A Memo Prepared for the BPC’s Freedom of Expression Committee by R. Franklin Carter, Leader of the Committee’s Issues Group (March 2007)
1. Primary Challenges and Issues
The following issues affect Canadian readers, writers, publishers, librarians, booksellers and magazine sellers. The issues affect books, periodicals, newspapers and Internet sites as well.
Yann Martel [Mar. 1, 2007] During Freedom to Read Week, CBC Radio in Saskatchewan prevented author Yann Martel from reading Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf on the air. CBC Radio had invited Martel to talk about a challenged or banned book on The Afternoon Edition. Martel chose to talk about and read from Mein Kampf because of the book’s historical importance and because, he said, “The best way to deal with evil is to address it . . . not to ignore it.” Half an hour before the broadcast, however, Martel was told that he couldn’t read Mein Kampf on the air. During the broadcast, Martel discussed the book with his CBC host for more than 12 minutes.[1]
Derek Finkle [Feb. 19, 2007] In Toronto, the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario accepted three affidavits from writers’ organizations to help quash a subpoena issued to Derek Finkle, a journalist. The organizations are Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) and The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC).[2]
The subpoena requires Finkle to turn over his research on the Robert Baltovich–Elizabeth Bain murder case to the Crown. The research, which Finkle used to write a book, includes Finkle’s interviews with Baltovich, Baltovich’s prison journals and Finkle’s confidential interviews with lawyers. The Crown seeks new evidence that Baltovich committed a murder. Finkle seeks to prevent the Crown from gaining access to his research and to protect his journalistic independence from the state. The intervening writers’ organizations support Finkle.
In 1990, Baltovich’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, disappeared; she was never seen again. In 1992, Baltovich was convicted of Bain’s murder. He spent eight years in prison. In 1998, Finkle published No Claim to Mercy which criticized the police investigation and prosecution and suggested that Baltovich did not commit the murder. In 2000, after his lawyers presented new evidence which cast doubt on Baltovich’s responsibility for the crime, Baltovich was released from prison on bail. He is awaiting a new trial.
David Guterson [Feb. 5, 2007] In Ontario, a review committee of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board decided to return copies of Snow Falling on Cedars, a novel by David Guterson, to Grade 11 English classes and high school libraries. In December, the board had pulled the novel from bookshelves after a school trustee had received an anonymous letter of complaint about the book’s sexual content.[3]
Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium [Jan. 19, 2007] In a 7–2 ruling, the justices of the Supreme Court of Canada denied Little Sister’s, a bookstore in Vancouver, public funds to continue its lawsuit against the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The bookstore’s case against the CBSA’s censorship powers lacked enough public importance to merit the awarding of advance funds, the court said. In the wake of the decision and without enough money to continue, Little Sister’s abandoned its legal fight against the CBSA. Joe Arvay, the bookstore’s lawyer, declared: “The case is dead.”
The current legal dispute between Little Sister’s and the government began in 2001 when Customs officials seized copies of a graphic novel called Meatmen. Customs officials claimed that the fictional publication, which features images of homosexual sado-masochism, violated Canada’s ban on sexual obscenity. Little Sister’s claimed that the government was ignoring a previous ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada to stop singling out and detaining Little Sister’s imported publications with homosexual themes.[4] Customs officials have detained, turned back and destroyed numerous publications imported by Little Sister’s since 1986.
Action: PEN Canada released a statement entitled “Supreme Court of Canada’s Ruling Against Little Sister’s Bookstore a Blow to Free Expression, PEN Canada Says” on Jan. 25, 2007.
Francois Lemieux [Dec. 21, 2006] Parliamentary privilege, which protects the speech of politicians in the House of Commons from lawsuits, does not extend to remarks that politicians publish in their quarterly householder brochures, declared Justice Francois Lemieux of the Federal Court of Canada. Members of Parliament accused of publishing discriminatory remarks in their householder brochures may be investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the judge said. The ruling is the latest in a dispute between Jim Pankiw, the former Canadian Alliance MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt, and several people who claim that Pankiw published bigoted statements about aboriginal Canadians in a householder brochure in 2003.[5]
Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson [Dec. 20, 2006] In Alberta, a parent complained about the use of And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson in the Calgary Catholic School District. The picture book, which is aimed at very young readers, tells the story of two male penguins raising a baby penguin in a zoo. On religious grounds, the parent objected to the theme of homosexual parenting. The school library asked the district’s religious education office for a review of And Tango Makes Three. In the end, the library removed the book from its collection.
Kevin Smith and Phil Hester [Dec. 18, 2006] In Alberta, a patron of the Edmonton Public Library complained about Green Arrow: Quiver by Kevin Smith and Phil Hester. The book is a graphic novel about a superhero named Green Arrow; the patron said the work was inappropriate for young readers. A librarian characterized the patron’s complaint in these words: “Graphic depiction/description of violent child abuse. The book is very well written and entertaining and clever. It is just the ending, with a villain that is a demon-worshiping Satanist that kidnaps, tortures and murders children—it crosses the line.” The Edmonton Public Library reclassified Green Arrow: Quiver as adult fiction.
Glenn David Bahr [Dec. 1, 2006] A tribunal of the Canadian Human Rights Commission ruled that Glenn David Bahr, a resident of Edmonton and the founder of a group called Western Canada for Us, was guilty of promoting hatred on the Internet. The tribunal found that Bahr’s Web site, also called Western Canada for Us, spread hatred against Jews, aboriginal people, homosexuals, Chinese people, Arabs, blacks and mentally handicapped people. The tribunal fined Bahr and Western Canada for Us $5,000 each and ordered both to stop posting hateful messages on the Internet.
J.F. Gonzalez [2006] In Ontario, a patron of the Kitchener Public Library complained about Survivor by J.F. Gonzalez. The book is adult fiction in the horror genre; the patron objected to depictions of violence and sexual violence in the text. The Kitchener Public Library removed copies of Survivor from community libraries in schools—one public and one Roman Catholic—but retained the novel in all other libraries.
2. Secondary Challenges and Issues
The following disputes over speech, broadcasting, movies, art and immigration fall outside the committee’s mandate; however, they could indirectly affect the interests of the BPC’s members.
Peter March and Jared Taylor [Mar. 6, 2007] In Halifax, a debate about the strengths and weaknesses of racial diversity went ahead on radio despite opposition and setbacks. Peter March—a philosophy professor at Saint Mary’s University—and Jared Taylor—the editor of American Renaissance—debated racial diversity on Rick Howe’s Hotline on CJCH Radio for 90 minutes. March defended racial diversity; Taylor argued against it.
The debate had been scheduled to take place at the Burke Education Building at Saint Mary’s University on Mar. 6. But some Haligonians announced their intention to protest outside the building. Security officials for the university detected one anonymous threat of violence on a Web site against the demonstrators. Citing an inability to provide adequate security, the university cancelled the debate on Mar. 5.
[Jan. 16, 2007] In Halifax, Jared Taylor was roughed up by anti-racist activists at the Lord Nelson Hotel before he could deliver a lecture there on race. Taylor had been invited to Halifax by Professor David Divine of Dalhousie University to debate racial diversity, but Divine withdrew the invitation after he learned that Taylor opposed racial integration and multiculturalism. No debate occurred at Dalhousie University.
Zachariah Anani [Jan. 13, 2007] In Windsor, Ontario, several Muslim organizations urged the police to investigate a lecture series, entitled The Deadly Threat of Islam, as possible hate speech.[6] The organizations called for an investigation after the featured speaker, Zachariah Anani, delivered the first lecture, entitled “Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Frightening Facts About Islam,” in the Campbell Baptist Church on Jan. 11, 2007. Anani is a former fighter in a Lebanese militia, a Canadian citizen and a convert from Islam to Christianity. Public outrage in Windsor prompted the church to cancel Anani’s second lecture, scheduled for Jan. 18 and entitled “Could Jihad Be Coming to Your Neighbourhood?”
3. Other Noteworthy Events
Evie Freedman [Mar. 1, 2007] Evie Freedman, a Grade 5 student in Burlington, Ontario, became the first child to receive TWUC’s Freedom to Read Award. Freedman was honoured for her public defence in 2006 of Deborah Ellis’s Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak. In 2006, at least five school districts in Ontario denied access to the book to students below Grade 7 because the Canadian Jewish Congress—Ontario Region objected to the book.
Tom Flynn [Dec. 11, 2006] At York University in Toronto, Tom Flynn, the American editor of Free Inquiry magazine, delivered a lecture on Jyllands-Posten’s 12 cartoons about Islam. The lecture, sponsored by the Toronto Secular Alliance, was named “Blasphemy, Censorship and the Media.” Flynn warned his audience that he intended to show the cartoons during the lecture, and he did show four of the cartoons. No protests were reported.
Free Inquiry reprinted four of the cartoons in its April-May 2006 issue. In the United States, several large bookselling companies, such as Borders and Waldenbooks, refused to sell the issue because they feared retaliation from outraged Muslims. Throughout the early months of 2006, Muslims around the world condemned the cartoons in speeches, riots and demonstrations.
Contact Franklin Carter at (416) 233-0994 or rfcarter@idirect.com for the sources of these stories.
The opinions expressed in Freedom of Expression Update do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Book and Periodical Council or its member associations.
© Richard Franklin Carter 2006
[1] Later on Mar. 1, 2007, Martel read Mein Kampf unhindered to an audience at the Frances Morrison Library in Saskatoon. The event was part of Freedom to Read Week.
[2] Five writers’ organizations have acquired intervenor status in this case: CJFE, PWAC, TWUC, the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) and PEN Canada.
[3] In 1995, Snow Falling on Cedars won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. In 1999, Snow Falling on Cedars appeared in movie theatres.
[4] The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on an earlier dispute between Little Sister’s and Canada Customs on Dec. 15, 2000.
[5] Jim Pankiw’s critics are Keith Dreaver, Norma Fairbairn, Susan Gingell, Pamela Irvine, John Melenchuk, Richard Ross, Ailsa Watkinson, Harlan Weidenhammer and Carman Willet.
[6] The organizations are the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), the Muslim Association of Canada, the Windsor Islamic Association, the Islamic Circle of North America and the Al Hirjra Mosque and School. On Jan. 11, 2007, two plain-clothes police officers did sit through Anani’s lecture—at the invitation of the Campbell Baptist Church.