First they came for the basement-dwelling neo-Nazi recluse . . .
Until recently, it was no easy task galvanizing Canadians behind the notion that freedoms of speech and the press were at risk from runaway human rights commissions.
In the past, if such a case warranted attention, usually the preponderance of evidence against the accused outweighed -- or even masked -- concerns about the process itself. It’s difficult to get too worked up over some racist being put through the wringer.
Certainly the human rights complaints filed against two news magazines -- Western Standard and Maclean’s -- have taken the debate to a whole new level. Individuals and organizations who had never spoken out against these kinds of complaints, or even thought much of them at all, were suddenly vocal both in their opposition to the process and their demand for reform.
For some, though, the apathy seemed impenetrable. To them, it was a case of right-wing rabble rousers in need of some comeuppance. Publishing those dreadful Danish cartoons? Excerpting Mark Steyn’s horrendous book? What sort of “media outlets” would do such a thing? Freedom of the press? Hardly!
Perhaps the moment has now arrived where the naysayers will remove the blinders -- be they partisan or merely of convenience. Perhaps this is the point at which we will look back and wonder how we let it get this far.
Award-winning editorial cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon and his employer, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, are as mainstream as Canadian journalism can get. They are now the subject of a complaint filed with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. Make no mistake, we are indeed crossing the Rubicon here.
The Halifax-based Centre for Islamic Development claims one of Bruce MacKinnon’s cartoons created “an environment of hate” (How, then, to describe the “environment” that frivolous, agenda-driven human rights complaints create?).
The April 18 cartoon was a portrayal of Cheryfa Macaulay Jamal, whose husband was among those arrested in a major anti-terrorism raid in 2006. On April 15, charges were stayed against Qayyum Abdul Jamal, leading his wife to remark, “I want millions, seriously”.
MacKinnon’s cartoon featured Ms. Jamal holding a sign that reads “I want millions,” while an adjoining speech bubble reads “I can put it toward my husband’s next training camp.”
This, it can be argued, is all fair game for comment. Immediately demanding millions of dollars in compensation because charges have been stayed is a rather outrageous demand, to say the least, and having charges stayed is not necessarily a declaration of innocence, though it could be. Moreover, in the case of Mr. Jamal, the fact that he and others were out in the woods shooting paintball and pellet guns and “marching” was never contested (almost sounds like a “training camp”).
The cartoon also pictured Jamal as she appears -- completely covered in a burka, with only her eyes showing, and those eyes adorned with glasses. And yet the head of the Centre for Islamic Development remarked “You would not put a native American Indian with feathers and say I need money in order to cull white people’s heads. You wouldn’t do that. This would be libellous”.
But why is this cartoon? This is what the subject looks like, and her own words about suing for millions are on the record.
It involved a major national story -- one with a local twist since Ms. Jamal is from Halifax. In other words, exactly the kind of work you’d expect from an editorial cartoonist.
Now that he’s going to be investigated by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, what sort of a chill will that put on editorial cartoonists across this country? Or on the newspapers themselves?
No doubt the Chronicle-Herald will fight this case. The newspaper may even win, but at what cost? As they say, the process is as much the punishment as anything.
But imagine if the ruling goes against the newspaper (not exactly a stretch). That would be tantamount to a de facto state veto over the editorial content of a major, mainstream Canadian newspaper. Let that sink in for a moment and contemplate how truly frightening that is.
The chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission has talked of the need for media to put content through a “human rights filter”. She may soon get her wish. The rest of us will be left wondering what happened to freedom of the press, and why we didn’t speak up sooner.
Rob Breakenridge hosts The World Tonight, weeknights from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on AM770 CHQR rob.breakenridge@corusent.com