Excerpt:
Finally, yesterday, something germane to the case: Exhibit Nine, the two-year-old Maclean's magazine book excerpt written by journalist Mark Steyn, and made much more famous by the B. C. Human Rights Tribunal.
Taken from Mr. Steyn's book America Alone, the 4,800-word piece denigrated Muslims and made them objects of fear and contempt, or so it is claimed by two Muslim men, one of whom lives in B. C. The excerpt is alleged to have promoted hate. No one, not even the complainant from B. C., has come forward to describe the damages caused, or the hurt feelings, at least not yet.
The hearing is moving slowly; three days into the week-long hearing process, the Steyn excerpt was at last produced and discussed.
Taking the witness stand inside a B. C. provincial courtroom was a former Vancouverite named Faiza Hirji. She now lives in Ottawa and is employed as a lecturer at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication. Dr. Hirji was introduced by counsel for the hearing's two complainants as "an expert in analyzing stereotypes in the media," with a specialty in the portrayal of Muslim minorities.
Eloquent and smart, Dr. Hirji has, however, published little in this area of purported expertise. Her academic career has barely started. Her slim body of peer-reviewed work, according to her curriculum vitae and confirmed by her answers on the stand, is focused on feminism and popular Indian cinema.