Judge Ponders Sending Dissident to Prison for Not Shutting Down His Website<\/p>\n
VANCOUVER. October 10, 2012. A controversial website http:\/\/nspcanada.nfshost.com. may soon disappear and many postings by a Regina university lecturer may be removed from STORMFRONT, if Canada\u2019s thought control advocates get their way.<\/p>\n
A federal judge was asked to jail Internet dissident and webmaster Terry Tremaine for months or until he breaks and removes a controversial website. After a tense morning of demands for the jailing of a man who has posted politically incorrect opinions on the Internet and equally strong submissions by his lawyer Douglas Christie decrying censorship and bullying by the state, Judge Sean Harrington adjourned court and reserved judgement in Mr. Tremaine\u2019s contempt of court hearing here.<\/p>\n
Representing the Canadian Human Rights Commission Daniel Poulin urged an 85 day term of incarceration for Mr. Tremaine or until \u201cthe original material found to be offensive\u201d under Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act (now repealed by the House of Commons) is removed. He argued that leaving the postings complained of was violating a Human Rights Tribunal\u2019s order to \u201ccease and desist.\u201d In a further demand that had Internet savvy listeners shaking their heads, he insisted that Mr. Tremaine must remove his signature block from his more than 3,000 posting on Stormfront, where he posted under the name \u201cmathdoktor99\u201d because it provides the web address of his website. He then seemed to go further and said: \u201cThe only way to ensure the material is not repeated is to remove the website,\u201d even though it was acknowledged there were several thousands of postings and audio and musical items, only a few of which formed the basis of the 2005 complaint by Richard Warman.<\/p>\n
Mr. Poulin charged that Mr. Tremaine \u201cknew he was ignoring the cease and desist order and he did so purposefully.\u201d So, in Mr. Poulin\u2019s submission, Mr. Tremaine is to be ordered to take down his website and write to STORMFRONT to remove material deemed offensive in the Tribunal\u2019s order.<\/p>\n
How, the judge asked, is Mr. Tremaine to \u201cpurge his contempt and remove material from the Internet\u201d if he is in jail? <\/p>\n
\u201cHe can have his lawyer do it or hire a consultant,\u201d Mr. Poulin shot back.<\/p>\n
Further, \u201cif he fails to remove the website after 85 days, he must transfer the website to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. We\u2019ll remove it and make it a blank page.\u201d And then the final kick at Mr. Tremaine, who was rendered penniless after Richard Warman complained to the University of Saskatchewan long before the initial complaint was adjudicated and cost Mr. Tremaine his job. \u201cWhile we recognize Mr. Tremaine\u2019s ability to pay is limited, we seek costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Warman who has hounded Mr. Tremaine with the original human rights complaint, a complaint to his employer, a criminal code Sec. 319 \u201chate law\u201d complaint, and at least three contempt of court complaints rose to make his sentencing submissions.<\/p>\n
Warman demanded a jail term of three to six months, even if Mr. Tremaine removes the website. \u201cDeterrence and denunciation are important, given the five year extensive period of contempt. I\u2019d be concerned if he was let out as soon as he purged his contempt,\u201d Mr. Warman continued.<\/p>\n
Then, warming to his subject, he harrumphed: \u201cThere is the self-evident seriousness of Mr. Tremaine\u2019s trying to alienate control of his site. It boggles the mind to think of anything so contemptuous of the court.\u201d He referred to the startling revelation in court the previous day that Mr. Tremaine was arranging to sell his website to someone in the U.S., which is not bound by Canada\u2019s police state censorship laws. The judge issued an order preventing him from communicating the password to anyone else.<\/p>\n
However, Judge Harrington interjected, \u201cthere is no law preventing him from selling his website.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warman also wanted the order to direct Terry Tremaine to write to archive.org to ask that their copy of his site be removed.<\/p>\n
Mr. Warman, too, said he was seeking costs, even though much of his trip to Vancouver would have been paid for by the Commission which called him as a witness. \u201cYou\u2019re here as a complainant who is also a solicitor,\u201d the judge noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a day job and have foregone that revenue and I practise also as a solicitor and have foregone that income. [Mr. Tremaine\u2019s] inability to pay is not a reason for not awarding costs.
\n\u201c<\/p>\n
Mr. Warman, too, didn\u2019t want the large number of innocuous postings on Terry Tremaine\u2019s website to remain: \u201cYou\u2019ll recognize the dangers of sifting the wheat from the chaff on the nspc website. It is much better to close it entirely. If we don\u2019t, we\u2019ll be back here again soon and this matter will never end.<\/p>\n
Acting for Terry Tremaine Douglas Christie, who is also general counsel for the Canadian Free Speech League, pointed out that, since Marc Lemire won his tribunal case and got Sec. 13 declared effectively unconstitutional, until a federal judge upheld the law, but stripped of penalties, that the sky had not fallen. There were no serious adverse consequences. That judge\u2019s decision may well be appealed. The Senate may soon pass the repeal of Sec. 13 and the Supreme Court decision on Whatcott is eagerly awaited. This case challenged the power of human rights commissions to restrict free expression. He urged the judge to delay sentencing until these decisions are in. \u201cParliament has already determined that this material is not illegal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He reflected on the bizarre ruling of the Federal Court of Appeal: \u201cNow you are liable for contempt of an order even before you are informed of the order.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Tremaine\u2019s right to free speech is important. His freedom to speak is your freedom and mine as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a comment that would draw a sharp rebuke from Richard Warman and a threat to complain to the Law Society of British Columbia, Mr. Christie said: \u201cMr. Warman has made a career out of shooting cripples,\u201d as a figure of speech. His victims are \u201cpeople who are marginal.\u201d Some, like Terry Tremaine, end up in mental hospitals. \u201cMr. Warman now wants costs assessed against a man who cannot even hold a janitor\u2019s job. At the behest of Mr. Warman, he was prosecuted under the Criminal Code.\u201d And all this, said Mr. Christie, \u201cto eliminate a political ideology Mr. Warman does not agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTolerance,\u201d Mr. Christie reminded the court, \u201cis best as a virtue when it is practised rather than preached.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there an order for Mr. Tremaine not to sell his website to some American who wants it? What my friends really need is to abolish the 1st Amendment. My friends hunt down ideas they do not like. They want to add \u2018remove\u2019 if the order\u2019s \u2018cease and desist\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed out that a recent Supreme Court decision authored by Madam Justice Rosalie Abella held that a link is not libel.\u201d Mr. Tremaine\u2019s signature block on STORMFRONT.org is just a link and should not be ordered removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends want the nspc website shut down so that Mr. Tremaine cannot be known. The objective is to eliminate thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Warman, he argued, \u201cdidn\u2019t have to be here. He\u2019s a witness, counsel and plaintiff. He\u2019s a voluntary participant. Now he wants costs which will haunt Terry Tremaine for life. He should not be entitled to costs.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing illegal or immoral if the website is sold to an American. We don\u2019t yet police the world. Unlike Canada, free speech really means something in the U.S.\u201d He cited the case of a recent anti-Moslem video which sparked violence, riots and murder in the Middle East. Yet, no serious politician in the U.S. suggested banning it. <\/p>\n
\u201cIs it contempt of court to render yourself non-compliant\u201d by trying to sell the website?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Warman\u2019s proposal to put Terry Tremaine\u2019s ideas down the memory hole is like most totalitarian states in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clumsily worded human rights tribunal order enjoined Mr. Tremaine from \u201ctelephonic\u201d communication. He did not engage in \u201ctelephonic\u201d communication in the period in question: February \u2013 December, 2007, Mr. Christie said. \u201cIt is legitimate to communicate what is not specifically prohibited,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Mr. Christie denounced Mr. Warman\u2019s \u201cdraconian, systematic totalitarian treatment of Terry Tremaine. He deprived him of his job, drove him into a mental hospital, refused an apology (which would have ended the human rights complaint in 2006) and kept him in litigation for years. Mr. Warman is a one-man anti-Nazi brigade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Urging a delay in handing down a judgement, Mr. Christie said: \u201cSec. 13 is on its way out. It won\u2019t be around in a year. Terry Tremaine is not a bad man, He may have some bad ideas but he also has some good ideas that may benefit humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concluding, Mr. Christie said: \u201cMany people have suffered from these Warman complaints. Terry Tremaine has suffered well and truly enough since 2005. There is no need to make him suffer further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Harrington reserved judgement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Judge Ponders Sending Dissident to Prison for Not Shutting Down His Website VANCOUVER. October 10, 2012. A controversial website http:\/\/nspcanada.nfshost.com. may soon disappear and many postings by a Regina university lecturer may be removed from STORMFRONT, if Canada\u2019s thought control … Continue reading