along comes a Quasi Judicial Human Rights Body that Rules against One of those very Corner Stones - The Right to Freedom of Speech.
And Ladies and Gentlemen, we are not talking here about things said on Radio or TV - we are now talking about what an individual may say in his or her private life. The fact that such comments may not be palatable to the ordinary person is not the issue since Freedom of Speech by definition should be without restriction unless serious death or injury is apt to occur (e.g. yelling our 'fire' in a crowded theatre).
To be truly Free - Speech cannot nor should not always be sanitized.
And yet that is precisely what we have with this recent decision. Political Correctness is an attempt to have done what this decision does but it does not have the Commission's power of enforcement. That is to say we as citizens are free to voluntarily accept Politicial Correctness but are compelled to follow Quasi Judicial powers to fine and imprison.
This is decision represents a Sad Day for Freedom and Democracy but more sadly, it is another in a long lis of our diminished Rights.
As I see it...
'Galagher'
