A vituperative Calgary Sun Editorial ran on October 27, 2000 that can only be likened to street corner spitting.
It was titled "Extreme stupidity" and attacked Zundel lead attorney, Douglas Christie. Read and be amazed at the smear attack level to which Canadian lapdog media has sunk:
Controversial lawyer Doug Christie boasts he has done more for free speech than anyone else in Canada.
Well, most of us would beg to differ.
Christie made his reputation defending the likes of anti-Semites Jim Keegstra and Ernst Zundel -- two disreputable fanatics intent on spreading hatred between men, women and children.
Christie is a mischief-maker who cloaks himself in phoney free-speech values and in doing so promotes values any fair-minded Canadian would abhor.
Now Christie is up to more mischief: He's hosting a rally in Edmonton next month where he'll urge western separatists and his own supporters to back Stockwell Day's Canadian Alliance in the coming federal election.
What malarkey is this?
It can, of course, only do Day harm because it deviously ties the Alliance leader not only to a bunch of radical separatists -- whose wacky ideas are idiotic -- but also to anti-Semitism.
Day must firmly distance himself from Christie and all of Christie's adherents.
Actually, the Alliance leader already has distanced himself from Christie and the rather unsavoury clients and causes he represents.
Just this past week, Day condemned Prime Minister Jean Chretien for backing a UN resolution condemning Israel and charging the Jewish state with all manner of crimes. Day promised an Alliance government would regard Israel as one of Canada's closest allies.
And, even before he won the Alliance leadership, Day had backed a proposal that Jewish schools and those of other religious faiths be treated in the same way as Roman Catholic schools when it comes to public funding.
Not surprisingly, the Alliance now has wide and growing support from Jewish communities. Christie's thinking must be convoluted indeed to be able to accommodate both anti-Semitic hatemongers and a pro-Jewish politician in his mind.
But then, we've never thought Christie's thought processes were particularly rational.
Two Letters to the Editor followed this uncalled-for attack:
The first Letter to the Editor came from CAFE's Paul Fromm:
October 27, 2000
The Editor,
THE CALGARY SUN.
Dear sirs:
You may nor may not agree with Doug Christie's attachment to Western separatism. However, when he says "he has done more for free speech than anyone else in Canada," he's absolutely correct.
It took nine years of fighting, two trials and several appeals, but Doug Christie persuaded the Surpreme Court to overturn the obscure and oppressive "false news" law in the Zundel case.
Since Trudeau's Charter of Rights became law in 1981, we have seen a steady erosion of people's right to speak and hold dissenting opinions. Doug Christie has been in the forefront fighting for those rights. It's been a thankless task, as many of his clients have controversial views and have already been vilified in the press.
Currently, while the press snoozes, Christie is leading the fight against the Canadian Human Rights Commission's power grab to censor the Internet. They seek to shut down something called the Zundelsite, which is owned by an American citizen and located in the U.S. Along the way in this four-year battle, he has been told that truth is no defence. In over 43 days of hearings and numerous judicial reviews, the press, our freedom "watchdogs", have been notably absent. >From customs censors, to the Internet, to phone messages and the right to publish controversial views, Doug Christie has been there for freedom.
I find it strange that Christie is slammed because of his controversial clients, yet few raise an eyebrow at the lawyers who defend mass murderers like Clifford Olson or sex slayers like Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. Christie defends the right to express ideas, as opposed to those lawyers who defend the expression of twisted appetites.
Paul Fromm
Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
(Credits: The FREEDOM-SITE (http://www.freedomsite.org)
The second letter is dated October 31, 2000
This personal attack on Douglas Christie is another sad indication of the intellectual backwater Canada has become since the passage of hate laws in 1970. ("Day may not want friends like this," Rick Bell, Oct. 26.) Your newspaper apparently does not understand the role of a defence lawyer in criminal cases, which is to vigorously and faithfully defend his client. It is not his role to please governments, the media or other politically interested parties. Because of the hate laws, Canadians have lost the right to challenge government policy with respect to mass Third World immigration, multiculturalism, homosexuality and other politically correct issues. Because of the hate laws, which Christie attempted so valiantly to have overturned, Canada cannot say that it is a democracy. Stockwell Day should be proud to have a courageous advocate like Christie supporting him.
Barbara Kulaszka
To which the Sun editor who penned the smear editorial had this to say - we may assume so as to demonstrate he's got the smarts that Doug Christie supposedly lacks:
Christie's not doing Day any favours with his endorsement.
Impressive, eh? No wonder Canada is called Absurdistan.
=====
Thought for the Day:
"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground."
(Nugget sent to the Zundelsite)
Back to Table of Contents of the Nov. 2000 ZGrams