Headgear and human rights JUGGLING human rights agendas in this province is getting trick- ier all the time. You've got to know which special interest groups are real- lv special and which aren’t so special, You've got to knaw thar some groups” rights are more right than others. That's why we've got a human rights commission and a full-time commissioner. It’s a booming business that makes up its own rules as it goes along. Consider some recent occurrences requiring uncom: mon juggling dexterity. For example, a human rights tribunal ruled recently that B.C.’s mandatory motor- cycle helmet law violates the rights of baptized Sikhs to wear turbans and ride motor- cycles at the same time. Good call. The right to crack one’s skull open via the religion of his or her choice takes prece- dence over provincial rules of the road. The Vancouver resident who lodged the rights com- plaint, Avtar Singh Dhillon, is of course very pleased. And so, I'm sure, is the rest of the human rights mob. The tribunal hearing Dhillon’s complaint abides by the philosophy that “human rights statutes must be inter- preted liberally and in a man- ner that advances their funda- mental overarching purposes.” In other words, they can be juggled to provide the out- come of choice. B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Mary- Woo Sims was in the front row applauding the decision. It would, she opined, help pro- mote a society that will allow diversity to flourish. What that has to do with road safety is beyond me. _ She of course plugged the badly flawed B.C. Human Rights Code and the work she said it does in guaranteeing all British Columbians’ inclusive- ness and other good vibra- tions. More twaddle per square inch you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else. But what else can you expect from the pedlars, of a code that supports discriminating on the basis of race, religion, sex, marital sta- tus, etc. in the case of affirma- tive action? Discrimination is all right, apparently, if it’s the right kind. But back to the juggling act at hand. Apart from the otential now for differing .C, laws for Sikhs and non- Sikhs, there is the matter of medical injury resulting from Sikhs who don’t wear helmets and suffer serious head injuries while riding motorcycles. According to evidence pre- sented at the tribunal hearing “q motorcyclist is 3.2 times more likely than the occupant of a motor vehicle and 15 times more likely than a bicy- clist to sustain brain/head injuries requiring hospitaliza- tion.” The tribunal conceded that motorcycles were dangerous beasts and that “non-helmeted motorcycling is more danger- ous and, therefore, more cost- ly than helmeted motorcycling ” The tribunal was also told that ::irbans don’t provide . much protection against head injuries. Sell, you don’t want to let such street-level realities infringe on pcople’s rights to participate fully in society, as Mary-Woo would have it. But that leaves unanswered the question of who is going to pay the medical costs arising trom helmet- tree motorey- cling. 1 suggest it should be those whose religious or other beliefs prevent them from con- forming to safety laws of the road, not the rest of the province. Whatever the outcome, it will require some high-level political juggling on the part. of Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh, last seen reviewing the decision thoroughly, and Harry Lali, B.C.’s highways minister, last seen stalling for time. Hells Angels and other motorcycle enthusiasts who already take a dim view of the province’s motorcycle helmet law will doubdess be encour- aged by Mr. Dhillon’s victory to pursue their own human rights challenge. Club headgear in their reli- gion of the road might also take precedence over required protective headgear, And the province’s helmet law might end up with so many loopholes that ir will be alf but useless. Inclusiveness and diversity forever. Of course, not evervone’s human rights carry the same weight. Retired News colum- nist Doug Collins, for exam- ple, is one guy who's not on the human rights ‘A’ list. A May 16 News story chronicled efforts by the attor- ney-general’s department to deny the obstinate old free- dom of speech fighter the right to launch a court chal- lenge of a February human rights tribunal decision — another example of your tax dollars at work eroding, democracy. In this province of fairness and inclusiveness for all there is no avenue of appeal for a human rights decision in the human rights code or through the human rights kangaroo courts. Thus Collins’ pursuit of a judicial appeal. The government's attempt to quash Collins’ petition before it even got to court might be unsettling for anyone who values the democratic process and the right of citi- zens to test the constitutionali- ty of bad law, but it's under- standable from the govern- ment’s perspective: the sec- tions of province’s human D5 oi, ‘Lube & Fitter tap wearers 21 pt. Safety check, 15 minutes - FAST! Includes up to 5 litres of 10w30 Quakerstate I 1362 Marine Drive 980-9715 Mon-Sat 8:00am-6:00prm, Sun. 9:00am-5:00em Expires June 2/99 nights code at issue are unlikely to withstand any court test. As Collins said in a recent speech in Toronto: “The Globe (and Mail) said B.C. should get rid of its presumptuous Human Rights Code burt covered its rear by describing me as ‘an ancient crank.” Afy response was that many of us ancient cranks spent six years fighting Hitler and that we were under the delusion we were fighting so that freedom of speech would be there for cranks of all kinds, ancient or not.” Well, old cranks don’t count for much in B.C.'s human rights code — they not being the right special interest group. The government would rather invest taxpayers’ moncy in buying cell phones for prostitutes and denying the rights of its citizens to express themselves freely than in running a democracy. There are rights and there are wrongs. 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