Thank you, Chair.
I certainly appreciate having this witness before us today.
I would suggest, sir, that when you referred to the Canadians who stand up to intolerance, or stand up to hatred, you could practically include everybody in this room in one fashion or another. I would suggest that for many of the folks who are elected here, part of the reason we wind up in this place is a result of our standing up for rights of people in one way or another over a period of time, which then gives you a little bit of name recognition.
In Hamilton we had an initiative on strengthening the Hamilton community, which dealt with the aftermath of a fire bombing of a Hindu samaj following 9/11, a very serious hate crime. The individual couldn't tell the difference between a samaj and a mosque. We had the Community Coalition Against Racism. There were times when one or the other of these organizations would raise uncomfortable issues, and to some extent you've done so yourself here today when you talked about the complicity of the peoples of Serbia and the peoples of Germany, and how far that should go.
One of the things that struck me that was a little concerning was when you made comment that perhaps the commission would be better off if it looked at imminent violence issues. To my mind, violence is usually something that happens in the heat of the moment, and there would be more responding on their part after the police had already investigated or whatever.
When it comes to the sending out of hate messages on the Internet or the media, or wherever it goes, I would suggest that this commission is well placed to deal with those areas where perhaps police forces aren't quite as sophisticated on the ground, because they haven't had the time working with it.
I'm drawn to this report—and I'm not so sure it has been made available to you—that the commission has made to Parliament. They did allude to some things in it today that are quite striking, like adding a statutory definition of hatred. That's one of the places where it's easy to misplace what is hatred and what is not, and it says “and contempt”. The important thing for me is that it draws us back to the Supreme Court of Canada and its rulings as a foundation for taking these determinations as to how we are going to make applications of the legislated designation of what the commission is supposed to do.
It goes on talking about costs and things of that nature, but this report seems to be addressing in a way some of the concerns that have been out there in recent times. I think there's a real effort.
As you can see, I'm making more of a statement than I am asking a particular question. Feel free, sir, to respond in any fashion you feel like.
I'm frightened that a body that we have in place, the Human Rights Commission and the tribunals, which is tasked with one of the most difficult jobs in our country, because of one or two very serious issues, one or two judgments that were made, is being put at risk by people in this country who could minimize or contain their ability to do their job. So coming back to where we're at with all of this, it is to find a way that if they have strayed--and that's a large “if”--then judging by the opinions of the court and whatever legislation may well flow out of this determination as to how we address it, the important part is that we don't minimize their ability to perform a very serious and very important job.
If you look at what happened in Nazi Germany, and what happened with Kosovo and the other areas, if you'd had a Human Rights Commission in place in the years before, there's a chance that people like Hitler would not have sustained the power that they did in the manner they did over the years.
I think I've opened a door here that I'm sure you will have many a comment on.