.. old soldiers never die.
They just fade away.”

— Gencral Douglas
MacArthur, qucting lyrics
from an 1915 British” Army
song.

FOR old soldier Doug
Collins, that old saw is
proving half right.

He is far from dead, but
on the issue of free speech
Collins has determined that
he’s not about to fade away.
Thus his decision to enlist the
services of lawyer Doug
Christie and continue on
alone in the fight to overturn
the anti-free speech legisla-
tion contained in B.C.’s
Human Rights Code.

Good for him.

Not so good, however, for
the special interest armies
aligned against him on the
other side of the razor wire.

Not so good cither for the
new ownership of this news-
paper, which has determined

thar it will not challenge
B.C.’s odious Human Rights
Code by appealing to the
courts the latest human rights
tribunal ruling invoiving
Collins and the News.

Blair Mackenzie, vice-pres-
ident and genera! counsel for
Southam, has said that while
many aspects of the tribunal’s
ruling were extremely trou-
bling, Southam /Hollinger
determined that the sct of
facts in the case was not the
one the media giant wanted
to “go forward with to create
new Jaw.”

Southam's decision is as
much disheartening for me as
it is for the other members of
this newspaper who have
waged the battle for the past
five years in expectation that
in the end we would have the
courts, not some govern-
ment- appointed trrbunal,
decide whether we should be
allowed to print what we see
fit to print.

Mackenzie also conceded
that the News/Collins case
carried with it much emo-
tional baggage.

Id wager that the main
iece of that baggage is
Psiling himself'a ee
Gerry Porter, ex-secretavy
treasurer of the B.C. Press
Council, has called the

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“odium” that surrounds the
retired News columnist.

In many circles Collins’
detence is hard to jusuty.

That's too bad.

Because, despite what
Southam has determined, the
set of facts in: this case is hard
to dismiss, emotional bag-
gage or no.

A summary of those facets
as [ know them:

The provincial govern-
ment passes human rights
legislation that is so vague
and elastic it can be used to
muzzle the publication of
opinions the government or
special interest groups dislike.

A complaint is subse-
quently lodged against

rmiaiibeaox

Public left

Dear Editor:

As I watched the March 22
Nerth Vancouver District
council meeting and council’s
debate on how to effectively
collect our property tax dollars,
held by the provincial govern-
ment, I could not stop thinking
about the powerful effect that
council could have had with
the documented support of its
citizens through referenda.

These monies were collect-
ed by the district from the tax-
payers to benefit our communi-
ty, not asa bail-out donation to
senior government.

It’s my understanding, that
as of yet there are no laws ban-
ning voters, cither individually
or collectively, from demand-
ing answers from our elected
officials and representatives.

S.LAURSEN &

draperies

Columnist D and Newspaper
A over acolumin published in
Newspaper A.

Scorn and outrage are
rained upon both defendants
over the next three years
while the human rights
machinery grinds exceeding
fine and slow.

A hearing is finally held. It
ranges over seven weeks.

In the end the tnbunal
rules that the column at issue
is mean-spirited and unpleas-
ant, buc that even under the
elastic terms of the human
rights legislation, it is not
“likely” to expose a person or
persons to hatred.

Cost to defend the human
rights action exceeds
$200,000, over $150,000 of
which is voluntarily con-
cributed by members of the
public and readers of the
newspaper who are aghast at
the government’s legislation
and how it is being used to
stifle free expression,

A year later and four years
after the publication of the
columns at issue, another

human rights complaint
comes to hearing.

Columnist D and
Newspaper A refuse to attend
said hearing.

‘They argue thar, because
the second hearing is dealing
with substantially the same
issues as the first, it consti-
tutes government harassment.

Both argue that because 2
colunin at issue in both hear-
ings has already been cleared
by the human rights forces
they are facing what the real
courts call “double jeopardy.”

And too the financial bur-
den for the defendants, after
almost five years, has become
too much to shoulder for
another round,

No matter: the hearing
proceeds — the com-
plainant’s case financed by
B.C. taxpayers via legal aid.

The decision is finally
handed down over six
months after the completion
of the hearing.

It finds the detendants
guilty.

The tribunal of one rules

out of NVD decisien

District council could have
asked its citizens how they felt
about the provincial govern-
ments plan to repair the Lions
Gate Bridge.

After all, we are the main
users and we will be paying for
this upgrade until, in the not
too distant future, we'll be fix-
ing the Lions Gate Bridge
again and again. We're probs-
bly still paying for the last ime
repairs were made. Our collec-
tive voice would surely be loud
enough to attract the attention
of the people responsible.

T happen to strongly agree
with the letter written by my
MP, Mr. Ted White (North
Shore News, Feb. 19), in
which he presents a very
depressing forecast for the
bridge plans at hand. He con-

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cludes, “If, on the other hand,
we want to control the out-
come this time around, it’s
time to start a public protest
movement before the point of
no return.”

District council could have
asked its citizens how they feel
about paying for corporate
Property taxes on our water-
front, District council could
have asked its citizens whether
they want a voice in support of
council. But they chose not to
involve the public.

George Koch
North Vancouver

Sunday, April 11, 1999 - Nonh Shore News - 7

ier keeps free speech fight ali

that the four columns at issue
do not individually violate the
Human Rights Code. Taken
together, however, somchow
they do.

While the defendants and
members of the real legal
profession scratch their heads
over that one, the tribunal -
orders the defendants to pay

2,000 in compensation to
the victim.

Tt also order: wspaper
Ato publish its findings and
forbids the columnist and the
newspaper trom printing
future opinions the tribunal
deems offensive.

Su we have an arm of dhe
government thar has deter-
mined it can levy fines over
newspaper content, that it
can order government con-
tent to be printed in privately
owned newspapers and that it
can engage in “prior

1,

Ave

resteaint” by forbidding the
publication ‘of future conten:
in a privately owned newspa-
per.

T think thac is a pretty
compelling set of facts.

I also think that, regard-
less of what vou think of
Columnist D's opinions, it is
a set of facts worth challeng-
ing in court.

Old soldiers know that.

The issue of free expres-
sion is something that
Columnist D and the rest of
the old soldiers among us put
their lives on the line for in
the last world war.

Defending the right to
free expression, it turns out,
is a war that never ends,

Old soldiers know that
too.

Thank God for old sol-
diers.

— trenshbaw@direct.ca

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