In this segment, Ernst Zundel describes how his attorney, Doug Christie, battled with the opposition over wringing from that judge the all-important judicial review that we need to have the Human Rights Tribunal head back from where they came and leave the Zundelsite alone.
As I have mentioned several times before, in fair court proceedings these judicial reviews are granted in a matter of weeks once an application is filed - at the most in a matter of months. If your name is Ernst Zundel, however, you have to wait 2-and-a-half years!
Here's Ernst once more:
I felt sorry for people like Doug Christie and the grandmotherly Anglo-Saxon lady judge by the name of Reid - or is it Reed? - caught in the cross fire of a seemingly never-ending, courtroom-conducted "ethnic dialogue" in an effort to end this protracted struggle and lance the festering sore with the scalpel of truth. Madame Justice reminded me of my own mother, with her greying hair pulled back in a bun and her kind, alert eyes following the arguments with keen interest.
Doug Christie was at his finest professional self. Sometimes, I think, he even surprised himself by his rhetoric, calling the Human Rights Tribunal people ". . . part time judges . . . dilettantes!" He was remorselessly critical of the B'nai Brith and Canadian Jewish Congress lawyers, calling them "volunteers", pointing out that not even the Commission had bothered to send lawyers that day, nor had the complainant, Sabina Citron!
The two organizations that had their representatives there, tried hard to have our Judicial Reviews stopped or sabotaged - because, said Doug Christie, time and again, they did not want real judges in real court to examine these incredible Human Rights Tribunal rulings, with truth not being relevant or allowed as a defence!
At one point, intently looking at Madame Justice Reid (Reed?), Doug Christie asked: "My lady, have we come this far in Canada? That truth, and the pursuit of truth, is now deemed irrelevant?" He thundered, looking at the opposition: "I simply cannot believe that!" - and then, as though speaking to himself, he added: "Why, then, do we come here and swear on the Bible to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?"
There was embarrassed silence and a solemn mood in that courtroom!
Justice Reid (Reed) gave the two Jewish lawyers quite a number of uneasy moments with her questions and answers. At one instant in the proceedings she said rather pointedly to Mr. Woods, the lawyer for the CJC: "Mr. Christie does not have to argue for his client to be granted these judicial reviews. ***You*** have to convince ***me*** that these judicial review applications are frivolous! Mr. Zundel has a right to ask for these reviews, according to our laws! Why should he have to wait till the end of proceedings - maybe two or more years! - before he is allowed a judicial review of rulings by what he thinks is a biased body?"
Boy, was I surprised! I am not used to being treated with such consideration in Canadian courts. I thought I heard echoes of Judge Heald who had courageously ruled in my favor way back in August 1996 against SIRC!
Doug commented to the judge: "My lady, they never thought that we would have the staying power! Now they are fighting with their backs against the wall!"
He's right! They never thought that I would find the money with the help of my supporters - to fight as hard and for as long as I did!
Toward the end, Marvin Kurz, attorney for B'nai Brith, hung on for dear life in that courtroom! I would be very surprised if this judge will overrule, set aside, or even turf out the dates the Assistant Chief Justice had set himself way back in the fall of 1998 to move this case along!
Judge Reid/Reed has reserved judgment, but we should know in a couple of weeks. I am cautiously optimistic!
The flu strikes at Zundel-Haus!
No sooner was this over than I caught the flu, which was making the rounds among our staff. All the vitamins in the world, which I gobbled by the fistful, did not prevent that miserable cold from knocking me for a loop! I took Vitamin C, Pantothenic Acid, Echinachea, hot herbal tea, honey and milk - all this alleviated the symptoms somewhat, but I was feverish, shivering, coughing, miserable and tired. I began to feel a bit like the soldiers in the German Panzer Units in the winter campaign in Russia!
However, duty called! The Zundel team had to face another set of lawyers for the political parties and all Canadian MPs on January 18, 1999 - in Ottawa!
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Tomorrow: Part V of "Two Weeks in the Life of Ernst Zundel"
Thought for the Day:
"If I were a cassowary,
on the plains of Timbuctoo,
I would eat a missionary,
Cassock, band, and hymnbook, too!"