The 24th Annual George Orwell Free Speech Award

The 24th Annual George Orwell Free Speech Award

Mark Fournier
Free Dominion
October 13, 2009

Last Saturday in Victoria, BC, Connie and I proudly accepted the 24th Annual George Orwell Free Speech Award from the Canadian Free Speech League. It was a personal pleasure for me to receive an award named for one of my literary heroes. I encountered the writings of George Orwell decades ago and they effected me so profoundly that they set me on paths of political thought that I continue to travel to this day.

This award is particularly appropriate in view of the Orwellian world Connie and I have had thrust upon us. A world where the State believes it can eradicate human emotions, where truth is not a defense and convictions are assured, where lawfare is an effective means of political coercion, and where people who speak out for our freedom of speech and political thought are labeled by censors as followers of one of history's greatest tyrants and mass murderers. (No, not socialism's Stalin or Mao or Pol Pot. That other guy.)

A variety of speakers at the annual meeting told the 125 people in attendance about their experiences of being crushed by the state. Marc Lemire did a power point presentation that gave an all too brief overview of what he has been through and brought everyone up to date on the latest developments in his case and the CHRC's appeal of the Hadjis ruling on the constitutionality of Section 13. A representative of the battle against the long gun registry spoke and a B.C. couple told a heart-wrenching story of having all their children seized by the B.C. government after a misdiagnosis of shaken-baby syndrome. Arthur Topham spoke of B'nai Brith's CHRC attack on him and we heard a story from a gentleman who has been locked in a battle with the government of B.C. over busking, of all things.

We also received a generous cash award which will go to our legal defense. The battle will go on.

We will never look up to the face of Big Brother, and love him.

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Conservative Website Hosts Mark and Connie Fournier Win 2009 George Orwell Free Speech Award

VICTORIA, October 10. While many Canadians travelled to see friends and relatives for the Thanksgiving weekend, over 125 free speechers from as far away as Hawaii jammed a hall for food, fellowship and the 24th Annual George Orwell Free Speech Awards.

This year's recipients were Mark and Connie Fournier, the former owners of freedominion.ca, a conservative website in existance since 2001. They have the unique distinction of being the victims of no fewer than three defamation suits at the hands of the ultra litigious Richard Warman, the chronic Canadian human rights complaints filer. For the past three years, the Fourniers and many of their posters have fought a staunch battle for free speech and found themselves being spied on by blind Canadian human rights investigator (don't ask how -- we don't know and he won't tell), even before a complaint was filed against their site.

One of their libel suits in currently stalled as the Fournier's are appealing a court decision forcing them to divulge the names of eight John Doe's, or anonymous posters of their website, to Richard Warman. The Fournier's are standing four square for privacy of people on their site. Their lawyer Barbara Kulaszka, calling from Ontario, warned: "This appeal is very important for freedom of speech and people posting anonymously on the Internet." She also praised Marc Lemire for "his tremendous stamina and sacrifice over the past six years to overturn Sec. 13. It always falls to individuals to carry the heavy burden," she said.

Hosted by Douglas Christie and his Canadian Free Speech League, the Orwell dinner featured webmaster Marc Lemire. Marc gave a powerful power point presentation of the struggle against Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and his recent victory, when Member Athanasios Hadjis ruled the Internet cewnsorship section unconstitutional. The CHRC is appealing (seeking judicial review) of this decision. Marc revealed further CHRC dirty tricks, including a cozy relationship with Canada Post which resulted in the closing of at least one person's post office box on nothing more than the allegation that he'd run afoul of Sec. 13.

Mr. Christie warned: "The fight for free speech is not the fight of a generation or even a lifetime."

Also present was webmaster Arthur Topham of Quesnel who is being victimized by Harry Abrams, a Victoria B'nai Brith operative, and B'nai Brith in a Sec. 143 complaint about his criticism of Zionism and Israel. Both the CFSL and CAFE have "interested party" or intervenor status in this upcoming battle,. scheduled to open in Victoria, December 14.

Representing the Canadian Association for Free Expression, Paul Fromm, the 1994 George Orwell Award winner, explained the travails of math lecturer Terry Tremaine, another Warman victim, who faces a preliminary hearing in Regina, October 19 on Warman-instigation Sec. 319 "hate law" charges about postings Mr. Tremaine made about Jews and national socialism. He was prosecuted under Sec. 13 on another Warman complaint and fined $4,000 and gagged for life (a "cease and desist" order) in 2006. Warman's complaints led to his losing his job at the University of Saskatchewan.