Monday, August 12, 2002

When France, the United Nations and Canada are involved, this sounds perfectly rational.

Regis de Goutte, a French magistrate who serves on the committee, said Canada's recent laws limiting expression on the Internet showed it is ready to limit free speech. "That shows they have accepted there are exceptions to freedom of speech and so should allow individual complaints to be heard by the committee," he said.

This was part of a story about how Canada was dragged before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. "This is the old story of [the balance between] freedom of expression and the suppression of hate propaganda," said Kurt Herndl, a retired Austrian diplomat who serves on the 18-member committee as co-ordinator for reports on Canada. The racial injustice being perpetrated by the Canadian 'regime'? ...racial injustices persist against black, Chinese and aboriginal Canadians, and that immigrants do not earn as much as people born in the country.

Being good self-abasing self-hating people who appreciate the 'justice' meted out by the Committee the Canadian delegation said:

Canada has some of the toughest anti-racism laws in the world, but submits to such grillings because it "believes that the world community will be gradually moved along if we and other countries support the processes," Mr. Moyer said.

He echoed Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, by adding that Canada also learns from the criticism of others."It allows us to look at our work objectively and to improve our initiatives," Ms. Copps said in a press release.

We are still awaiting word of investigations into Cuba, Cina, North Korea, Egypt, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, France, Iraq and others.

< email | 8/12/2002 07:53:00 PM | link