…cont'd

Kangaroo court is now in session

At the Canadian Human Rights Commission, it all comes down to double-sided faxes

MARK STEYN | March 26, 2008 |

"It's 'jade war' not 'jade ware,' " said Dean Steacy, a little tetchily, to counsel. Mr. Steacy is the lead Section 13 "hate" investigator of the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission, but he may be better known — at least to the white supremacists and neo-Nazis among you — as "jadewarr," his nom de guerre when he goes lurking on the Internet. "Jadeware" sounds like a nice wedding gift from Eaton's, whereas "jadewarr" is an abbreviation for Jade Warrior, who is "a character out of a novel that I read as a teenager," explained Mr. Steacy.

I'm sure many Canadians have found themselves in that embarrassing situation where you cruise an Internet dating site, hook up with a hot blond 17-year-old cheerleader and arrange to meet only to find that Candii is, in fact, a 54-year-old overweight male accountant. Alas, the problem's far worse for a neo-Nazi hoping to find a friendly website and meet a few kindred spirits. There must be a few genuine white supremacists whooping it up over at "Stormfront," but they seem to be thin on the ground. Mr. Steacy, the CHRC's lead investigator, is a member of Stormfront; Richard Warman, celebrated Canadian "human rights" crusader and plaintiff on every CHRC case since 2002, is a member of Stormfront; and Sgt. Stephen Camp is a member of Stormfront. What proportion of Canada's "white supremacists" are, in fact, government employees? On a quiet day, chances must be pretty good that you'll log on and find the joint deserted except for "jadewarr" (Mr. Steacy) trying to entrap "estate" (Sgt. Camp) while "estate" (Sgt. Camp) is simultaneously trying to entrap "axetogrind" (Mr. Warman). "There really should be a register of pseudonyms," urged lawyer Doug Christie, "so that investigators don't wind up investigating each other."

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Welcome to the wacky world of Canadian "human rights." If it sounds like a fetish club for servants of the Crown, well, that would be a lot cheaper. This is a long battle to reform a secretive and decadent institution. But Keith Martin is right: Section 13 should be repealed. We need a royal commission. And "jadewarr" and chums might be encouraged to find more useful employment.