Alberta judge overturns hate speech ruling

The Voice of the Martyrs welcomes a Queen of Court of Queen's Bench judge ruling on Thursday overturning a December 2007 ruling by the Alberta Human Rights Commission that a letter by Stephen Boissoin that was published in the Red Deer Advocate broke provincial law against spreading hatred.  Justice E.C. Wilson ruled that the human rights panel chair Lori Andreachuk had made many errors in her ruling and that her order for Boissoin to pay Lund $5,000 and to refrain from making “disparaging remarks” about gays could not be enforced as they were “unlawful or unconstitutional.”

The judge said that while Boissoin’s remarks were “jarring, offensive, bewildering, puerile, nonsensical and insulting," they were not hateful or extreme and that there was nothing in the letter to suggest it was exhorting Albertans to discriminate against homosexuals in areas which fall under provincial jurisdiction.

"The letter's target audience are people that (Boissoin) believes are apathetic to the inroads made by the 'homosexual machine,' " Wilson said. "Inferring some sort of call for discriminatory practices prohibited by provincial law is an unreasonable interpretation of the letter's message."

Darren Lund, the University of Calgary professor who launched the complaint against Boissoin has not decided whether he will appeal this ruling.