Im talking about Ernst Zundel,
who was sentenced to 1S months
for distributing a booklet entitled
“Did Six Million Really Die?™.
As its title implies, the work ques-
tions whether the Holocaust took
} place, and it was Jewish pressure
groups that gut Zundel into court
for such heresy.

It's incredible that a booklet of
that sort could lead to a person's
prosecution and conviction. Our
great Charter of Rights didn't
save him, either, even though it's
supposed to guarantee freedom of
speech. Believe it or not, but the
learned trial judge assured the
world that freedom of speech was
not al issue!

Zundel was found guilty of
breaking Section 177° of the
Criminal Code, the origins of
which go buck to the misty and
dubious days of the Star
Chamber. Under 177, a citizen
can be charged for ‘wilfully
publishing a statement, tale or
news that he knows is false or is
likely to cause mischief’’.

It is ridiculous that any version
of history should be regarded as
sacrosanct. Furthermore, if the
“‘spreading false news’’ nonsense
were applied indiscriminately, no
politician, reporter or academic
} would be safe. (Brian Baloney’s
f ‘Uh huh” springs to mind.) So
what we have with this case is
Canada’s contribution to the idea
of the sealed lip and the glance
over the shoulder to see who’s
listening.

Zundel’s appeal has now
started, and Doug Christie,
Zundel’s lawyer, has put together
a massive, masterful case for the
nulling and voiding of this blot on
the national escutcheon.

What is called the ‘‘appellant’s
factum’’ cannot be summarized
there. But I attended the trial as a
witness for the defence and
thought that some pretty strange
things were going on. Christie’s
“factum’”’ brings some of them
back to mind.

f The lawyer claims that His

Honor Judge Hugh Locke was
biased. An example: His Honor
spent a fot of time reprimanding

Doug Collins

@ vel this straight @

IS THERE justice in Canada? Justice, that is, for these
who arouse the wrath of pressure groups that have a man
put on trial for his opinions?

the defence. When -E was on the
stand he astonished me by
shouting at Christie, ‘‘Sit
down... How dare you interrupt
cross-examination like that’’?
There were other instances, ‘You
shut up!" he told another defence
witness,

The judge also asked Christie,
“Do they not teach you that in
B.C.2"" That was followed by
another “Sit down!"' On one oc-
casion His Honor told a defence
witness not to drink counsel's
water.

But this trial was not funny. fH
has been financially ruinous for
Zundel, and with the exception of
Professor Gary Botting,
academics who see themselves as
liberals did not rally ta the
defence. Nor did the media. But
it’s my guess that if a communist
had been in the dock for
spreading the false news that
Stalin was not a killer, they would
have been breaking down the
courthouse doors.

The Canadian Civil Liberties
Association also proved to be
useless when the chips were down.
On the credit side, however, a few |
writers like Barbara Amiel
(herself Jewish) and Peter Wor-
thington have stated since the trial
that Zundel has a right to be
wrong.

For a person to be proved guilty
under this law, it must be proved
that he knows he is spreading false
news and knows also that it will
harm the public interest. But
Zundel maintained he knew and
knows nothing of the kind.

Zundel received a heavier
sentence than some child
molesters or bank robbers get.
And their freedom of speech is
not taken away, as his was, the
judge having told him he could
not speak or write about the
Holocaust for three years.

A gleam of sanity appeared in
August when the Law Reform
Commission of Canada declared
that Section 177 should be repeal-
ed. But Zundel is still waiting to
see whether there is justice in
Canada.

Wears

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