Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Re-affirms Free Speech: Boissoin Vindicated!

In another legal setback for the odious kangaroo courts, which are named in true Orwellian fashion, "Human Rights Commissions," the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench late last week overturned the Alberta Human Rights Commission's conviction of the Rev. Stephen Boissoin for speaking out against the homosexual agenda in the schools. Ezra Levant is obviously glad for Boissoin and writes:

"Late last week, the Court of Queen's Bench overturned the Alberta Human Rights Commission's "hate speech" conviction of Rev. Stephen Boissoin.

Long-time readers of this blog, and readers of my book, will know the case of Rev. Boissoin well. He was a youth pastor who wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate in 2002 that was critical of the "gay agenda". You can read that letter in full here. He was sentenced to a lifetime speech ban, barring him from ever saying anything negative about gays again, in public or private, for the rest of his life. Oh -- and he had to write a false letter of apology, renouncing his faith on the matter.

So here we are, more than seven years later, and Rev. Boissoin has finally been acquitted. And that's if his tormentor, the anti-Christian bigot Darren Lund, doesn't choose to appeal this new ruling."

But Levant is not dancing in the streets just yet. Why not?

"So lesson number one here is that the process is the punishment.

Rev. Boissoin had seven years of his life wasted -- seven years in which he bore the stigma of being called, by the state, an illegal "hater". And Rev. Boissoin had to bear the enormous legal costs -- first, of his kangaroo court trial, then of his appeal -- on his own. (I'm glad to have participated in three fundraising dinners for him this summer.) By contrast, his antagonist didn't have to spend a dime to drag Rev. Boissoin through the mud of the HRC. And note page 37 of the ruling: though Rev. Boissoin's conviction was demolished by the judge, page after page; though Rev. Boissoin was clearly mistreated and abused by the HRC; though the judge's contempt for the HRC's outrageous behaviour is palpable, Rev. Boissoin was denied his request for all his costs to be paid.

In other words: Darren Lund actually won."

Levant is right. This case demonstrates why the HRC's need to be abolished. When this point is raised, defenders of the HRC's argue that if any "mistakes" are made, there is always legal recourse to the courts. So what is the problem? The problem is that the HRC's are a form of legalized intimidation - a shakedown racket (to use Levant's term) - and most prudent people choose to pay them off to go away rather than hire costly lawyers to fight a protracted legal battle and fend off the bad publicity that accrues along the way (a consideration of special concern to business operators). As Levant puts it:

"Yes, yes, I agree with my friend Mark Steyn (who is quoted by the judge on pp. 33-34, if I recall) and Colby Cosh when they point out that the real courts have rebuked the fake courts. But how does that help the 90% of the HRCs' victims who succumb and accept a plea bargain without even a hearing, and the 98% of the rest who are convicted but lack the funds to appeal?

I agree that the courts are better respecters of freedom of speech now than they have been in the past, and I have often said I wished that section 13 would be put to the Supreme Court again, for they would throw this law out for sure. But if it took Rev. Boissoin seven years just to get to the first court, how long would it take him to go all the way to the SCC? And how many people would have given up long before he did?"

The HRC's are tools of ideological indoctrination and have no place in a Western country. They are offensive to freedom-loving people and suitable only for the North Koreas, Cuba and Chinas of the world. They damage the social fabric, promote hatred against Christians and generally accomplish the opposite of their stated goals. It is time for the HRC's to go.

But, having said all that, congratulations are in order to Rev. Stephen Boissoin, who has been vindicated. Like Paul appealing to Caesar, it seems that he has found justice from the secular state - justice that the anti-Christian bigots would deny all of us. May this make all Canadian Christians less prone to self-censorship and bolder to speak up for the truth in love.