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Debate tonight in Halifax: “Human Rights and Free Speech”
by Scott Gilbreath ~ October 30th, 2008
Tonight is scheduled the first of two public discussions in Halifax on the now-obvious conflict between civil liberties and “human rights” commissions.
This evening’s event, “Human Rights and Free Speech: Have Commissions or the Media Gone Too Far?”, is sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs (CCEPA) and will be held at St Mary’s University. The four debaters will be Krista Daley, Director and CEO, Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission; Dan Leger, Director of News Content, Halifax Chronicle Herald; Pearl Eliadis, Montreal Human Rights Lawyer; Mark Mercer, Professor of Philosophy, Saint Mary’s University. The discussion will be moderated by Kevin Kindred, Lawyer and Chair of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project.
Chris Stover, General Director of CCEPA, informs me that the event will be recorded and made available on DVD in about three weeks.
The official poster is on the left below; on the right is Blazing Cat Fur’s alternative rendition. (Click on images for larger views.)
I plan to attend this evening and take copious notes. If all goes as planned, there will be a blog post here tomorrow with my impressions of the encounter.
The other public discussion, “The Media’s Right To Offend”, will occur at University of King’s College on Saturday, 1 November. Ezra Levant will be on the panel of discussants and the keynote address will be delivered by Margaret Wente, who, fortuitously, just this week was branded a “racist” for saying that aboriginal cultures are inferior to European.
Join the Stand Up for Margaret Wente Facebook group. Read her politically incorrect column here.
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October 30th, 2008 at 01:34 PM
Scott, I’m looking forward to reading your notes from this event.
October 30th, 2008 at 02:20 PM
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