On The Earl's Thing: A Brief Note

From an employee's Facebook page:

The intention of this post is NOT to state my opinion or upset anyone but simply make a plea. That plea being that no matter what your opinion is on our beef program or really any other subject, that you take a minute to think about who you're voicing your concerns or opinions to and the way in which you're going about it. I'm a strong believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion but over the last couple of days I have seen far too many people that I care about who work for Earls be yelled at or degraded for something that is much bigger than them. Today I was yelled at in a public parking lot and then ridiculed at the gas station just for wearing my chef's jacket with the Earls logo, something by the way which I am very proud to wear. All I ask is that before you yell at a 16 year old hostess or tell a server that they're are stupid you take a moment to consider the big picture. We're all human and most of us are in the industry we're in because we love people! For those who have any questions or concerns about this I'm always more than happy to answer them, feel free to message me!

In short: This is Canada.  Keep the public discourse civilized, people.

Some background here.

Wente Back At It

From the Media Culpa blog, is it plagiarism or something just short, like lazy journalism?

Your Daily Nazi: Important News On Your Ward News

I wrote last year:

So there's an T.O. East End Newspaper called Your Ward News.  From what I gather its mostly a direct mail affair; the publisher, a guy named Leroy St. Germaine, has Canada Post deliver it to folks down in Ward 31 (The Beaches).  It has apparently always been a bit flaky/racist, but the last couple of issues have seen a guy named James Sears gradually taking over, until recently he was appointed "Editor in Chief". And he has taken the publication "Full Nazi": articles promoting holocaust denial by old Heritage Front members; articles praising Adolf Hitler; articles promoting "white pride". The works.

Since then various people have taken various actions to make these guys stop publishing or get Canada Post to stop delivering them.  For example, local businesses advertising in the paper were contacted and asked to pull their classifieds.  This worked, more or less;  Sold space within the publication has declined.  But Your Ward has continued, and Canada Post has continued to distribute it.

Last week Canadian Civil Rights lawyer Richard Warman filed a human rights complaint against Canada Post, supported by numerous other luminaries.   You can find the actual paperwork at WK's place through the last link.  My favorite bit from it is:

It looks better if you click on the image, I think.

Anyway, this may be an interesting lesson in how to file this kind of complaint after the repeal of Section 13 of the CHRA.  Lets do a quick walk-through of the sections invoked.

Section 5:

5 It is a discriminatory practice in the provision of goods, services, facilities or accommodation customarily available to the general public

(a) to deny, or to deny access to, any such good, service, facility or accommodation to any individual, or

(b) to differentiate adversely in relation to any individual,

on a prohibited ground of discrimination.

This is invoked, as I understand it, to cover the discriminatory treatment of members of the public who are forced to receive the hate mail in question.

Section 7:

7 It is a discriminatory practice, directly or indirectly,

(a) to refuse to employ or continue to employ any individual, or

(b) in the course of employment, to differentiate adversely in relation to an employee,

on a prohibited ground of discrimination.


1976-77, c. 33, s. 7; 1980-81-82-83, c. 143, s. 3(F).

This suggests an infringement on the rights of the letter carriers forced to deliver the hate-mail.  It's worth noting that CUPW supports Warman's complaint.

Sections 12 & 14:

12 It is a discriminatory practice to publish or display before the public or to cause to be published or displayed before the public any notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation that

(a) expresses or implies discrimination or an intention to discriminate, or

(b) incites or is calculated to incite others to discriminate

if the discrimination expressed or implied, intended to be expressed or implied or incited or calculated to be incited would otherwise, if engaged in, be a discriminatory practice described in any of sections 5 to 11 or in section 14.

1976-77, c. 33, s. 12; 1980-81-82-83, c. 143, s. 6.

&:

14 (1) It is a discriminatory practice,

(a) in the provision of goods, services, facilities or accommodation customarily available to the general public,

(b) in the provision of commercial premises or residential accommodation, or

(c) in matters related to employment,

to harass an individual on a prohibited ground of discrimination.

12 concerns discriminatory notices.  If you are willing to publish/distribute this level of anti-semitic, anti-black, anti-whatever hate, its basically indicating to the people you deliver it to that you will likely discriminate and that they should too.

And, again, he various subsections of 14 cover discriminating against those members of the public who receive and must deliver this hate literature.

*

So it will be interesting to see how this all plays out, in the absence of the now repealed Section 13 of the CHRA.  Richard does not instigate frivolous complaints.  As for Your Ward, finding the on-line version is easy enough if you want to take a look.

I imagine getting it delivered to your mailbox is like recieving uncovered, unsolicited pornography (indeed some of the images in the publication shade towards porn).  Its basically a sick joke being played by a few white supremicists on the folks down in The Beaches.  Hopefully this will put an end to it.

Some News Re Dr. Dawg/John Baglow

This happened yesterday:

John Baglow — a former vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada — was taken to hospital on a stretcher Thursday afternoon from his Simcoe Street home with stab wounds to his hands and head. He was in stable condition.

Last I've heard, John has spoken to a couple of people in the blogging world and everyone involved in the incident will be OK.  That's very good news.  John is a class act: good to argue with over the finer points of The Dialectic; good to drink beers with.  Here's hoping he and his partner and step-son have a full and complete recovery.

Federal NDPer Defects To OLP

OTTAWA — One of the federal NDP’s former rising stars has decided she wants to run for the provincial Liberals in Ontario.

Good luck to her.  And it shows that Wynne's OLP is still attracting talent, so good news for them too whether she wins that nomination or not.

And, yes, she is still hot.

A Brief Note On Kale: Is It Even Food?

I tried some Kale "chips" today at Longos.  They were awful, as though somebody had cut up a black garbage bag, battered and then deep-fried it.  Like spinach, in other words, but with spinach's one or two nice flavor notes removed and drops of "this-taste-like-such-shit-the-hippies-will-think-its-good-for- them" juice slathered over.  And it made me wonder: is this some kind of conspiracy to fool health conscious progressives into eating garbage, or has years of talking on cell-phones caused people's tongues to mutate until they're actually able to consume and enjoy industrial waste?  I mean this crap can't really be healthy, can it?

PS.  Longos also had free pizza today, which was quite good.

Ezzrata: When Ezra Levant Was Young And Sue-y

Someone has posted a trove of legal documents from Ezra Levant's past, related to a libel case he brought against the University of Calgary student newspaper, back in the day.  Human rights lawyer Richard Warman has posted some commentary re this case on his website.  Here I'm just copping my favorite bits:

– 28 April 1993 – Ezra Levant swears an affidavit in which he says a Gauntlet reporter named Arnold Nowicki called him names in the University of Calgary bookstore, that “the said remarks can cause irreparable damage to the Plaintiffs’ reputations” given the comments were in a public place, and that the Plaintiffs therefore needed an injunction against Arnold Nowicki and everyone at the Gauntlet from “making any comment about the Plaintiffs”. Ezra Levant says Arnold Nowicki called him the following names:

low lifes

assholes

bullshits

that we get kicks out of intimidating people

nasty

motivated by revenge

that we beat up on people

– 3 May 1993 – Ezra Levant obtains a complete injunction on an ex-parte, emergency basis to prevent any Gauntlet staff member from making “any comment or statement about the Plaintiffs or any of them.”

There's more through the link, and other edifying material on various topics.  You may judge how this effects Ezra's status as a free speech warrior.