The HRCs Are Mostly About Discrimination; Hate Speech Is But a Small Part

Michael Coren, at his show The Michael Coren Show recently talked about the Human Rights Commissions. He opined in a manner that I think resembles most Canadians' thoughts: get rid of the hate speech (Section 13) codes of the Human Rights Act, but leave the rest as is. In other words, people who feel discriminated against for reason of religion, race, sexual orientation, gender etc. could still use the HRCs.

The reality is that the majority of HRC cases are not hate speech cases. They are stories of perceived discrimination at the workplace, in service areas (restaurants, etc.), while renting homes, and so on. So rather then take these cases in a normal court, and suing for whatever grievances endured, it seems expeditious, less costly and probably more likely to result in a positive verdict (for the plaintiff) than going to a real court.

But why should the government support these pseudo-court bodies when there are perfectly functional real court systems? As I wrote in this previous blog, it is all about avoiding discrimination in the multicultural society, and to prevent discord and dissatisfaction between all these various groups, with differing skills and abilities. Coerced harmony is better than battling things out in the real world of real laws.

Here is another interesting part of this story. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, has maintained the high levels of immigration for 2010, at around 250,000. I don’t know the run-down of the countries being admitted, but recent history has shown that a majority come from non-Western countries. What is the likelihood that such groups will help maintain the HRCs, as they struggle to fit into the country? And what is the likelihood that such groups (both new and older members) will strongly reject the dismantling of the HRCs?

Most anti-HRC proponents have gone after the (narrow) hate speech component of the Human Rights Act. The reality is that it is the anti-discriminatory part that is larger, and probably in the long run, more powerful. Truly dismantling these costly bodies will, I predict, raise the ire of these many groups who benefit from pushing their grievances through the HRCs rather than fighting for them in the real courts.