ROUND ONE: Collins walks out of tribunal!
CAFE Press Release on Collin’s “conviction”
The “Abrams” BC Human Rights Tribunal written decision
- Columnist must pay for anti-Semitic articles
- GLOBE AND MAIL ARTICLE ON COLLINS
- REUTERS ARTICLE ON COLLINS
- CALGARY HERALD ARTICLE
- BC PRESS COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
Canadian Association for Free Expression Backs Doug Collins’ Appeal of “Human Rights” Decision
http://www.cbcnews.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/1999/02/03/collin s990203
Columnist must pay for anti-Semitic articles
Feb 3 20:15:58 1999 | CBC Radio Network
VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s Human Rights tribunal ruled Wednesday a controversial columnist violated the province’s human rights code and must pay compensation.
Doug Collins faced complaints from a Victoria businessman over four articles he wrote about the Holocaust and Jews. He wrote the pieces for the newspaper the North Shore News in 1994.
The tribunal ruled those columns, taken together, were likely to expose Jews to hatred or contempt.
Collins and the paper have been ordered to pay Harry Abrams, the man who filed the complaint, $2,000 in compensation.
Collins became the first journalist to face a human rights complaint two years ago. He’s maintaining his columns were opinion pieces and he had the right to air his views.
The British Columbia Press Council has reviewed Collins’ columns and agrees that they amount to commentary, not news. The council says it is disturbed by Wednesday’s ruling.
Collins had been brought before the tribunal over one of the four articles previously. In 1997 the Canadian Jewish Congress complained to the then Human Rights Council over a March 1994 opinion column, Hollywood propaganda. The column accused Hollywood of propagandizing the Holocaust tragedy with films like Schindler’s List
The complaints were dismissed when the tribunal found that the article, on its own, did not directly express hatred or contempt against Jewish people.
Collins and the North Shore News are considering appealing the tribunal’s most recent ruling.
The “Abrams” BC Human Rights Tribunal written decision may be accessed at:
http://www.bchrt.gov.bc.ca/abramsv.htm
Canadian Association for Free Expression Backs Doug Collins’ Appeal of “Human Rights” Decision