On January 11, 2008, Ezra Levant, his lawyer and a video camera attended an interview with a human rights officer from the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. In 2006, Levant had published in the soon-to-be-defunct Western Standard the twelve famous Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that had caused riots in Europe and Asia, leading to many injuries and a number of deaths, ostensibly because the visual depiction of Mohammed constituted an insult to Islam. In Alberta, Levant’s publication led to two complaints against him under the provision of the Alberta Human Rights Code that deems it a discriminatory practice to disseminate material “likely to expose” minorities to “hatred and contempt.”
The interview at the commission lasted 90 minutes and, as Levant tells it, for every moment the human rights officer spoke, he spoke for ten. He has not stopped talking about it since.
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Mark J. Freiman practises law at Lerners LLP in Toronto. He is a former deputy attorney general for Ontario. In his private practice he has appeared on a wide variety of human rights matters, including acting on behalf of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
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