The Orwellian "Human Rights Code" is Finally Being Amended - Though a Free People Would Abolish it Altogether

File this one under "Let's be thankful for small mercies."  The odious section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Code is finally being repealed.  It is a good day for liberty and liberalism in Canada.  The Socialists, of course, are in mourning.  Jonathan Kay of The National Post writes:

Five years ago, during testimony in the case of Warman v. Lemire, Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) investigator Dean Steacy was asked “What value do you give freedom of speech when you investigate?” His response: “Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don’t give it any value.”

Those words produced outrage. But there was a grain of truth to what Mr. Steacy said: For decades, Canadians had meekly submitted to a system of administrative law that potentially made de facto criminals out of anyone with politically incorrect views about women, gays, or racial and religious minority groups. All that was required was a complainant (often someone with professional ties to the CHRC itself) willing to sign his name to a piece of paper, claim he was offended, and then collect his cash winnings at the end of the process. The system was bogus and corrupt. But very few Canadians wanted to be seen as posturing against policies that were branded under the aegis of “human rights.”

That was then. Now, Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the enabling legislation that permits federal human-rights complaints regarding “the communication of hate messages by telephone or on the Internet,” is doomed. On Wednesday, the federal Conservatives voted to repeal it on a largely party-line vote — by a margin of 153 to 136 — through a private member’s bill introduced by Alberta Conservative MP Brian Storseth. Following royal assent, and a one-year phase-in period, Section 13 will be history.

Freedom of speech is an "American concept"?  I have news for Mr. Steacy: freedom of speech is a human right guaranteed by God, not the American constitution.  Mr. Steacy can take it up with God if he wishes, although it is likely he is as anti-God as he is anti-American.  People like him prefer to worship the State.

Mark Steyn adds his two cents worth and in the process has a go at a Socialist is disappointed at outbreak of freedom and who wants the government to be have the power to "educate" us:

 This twit from Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is a good example of what we’ve been up against:

New Democrat public safety critic Randall Garrison said Wednesday that, due to the large number of hate crimes, the human rights commission needs to have the power to combat the issue online and force individuals and groups to remove websites containing hateful speech.
Removing the sections from the human rights code will effectively strip the commission of its power to educate Canadians and shut down inappropriate websites, he said.
“We do have a serious problem,” Garrison said. “If you take away the power to take (websites) down, it’s not clear they have any mandate to even to talk to people about it and educate them about it.”

Clear off, you twerp. I don’t want the state to have a “mandate” to “educate” the citizenry about their thought-crimes. Even if I did not object on principle, one thing I’ve learned during this five-year campaign is that the statist hacks Canada’s official opposition is so eager to empower are, almost to a man, woman and pre-op transsexual, either too stupid or bullying to be entrusted with the task. Mr Garrison himself would appear to be a fine example of the former, at least.

If it’s a choice between an unlovely citizenry with all its flaws or an overbearing state policing their opinions, I know which is the lesser evil. What a shame a “progressive” “liberal” “socialist” like Randall Garrison has such a low opinion of his fellow citizens.

The State is not the guarantor of our freedoms; it is the chief danger to the theft of our freedoms.  Instead of "freedom from religion," which secularists are always pushing, we need "freedom from soft totalitarianism in the country.