“Hate” Charges Stayed Against Internet Dissident Terry Tremaine

Written by Paul Fromm

Saturday, 08 September 2012 05:20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email newsletter was sent to you in graphical HTML format. If you're seeing this version, your email program prefers plain text emails. You can read the original version online: http://ymlp270.net/zmuzbi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “HATE” CHARGES STAYED AGAINST INTERNET DISSIDENT TERRY TREMAINE VANCOUVER. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012. INVITED TO ADDRESS A VANCOUVER MEETING OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION, CANADIAN POLITICAL PRISONER TERRY TREMAINE TOLD A CHEERING AUDIENCE OF A COURT DECISION EARLIER TODAY. REGINA COURT OF QUEEN’S BENCH JUDGE FREDERICK KOVACH STAYED “HATE|” CHARGES FILED AGAINST HIM BY OTTAWA ACTIVIST RICHARD WARMAN. JUDGE KOVACH WAS RULING ON DEFENCE LAWYER DOUG CHRISTIE’S “ASKOV MOTION” ARGUING UNDUE DELAY. THE JUDGE NOTED THAT IT HAD BEEN 50 MONTHS SINCE MR. TREMAINE HAD BEEN CHARGED. HE ALSO OBSERVED THAT THE CHARGES "AT A MINIMUM EXACERBATED HIS EMPLOYMENT STATUS AND FACILITATED ONGOING MEDIA DESCRIPTIONS OF HIM AS BEING A WHITE SUPREMACIST OR NEO-NAZI." WARMAN THE COMPLAINANT IN A HUMAN RIGHTS CASE (SEC. 13 – INTERNET CENSORSHIP) FILED IN FEBRUARY, 2005, HAD SENT A LETTER OF COMPLAINT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN IN APRIL, 2005, RESULTING IN THE LOSS OF MR. TREMAINE’S POSITION AS A MATH LECTURER. JUDGE KOVACH NOTED: "THE ACCUSED HAS BEEN SUBJECT TO STRINGENT BAIL CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THAT PERIOD,".IN FACT, MR. TREMAINE HAD BEEN GAGGED FROM EXPRESSING HIS POLITICAL VIEWS ON-LINE, SINCE 2008. INITIALLY, MR. TREMAINE HAD BEEN FORBIDDEN FROM OWNING A COMPUTER OR PHONE THAT COULD ACCESS THE INTERNET OR FROM ACCESSING THE INTERNET IN ANY WAY. FOUR TRIPS BACK TO COURT RESULTED IN THE CONDITIONS BEING MODIFIED SO THAT, WHILE MR. TREMAINE COULD OWN A COMPUTER AND ACCESS THE INTERNET, HE COULD NOT POST HIS POLITICAL VIEWS ON ANY “WHITE SUPREMACIST” WEBSITE AND THE REGINA POLICE COULD STORM INTO HIS RESIDENCE AT CHECK HIS HARD DRIVE AT ANY TIME. “THE DELAY IN THIS CASE IS INORDINATE, UNREASONABLE AND ATTRIBUTABLE TO A COMBINATION OF FACTORS INCLUDING INSTITUTIONAL DELAY, ACTIONS AND/OR INACTIONS OF THE CROWN AND, TO A MUCH LESSER EXTENT, ACTIONS OF THE ACCUSED," JUDGE KOVACH OBSERVED. SPEAKING IN VANCOUVER, TERRY TREMAINE NOTED THAT TWO OTHER CASES IN SASKATCHEWAN HAD RECENTLY BEEN STRAYED FOR UNDUE DELAY. BOTH INVOLVED LESS DELAY THAN IN MR. TREMAINE’S CASE; BOTH INVOLVED SERIOUS ACTS OF VIOLENCE AND BOTH INVOLVED REPEAT OFFENDERS. “IT IS MIND BOGGLING,” SAID MR. TREMAINE, “THAT THE SASKATCHEWAN JUSTICE SYSTEM WOULD ALLOW ITSELF TO BE CLOGGED UP WITH A COSTLY NON-VIOLENT FREE SPEECH CASE LI”KE MINE, WHEN IT DOESN’T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO PROSECUTE PERPETRATORS OF SERIOUS ACTS OF VIOLENCE IN A TIMELY MANNER.| REACHED IN OTTAWA, DOUG CHRISTIE, MR. TREMAINE’S LAWYER, PRONOUNCED HIMSELF CAUTIOUSLY PLEASED WITH THE RULING, BUT NOTED THAT JUDGE KOVACH HAD NOT RULED ON HIS MOTION ARGUING THAT THE INTERNET IS NOT “COMMUNICATION” AS DEFINED IN SEC.319, CANADA’S NOTORIOUS “HATE LAW.” MR. CHRISTIE HAS ARGUED IN THIS CASE AND IN A CONTEMPT OF COURT CASE BROUGHT AGAINST MR. TREMAINE ON ANOTHER COMPLAINT BY RICHARD WARMAN, THAT POSTING DATA ON A WEBSITE IN THE UNITED STATES WHERE IT IS LEGAL IS NOT COMMUNICATION. IT IS NOT LIKE MAKING A SPEECH OR HANDING OUT LEAFLETS O A SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. THERE IS NO AUDIENCE. SOMEONE IN CANADA, SAY A SELF-STYLED“NAZI-HUNTER” LIKE RICHARD WARMAN HAD=S TO MAKE MANY CHOICES AND SEARCH TO FIND THE WEBSITE AND THEN MAKE MORE CHOICES TO FIND AND DOWNLOAD A PASSAGE FROM THE WEBSITE. RELYING ON THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN A MUSIC COPYRIGHT CASE THAT THE DOWNLOADING OF INFORMATION CONSTITUTES COMMUNICATION, MR. CHRISTIE HAD ARGUED THAT THE “HATE LAW” DOES NOT APPLY TO THE INTERNET. THIS ISSUE STILL REMAINS OPEN THE CROWN HAS 30 DAYS TO APPEAL. HAILING MR. TREMAINE’S NEWS, MEETING CHAIRMAN PAUL FROMM, DIRECTOR OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION, SAW THIS AS A SMALL VICTORY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INTERNET CENSORSHIP. HOWEVER, HE WARNED, “TERRY TREMAINE IS NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET. HIS SEVEN YEAR TORMENT CONTINUES. HE IS TO BE SENTENCED IN VANCOUVER ON OCTOBER 9 IN FEDERAL COURT.” RICHARD WARMAN COMPLAINT LAUNCHED TWO CONTEMPT OF COURT COMPLAINTS. AGAINST MR. TREMAINE, THE SECOND HEARD IN VICTORIA IN NOVEMBER, 2010 SAW THE SASKATCHEWAN MATH INSTRUCTOR ACQUITTED OF CONTEMPT BY JUDGE SEAN HARRINGTON. THE JUDGE RULED THAT MR. TREMAINE HAD NOT BEEN SERVED WITH THE FEDERAL COURT ORDER UNTIL MORE THAN TWO YEARS AFTER IT WAS ISSUED AND MORE THAN 18 MONTHS AFTER THE INTERNET POSTINGS WARMAN HAD COMPLAINED OF. THEFEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS, BY A 2 TO 1 VOTE, REVERSED JUDGE HARRINGTON AND ORDERED HIM TO SENTENCE MR. TREMAINE FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT, FLOWING FROM A CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL ORDER MADE UNDER A LAW WHICH THE HOUSE OF COMMONS REPEALED LAST JUNE. MR. TREMAINE’S WEBSITE IS HTTP://NSPCANADA.NFSHOST.COM ( HTTP://NSPCANADA.NFSHOST.COM/ ). WHICH WARMAN AND THE CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION WANT TAKEN DOWN IN ITS ENTIRETY. AFTER MR. TREMAINE’S TALK, MR. FROMM NOTED THAT CANADA REBUKES RED CHINA FOR SILENCING DISSIDENTS AND STRIPPING THEM OF POLITICAL RIGHTS - THE RIGHT TO SPEAK. ONE DISSIDENT, FOR INSTANCE, ARCHITECT AND ARTIST WEI WEI WAS JAILED, AS HAS BEEN MR. TREMAINE, FOR 81 DAYS AND THEN PUT UNDER HOUSE ARREST AND DENIED POLITICAL RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO SPEAK FOR A YEAR. “OUTRAGEOUS, OF COURSE,”SAID MR. FROMM “BUT TERRY TREMAINE WAS BEEN GAGGED FOR FOUR YEARS IN A SO-CALLED WITH NO PROTEST FROM THE MEDIA THAT RIGHTLY CHAMPIONED WEI WEI.” HATE CHARGE STAYED AGAINST REGINA MAN CBC News ( http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html ) POSTED: SEP 6, 2012 10:39 AM CST Last Updated: Sep 6, 2012 3:13 PM CST READ 7 COMMENTS7 ( HTTP://WWW.CBC.CA/NEWS/CANADA/SASKATCHEWAN/STORY/2012/09/06/SK-TREMAINE-CHARGE-STAYED-1209.HTML#SOCIALCOMMENTS )TERRY TREMAINE DECLINED TO BE INTERVIEWED AFTER A JUDGE GRANTED A STAY ON HIS HATE-CRIME CHARGE. (CBC) FACEBOOK 7 TWITTER 10 SHARE 17 EMAIL A SASKATCHEWAN JUDGE HAS STAYED A CHARGE OF PROMOTING HATRED, SAYING THE CASE AGAINST A REGINA MAN WAS TAKING TOO LONG TO GET TO TRIAL. TERRY TREMAINE WAS ACCUSED OF WILFULLY PROMOTING HATRED BY ALLEGEDLY POSTING MATERIAL ONLINE ADVOCATING THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWISH PEOPLE. HOWEVER, ON THURSDAY, QUEEN'S BENCH JUSTICE FRED KOVACH SAID THE CASE HAS BEEN DRAGGING THROUGH THE COURTS FOR MORE THAN FOUR YEARS AND ANY TRIAL DATE WOULD STILL BE SEVERAL MONTHS AHEAD. HE RULED TREMAINE'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A TRIAL WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME HAS BEEN VIOLATED AND AS A RESULT, THE CASE CAN'T GO AHEAD. TREMAINE, A FORMER MATH INSTRUCTOR WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, LOST HIS JOB AND IS NOW ON WELFARE, COURT HEARD. KOVACH SAID A PREVIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLAINT LED TO TREMAINE'S INITIAL LOSS OF EMPLOYMENT, BUT THE CRIMINAL CHARGE "AT A MINIMUM EXACERBATED HIS EMPLOYMENT STATUS AND FACILITATED ONGOING MEDIA DESCRIPTIONS OF HIM AS BEING A WHITE SUPREMACIST OR NEO-NAZI." TREMAINE, WHO HAS LIVED IN REGINA FOR SEVERAL YEARS, DECLINED TO BE INTERVIEWED AS HE WALKED OUT OF THE COURTHOUSE. CROWN PROSECUTOR MITCHELL MILLER SAID IT'S TOO EARLY TO SAY WHETHER OR NOT THERE'LL BE AN APPEAL. "OBVIOUSLY, THE CROWN TAKES THESE CHARGES VERY SERIOUSLY — OF COURSE WE DO," MILLER SAID. "THERE'S REASONS WHY THE JUDGE FOUND THAT THE DELAY WAS UNDUE." RICHARD WARMAN, A HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER WHO IS THE COMPLAINANT IN THE TREMAINE CASE, SAID HE'S DISAPPOINTED IT WON'T GO TO TRIAL. "WHAT THIS CASE REALLY DEMONSTRATES IS THE FACT THAT THE CRIMINAL CODE ANTI-HATE PROVISIONS ARE NOT AN EFFECTIVE REMEDY TO HATE SPEECH IN CANADA," WARMAN SAID. _____________________________ Unsubscribe / Change Profile: http://ymlp270.net/ugmjhqsqgsgbbqgbuugguewwmw Powered by YourMailingListProvider

 

“Hate” Charges Stayed Against Internet Dissident Terry Tremaine

Written by Paul Fromm

Saturday, 08 September 2012 04:39

*“Hate” Charges Stayed Against Internet Dissident Terry Tremaine* ** *VANCOUVER**. Thursday, September 6, 2012*. Invited to address a Vancouver meeting of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, Canadian political prisoner Terry Tremaine told a cheering audience of a court decision earlier today. Regina Court of Queen’s Bench Judge Frederick Kovach stayed “hate|” charges filed against him by Ottawa activist Richard Warman. Judge Kovach was ruling on defence lawyer Doug Christie’s “Askov Motion” arguing undue delay. The judge noted that it had been 50 months since Mr. Tremaine had been charged. He also observed that the charges "at a minimum exacerbated his employment status and facilitated ongoing media descriptions of him as being a white supremacist or neo-Nazi." Warman the complainant in a human rights case (Sec. 13 – Internet censorship) filed in February, 2005, had sent a letter of complaint to the University of Saskatchewan in April, 2005, resulting in the loss of Mr. Tremaine’s position as a math lecturer. Judge Kovach noted: "The accused has been subject to stringent bail conditions throughout that period,".In fact, Mr. Tremaine had been gagged from expressing his political views on-line, since 2008. Initially, Mr. Tremaine had been forbidden from owning a computer or phone that could access the Internet or from accessing the Internet in any way. Four trips back to court resulted in the conditions being modified so that, while Mr. Tremaine could own a computer and access the Internet, he could not post his political views on any “White supremacist” website and the Regina police could storm into his residence at check his hard drive at any time. “The delay in this case is inordinate, unreasonable and attributable to a combination of factors including institutional delay, actions and/or inactions of the Crown and, to a much lesser extent, actions of the accused," Judge Kovach observed. Speaking in Vancouver, Terry Tremaine noted that two other cases in Saskatchewan had recently been strayed for undue delay. Both involved less delay than in Mr. Tremaine’s case; both involved serious acts of violence and both involved repeat offenders. “It is mind boggling,” said Mr. Tremaine, “that the Saskatchewan justice system would allow itself to be clogged up with a costly non-violent free speech case li”ke mine, when it doesn’t have the resources to prosecute perpetrators of serious acts of violence in a timely manner.| Reached in Ottawa, Doug Christie, Mr. Tremaine’s lawyer, pronounced himself cautiously pleased with the ruling, but noted that Judge Kovach had not ruled on his motion arguing that the Internet is not “communication” as defined in Sec.319, Canada’s notorious “hate law.” Mr. Christie has argued in this case and in a contempt of court case brought against Mr. Tremaine on another complaint by Richard Warman, that posting data on a website in the United States where it is legal is not communication. It is not like making a speech or handing out leaflets o a specific audience. There is no audience. Someone in Canada, say a self-styled“Nazi-hunter” like Richard Warman had=s to make many choices and search to find the website and then make more choices to find and download a passage from the website. Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in a music copyright case that the downloading of information constitutes communication, Mr. Christie had argued that the “hate law” does not apply to the Internet. This issue still remains open The Crown has 30 days to appeal. Hailing Mr. Tremaine’s news, meeting chairman Paul Fromm, Director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, saw this as a small victory in the fight against Internet censorship. However, he warned, “Terry Tremaine is not out of the woods yet. His seven year torment continues. He is to be sentenced in Vancouver on October 9 in Federal Court.” Richard Warman complaint launched two contempt of court complaints. Against Mr. Tremaine, The second heard in Victoria in November, 2010 saw the Saskatchewan math instructor acquitted of contempt by Judge Sean Harrington. The judge ruled that Mr. Tremaine had not been served with the Federal Court Order until more than two years after it was issued and more than 18 months *afte*r the Internet postings Warman had complained of. TheFederal Court of Appeals, by a 2 to 1 vote, reversed Judge Harrington and ordered him to sentence Mr. Tremaine for contempt of court, flowing from a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal order made under a law which the House of Commons repealed last June. Mr. Tremaine’s website is *http://nspcanada.nfshost.com. *which Warman and the Canadian Human Rights Commission want taken down in its entirety. After Mr. Tremaine’s talk, Mr. Fromm noted that Canada rebukes Red China for silencing dissidents and stripping them of political rights - the right to speak. One dissident, for instance, architect and artist Wei Wei was jailed, as has been Mr. Tremaine, for 81 days and then put under house arrest and denied political rights and the right to speak for a year. “Outrageous, of course,”said Mr. Fromm “but Terry Tremaine was been gagged for FOUR years in a so-called with no protest from the media that rightly championed Wei Wei.” Hate charge stayed against Regina man CBC News <http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html>Posted: Sep 6, 2012 10:39 AM CST Last Updated: Sep 6, 2012 3:13 PM CST*Read 7 **comments**7*<http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2012/09/06/sk-tremaine-charge-stayed-1209.html#socialcomments> [image: Terry Tremaine declined to be interviewed after a judge granted a stay on his hate-crime charge.]*Terry Tremaine declined to be interviewed after a judge granted a stay on his hate-crime charge. (CBC)* Facebook 7 Twitter 10 Share 17 Email A Saskatchewan judge has stayed a charge of promoting hatred, saying the case against a Regina man was taking too long to get to trial. Terry Tremaine was accused of wilfully promoting hatred by allegedly posting material online advocating the extermination of Jewish people. However, on Thursday, Queen's Bench Justice Fred Kovach said the case has been dragging through the courts for more than four years and any trial date would still be several months ahead. He ruled Tremaine's constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time has been violated and as a result, the case can't go ahead. Tremaine, a former math instructor with the University of Saskatchewan, lost his job and is now on welfare, court heard. Kovach said a previous human rights complaint led to Tremaine's initial loss of employment, but the criminal charge "at a minimum exacerbated his employment status and facilitated ongoing media descriptions of him as being a white supremacist or neo-Nazi." Tremaine, who has lived in Regina for several years, declined to be interviewed as he walked out of the courthouse. Crown prosecutor Mitchell Miller said it's too early to say whether or not there'll be an appeal. "Obviously, the Crown takes these charges very seriously — of course we do," Miller said. "There's reasons why the judge found that the delay was undue." Richard Warman, a human rights lawyer who is the complainant in the Tremaine case, said he's disappointed it won't go to trial. "What this case really demonstrates is the fact that the Criminal Code anti-hate provisions are not an effective remedy to hate speech in Canada," Warman said.

 

Ottawa Wakes

Written by Paul Fromm

Wednesday, 05 September 2012 07:12

Ottawa Wakes After decades of it, Ottawa has discovered that refugee abuses are something of a niche specialty: "The federal government is prepared to consider detaining Roma [those are Gypsies, to the politically incorrect] refugee claimants unless recent amendments to the refugee system are successful in reducing the number who apply for asylum, newly obtained documents suggest. A tougher approach may be necessary if a plan to speed up the screening process and block illegitimate claims isn’t 'aggressive enough' in reducing the number of Roma applicants from Europe, an internal Canada Border Services Agency report says. 'Other deterrent measures being examined include detention for mass arrivals of individuals seeking refugee protection,' says the report, which was drafted before the Conservative government introduced a crackdown in June on bogus refugee claims. The newly revised refugee law gives Public Safety Minister Vic Toews the power to designate refugee claimants as 'irregular arrivals' and detain them upon entry to Canada. The amendments are to take effect by the end of the year. Asylum applicants falling under that designation would be held by CBSApending investigations into their admissibility. ... Hungary was Canada’s biggest source of refugee applicants last year with 4,442 claimants — the majority of which are believed to be Roma, a stateless ethnic group. Almost all of the claims were rejected or abandoned. A mandatory visa requirement for Hungary would be the 'most effective' way to reduce the number of Hungarian applicants in the short term, the report says. It also says speeding up the processing of claims and placing restrictions on claimants from countries unlikely to produce legitimate refugees was a better solution — changes that are now being put in place. Though Ottawa has yet to decide which countries will be on the so-called 'safe country' list, it’s expected to include European Unionnations. Some applicants from Hungary come to Canada solely for the purpose of 'exploiting' social assistance and health benefits, but not all Roma claims are illegitimate, the report notes. The number of Hungarian claims started to skyrocket after June 2009, when Ottawa imposed a visa requirement on the Czech Republic — another country that has been a departure point for Roma refugee claims." (Chronicle Herald, August 19, 2012) [This article appears in the September issue of the *CANADIAN IMMIGRATION HOTLINE*. Published monthly, the *CANADIAN IMMIGRATION HOTLINE* is available by subscription for $30 per year. You can subscribe by sending a cheque or VISA number and expiry date to *CANADIAN IMMIGRATION HOTLINE*, P.O. Box 332, Rexdale, ON., M9W 5L3.]