| Hate speech or freedom of speech?
A human rights trial taking place this week will examine whether a homophobic letter is hate speech or an exercise of freedom of speech.
An Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission panel is hearing a complaint by University of Calgary professor Darren Lund against Reverend Stephen Boissoin. The complaint relates to a letter Boisson wrote that was published in the Red Deer Advocate on June 17, 2002.
In the letter Boissoin states "where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds," "homosexual rights activists and those that defend them, are just as immoral as the pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps that plague our community" and "it is only a matter of time before some of these morally bankrupt individuals… will achieve their goal to have sexual relations with children."
Lund believes that the letter "constitutes a public statement likely to expose a class of persons to discrimination or hatred or contempt" contrary to Alberta’s Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act. Boissoin’s lawyer argues that he was simply exercising his freedom of speech.
The panel hearing started on July 16 and will end on July 20. The commission has 60 days to render a decision.
Concern for freezing homeless prompted Bronco pieing
The woman who pied Mayor Dave Bronconnier last week says she did it because the mayor isn’t helping the homeless despite people freezing on the streets.
"The way he hasn’t addressed the crisis, it’s a crime," says Donna McPhee, a prominent anti-poverty activist. "A pie is a little less humiliating than what they’re doing to low-income people."
McPhee originally set out to pie Premier Ed Stelmach on July 12, but couldn’t find him. She saw Bronconnier passing Olympic Plaza, so she followed him to the corner and waited behind him at the light.
"He’s a tall man, so I stood on my tiptoes and tapped him on the shoulder," she says. When Bronconnier turned, McPhee says she put the pie in his face and told him "that’s your just desserts, mayor." Initially, she stayed where she was as Bronconnier took the pie off his face.
"If you’re gonna do something, you might as well stay behind and say why you did it," McPhee laughs. "He said ‘someone grab this woman!’; no one was doing anything." Eventually, an undercover cop dressed as a cowboy showed up and pushed McPhee to the ground. She was charged with assault with a weapon and released later that day. She will appear in court next month.
Two days earlier, Stelmach avoided getting pied at his Stampede breakfast. Lily Phan subsequently told Fast Forward that she tried to pie the premier to raise awareness about the housing crisis and the environmental destruction being wrought by oilsands development. She was arrested after the incident and charged with mischief and assaulting a peace officer. She also has a court date next month.
Four years ago, Chris Geoghegan pied Ralph Klein at the then-premier’s Stampede breakfast. He was later sentenced to 30 days in jail. |
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