As many of my ZGram readers know, whenever there is a serialized ZGram, it means that I am either involved in a very large project, I may be away from my desk, or I need my full concentration on some article or essay and cannot be interrupted.
I have indeed been away from my desk since February 16 when I went on a lecture tour as in the olden days -- only this time to set another "First": To speak for the first time ever in America, to my knowledge, to a practically all-German or German-descent audience about "our" Holocaust" -- the Holocaust of Dresden.
I will not be able to resume my regular routine for yet another week, and I know that many of you are impatient about details of the reports about the legal "wrap-up" in Toronto. Please, be patient for just a little while longer, and I will comment on the last three weeks as soon as my project is finished. Last night, I was so tired I thought that I would faint, but this morning I feel better and decided to give you a "sneak preview" of this historic summation. If I run it as a series, it gives me a much-needed week of R&R -- for we are in a war of truly cosmic dimension, as many of us understand.
The longest Human Rights Tribunal circus in Canadian history has finally come to an end. The Zundel team has rendered a summation -- ***not*** to the political hatchet men and women of the CHRC and their biased Tribunal, ***not*** to our opponents in the hearings, and ***not*** to the mainstream media, who never reported these precedent-setting hearings and who are clearly the captives and willing executioners of one of man's most fundamental rights on behalf of the evil forces that want to strangle Internet freedom of speech.
Below, you will find the first of four installments of the "Zundel-Side's Summary." Save them for your children and children's children, so that you can say you had a front-row seat in the bleachers while this historic struggle was taking place, and that you supported the Zundel legal defense effort -- financially, morally and spiritually.
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Introduction:
In 1996, two complaints were laid against Ernst Zundel, a German human rights activist, accusing him of exposing Jews to hatred and contempt on the "Zundelsite", a World Wide Web site located in the United States, and owned and operated by Ingrid Rimland. The complaints were laid by Barbara Hall, then the Mayor of Toronto, Canada, as the representative of the Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations and by Sabina Citron, the Jewish activist who had originally laid criminal charges against Zundel in 1984 for publishing the pamphlet Did Six Million Really Die?
The complaints led to a five year legal marathon of tribunal hearings, judicial reviews before the Federal Court (Trial Division) and appeals to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
At stake was freedom of speech on the Internet, the most revolutionary and most equalizing of all mediums of communication, one which promised to give every individual the opportunity to be heard and to participate in the open marketplace of ideas. Tragically, only one organization, the Canadian Association for Free Expression, assisted Zundel in this heroic battle. Organizations that claimed to stand for freedom on the Internet, especially Electronic Frontier Canada, refused to help Zundel notwithstanding personal appeals by his lawyers.
This booklet is an account of the chilling means by which individuals and their freedom of speech are destroyed in Canada by means of "human rights" laws. Once meant as a shield for racial minorities in finding accommodation and public services in the 1950s, the "human rights" laws had been expanded over the years to include prohibitions against "hate speech" directed at protected groups (...)
The specific "human rights" legislation used against Zundel was section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act which provided that anyone who used a telephone to repeatedly send hate messages against any identifiable group was guilty of a "discriminatory practice" and subject to a cease and desist order. The section had been legislated in 1977 to shut down "telephone hot lines" operated by groups challenging Canada's third world immigration policies. People calling the "hot lines" heard pre-recorded messages on a telephone answering machine dealing with various public policy issues. The section had never been used for Internet communications, a medium which did not exist in 1977.
Tribunal hearings into the complaints began in the spring of 1997 and were completed in February of 2001. The Tribunal allowed Jewish organizations to intervene in the case against Zundel, including the Canadian Jewish Congress, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association. The only organization to intervene on behalf of Zundel's right to freedom of speech was the Canadian Association for Free Expression and its director, Paul Fromm.
Zundel was represented by lawyers Douglas H. Christie and Barbara Kulaszka. Arrayed against them in the hearing room were the lawyers for the Commission and the Jewish organizations, who often numbered seven or more.
By the time of the final arguments, Ernst Zundel had moved to the United States, where he had married Ingrid Rimland and was making a new home. His lawyers informed the tribunal that as their client was no longer in Canada the case had become moot and should be dismissed. The tribunal refused.
For Zundel, the refusal of the tribunal to accept evidence of the truth of the statements of the Zundelsite as a defense was the final deciding factor to leave Canada. No publisher, no researcher can live in a country that no longer values truth and is willing to impose stringent fines, penalties and cease and desist orders on those who speak the truth. Any country that is so terrified of truth has lost its way and its soul.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission:
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is a federal agency created under the Canadian Human Rights Act which is mandated to carry out the policy objectives of the statute and to enforce it.
It was the Canadian Human Rights Commission that received the two complaints laid against Zundelin the summer and fall of 1996 from the Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations and Sabina Citron.
The complaints were laid under section 13 of the Act which provided as follows:
13(1) It is a discriminatory practice for a person or a group of persons acting in concert to communicate telephonically or to cause to be so communicated, repeatedly, in whole or in part by means of the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking within the legislative authority of Parliament, any matter that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that that person or those persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.
Zundel later learned, however, that the Canadian Human Rights Commission had been taking an interest in his activities long before the complaints were laid. Documents released by the Commission under the Access to Information Act to Barbara Kulaszka, Zundel's attorney, showed that the agency had no interest in the truth of anything Zundel wrote or the implications for the Canadian-German community of classifying all questioning of the "Holocaust" as "hate."
The released documents showed that in a memo dated November 30, 1994, Harvey Goldberg, the Director of Policy and Planning of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, requested a legal opinion from its in-house counsel on whether messages attached to the memo met the threshold necessary for them to be considered "hate messages" within the meaning of section 13(1) of the Act. Goldberg stated in the memo:
"[Exempted] postings are typical examples of Holocaust denial. As such, it is my view the material is inherently anti-Semitic. It is intended to foment hatred and contempt against the Jewish victims of Nazi persecution and against all Jews who maintain that the Holocaust is an historical fact."
Goldberg later posted a notice on the Internet in response to comments made by Canadian Human Rights Commission member Sigmund Reiser at the December 1994 commission meeting at which time Reiser expressed concern "about the use of the Internet to disseminate hate propaganda." The notice read as follows:
"The use of the Internet by white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, gay bashers and other elements of the extreme right is matter of concern to human rights agencies. I work for the Canadian Human Rights Commission. I am currently doing research on the use of the Internet for the propagation of hate material. The purpose of the research is to determine what measures could be considered to control the use of the Net for this type of purpose. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has any views, information or comments on this subject or who know of anywhere on the Internet where this matter is discussed."
Goldberg received numerous e-mail responses to his message, many of which informed Goldberg that the Internet was a medium of interactive exchanges where debate and discussion were used to destroy the credibility of racists and others, not censorship.
By memo dated March 14, 1995, Goldberg forwarded copies of the "1994 B'nai Brith Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents" to Commission members Max Yalden, Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay and to J. Hucker. Goldberg summarized what he termed "interesting analysis and commentary" by B'nai Brith on Zundel as follows:
"In 1994 Canada remained a major center of Holocaust denial, which is anti-Semitism masquerading as a respectable discipline. Ernst Zündel's Samisdat Publishing continued to operate from Toronto, distributing material (books, newsletters, videotapes) in 15 languages to 40 countries."
Goldberg noted in the March 14, 1995 memo that "Policy Branch maintains on-going liaison with BBC [B'nai Brith Canada] through its Ottawa based Director of Government Relations, Mr. Rubin Friedman."
The "1994 B'nai Brith Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents" referred numerous times to Zundel as a part of the racist right (p.2), a person prosecuted for promotion of hate against Jews in the form of Holocaust denial (p. 12), a "Holocaust denier" spreading hate on the Internet (p. 17), and a person spreading anti-Semitism through "Holocaust denial" (p. 20).
In March of 1995, the Policy and Planning Branch of the Commission produced a report entitled "The Prohibition of Hate Messages under the Canadian Human Rights Act" which dealt with the Internet. It concluded there was "clear evidence" that individuals and groups were using the Internet for the dissemination of hate messages.
By memo dated July 24, 1995 from Goldberg to Commission chairman Max Yalden, Deputy Chief Commissioner M. Falardeau-Ramsay and J. Hucker, Goldberg brought Zündel's World Wide Web Internet page Voice of Freedom [now defunct] to the attention of the Commission. He wrote:
"Hate on the Internet
As you are aware, there has been considerable discussion recently about the use of the Internet for the propagation of hatred. I thought you would be might be (sic) interested in seeing an example of the type of information that is now easily accessible. The attached material comes from the Voice of Freedom, a World Wide Web 'home page' operated by [Ernst Zundel]...As you will see, the information presented is classic Holocaust denial material. I understand the several other WWW sites of a similar ilk are now in operation."
There was no evidence Goldberg attempted in any way to verify the truth or falsity of the matters written on the Website.
Speaking notes of two speeches given in November of 1995 and March of 1996 by Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay, Q.C., then Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Commission (appointed subsequently as Chief Commissioner), equated Zundel's views with hatred under the Criminal Code and expressed regret on the failure to prosecute Zundel successfully under the false news law. She equated "Holocaust denial" with "racism" and "hate" and discussed the difficulties of dealing with Zundel who was able, she said, to switch Internet access providers quickly, and operated outside of Canada. She praised Ken McVay of Nizkor whom she described as someone who had discredited "Holocaust deniers" on the Internet by posting material which refuted "racist and anti-Semitic positions." The speeches were entitled "Combating Hate Propaganda" and "Hate Propaganda: A Human Rights Perspective."
Falardezu-Ramsay also made plain in the speeches that the Canadian Human Rights Commission intended to treat any complaints about hate on the Internet in exactly the same way it treated complaints regarding telephone hotlines. Her speech was a clear invitation to special interest groups to lay complaints regarding Internet websites.
B'nai Brith publications were circulated by Commission member Sigmund Reiser, a longtime member of B'nai Brith who was described in the Annual Report of the Canadian Human Rights Commission as "the sole survivor of a family of twenty-one whose other members perished in the Holocaust." Reiser circulated a copy of the 1994 B'nai Brith Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents and a B'nai Brith pamphlet on a telephone hotline to report hate.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission regularly discussed and circulated publications from B'nai Brith Canada. The Commission maintained an on-going liaison with B'nai Brith through its Ottawa-based Director of Government Relations, Rubin Friedman. Commission employee Mervin Witter was also a member of the B'nai Brith Advisory Committee on Combating Hate Propaganda. Witter provided a B'nai Brith news release which was distributed at the commission in March of 1996. The B'nai Brith news release called for Zundel's prosecution under the hate laws of Canada.
B'nai Brith is an organization which has lobbied government officials publicly and privately for sixteen years to have Zundel charged under the criminal hate law and / or deported from Canada. B'nai Brith never attempted to refute the views of Zundel by information, debate or discussion.
The extent of B'nai Brith's activities against Zundel included:
sponsoring a massive demonstration against Zundel in 1981 where violence was prevented only by the intervention of Toronto police;
repeated public and private lobbying to have Zundel charged under Canada's hate laws starting from at least 1983;
repeated calls for Zundel's deportation;
acting as intervenants in Zundel's appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1991 at which time B'nai Brith argued for the constitutionality of the "false news" law under which Zundel had been convicted;
forming a coalition after Zundel's acquittal by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992 with such groups as the Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations to lobby for new charges against Zundel under the hate law;
starting a nation-wide advertising and poster campaign to have Zundel charged under the hate laws immediately after Zundel's acquittal. The advertisement read:
"Help Stop Zundel. Ernst Zundel is a hatemonger....The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada has fought Zundel for years. We know him. So do you. When the Supreme Court struck down the false news law, the League, which fought him in court, immediately called for hate propaganda charges against him. Now we need your help to fight Zundel...Let the Attorney General know that Canadians of all walks of life want to speak out against Zundel's hatemongering, and want to see him charged with willful promotion of hatred against any identifiable group...For the sake of the six million...We will not be silent."
repeated statements that Zundel was a "hate monger" and "anti-Semite" even though Zundel has never been even charged of hate under the Criminal Code notwithstanding repeated attempts by Sabina Citron, the Mayor's Committee and B'nai Brith to have him charged;
circulation of a petition to have Zundel charged with hate in 1993;
repeated statements declaring that "Holocaust denial" (their term) constituted an "illegal activity" and lobbying to have "Holocaust denial" made a criminal offense;
repeated calls to have Zundel's postal privileges suspended;
working closely with the Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations to criminalize and deport Zundel. B'nai Brith's prominent member, Marvin Kurz, served on the Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations and put the matter of the complaint against Zundel on its agenda. Kurz acted as counsel for B'nai Brith before the Supreme Court of Canada in Zundel's appeal, arguing that Zundel's conviction for false news should be upheld; Kurz announced a phone-in campaign to pressure the Attorney General of Ontario in 1992 to charge Zundel with hate after Zundel was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Canada;
public support by B'nai Brith of Sabina Citron and her campaign of harassment against Zundel from 1985 onward, including having its representatives appear at the court houses to give media interviews supporting the laying of charges;
launching of a task-force to investigate ways of regulating the Internet to stop "hate mongers" like Zundel.
"Hate on the Internet?" -
Complainants:
The Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations:
The Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations was established by Toronto City Council in 1981 with the mandate of intervening and mediating in situations that had the potential to cause racial or intergroup tensions or social unrest. It specialized in such activities as promoting large posters in city transit shelters with slogans like "Hate - It's Taught," "Homophobia hurts someone you love" and "Equity, Respect, Harmony, Prosperity...one thing leads to another."
From at least 1987, the Mayor's Committee lobbied to have Zundel investigated by government agencies or charged under the Criminal Code with inciting hatred. The Mayor's Committee supported the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith in a campaign to have Zundel charged with inciting hatred after his 1992 acquittal by the Supreme Court of Canada. It continued this lobbying even after the extensive police investigations in 1993 determined Zundel was not distributing hate literature.
The person who appeared to be the driving force in this harassment was the Toronto Mayorís Committee coordinator, Janice Dembo. In a 1997 (May 5) article in the Toronto Sun on the 17th annual YWCA Women of Distinction award winners, of which Dembo was one, she was described as:
"Social justice crusader and advisor to politicians at all government levels, Janice Dembo wins the race relations award. Born and raised Jewish in South Africa, she's witnessed discrimination first hand and lived with the legacy of the Holocaust."
Dembo had also been active in attempting to censor a book of jokes sold in Toronto stores. The Toronto Star ("Joke book is 'hate literature' race relations panel insists," October 31, 1990) quoted Dembo as calling the book "obscene" and "filthy."
"I'm Jewish," Dembo said, "and I lost hundreds of relatives who were pizzas," referring to a joke in the book that compared the Jews who died in the Nazi gas chambers to pizzas.
In a letter from Dembo dated January 3, 1995 to the Attorney General of Ontario Marion Boyd, Dembo expressed her "profound dismay" that Zundel had never been charged with hate. Dembo set out various ways of "dealing with" Zundel including hate charges, postal bans, denial of his citizenship application, tax audits and deportation. Dembo wrote:
"As you certainly know, Ernst Zundel is one of the world's leading manufacturers and exporters of hate propaganda....We believe that there are a variety of methods of dealing with Mr. Zundel's hate propaganda. The first manner of dealing with him would be a criminal investigation and charge under s. 319(2) of the Criminal Code....There are other legal avenues available to provincial law enforcement officials for dealing with Mr. Zundel. Included in those remedies would be a review of the corporate income tax returns of his company, Samizdat Publishing. Are they paying provincial income tax for all of their sales, both in Ontario and abroad? The provincial sales tax officials could look at the issue of whether sales tax in (sic) being charged on Samizdat materials being sold in Ontario and abroad as well...Section 43 of the Postal Act allows the postal minister the right to make a prohibitory order when there are reasonable grounds to believe that an individual is using the mails to commit an offence or to aid or abet in the commission of an offence. That provision could be used to deny the postal privileges of Samizdat or Mr. Zundel...Have you or any members of your cabinet contacted Mr. Marchi, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration with respect to his citizenship application? If Mr. Zundel is granted Citizenship, Canada will lose the right to deport him...Deportation may be the most expedient method of ridding Canada of Mr. Zundelís noxious influence."
Notwithstanding its mandate to intervene and mediate between groups regarding issues having the potential to cause intergroup tensions, the Mayor's Committee never approached Zundel nor allowed Zundel to make submissions to it. Zundel asked to be heard by the Mayor's Committee regarding its lobbying efforts to have him charged, investigated, audited and deported. Mayor Barbara Hall, chair of the committee, wrote to Zundel informing him that if the committee decided to hear oral submissions in the future it would so inform him. Zundel formally requested a hearing but never received a reply.
In a subsequent interview with M2 Newswire, Zundel said: "What Dembo is suggesting is that it is quite all right to harrass, stalk, beset and administratively target perfectly law-abiding citizens, writers, broadcasters and publishers because these self-appointed censors don't like someone else's political viewpoint."
The complaint laid against Zundel by the Mayor's Committee under the human rights statute was initiated by Marvin Kurz, the counsel for the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith and chair of its legal committee, who was a sitting member of the Mayor's Committee at the time. Kurz asked in March of 1996 to put on the agenda of the Mayor's Committee the matter of a formal complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission regarding Zundel's "discriminatory acts of posting Holocaust denial hate propaganda on the Internet." Kurz's letter was written on March 26, 1996, a week after the speech by Deputy Chief Commissioner Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay on March 19, 1996 in which she denounced Zundel and made clear that the Canadian Human Rights Commission would accept complaints about material on the Internet.
By letter dated May 16, 1996 to Chief Commissioner Max Yalden, the Mayor's Committee informed the Canadian Human Rights Commission that it had decided to lay a formal complaint against Zundel. The letter was copied to Commission member Sigmund Reiser, the long-time prominent member of B'nai Brith.
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Tomorrow: Sabina Citron