Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Talk About the Company He Keeps Part II

Related to the article we published a few days ago:

Conservative Website Hosts Mark and Connie Fournier Win 2009 George Orwell Free Speech Award

VICTORIA, October 10. While many Canadians travelled to see friends and relatives for the Thanksgiving weekend, over 125 free speechers from as far away as Hawaii jammed a hall for food, fellowship and the 24th Annual George Orwell Free Speech Awards.

This year's recipients were Mark and Connie Fournier, the former owners of [Free Dominion], a conservative website in existance [sic] since 2001. They have the unique distinction of being the victims of no fewer than three defamation suits at the hands of the ultra litigious Richard Warman, the chronic Canadian human rights complaints filer. For the past three years, the Fourniers and many of their posters have fought a staunch battle for free speech and found themselves being spied on by blind Canadian human rights investigator (don't ask how -- we don't know and he won't tell), even before a complaint was filed against their site.

One of their libel suits in currently stalled as the Fournier's are appealing a court decision forcing them to divulge the names of eight John Doe's, or anonymous posters of their website, to Richard Warman. The Fournier's are standing four square for privacy of people on their site. Their lawyer Barbara Kulaszka, calling from Ontario, warned: "This appeal is very important for freedom of speech and people posting anonymously on the Internet." She also praised Marc Lemire for "his tremendous stamina and sacrifice over the past six years to overturn Sec. 13. It always falls to individuals to carry the heavy burden," she said.

Hosted by Douglas Christie and his Canadian Free Speech League, the Orwell dinner featured webmaster Marc Lemire. Marc gave a powerful power point presentation of the struggle against Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and his recent victory, when Member Athanasios Hadjis ruled the Internet cewnsorship section unconstitutional. The CHRC is appealing (seeking judicial review) of this decision. Marc revealed further CHRC dirty tricks, including a cozy relationship with Canada Post which resulted in the closing of at least one person's post office box on nothing more than the allegation that he'd run afoul of Sec. 13.

Mr. Christie warned: "The fight for free speech is not the fight of a generation or even a lifetime."

Also present was webmaster Arthur Topham of Quesnel who is being victimized by Harry Abrams, a Victoria B'nai Brith operative, and B'nai Brith in a Sec. 143 complaint about his criticism of Zionism and Israel. Both the CFSL and CAFE have "interested party" or intervenor status in this upcoming battle,. scheduled to open in Victoria, December 14.

Representing the Canadian Association for Free Expression, Paul Fromm, the 1994 George Orwell Award winner, explained the travails of math lecturer Terry Tremaine, another Warman victim, who faces a preliminary hearing in Regina, October 19 on Warman-instigation Sec. 319 "hate law" charges about postings Mr. Tremaine made about Jews and national socialism. He was prosecuted under Sec. 13 on another Warman complaint and fined $4,000 and gagged for life (a "cease and desist" order) in 2006. Warman's complaints led to his losing his job at the University of Saskatchewan. CAFE has been raising money for Mr. Tremaine's defence.

Good. Perhaps they did get to ask Paulie about his views on "Zionism" after all?

2 comments:

Harry Abrams said...

Yep. It's not exactly a new maxim, but think it sure applies here: You lie down with dogs, you're going to get up with fleas.

This definitely cements the Fourniers' formal induction into a not-so-exclusive club.

Other honorees have been David Irving (the police raised Christie's meeting in 1991 because Irving was in Canada illegally) Doug Collins,Paul Fromm, James Keegstra, Malcolm Ross, and in 2008, a priest who testified on behalf of Michael Seifert who has since been extradited to Italy,where he was convicted in absentia for crimes against humanity in WW2, namely the shooting massacre of over 300 civilian hostages.

The first recipient of this award, Gary Botting, himself a lawyer who
represented the League in 1986,eventually returned the award & left the group denouncing it as
"a front for an antisemitic, pro-Nazi agenda."

see:
http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/b/ftp.py?people/b//botting.gary

Anonymous said...

Blair is spinning in his grave.