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The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has rejected the complaint against Maclean’s magazine over the excerpt from Mark Steyn’s book. Freespeechers rule—so far.
Another flop for the Sock Puppet ThreeI heard yesterday from across the Atlantic (I'm traveling in Europe) that the Ontario Human Rights Commission has declined to hear the Canadian Islamic Congress suit against Maclean's on the grounds that they deal in denials of service on the basis of race, creed, etc, and a magazine is not a "service". That's certainly true in the case of Maclean's: many of us haven't serviced anyone in years.
This is good news indeed but, at the same time, a little disconcerting. In a classic display of inside-the-box bureaucratic thinking, OHRC turned down the case only because it didn’t fit into their neat little definitions.
So, is Maclean’s a service or not? For Mohammed Elmasry and the Sock Puppet Four Three Whatever, that’s the issue, isn’t it? They regard Maclean’s as their own personal publishing service. The magazine, they insist, should print whatever they deem worthy.
If Elmo and the Puppets really believe what they alleged in the complaint, they will appeal the OHRC rejection to a real court. Or are they just bullies and poseurs? We shall see.
Previous related posts:
[...] CONGRESS vs FREE SPEECH: ANOTHER FLOP FOR THE SOCK PUPPET THREE– An important development; Maclean’s gets off on a technicality …. [...]
Selling advertising in the magazine is a service, the rest of the content should be covered by the free speech guarantees in the Charter. If they refused to sell the CIC an infomercial, that could be actionable.