Terry Tremaine's "Hate" Case Attracting Media Attention & Criticism of Sec. 319 ("hat

Written by Paul Fromm

Friday, 06 July 2012 13:34

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://ymlp259.net/zDCJsn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TERRY TREMAINE'S "HATE" CASE ATTRACTING MEDIA ATTENTION & CRITICISM OF SEC. 319 ("HATE LAW") CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION P.O. BOX 332, REXDALE, ON., M9W 5L3 416-428-5308 ( TEL:416-428-5308 ) THE EDITOR, THE NATIONAL POST. DEAR SIR: RE: “HANDING HATRED A MICROPHONE,” (NATIONAL POST, JULY 5, 2012), IF THIS WERE ANY OTHER THAN A HIGHLY CHARGED POLITICAL CASE, YOUR HEADLINE AND CONCLUSION (“HATEMONGERS SUCH AS MR.TREMAINE”) WOULD HAVE CONTAINED THE MANDATORY “ALLEGED” HATRED. THE TERRY TREMAINE TRIAL ON CHARGES OF “WILLFUL PROMOTION OF HATE” HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET. PRESUMABLY, THAT’S WHAT THE TRIAL WILL DETERMINE: WHETHER OR NOT MR. TREMAINE’S POLITICAL OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THE INTERNET ON SEVERAL U.S. WEBSITES CONSTITUTE “HATE.” I AGREE WITH YOUR CONDEMNATION OF SEC. 319 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE, CANADA’S NOTORIOUS “HATE LAW.” YOU ASK: “HOW MANY CANADIANS HAD HEARD OF MR. TREMAINE BEFORE THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM WERE LAID. … WE HADN’T.” YOUR IGNORANCE IS A SCANDAL. THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION HAS SENT REGULAR REPORT ON TERRY TREMAINE’S TRAVAILS OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS, INCLUDING TO YOUR PAPER AND MANY OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS IN CANADA.. MR. TREMAINE HAS BEEN THE VICTIM OF A POLITICAL VENDETTA BY OTTAWACIVIL SERVANT RICHARD WARMAN. IN 2005, MR. WARMAN LAUNCHED A HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLAIN AGAINST HIM UNDER THE NOW REPEALED SEC. 13 OF THE CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACT. BEFORE ANY TRIBUNAL HAD BEEN CONVENED., MR. WARMAN APPROACHED MR. TREMAINE’S EMPLOYER, THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN WITH A COMPLAINT. MR.TREMAINE LOST HIS JOB AS A LECTURER AND WAS UNABLE TO AFFORD A LAWYER FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL. NEXT, MR. WARMAN LAUNCHED A COMPLAINT WITH THE REGINA POLICE UNDER SEC. 319 OF THE CRIMINAL COD – THE CASE AT HAND. FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS, MR. TREMAINE’S BAIL CONDITIONS HAVE PREVENTED HIM FROM POSTING HIS VIEWS ON ANY “WHITE SUPREMACIST” WEBSITE.TOO BAD HIS NAME ISN’T WEI WEI. THIS CHINESE DISSIDENT WAS JAILED AND THEN STRIPPED OF HIS POLITICAL RIGHTS FOR A YEAR AND WAS NOT ALLOWED TO TALK TO THE WESTERN MEDIA DURING THAT TIME. MANY CANADIAN PAPERS CAME TO HIS DEFENCE AND PROTESTED RED CHINA’S DENIAL OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH. RIGHTLY SO. HOWEVER, THE ALWAYS SELF RIGHTEOUS CANADIAN MEDIA IS OFTEN SILENT WITH ABUSES CLOSER TO HOME. MR. TREMAINE HAS BEEN GAGGED FOUR TIMES AS LONG AS MR. WEI WEI, WITH NO END IN SIGHT.. PAUL FROMM DIRECTOR CANADIAN ASOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION HANDING HATRED A MICROPHONE * Twitter ( http://twitter.com/share?text=Handing%20hatred%20a%20microphone&url=http%3a//www.financialpost.com/todays-paper/Handing%2bhatred%2bmicrophone/6885734/story.html&related=fpinvesting,fpcomment&via=financialpost ) * Email ( http://www.financialpost.com/ajax/email/story.xml?url=http%3a//www.financialpost.com/todays-paper/Handing%2bhatred%2bmicrophone/6885734/story.html&id=6885734&title=Financial+Post+Story%3a++Handing+hatred+a+microphone ) * inShare0 * * National Post · Jul. 5, 2012 | Last Updated: Jul. 5, 2012 4:02 AM ET This week, a Saskatchewan judge generated a national furor by giving Regina neo-Nazi leader Terry Tremaine permission to visit white-supremacist websites, and even post material on them, as he gathers "facts" for his legal defence against charges that he wilfully promoted hatred against an identifiable group. Mr. Tremaine is not exactly a sympathetic figure. He is the author of multiple anti-Semitic and racist web posts (as a small sampling, he has labelled blacks "intellectually inferior," and Jews "parasitic"), and he founded the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of Canada (whose lead article on its website, as of yesterday, was entitled The Greatness of Adolf Hitler). Nevertheless, Mr. Tremaine could do Canada a service, albeit in a perverse way, by highlighting the counterproductive nature of hate-speech laws. The former math lecturer once was confined to sharing his creepy Hitler-boosting and white-power messages in shadowy websites with little traffic or credibility. However, he will now be treated to a media-publicized trial in a Canadian courtroom, in which he will be able to air his nasty views for the benefit of mainstream journalists. We might even witness, on a diminished scale, the farce of Ernst Zundel's 1988 legal prosecution, in which the German bigot put the Holocaust itself on trial by trotting out "experts" who argued that no Jews were killed at Nazi concentration camps. (On his website, Mr. Tremaine puts quote marks around the word "Holocaust.") This is not to say the judge in Mr. Tremaine's case made a mistake. Denying Mr. Tremaine the ability to mount a full and effective defence (however farfetched) would be an injustice. Even the most contemptible defendants enjoy a right to due process. Saskatchewan's Court of Queen's Bench Justice Frederick Kovach was right to recognize this. The real problem lies with section 319(2) of the Criminal Code - and with the original decision to prosecute Mr. Tremaine under its auspices. The law criminalizes those "willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group" by means of "communicating statements, other than in private conversation." In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled, in the case of anti-Semitic Alberta schoolteacher James Keegstra, that the law is constitutional. But Mr. Tremaine's case is a reminder that every constitutional law isn't necessarily sensible or desirable. In some extreme cases, Section 319 prosecutions are justified - especially those cases in which a hatemonger is actually inciting violence against an identifiable group, and in which there is a credible risk that listeners will act on that incitement. But obscurities such as Mr. Tremaine, whose main audience consists of human rights investigators with Nazi screen names, are best left to languish in their one-room basement apartments. The 1996-era quality of their websites speaks volumes about the audiences they are reaching. How many Canadians had heard of Mr. Tremaine before the charges against him were laid, or before Wednesday's story about the court order allowing him to surf white supremacist sites? (We hadn't.) Progressive as it is in 2012, Canadian society does an awfully good job of simply ignoring and marginalizing hateful messages without the law getting involved. We know this from the racist and anti-Semitic letters that we (and all newspapers) occasionally receive: The writers inevitably complain to us that their views are being "ignored" by the "mainstream media." In this respect, we're proud to say, they're entirely correct. Terry Tremaine once was a nobody. And he will be again one day, the sooner the better. His court-created celebrity is something prosecutors should remember the next time they consider launching a case against hatemongers such as Mr. Tremaine. _____________________________ Unsubscribe / Change Profile: http://ymlp259.net/ugmjhqsqgsgbbqgjjjgguewwmw Powered by YourMailingListProvider

 

Terrry Tremaine's "Hate" Case Attracting Media Attention & Criticism of Sec. 319 ("ha

Written by Paul Fromm

Friday, 06 July 2012 05:17

Terrry Tremaine's "Hate" Case Attracting Media Attention & Criticism of Sec. 319 ("hate law") CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION P.O. Box 332, Rexdale, ON., M9W 5L3 416-428-5308 The Editor,*THE NATIONAL POST.* * * Dear Sir: Re: “Handing hatred a microphone,” (*National Post*, July 5, 2012), if this were any other than a highly charged political case, your headline and conclusion (“hatemongers such as Mr.Tremaine”) would have contained the mandatory “alleged” hatred. The Terry Tremaine trial on charges of “willful promotion of hate” hasn’t even started yet. Presumably, that’s what the trial will determine: whether or not Mr. Tremaine’s political opinions expressed on the Internet on several U.S. websites constitute “hate.” I agree with your condemnation of Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code, Canada’s notorious “hate law.” You ask: “How many Canadians had heard of Mr. Tremaine before the charges against him were laid. … We hadn’t.” Your ignorance is a scandal. The Canadian Association for Free Expression has sent regular report on Terry Tremaine’s travails over the past six years, including to your paper and many other media outlets in Canada.. Mr. Tremaine has been the victim of a political vendetta by Ottawacivil servant Richard Warman. In 2005, Mr. Warman launched a human rights complain against him under the now repealed Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Before any tribunal had been convened., Mr. Warman approached Mr. Tremaine’s employer, the University of Saskatchewanwith a complaint. Mr.Tremaine lost his job as a lecturer and was unable to afford a lawyer for the human rights Tribunal. Next, Mr. Warman launched a complaint with the Regina Police under Sec. 319 of the Criminal Cod – the case at hand. For the past four years, Mr. Tremaine’s bail conditions have prevented him from posting his views on any “White supremacist” website.Too bad his name isn’t Wei Wei. This Chinese dissident was jailed and then stripped of his political rights for a year and was not allowed to talk to the Western media during that time. Many Canadian papers came to his defence and protested Red China’s denial of freedom of speech. Rightly so. However, the always self righteous Canadian media is often silent with abuses closer to home. Mr. Tremaine has been gagged four times as long as Mr. Wei Wei, with no end in sight.. Paul FrommDirector CANADIAN ASOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION Handing hatred a microphone - Twitter<http://twitter.com/share?text=Handing%20hatred%20a%20microphone&url=http%3a//www.financialpost.com/todays-paper/Handing%2bhatred%2bmicrophone/6885734/story.html&related=fpinvesting,fpcomment&via=financialpost> - Email<http://www.financialpost.com/ajax/email/story.xml?url=http%3a//www.financialpost.com/todays-paper/Handing%2bhatred%2bmicrophone/6885734/story.html&id=6885734&title=Financial+Post+Story%3a++Handing+hatred+a+microphone> - inShare0 - - *National Post* · Jul. 5, 2012 | *Last Updated: Jul. 5, 2012 4:02 AM ET* This week, a Saskatchewan judge generated a national furor by giving Regina neo-Nazi leader Terry Tremaine permission to visit white-supremacist websites, and even post material on them, as he gathers "facts" for his legal defence against charges that he wilfully promoted hatred against an identifiable group. Mr. Tremaine is not exactly a sympathetic figure. He is the author of multiple anti-Semitic and racist web posts (as a small sampling, he has labelled blacks "intellectually inferior," and Jews "parasitic"), and he founded the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of Canada (whose lead article on its website, as of yesterday, was entitled The Greatness of Adolf Hitler). Nevertheless, Mr. Tremaine could do Canada a service, albeit in a perverse way, by highlighting the counterproductive nature of hate-speech laws. The former math lecturer once was confined to sharing his creepy Hitler-boosting and white-power messages in shadowy websites with little traffic or credibility. However, he will now be treated to a media-publicized trial in a Canadian courtroom, in which he will be able to air his nasty views for the benefit of mainstream journalists. We might even witness, on a diminished scale, the farce of Ernst Zundel's 1988 legal prosecution, in which the German bigot put the Holocaust itself on trial by trotting out "experts" who argued that no Jews were killed at Nazi concentration camps. (On his website, Mr. Tremaine puts quote marks around the word "Holocaust.") This is not to say the judge in Mr. Tremaine's case made a mistake. Denying Mr. Tremaine the ability to mount a full and effective defence (however farfetched) would be an injustice. Even the most contemptible defendants enjoy a right to due process. Saskatchewan's Court of Queen's Bench Justice Frederick Kovach was right to recognize this. The real problem lies with section 319(2) of the Criminal Code - and with the original decision to prosecute Mr. Tremaine under its auspices. The law criminalizes those "willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group" by means of "communicating statements, other than in private conversation." In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled, in the case of anti-Semitic Alberta schoolteacher James Keegstra, that the law is constitutional. But Mr. Tremaine's case is a reminder that every constitutional law isn't necessarily sensible or desirable. In some extreme cases, Section 319 prosecutions are justified - especially those cases in which a hatemonger is actually inciting violence against an identifiable group, and in which there is a credible risk that listeners will act on that incitement. But obscurities such as Mr. Tremaine, whose main audience consists of human rights investigators with Nazi screen names, are best left to languish in their one-room basement apartments. The 1996-era quality of their websites speaks volumes about the audiences they are reaching. How many Canadians had heard of Mr. Tremaine before the charges against him were laid, or before Wednesday's story about the court order allowing him to surf white supremacist sites? (We hadn't.) Progressive as it is in 2012, Canadian society does an awfully good job of simply ignoring and marginalizing hateful messages without the law getting involved. We know this from the racist and anti-Semitic letters that we (and all newspapers) occasionally receive: The writers inevitably complain to us that their views are being "ignored" by the "mainstream media." In this respect, we're proud to say, they're entirely correct. Terry Tremaine once was a nobody. And he will be again one day, the sooner the better. His court-created celebrity is something prosecutors should remember the next time they consider launching a case against hatemongers such as Mr. Tremaine.

 

National Post Picks Up CAFE Report on Terry Tremaine's Return to STORMFRONT

Written by Paul Fromm

Thursday, 05 July 2012 03:37

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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://ymlp322.net/z2Kxzx -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- National Post Picks Up CAFE Report on Terry Tremaine's Return to STORMFRONT What is it exactly that CAFE does? Among other things, we publicize the cause of those under attack by Canada's thought crimes laws. Yesterday, I sent out an exclusive report -- the indolent media has all but ignored the Terry Tremaine free speech case. He's charged under Sec. 319, the notorious "hate law" of Canada's Criminal Code. This victim of a Richard Warman vendetta was charged under the now all but defunct Sec. 13 (Internet censorship) provision of the Canadian Human Rights Act in 2005. Warman complained about Mr. Tremaine's political views to the University of Saskatchewan. He lost his job and was, therefore, unable to hire a lawyer for his human rights tribunal. Warman then filed complaints under the "hate law" with the Regina Police. He has filed three more complaints seeking to have Mr. Tremaine jailed for "contempt of court" for not having shut down his website, even though his bail conditions in the Sec. 319 charges forbid him to post on his own site --http://nspcanada.nfshost.com ( http://nspcanada.nfshost.com/ ) ! Last week, Mr. Tremaine won the limited right to go back on Stormfront where he posted over 3,000 articles in 2004-2005 under the moniker "Mathdoktor99". He can seek material pertinent to about 50 posts which are alleged to promote hate against no fewer than 11 privileged groups. This material would be toward the defence of truth. I sent this report to you and to about 500 media outlets across Canada. Already the National Post's Marni Soupcoff has picked it up as has the New York Post. CAFE's goal is to free the Internet in Canada form state censorship. We're part way there. Sec. 13 has been repealed by Bill C-304. All that remains is Senate approval. The next target is Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code. Doug Christie, Terry Tremaine's lawyer, will argue that Sec. 319 does not apply to the Internet. Beyond that, this evil law should be repealed. Expert testimony in the Lemire case showed that the law was based on bogus science. Trudeau's Chartrer allows Parliament or a provincial legislature to restrict rights if its does so for a good purpose and doesn't go too far. The Supreme Court was convinced by a narrow 4-3 margin, in 1990, that "hate" had pernicious effects on minorities. The Royal Commission on Hate Propaganda, a body stacked with two Jewish lobbyists and the yet obscure Pierre Elliot Trudeau, duly recommended restrictions on free speech -- the "hate law" -- in their 1965 report. A report presented to by the Royal Commission by Dr. Harry Kaufmann, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, would provide the "scientific" veneer for state censorship. Kaufmann argued that "hate propaganda" made minorities feel afraid, made them doubt themselves, made them not want to be themselves, and, then, made them withdraw from society and, at the extreme end, indulge in self-destructive behaviour. The Supreme Court accepted this account and ruled that Parliament was justified in seeking to restrict "hate propaganda" because of its supposed evil effects. The evidence of neuro-psychologist Dr. Michael Persinger at the Lemire Tribunal proved that Kaufmann's account was "highly theoretical" -- as opposed to being grounded in provable fact -- when It was written in 1965. By 1990, it was bad science; with what we know today, it is just plain junk science. The Supreme Court bought the equivalent of "flat earth" science. To be kind, let's just say that science has moved on and there are no ill effects of "aversive language" -- Professor Persinger's more objective, less emotionally charged term for "hate propaganda." Sure, they may be hurt feelings or the anger of heariing one's group criticized, but there are none of the dire effects Kaufmann alleged. Thus, even under the Charter, there is NO justificationfor the "hate law." Of course, I'd have liked to have seen fewer "neo-Nazis" and no defamation of Mr. Tremaine -- "creepy", "a nobody". However, Soupcoff firmly makes the point that Sec. 319 must go: " The trouble starts once the government enters the equation, at the invitation of section 319(2), and sets itself up as the arbiter of whether Tremaine’s ideas are simply too offensive and disagreeable to legally abide. Suddenly, then, to counter this hefty power to subjectively vet a citizen’s speech and decide whether it should land him behind bars for a several years, the government forces itself into the position of having to provide Tremaine a far prettier platform than he’d ever have been able to achieve on his own." Paul Fromm Director Canadian Association for Free Expression. Marni Soupcoff: Tremaine’s platform for neo-Nazi views helpfully provided by Canada’s criminal code Marni Soupcoff ( http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/author/soupcoff/ ) Jul 4, 2012 – 12:06 PM ET Terry Tremaine’s been given permission by the judge hearing his case to visit and post on white supremacist websites in an effort to gather facts for his defense. Tremaine is a Regina neo-Nazi leader who is being charged with wilfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group. He’s not a very sympathetic figure, what with his propensity for seemingly endless anti-Semitic and racist web posts that label blacks “intellectually inferior” and Jews “parasitic,” not to mention his founding of the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of Canada. But his case — rendered suddenly higher profile with the news that he will be allowed to communicate on racist online forums to help attempt to prove the truth of his inflammatory remarks — could do Canada a service. The former math lecturer — who is usually confined to sharing his creepy Hitler-boosting and white power messages in shadowy (and equally creepy) web sites with no credibility — will now be treated to a highly publicized trial in a respectable courtroom in which he will be able to air his nasty views for all the country to hear and read about in great detail in mainstream newspapers and newscasts. This does not strike me as a positive development. Denying Tremaine the ability to mount a full and effective defense against the crimes with his he is charged would not be any answer to the problem, either. Saskatchewan’s Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Frederick Kovach may be contributing to the airing of racist and anti-Semitic garbage by allowing Tremaine to post messages on neo-Nazi websites, but given that even scummy defendants such as Tremaine enjoy a right to due process, Kovach is right to do so. The real problem lies with section 319(2) of the Criminal Code, which makes “willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group” by “communicating statements, other than in private conversation” an offense punishable by prison time. The Supreme Court ruled in 1990 in the Keegstra case that the provision is constitutional. But the Tremaine case is reminding us that constitutionality doesn’t make a law sensible or desirable. Unless he’s actually inciting people to violence, a man like Tremaine is best left to froth quietly at the mouth in the company of the small group of creeps who agree with him. There is no question that he will say things most people consider hateful and despicable — that is his raison d’etre. However, as Tremaine’s status shows (how many Canadians had heard of him before the charges against him were laid, or before Wednesday’s story about the court order allowing him to surf white supremacist sites?), society has done an awfully good job of simply ignoring and marginalizing his message without the law getting involved. The trouble starts once the government enters the equation, at the invitation of section 319(2), and sets itself up as the arbiter of whether Tremaine’s ideas are simply too offensive and disagreeable to legally abide. Suddenly, then, to counter this hefty power to subjectively vet a citizen’s speech and decide whether it should land him behind bars for a several years, the government forces itself into the position of having to provide Tremaine a far prettier platform than he’d ever have been able to achieve on his own. Tremaine is one of those people you don’t want as a poster boy because of the controversial, nasty and unpopular things he has to say. But Tremaine happens to be the perfect poster boy for the cause of preserving free expression for the same reasons. Turn your nose up at him, or turn away from him, sure. But try to completely silence him with the power of the state and you make him a martyr, afford a perverse legitimacy to his marginal views (handing him a metaphorical megaphone in the process) and stifle free discussion and debate in general. A guy like Terry Tremaine should be a nobody. And he probably would have been if not for the well-intentioned but overreaching arm of our criminal law. National Post (July 4, 2012) _____________________________ Unsubscribe / Change Profile: http://ymlp322.net/ugmjhqsqgsgbbqgjmqgguewwmw Powered by YourMailingListProvider