Weekly Note to Supporters of the Citizens Centre
from Link Byfield
February 16, 2004
TITLE: Suppressing free speech is no laughing matter
What mental gifts qualify someone to be Canada's Minister of Multiculturalism? First it was Hedy Fry. Now it's Jean Augustine.
Augustine is a standard-issue Toronto Liberal--former school principal, woman of colour, feminist, immigrant from Grenada, etc., elected in 1993 and now appointed to cabinet.
Her first notable pronouncement came a week ago in response to l'affaire Cherry, for his remark on CBC that face masks are worn mainly by Europeans and "French guys."
Although this simple statement of fact could easily have been confirmed or refuted with a call to the NHL, Cherry is now being investigated for "racism" by two people from the Official Languages Commission. CBC has agreed to put Coach's Corner on a seven-second delay to suppress such incendiary information in future.
"The government," said Augustine, "will not tolerate statements that create dissonance in our society and disrespect for others."
I assume she means any dissent from official policy. She wants uniformity of opinion.
Which, when you think of it, is an interesting attitude in a minister responsible for maintaining cultural differences.
However, as we all know, your right to "respect" these days depends entirely on the political status of your particular group.
For instance, if Cherry had said hockey face masks are popular only among Europeans and Americans, nobody would have blinked. Americans are not on the list of those entitled to respect.
That's why Sunera Thobani, head of a government-funded feminist group, could say after September 11, 2001, "The American nation that Bush is invoking is a people which is bloodthirsty, vengeful and calling for blood. They don't care whose blood it is, they want blood." Nobody "investigated" her.
I'm not saying anyone should have. My point is that nobody did.
Similarly, Cherry could have said "Europeans and Christians," because (unlike Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Jews) Christians have no protective status.
You can say, for instance, "Christians alone are responsible for the murder of six million Jews," as our esteemed First Husband John Ralston Saul wrote in his recently published book On Equilibrium. Was there an "investigation" of this absurd and hateful "dissonance" by the spouse of the Governor General? No, the Prime Minister replied in Parliament, "This is Canada. He can say what he wants."
With equal impunity Cherry could have said, "Europeans and conservatives."
For example nobody "investigated" former Immigration minister Elinor Caplan after she declared of the Alliance Party, "Their supporters are Holocaust deniers, prominent bigots and racists!" That was at an Ontario election warm-up for Paul Martin, who said not a word to correct her.
Nobody investigated former Multicult minister Hedy Fry for saying, "As we speak right now, crosses are burning on front lawns in Prince George, B.C.," and something equally idiotic about the people of Kamloops.
On the other hand, Cherry would never have got away with saying anything even potentially disparaging of "gays" or "immigrants" or "women." This is because in Canada nobody may criticize any race (excepting whites), any gender (excepting males), any religion (excepting Christianity) or any sexual orientation (excepting the normal one).
That's why B.C. teacher Chris Kempling is not allowed to write a letter to his local newspaper mildly questioning the wisdom of encouraging homosexual behavior. It's why prison guard Hugh Owen is forbidden to publish anti-gay Bible citations in Saskatchewan. It's why praying unobtrusively outside most Canadian abortion facilities during business hours is an indictable criminal act.
It is all too easy to laugh off this ridiculous regime, but very wrong. We Canadians are not exempt from history, and history is peopled with tyrants who shut down reasoned free speech because the truth offends their corrupt sensibilities. The Third World today is full of tin-pot Jean Augustines and Hedy Frys and Elinor Caplans.
These demagogues may be ridiculous, but they are not funny. They are a menace to our most fundamental rights, and they must be relentlessly opposed.
- Link Byfield
Link Byfield is chairman of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
Suite 203, 10441 - 178 Street
Edmonton, AB T5S 1R5
Phone: 780-481-7844
Toll Free: 1-866-666-6768
Fax: 780-481-9983
contact@citizenscentre.com
www.citizenscentre.com
from Link Byfield
February 16, 2004
TITLE: Suppressing free speech is no laughing matter
What mental gifts qualify someone to be Canada's Minister of Multiculturalism? First it was Hedy Fry. Now it's Jean Augustine.
Augustine is a standard-issue Toronto Liberal--former school principal, woman of colour, feminist, immigrant from Grenada, etc., elected in 1993 and now appointed to cabinet.
Her first notable pronouncement came a week ago in response to l'affaire Cherry, for his remark on CBC that face masks are worn mainly by Europeans and "French guys."
Although this simple statement of fact could easily have been confirmed or refuted with a call to the NHL, Cherry is now being investigated for "racism" by two people from the Official Languages Commission. CBC has agreed to put Coach's Corner on a seven-second delay to suppress such incendiary information in future.
"The government," said Augustine, "will not tolerate statements that create dissonance in our society and disrespect for others."
I assume she means any dissent from official policy. She wants uniformity of opinion.
Which, when you think of it, is an interesting attitude in a minister responsible for maintaining cultural differences.
However, as we all know, your right to "respect" these days depends entirely on the political status of your particular group.
For instance, if Cherry had said hockey face masks are popular only among Europeans and Americans, nobody would have blinked. Americans are not on the list of those entitled to respect.
That's why Sunera Thobani, head of a government-funded feminist group, could say after September 11, 2001, "The American nation that Bush is invoking is a people which is bloodthirsty, vengeful and calling for blood. They don't care whose blood it is, they want blood." Nobody "investigated" her.
I'm not saying anyone should have. My point is that nobody did.
Similarly, Cherry could have said "Europeans and Christians," because (unlike Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Jews) Christians have no protective status.
You can say, for instance, "Christians alone are responsible for the murder of six million Jews," as our esteemed First Husband John Ralston Saul wrote in his recently published book On Equilibrium. Was there an "investigation" of this absurd and hateful "dissonance" by the spouse of the Governor General? No, the Prime Minister replied in Parliament, "This is Canada. He can say what he wants."
With equal impunity Cherry could have said, "Europeans and conservatives."
For example nobody "investigated" former Immigration minister Elinor Caplan after she declared of the Alliance Party, "Their supporters are Holocaust deniers, prominent bigots and racists!" That was at an Ontario election warm-up for Paul Martin, who said not a word to correct her.
Nobody investigated former Multicult minister Hedy Fry for saying, "As we speak right now, crosses are burning on front lawns in Prince George, B.C.," and something equally idiotic about the people of Kamloops.
On the other hand, Cherry would never have got away with saying anything even potentially disparaging of "gays" or "immigrants" or "women." This is because in Canada nobody may criticize any race (excepting whites), any gender (excepting males), any religion (excepting Christianity) or any sexual orientation (excepting the normal one).
That's why B.C. teacher Chris Kempling is not allowed to write a letter to his local newspaper mildly questioning the wisdom of encouraging homosexual behavior. It's why prison guard Hugh Owen is forbidden to publish anti-gay Bible citations in Saskatchewan. It's why praying unobtrusively outside most Canadian abortion facilities during business hours is an indictable criminal act.
It is all too easy to laugh off this ridiculous regime, but very wrong. We Canadians are not exempt from history, and history is peopled with tyrants who shut down reasoned free speech because the truth offends their corrupt sensibilities. The Third World today is full of tin-pot Jean Augustines and Hedy Frys and Elinor Caplans.
These demagogues may be ridiculous, but they are not funny. They are a menace to our most fundamental rights, and they must be relentlessly opposed.
- Link Byfield
Link Byfield is chairman of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
Suite 203, 10441 - 178 Street
Edmonton, AB T5S 1R5
Phone: 780-481-7844
Toll Free: 1-866-666-6768
Fax: 780-481-9983
contact@citizenscentre.com
www.citizenscentre.com