OHRC drops complaint against MacLeans

(Bumped to top - see the Update below).

The Ontario Human Rights Commission today made the right decision:

TORONTO, April 9 /CNW/ - The Ontario Human Rights Commission has decided not to proceed with complaints filed against Maclean's magazine related to its publication of an article "The future belongs to Islam."

It's the right decision, but obviously the OHRC commissioners were not very happy about it. Author of the book America Alone, from the which the MacLean's article was an excerpt, Mark Steyn explains:

Of course, being apparatchiks of the pseudo-"human rights" establishment, they couldn't leave it at that. So they added the following:

While freedom of expression must be recognized as a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, the Commission strongly condemns the Islamophobic portrayal of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and indeed any racialized community in the media, such as the Maclean’s article and others like them, as being inconsistent with the values enshrined in our human rights codes. Media has a responsibility to engage in fair and unbiased journalism.

So in effect the Ontario "Human Rights" Commission, the world leaders in labiaplasty jurisprudence, have decided that, even though they don't have the guts to hear the case, they might as well find us guilty. Ingenious!

The OHRC has been forced to admit that it would be overstepping it's bounds in cases like this. In it's own words:

However, the Ontario Human Rights Code does not give the Commission the jurisdiction to deal with the content of magazine articles through its complaint process.

It's good to see the powers of the OHRC reigned in a bit. It's a start.

Update: Oops, just when it looked like free speech was making a comeback, we get news that infamous former CHRC employee and anti free-speecher Richard Warman has filed a defamation lawsuit against Ezra Levant, bloggers Kate McMillen, Kathy Shaidle and others including the conservative chat site Free Dominion, the National Post and it's publisher Jonathan Kay.

Be sure to read Michelle Malkin's post The Canadian conservative blogosphere under attack. And visit each of the above websites where you can make a donation to help them defend themselves.