The Shotgun Blog
« Traffic Enforcement Quotas | Main | Cuba Runs Out of Toilet Paper »
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
B’nai Brith Canada criticizes anti-Israel student group over frivolous human rights complaint
B’nai Brith Canada is condemning the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at Carleton University for following the lead of other anti-Israel organizations in abusing Canada’s human rights laws with what they are calling a “frivolous complaint.” The SAIA filled a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after the University removed posters B’nai Brith is calling “anti-Semitic.” The posters, which the SAIA put up earlier this year on campus advertising Israel Apartheid Week, accused Jews of murdering innocent children.
“The poster that this SAIA chapter put up was an affront and an offense to every person of goodwill,” said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada. “The university was truly justified in using its good judgment to ensure the poster’s removal.”
“It is obvious that this maneuver to involve the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario is part of a new strategy being employed by those who wish to create a ‘legal chill,” continued Dimant. “This new strategy is being propagated by those groups that cross the line from legitimate criticism of a democratic Israel to promoting propaganda against the Jewish state and, by extension, the Jewish people.”
Dimant is calling the maneuver a “new strategy of intimidation” and points to human rights complaints levelled against Maclean’s magazine and the Western Standard as evidence:
“There was an attempt to muzzle Maclean’s magazine, the Western Standard and Ezra Levant were dragged through tribunal hearings, and B’nai Brith Canada, for a period of five years, had to defend itself against a frivolous charge lodged with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission,” said Dimant. “In all of these cases, the charges were either withdrawn or the defendants won, but only after an enormous cost in terms of dollars and human resources.”
B’nai Brith Canada is calling for “serious reform” of Canada’s human rights tribunals and commissions so that these bodies can be allowed to focus on “genuine human rights violations.”
Posted by Matthew Johnston
Posted by westernstandard on August 12, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Maybe the best way to stop the abuse would be for the complaintant to have to give the hRC the same amount of money for prosecuting as the defendant has to spend in legal fees. Would probably see a huge decrease in complaints if it wasn't made so easy.
Posted by: Alberta Altruist | 2009-08-12 4:48:40 PM
B’nai Brith Canada is calling for “serious reform” of Canada’s human rights tribunals and commissions so that these bodies can be allowed to focus on “genuine human rights violations.”
Posted by Western Standard on August 12, 2009
And what exactly are “genuine human rights violations” in B’nai Brith's view? I'll bet criticism of Zionism / Israel make the list.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-08-12 7:47:48 PM
B'nai Brith still does not get it. They lobbied for and continue to support HRCs and HR legislation without grasping that they have assisted in the birth of a monster with a double-edged sword.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-08-12 7:56:37 PM
Yeah. Don't get rid of the thing altogether. Just "fix" it so it "works" the way WE like it.
Posted by: JC | 2009-08-13 12:49:03 AM
Frank Dimant has no credibility whatsoever.
That's the biggest problem the B'nai Brith have to deal with.
Posted by: Marc | 2009-08-13 3:58:41 AM
I am glad, in an ironic sort of way, that the monster they support has come back to bite them in the ass.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-08-13 5:35:54 AM
accused Jews of murdering innocent children.
What a dishonest way to describe a poster that depicted the killing of civilians in Gaza. So now the State of Israel gets a pass every time it wipes out civilians--or else it's the Blood Libel?
I hope the OHRC eats Carleton alive. My school, btw.
Posted by: Dr.Dawg | 2009-08-15 1:24:16 PM
.... and how ironical is this! If it wasn't such a serious matter, one might even chuckle. The "some-are-more-equal-than-others" in front of the HRCs/HRTs is wont to continue while BB,CJC, and CAIR-Can attempt to control what/how the HRCs/HRTs function while doing their best to bring complaints forth under the existing framework.
The sooner the HRC Industry is brought under control, the sooner we can get to people dealing with people and the hell with potentially facing legal consequences for daring to hurt someones feelings or perhaps even possibly doing so (as subjectively determined by the 'Roos).
Let the debates role without the threat of frivolous law- fare and people will make up their own minds. The more these three groups whine and carry on, the less credibility they earn. Who knows - perhaps it will be this competition to control the HRCs/RTs that will bring about the HRC industry's downfall since the politicians are doing nothing. The Commissioners must now be getting a little paranoid about having to adjudicate the complaints now being brought forth.
How can a sitting Alderman (Calgary's Diane Colley-Urquhart) not be in a huge conflict of interest when she is also one of three Southern Alberta HRC Commissioners who might have to adjudicate one of these complaints. She doesn't see it - nor do Premier Ed's crew who appointed her..... and there are those who wonder how the beat goes on.
Posted by: Calgary Clippper | 2009-08-15 6:52:28 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.