Excerpt:
In the dying minutes of his hour-long closing arguments at a B. C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing yesterday, lawyer Faisal Joseph turned to the facts.
"Let's talk about the evidence of actual hate," he said. And why not. Hatred and contempt were what the five-day quasi-judicial process was all about.
With its publication of a book excerpt written by journalist Mark Steyn, Maclean's magazine is accused by two Muslim activists of smearing Islam. According to the complainants, the sharply worded excerpt -- about the growing influence of Islam and its perceived challenge to the West -- made them and "all Muslims in B. C." the subjects of loathing and scorn.
The complainants were under no obligation to prove harm, or malicious intent; all that is required, under B. C.'s human rights legislation, is a reasonable determination that the excerpt did express hatred and contempt toward Muslims, and likely caused it to spread. That's the test.
"There has never been a case in this country that has had such clear, concise evidence, ever," Mr. Faisal said yesterday. "There will never be any more demonstrable evidence of hatred that has been perpetrated by this article."