Response to the Demise of Sec. 13 in "Maclean's"

Earlier today, we were contacted by "Maclean's" and asked about our take on the demise of Sec. 13. We responded as follows:

We think that the government was incredibly short sighted in their decision to eliminate Sec. 13. It was a useful and cost-effective tool in the effort to eliminate some very vile, hateful, and potentially dangerous rhetoric online and in the public sphere. Now we have only the criminal code which, in a few cases, is like using a machete when a scalpel would have been more prudently utilized.

Those individuals and groups who were called before the Human Rights Tribunal and who were found to have violated Sec. 13 were not innocent lambs who were victimized by Big Brother. They were people and groups who were causing real harm in their communities. Their words did result in harm, and I don't mean hurt feelings. People's homes were vandalized. People have been assaulted. And these criminal acts had, in many cases, began with the dehumanization of fellow Canadians for no other reason than their ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation.

The people who are celebrating this are the extremists on Stormfront and VNN and a host of other racist webforums, but as we wrote on our blog they should consider that now there is only the criminal code and the penalties are more severe than anything Sec. 13 dished out. It should also be noted that racists aren't content with only Sec. 13. Paul Fromm, for instance, has said he and his group will next focus their attention on the criminal code sections regarding hate crimes.

We get the impression that the "Maclean's" in which Sec. 13 will be discussed is coming out this week. We don't expect that our entire response will be published, or if any of it will be for that matter, but if it is we thought we'd include the entirely of our response here.

And as for the responses from the boneheads, we present a small selection:

Rob de Chazal: The Lemire Connection

A friend forwarded us a number of interesting screen shots from some of the hacked emails, including those from Kermit the Frog impersonator Bill Noble.

Since one of our focuses is currently on Rob de Chazal (who, along with Shawn Macdonald and Alastair Miller, is accused of a series of assaults), we did a little search and were surprised at what we found because it was really quite unexpected.

Back in late 2004, former WCFU co-founder and leader Glenn Bahr decided that he was going to engage in a massive (from his standpoint) flyering campaign to get out the "White Nationalist" message which would take place on January 15, 2005:

On this Stormfront thread, Bahr and other "White Nationalists" discuss how they will proceed and, once the campaign was over, brag about the success:

GermBrit Comments on ARC

Looks like another of the Stormfront faithful have decided to give us a look over:

Losers and social outcasts? Dude, those are your fellow Stormfront members you're talking about.

Now aside from the inaccurate views on our relative economic positions and living arrangements, (we are members of a vigorous quilting bee, bird watching society and some of us had at least one date with a real member of the opposite sex and not with a World of Warcraft avatar.... we're looking at you Sparky!) we think GermBrit has a valid point here. Perhaps we should focus more on individuals more worthy of inclusion on these pages? Such as, oh, we don't know.... members of the Canadian Navy who post on Stormfront?

Meet Stormfront member GermBrit. Birthname Kevin Stewart. Having lived the majority of his life in British Columbia, Kevin is now in Halifax, Nova Scotia training to become a member of the Canadian navy.

Now isn't only a Stormfront member. He's also close to members of Volksfront based in B.C.:

White Supremacist Believed to Have Been Killed By Police in Nanaimo

Jeff Hughes, better known on Stormfront as "nish in exile" is reported to have been shot and killed by R.C.M.P. officers in Nanaimo, B.C.:

Neighbours not surprised by fatal gunplay
Man dies after "police-involved" shooting
Danielle Bell, Nanaimo Daily News

Published: Friday, October 23, 2009

The fatal shooting of a 48-year-old man by Nanaimo police outside a Selby Street apartment on Friday morning came as little surprise to some neighbourhood residents.

The 6 a.m. RCMP response to a noise complaint at the property was not an unusual occurrence according to neighbours, some of whom reported hearing multiple gunshots. Drug-related problems are common in the area, they said.

Nanaimo RCMP officials turned over the shooting investigation to the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit and said they have previously visited the building from disturbance and noise complaints. In June, RCMP investigated a complaint of two men shooting at each other in the area.

Friday's incident began when officers called to 531 Selby St. encountered a 48-year-old man. Police called in the emergency response team and a police dog, "given the nature of the subject's response to police." Officials would not elaborate.

Police said multiple shots were fired after the man came outside the residence and confronted officers, who were waiting for the arrival of the specialized teams. Witnesses report hearing as many as 10 gunshots. Several residents who looked outside saw several officers crouched with guns drawn and heard police yell "drop your weapon."

RCMP officials will not say if the man was armed, how many shots were fired or if more than one officer shot at the man.

The victim died outside, where his body was blocked from view by sheets strung along property fences. It was removed about nine hours later. His identity was withheld pending notification of next of kin. No one else was injured.

"If our officers used lethal force, they're faced with death or grievous bodily harm," said RCMP E-Division spokesman Sgt. Rob Vermeulen late Friday. "The RCMP regrets this tragic loss of life and is co-operating fully in this investigation."

Police continue to gather and confirm details and have not determined who shot the man. They would not say if other use of force options, such as a Taser, were used.

Vermeulen said the event was "very traumatic" for officers involved, who are being offered counselling and other support.

The area is often plagued with a transient population and police said it is not uncommon to respond to drug or prostitution-related problems or disturbances.

Andrea Roy, who recently moved to the area, was not surprised.

It's the reality of the area, said Roy, whose backyard overlooked the fatal scene.

One woman who lives in the building told media the shooting "reminds me of the old days" and was unsettled by the violence. She reported she heard door-slamming and swearing in the hours before the shooting.

John Bosch, who has managed a nearby building for nearly a decade, said he was not shocked that shots were fired only metres away from his downtown home.

Several residents brought up the subject of gang warfare in the Lower Mainland and said they were not surprised violence has spilled over.

"These days it happens quite often," said Bosch.

Sisters Tanya and Cyndi Touchie have lived in the area their entire lives and neither was surprised by the shooting.

"It's where all the action is," said Tanya.

Earlier this year, Nanaimo RCMP responded to the same building after reports that two men where shooting each other. Police said at the time that the gunfire was believed to be linked to the drug trade. No one was injured in that incident.

"It's really sad that nobody is surprised," said neighbour William Overnes, 41, who recently moved into the neighbourhood. "You look at the desperation of people around drugs. A lot of people don't realize what happens in the underworld."

Victoria Police investigators with VIIMCU will lead the investigation, which will be monitored by a senior officer, in the interest of impartiality, said officials. An independent observer with The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP will also be involved.

It is the third police-involved shooting on Vancouver Island this year.

Last month, a 40-year-old Chemainus man was injured after he was shot by police after a traffic stop.

In March, a 39-year-old Duncan man was shot and killed in his trailer home after police said other efforts to subdue him failed.

The last time police in Nanaimo shot and killed a person was in 1996, involving a man armed with a knife near the Departure Bay B.C. Ferries terminal.

We're still waiting on reports to confirm that it was Hughes who was shot and the circumstances behind the incident. Reports of Hughes' death came to light when Harold Covington, announced on his blog that it was Hughes who was involved in the incident. Covington himself is a well-known American neo-Nazi.

Add Another to the List of, "Why Not to Have Paul Fromm Represent You" Decisions

When the the Lemire decision came down in which Section 13 of the Human Rights Act was ruled to be unconstitutional by Athanasios Hadjis (a decision now being appealed) the boneheads got very excited. They also figured that this decision would reverse previous decisions made by the CHRT. In fact, Paul Fromm made demands that the penalties resulting from the Jessica Beaumont decision be reversed and that all monies paid be returned to Beaumont with interest.

FROMM DEMANDS THAT HADJIS REVERSE THE PENALTIES IMPOSED ON JESSICA BEAUMONT (Jessy Destruction on Stormfront)

September 4, 2009

Dear Mr. Hadjis:

Re: Richard Warman v. Jessica Beaumont

Dear Mr. Hadjis:

You were the Member seized of this complaint; that is, Richard Warman v. Jessica Beaumont. Hearings were held in Vancouver in December of 2006. I was Miss Beaumont's agent throughout these proceedings.

You found her guilty of a discriminatory practice, contrary to the controversial Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and, in your decision, delivered October 26, 2007, assessed certain penalties:

[94] In assessing the appropriateness of such an order, the only messages in issue are those that reference Mr. Warman, and not the entirety of the material that has been found to be in breach of s. 13. Ms. Beaumont knew or should have known that the language she was using to attack and ridicule Mr. Warman was likely to expose him to hatred and contempt in conjunction with his identification as a Jew. The reference to "Dead Warman Society" accompanied by images of swastikas is particularly troubling. Words suggesting that harm should come to another cannot be taken lightly, even if they were made in jest. Others viewing this material on the Internet may not see it as such and take the message more seriously. Mr. Warman also points out that Message 30, for instance, was posted after Ms. Beaumont was served with the human rights complaint. Thus, rather than halting the hate messages, she continued them and began to include references to Mr. Warman by name.

[95] In the circumstances, I therefore order Ms. Beaumont to pay the sum of $3,000 in special compensation, pursuant to s. 54(1)(b) of the Act.

104] Taking all of these factors into account, I order Ms. Beaumont to pay a penalty of $1,500. Payment of the penalty shall be made by certified cheque or money order payable to the "Receiver General for Canada", and must be received by the Tribunal within 120 days of the date on which this decision is served on Ms. Beaumont.

[80] I therefore see no reason to deny the order. Ms. Beaumont is ordered to cease and desist from communicating or causing to be communicated, by the means described in s. 13 of the Act, and particularly the Internet, any matter of the type contained in the messages at issue in this case that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that the person or persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.

On September 2, you rendered your decision in Richard Warman v. Marc Lemire and declared Sec. 13 to be unconstitutional:

I have also concluded that s. 13(1) in conjunction with ss. 54(1) and (1.1) are inconsistent with s. 2(b) of the Charter, which guarantees the freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. The restriction imposed by these provisions is not a reasonable limit within the meaning of s. 1 of the Charter.

Miss Beaumont complied with your orders and paid her fine in full and the $3,000 awarded to Richard Warman. Ironically, Mr. Warman obtained a court order and a further $3,000 was removed from Miss Beaumont's account after she had purchased a draft to pay him. It was some weeks before this money was returned to her.

In light of your decision in Warman v. Lemire, I seek:

1. that you rescind the "cease and desist" order. This is especially vital, as it is a legal burden hanging over Miss Beaumont for life, an obligation to silence under a law you hold is a violation of the Charter! Your "cease and desist" order is doubly onerous, as Miss Beaumont, who is not a lawyer, is enjoined not to communicate messages of |"the type contained in the messages at issue in this case." Yet, in your ruling, you found that "many," but not all, the impugned messages in the complaint violated Sec. 13.

[74] In sum, I find that in most of the impugned messages, Ms. Beaumont engaged in the communication of matter that was likely to expose persons identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination (namely race, religion, national or ethnic origin, and sexual orientation), to hatred or contempt.

Thus, Miss Beaumont has no guidance as to which messages were deemed acceptable.

2. that you cancel the $3,000 award to Mr. Warman and order that he return these monies, plus interest back to the date of the decision, to Miss Beaumont.

3. that you cancel the $1,500 fine imposed on Miss Beaumont and order that these monies, plus interest back to the date of the decision, be returned to Miss Beaumont.

Sincerely yours,


Paul Fromm
Director

So how did that go?




One would think that Paulie would be used to failing by now.

Try To Keep Up, Junior

Canadian Stormfront moderator OdinPatrick has posted the latest on Ciaran Donnelly:

Of course, OdinPatrick fails to mention that this mediation occurred over a year ago:

Man wins rights case against B.C. neo-Nazi

Don Butler, Canwest News Service

Published: Saturday, June 21, 2008

OTTAWA - Richard Warman has settled his federal human rights complaint about Internet hate posted by a Coquitlam man.

As part of a mediated settlement, Ciaran Paul Donnelly of Coquitlam agreed to permanently close his account on Stormfront, a U.S. website through which the hate messages were distributed, and ask to have his earlier postings deleted. He has also agreed to pay $1,000 in damages for making veiled threats against Warman and posting a picture of a sign reading: "The Church of Dead Warman."

Terms of the settlement, which prohibit Donnelly from posting further hate propaganda on the Internet or engaging in additional retaliation against Warman, will be registered with the Federal Court of Canada.

Donnelly, who posted his messages under the user name "Der Totenkopf" -- the death's head insignia of the German SS -- is a well-known figure in the Canadian neo-Nazi movement.

He was a leading member of Western Canada For Us, a now-defunct Alberta-based neo-Nazi group that included Glen Bahr and Peter Kouba, against whom Warman has filed successful human rights complaints for Internet hate.

Another member was Donnelly's sometime girlfriend, Jessica Beaumont of Calgary, known as "Jessy Destruction" on Stormfront.

She was the subject of another successful complaint by Warman, who has had 10 complaints about Internet hatred upheld by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in recent years.

Three of Warman's other complaints, including the one against Donnelly, ended in mediated settlements.

Warman will donate most of the settlement money to a memorial education fund for the children of Kelly Morrisseau, an aboriginal woman whose 2006 murder in Gatineau Park, north of Ottawa, remains unsolved. The rest will go to the Canadian Anti-racism and Education Society.

Johnny on the spot aren't you, OdinPatrick?

The other problem is the claim that Mr. Warman rarely enters into mediation. Also not true as we can name at least two other cases where Mr. Warman has mediated with individuals whom he has brought complaints against. However, unlike the speechies who have used their names in their attacks on Mr. Warman, we will not publish their names and put them in any danger.

OdinPatrick Get's a Cookie

Richard Moon issued his report on the Canadian Human Rights Commission and he advocated that section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act should be repealed. We're not going to go into the entire report deeply, but if you're interested in a good analysis go to BigCityLib's blog.

One would think that the racist right would be celebrating this. One would be wrong. In fact, some have come to realize that based on Moon's recommendations, things could actually get even worse for them. OdinPatrick, the Canadian Stormfront moderator, states:

As we know that the racist right is fond of all things German (at least German of a certain era in history involving goosestepping and bad moustaches), we'd like to introduce them to a word that often defines our member's attitudes towards the trials and tribulations of the racist right.

Schadenfreude.

Aryan Guard vs. Volksfront Canada?

Before getting to the main event, we continue our long running saga detailing the dispute between Tom Trenerry and John Marleau. In this exciting episode, we learn about the origin of the rather heated disagreement between these erstwhile allies:

We think that Tom actually hurt John's feelings here. John seems upset that Tom has continues to make fun of him because of John's weight problem. True, that's a low blow. What we could rather Tom comment on is John's apparent inability to bond with a woman who isn't under the age of 16. That, our dear readers, is truly sad.

At this point, we have to admit that the Trenerry and Marleau spat has grown predictable, tiresome, and boring. Until something more exciting occurs, we're not going to tune in to their minstral show any longer. Changing the chanel.

What has interested us is the rising tension between the Aryan Guard on one side, and the "A" brothers and Volksfront on the other. We have earlier discussed the online fight resulting from comments made by D.A. on the Stormfront, Blood and Honour, and Aryan Guard Forums (here and here). Soon after posting the second to the two articles, we received the following message, presumably from someone close to the Aryan Guard, if not a member himself:

And Another One Bites the Dust: Richard Warman Takes Down Der_ Totenkopf

We updated the One Peoples' Project with the following news article (it should be up within the next day or so) but in the meantime, here's the story that will be printed.

Add Ciaran Donnelly to the list of Canadian neo-Nazis that Richard Warman has effectively dealt with. Donnelly and Warman have come to a mediated resolution in Warman’s human rights complaint against Donnelly who posted as Der_Totenkopf on Stormfront, Blood and Honour and other Internet hate site forums. As part of the resolution, Donnelly is required stop posting hate propaganda online and to desist from further retaliation against Warman, permanently close his Stormfront account and request that all his past posts be removed, and finally to donate $1000.00 to the charity of Warman’s choice.

Update: Noble Reported Released

Bill Noble was released from the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre in British Columbia on Friday, April 25, 2008 after serving two months of a four month prison sentence for violating Canadian hate crime laws. Noble will also have to abide by other restrictions, including a three year period where he will not be allowed to access the Internet or being in the vicinity of a computer that has the ability to access the Internet. We imagine there might also be restrictions on whom he may associated with as well, however this is not yet certain.

Noble is a member of the Calgary based neo-nazi gang the Aryan Guard. He has a long history of associating with racists before his involvement with the Aryan Guard, including Glenn Bahr (founder and leader of Western Canada For Us), Nathan Touchette, Ciaran Donnelly, Jessica Beaumont, Paul Fromm, Terry Tremaine, and many others.

Canadian Combat18 Moderators

Combat18 is one of the most violent racist movements in Europe, at least west of Berlin, Germany. There are no Canadian chapters per se (though Volksfront is affiliated with a rival Blood and Honour alliance of movements), but there are individuals who consider themselves to be a part of the movement, if only peripherally. The Combat18 forum's Canadian section is usually moribund with only the occasional member posting a message every couple of days. However, there are currently three Canadian moderators working the forums.

We begin with Melissa Desrochers, born September 18, 1980, is a woman from Montreal, Quebecwho works as a medical assistant. On Combat18 forums she uses the name "Boadicea." Based upon her own writing it seems Melissa was a bit of a hellraiser at one time, but is a bit more domesticated. One point in her favor might be the fact that she absolutely can't stand fellow Montreal-based racist Tara Dribnenki. Melissa posted this concerning Dribnenki:

TARA: T'es une ostie de punk crusty de merde.On s'en calisse de toi. T'es mieux de fermer ta criss de gueule sale au lieu de bullshitter... pis t'es mieux de surveiller tes fesses criss de chienne! Toi aussi 2 minutes après que j't'ai appellé pour avoir le numéro de Johnny, tu répondais pu au téléphone, sale merde!

TRANSLATION
TARA: You're a shitty crusty punk. We've had it withyou. You're better to shut your fucking dirty mouthinstead of bullshitting... and you're better to watchyour ass you fucking dog! You too, 2 minutes after I called you to get Johnny's number, you didn't answerthe phone anymore, dirty shit!

Wildrose Alliance Candidate "Linked" To Paul Fromm

Photograph falls under Fair Use.


Link Byfield shaking hands with Paul Fromm in November 1999. Byfield was being honoured at dinner held by Fromm.

Link Byfield is currently a candidate for the Wildrose Alliance Party in the constituency of Whitecourt-St. Anne (see Byfield campaign website). In 2004, he was chosen as one of Alberta's four senators in waiting, though the Federal government is not obliged to appoint him to the Senate.