Action seeks to sink rights cade From pane 1 Victoria. Both Collins and the News refused to attend the uibunal hearing, which was held last July in Victoria. News lawyer — David Sutherland said at the time that the hearing, the second involving the News on the same issue, constituted harass- ment. In 1997, a human rights tribunal -lismissed a similar complaint brought against the News and Collins by the Canadian Jewish Congiess. The Feb. 2 wibunal verdict found that, collectively, four Collins columns written in 1994 exposed Jews to “hatred and contempt,” something that Collins describes as non- sensical. In an April 4 press release, Collins stated that “human rights in B.C. have become a travesty. The NDP govern- ment has declared war on free speech where it annoys pow- erful interest groups and it should not be allowed to get away with it. So now we'll see what the real courts have to say.” Christie’s submission states chat the Human Rights Code infringes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and “is not a _rea- sonable limit prescribed by faw as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democ- ratic society.” The court is being asked to award costs against Abrams and against the attorney gen- eral’s department. Adjudicator Tom Patch’s Feb. 2 decision ordered the News to publish a summary of the tribunal's findings within a week and cease pub- fishing = statements — that “expese or are likely to expose Jewish persons to hatred or contempt.” Collins called the decision outrageous: “Even the real courts can’t order newspapers to run its decisions.” Under protest, the News published the tribunal's deci- sion in its Feb. 5 edition. Coilins called Patch’s order to cease publishing statements deemed offensive by the tribunal“... prior restraint, a condition com- mon to dictatorships.” He also ridiculed the tri- bunal’s view that while none of the columns at issue in the complaint contravened the code individually, they did collectively. The News :nd Collins were also ordered by Patch to pay $2,090 in compensation to Abrams. On_ instructions from its owners Hollinger/Southam, the News has since paid the fine. Collins said he regretted that the fine had been paid, but added, “I had — and have — absolutely no intention of paying a single dime unless told to do so by a real court. The NDP’s view of free speech is intolerable.” News publisher Peter Speck said he was “deeply dis- appointed” that an appeal of the tribunal’s decision was not being pursued by Southam. But he added thar the financial burden of facing repeated human rights actions eventually becomes toa much for an individual newspaper to bear. Complainants in human rights actions are automatical- Iv eligible for legal aid; deten- dants are not. “The jast) go-round cost $203,000, of which the pub- lic paid $150,000. TF doen't think we (the News) can go back to the well again se suc- cessfully. *There is no end to the number of times we can be prosecuted for the same offence; there is no limit on the size of the fines, and they are paid to the complainant, so there will be no end of complainants.” Blair Mackenzie, vice-pres- ident and general counsel for Southam, said the tribunal's decision contained a number of — extremely troubling aspects. Kev among those, he said, was the tribunal’s determina- tion that it could dictate newspaper content and that it had a mandate to decide the appropriateness of a newspa- per column. He said the decision not to pursue a court appeal of the tribunat’s ruling was conse- quently an extremely difficult one. But, said Mackenzie, “as troubled as we were (by those issues) we decided that these simply were not the set of facts to go forward with to create new Jaw.” Collins has launched a national appeal for funds to finance his action. Donations may be made to the Canadian Free Speech League, c/o Mr. Doug Christic, 810 Courtney Street, Victoria, B.C. V8W 1C4. Funds sent to the News will be forwarded to Collins’ defence fund. — Timothy Renshaw Because you've hat enaugn of ! ? PEATURE MADE POSSTRLE THROUGH THE SPUNSURSHIP OF THE 7 The Ministry of Transportation and Highways advises travellers of scheduled closures and random minor delays, on Highway 99 approximately 23 kilometres north of Horseshoe Bay at Porteau Camp Biuffs for rock slope stabilization. Work will commence on April 12 and will continue until June 4. 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