THE provincial human rights merry-go-round is fast spinning out of control. And more than just those who have had the misfortune to be caught on Victoria’s absurd amusement park ride should be upset. The tyranny of the human rights prosecution machinery is slowly coming to light, and along with it the runaway growth of the government- sponsored victim industry. Even socialists who set the bali roiling in this misguided hunt for hatred have nvigged to the realization that gov- ernment prosecution of speech that is not criminal is dangerous. And anti-democ- ratic and unnecessary and counterproductive to the inaintenance of democracy and just plain wrong. As chronicled in last week’s column, the West End’s gay and lesbian news- paper Xtra West now finds itself the target of a human rights complaint for publish- ing 2 story about an anti- transsexual flyer. The story included excerpts from the flyer to Hustrate how it might be offensive to transsexuals, A transsexual advocacy ‘group took immediate offence to the newspaper's decision to inform its reader- ship about the flyer and filed the human rights complaint under Section 7 of the Human Rights Code, claim- ing it promoted hatred -against an identifiable group: transsexuals, It is as sad a commentary on our fast eroding freedoms as it is ridiculous. * ‘Transsexuals hounding a gay newspaper over a news story aimed at illustrating how a flyer had attacked transsexuals. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, free speech is the issuc. When publications face government prosecution for Shedding the bright light of publicity on unsavory issues we are all'in trouble, Free speech is always offensive to someone. It is the forum for open discussion I SPECIAL of ideas that necessarily col- lide. But there is something even more sinister about the whole human rights machin- ery. It operates entirely outside of the recognized court sys- tem as a kind of round nwo for “victims” who failed to prove their cases in court. It is designed with the vic- tim industry in mind and pre- sents the odious spectre of doudle jeopardy by holding the feet of the accused to the fire a second time on charges that might already have been dismissed in court or dealt with in previous human rights complaints. Avalon hotelier Ken Hutchinson, whose ordeal has been ably covered by News columnist Leo Knight, is but the most recent example of how a party adjudged inno- cent in court can still be forced to face the same charges in a human rights hearing. In Hutchinson's case, the accusers’ identities, protected by a court-imposed name pub- lication ban, remain anony- mous. They gamble nothing. The accused, meanwhile, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in defending himself in wwo different venues. maibox And the North Shore News, already run through the government's human nights ringer to the ture of over $200,000 to establish that a Doug Collins column did nor constitute hatred? is being teed up to be run through that same ringer again. On the same charges. This time the complainant is Harry Abrams, who claims to be acting on behalf of a number of aggrieved ethnic groups over Collins columns published in the News four years ago. Attempts by News lawyers to determine from Mr. Abrams and his legal counsel who the aggrieved groups are and what damages are being sought have thus far been stonewalled. OF course, it matters little to Mr. Abrams. He, too, has nothing to lose. His case is being financed by provincial taxpayers in the form of Legal Aid. In our new victim industry, complainants in human rights actions auto- matically qualify for govern- ment Legal Aid largesse, regardless of whether they have the monty to finance their own cases or not. The accused parties are not so lucky. Detendants also have no recourse to traditional avenues of defence provided in the Criminal Cade. There is no requirement for accusers to provide the accused with details of their arguments in advance of human rights hearings. No rules of procedure. There is only open season on alleged oppressors and the sources of information, opin- ion and ideas that any special interest group takes issue with. Abrams" complaints deal with columns that date back to 1994 from a columnist who is now retired and who has pre- viously been adjudged by a human rights tribunal to be an abrasive tellow but not a spia- ner of hate. Whatever that means today. There is no statute of limi- tation on human rights harass- ment. No limit to how many complaints can be brought against Mr. Collins and che News. Or any other columnist or publication. It is a direct threat to any- one’s right to express himself, anyone’s right to be wrong or to question orthodoxy. Even the architects of the legislation are seeing the dan- gers it poses to the free work- ings of democracy. In a March 22 News story, former North Vancouver NDP MLA David Schreck criticized the Human Rights Commission for pursuing Collins in a case he said was destined to fail. a challenge of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He says the legislation he helped foist upon the B.C. public was not meant for the likes of Collins and what he has described as tolerable hate, bur he does not say what the legislation was contrived for. Litdle wonder. Hate being in the eve of the beholder. The B.C. Human Rights Commission now has a two- year backlog of cases. It has racked up a 20% increase this year in the cost of investigation eevee ame bi wren retirees fm eact re NMOL met ornare 8s sta thn i EA Headline upsets N. Van RCMP Dear Editor: Re: headline “Break and enter suspect socks female cop in kisser.” I and many of my fellow officers were quite upset with your choice of headline for such a story. T also received several calls from readers of your paper who were equally disturbed. There are at least a hundred different ways to word that headline. To demean an officer’s brave actions, in protecting the community with such a heading is sensational tabloidism, which | did not asso- ciate with your paper. The officer in question is a hard working, brave woman putting her life on the line, earn- ing a poor salary for the job she has to do. You owe her an apology. Const. G.T. Seaman North Vancouver RCMP TAX RETURNS Call Brian Watts for an appointment. e Self. 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