Ann Coulter cries that Canada is bullying her

[Asher]

This reminds me though. For all of the "rah rah, freedom of speech" laws in the US...how come network TV is so censored?

Canada is far more free, permitting more freedom of speech on the TV...

[Asher]

When someone makes an HRC complaint, it means it's not a criminal case. It's not going to be prosecuted.

Civil cases are prosecuted.

Human Rights Tribunals/Commissions are not your run of the mill civil cases. They exist outside the system of criminal and civil courts.

[Asher]

Civil cases are prosecuted. Apparently the Canadian Human Right Commission exists outside of the Canadian justice system, however, so who knows what form their punishments take. What a ****ed up, illiberal system...

Didn't see this DanS.

Now you can see why I'm making a clear distinction between the HRC and criminal law.

Their punishments are defined in law. $20K max in compensation, $10K max in punitive fines. Can also issue cease & desist. More commonly, they have the legal power to force someone to say they're sorry or issue retractions.

The only way someone can possibly face criminal charges and imprisonment from HRC/HRT issues are if people are found in contempt of court for not following through on the judgment. This has happened twice.

[Drake Tungsten]

Didn't see this DanS.

Poly server sucks.

Now you can see why I'm making a clear distinction between the HRC and criminal law.

Dude, the fact the the HRC system is separate (with lower evidentiary standards than the normal justice system) makes it worse. I can't believe you support this.

[MrFun]

Didn't see this DanS.

Poly server sucks.

Yes, it does - especially tonight. There were a couple times when it said the server was too busy, to let me log back in.

[Asher]

Dude, the fact the the HRC system is separate (with lower evidentiary standards than the normal justice system) makes it worse. I can't believe you support this.

The evidentiary standard is not any lower. If you actually think about it, the only way a case can make it to a tribunal is if there is clear-cut evidence of the issue at hand. In every single case (that I know of), everyone agrees to a statement of facts. Mark Steyn says "Yes, I wrote this". That's the "evidentiary standard". The HRT makes judgments on if the statement in question is in violation of the guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court.

If someone doesn't like the ruling, they can simply appeal it to the court system...all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The HRC is basically an organization that sits infront of the courts with a specific purview and very specific guidelines for what they can and cannot do. In the event of anyone taking issue with what's happening, it moves up the chain to the full-fledged court system.

Don't be so dramatic. The purpose of the HRC is to filter, more or less, so as to not waste real court's time whenever possible.

[notyoueither]

The HRCs are pretty bad.

Quasi-judicial tribunals high-jacked by special interest groups that can torment citizens with their sham trials.

They need to be abolished or significantly reformed.

[MrFun]

Dude, the fact the the HRC system is separate (with lower evidentiary standards than the normal justice system) makes it worse. I can't believe you support this.

To be fair, Asher said that criminal charges in this system has only happened twice. If this is the case, I don't see where abuse/misuse of any lower evidentiary standards has led to excess number of criminal charges.

[Drake Tungsten]

The evidentiary standard is not any lower.

That's not what Wikipedia says, although I don't trust the sourcing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Human_Rights_Commission_free_speech_controversies

Hearsay isn't really allowed, is it?

The purpose of the HRC is to filter, more or less, so as to not waste real court's time whenever possible.

Wiki makes it sound like the HRC takes cases that would get thrown out of a real court.

[Asher]

The HRC/HRT have less bite than a frickin traffic court. That's why I'm continually amazed by the venom and histrionics by certain people (like Ben, and now Drake) towards it.

[Asher]

The HRCs are pretty bad.

Quasi-judicial tribunals high-jacked by special interest groups that can torment citizens with their sham trials.

They need to be abolished or significantly reformed.

I don't see them as necessarily good nor evil.

I do get a good laugh when people get so dramatic, like this, over it.

Torment. Yes, that's what they're doing.

Did you see Ezra Levant's HRT interview that he put on YouTube? He has to give up 3 minutes of his life sitting across from a nice Canadian woman who asks him some simple questions. I wonder if he needed counseling after that (the answer is YES, by the way, considering it's now his life's mission to abolish the system, after he's done sleeping with Coulter).

[notyoueither]

The HRC/HRT have less bite than a frickin traffic court. That's why I'm continually amazed by the venom and histrionics by certain people (like Ben, and now Drake) towards it.

A traffic court with significant financial penalties and where the prosecution is paid for but the defence not.

They are a foul brew of criminal and civil courts with busy-body bureaucrats.

[notyoueither]

I don't see them as necessarily good nor evil.

I do get a good laugh when people get so dramatic, like this, over it.

Torment. Yes, that's what they're doing.

Did you see Ezra Levant's HRT interview that he put on YouTube? He has to give up 3 minutes of his life sitting across from a nice Canadian woman who asks him some simple questions. I wonder if he needed counseling after that (the answer is YES, by the way, considering it's now his life's mission to abolish the system, after he's done sleeping with Coulter).

I am under the impression his defence cost a significant amount.

[Drake Tungsten]

The HRC/HRT have less bite than a frickin traffic court. That's why I'm continually amazed by the venom and histrionics by certain people (like Ben, and now Drake) towards it.

I don't care how bad the "bite" is. Canada is attacking free speech in ways that seem more and more unreal the more I learn about them.

[Asher]

I am under the impression his defence cost a significant amount.

That would be hilarious, if so. The dude's a ****ing lawyer who specializes in HRC/HRT issues. Why would it cost him A DIME?

Here. Witness him being "tormented" that apparently cost him a "significant amount" of money.



Edit: I had forgotten how much of a douche this guy was til I watched the video again. I feel like smacking him every time.