Pioneer Spirit Must Prevail

Alberta should lead the way to HRC reform in Canada

Calgary Herald:

...Today, society is far more open than it was.That's wonderful. But, since 1996, when Alberta's commission began policing opinion, politics is more closed.

That's when it became illegal not only to offend people the commission protects, but to publish anything that might offend them. No matter that statements be true, offence warranted, or publication dealt with matters of immediate concern--as did Rev. Stephen Boissoin for example, fined for writing letters against gay marriage while legalization was before Parliament.Or Levant, sued after his magazine printed Danish cartoons that had caused uproar in the Islamic world and were central to an international news story. (In all the world, he claims, he is the only person prosecuted for printing them, and it was right here in Alberta.)

No society prospers that silences contrarians--wrong as such people often are. But, sometimes they have something useful to say, offensive to some as it might be, and even if they don't, silencing them is still wrong....

....It should not be illegal to give offence: What is offensive, is that it presently is.The caucus now has the chance to lead the rest of the country in reclaiming the most fundamental right in a democracy.

I'm Alberta born, of pioneer families. Nothing in the travails of the first Albertans supports the current 'wussified' AHRC need to find offense in others' words.

Its time the AHRC reflected the mettle and character of Albertans.

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