Video of Mike Duffy interviewing Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn hammers the Canadian Human Rights Commission and it’s number one complainant – Richard Warman.

 

 

Watch the video here

 

 

Ezra Levants Comments:

 

Canadian Human Rights Act doesn't apply to Indians

By Ezra Levant on February 7, 2008 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | Trackback

Mark Steyn was interviewed on CTV's Mike Duffy Live today (the video clip hasn't shown up here yet; if I find it, I'll link to it). I hope it portends more appearances by Steyn on Canadian TV.

Needless to say, Steyn made his points vigorously. But the surprise came from Duffy himself: he reminded viewers that the Canadian Human Rights Act does not apply to Canadian Indians. Right now, section 67 of the CHRA explicitly exempts Indian reserves from the application of the law.

This has been a long-time grievance of Aboriginal women, not because they have a hankering to file complaints about "hurt feelings" under the (recently-added) "hate speech" provisions of the Act, but because there has historically existed on many Indian reserves significant, real discrimination -- such as the wholesale disenfranchisement of women who marry non-Indians, cutting them off from government funds and other rights as band members. Unlike for the rest of us who live in a free society, the libertarian solution to discrimination -- simply move on to another restaurant, apartment, job, etc. -- doesn't work when the entire economy, and all property, are owned communally and are apportioned by fiat by chiefs and councils. That's how it works under Canada's Indian Act.

And guess what? Just last week, Liberal MPs tried to delay a Conservative initiative to extend the Canadian Human Rights Act to Indian reserves. Liberal Anita Neville showed the soft bigotry of low expectations, arguing that Indians just aren't culturally ready for the kind of laws that apply to the rest of us.

Ms. Neville said there's "a real ideological divide" over the issue of individual versus collective rights in the repeal legislation. "There doesn't seem to be, on the part of the government, a willingness to respect the tradition of collective rights for First Nations on reserve."

So, in the same week that we have Stephane Dion demanding that his MP, Keith Martin, rescind his private member's motion to remove the "hate messages" provision of the CHRA, Dion's MPs are blocking the entire CHRA from applying to hundreds of thousands of Canadian Aboriginals.

So which is it? Is the Canadian Human Rights Act so sacrosanct that not even a single section can be amended? Or is the Act so unimportant that Canadian Aboriginals can be denied all of its provisions for years to come? Mike Duffy pointed out this contradiction today; I wonder if any other journalists will follow up.