Ezra Levant on the closed Human Rights Tribunal hearing in Ottawa

Erza Levant weighs in on the fact that the March 25 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing in Ottawa will be closed to the public, and the fact that the "accused" in the case would have been barred from being able to sit in the same room with HRC staff while his lawyer cross examines them.

Ezra writes:

So it should come as no surprise that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing on March 25th -- where human rights commission staff themselves are to be cross-examined on their dubious tactics of anonymous infiltration of websites, entrapment and even the bizarre practice of commission staff themselves planting bigoted remarks on websites -- is going to be closed to the public.

It is hypocritical in the extreme that HRC staff who scrutinize every public utterance and private thought of their victims will be exempted from public scrutiny themselves. There is no legitimate reason for this blackout, other than the HRCs simply being HRCs and engaging in censorship and the restriction of public debate. Usually they censor political expression they disagree with; this time they censor their own embarrassing conduct from being seen and heard by taxpaying Canadians. I don't blame them, frankly -- the more their inner workings are publicized, the greater will be the demand for politicians to rein in their excesses.

He also speculates--convincingly in my opinion--about what drives these staffers. But of course, I'm a journalist, so I try not to engage in mind-reading and as a Christian I try not to jump to conclusions or to judge. Not judging, however, does not mean not discerning.

Canada's human rights commissions have fostered a sick culture of obsessive secrecy, unfairness towards the accused and un-Canadian procedures. But this is more than that: it's a psychological clue as to how the commission's staff regard themselves. They don't see themselves as thin-skinned busy-bodies, or politically correct censors, or bureaucratic bullies, strangling marginal and oddball citizens with red tape. They see themselves as stars in a James Bond movie, or an episode of 24, where they are the fearless protectors of all that is good, fighting against powerful, evil, violent men -- and if they need to break a few rules along the way, well that's a price we have to pay. It would be laughable if it weren't destroying the lives of innocent people -- and the reputation of justice.

These aren't counter-terrorists, or even real police. These commission staff aren't Jack Bauer or Horatio Kane. They're civil servants who sit in their government offices, surfing the Internet under fake names, posting bigoted comments to chat sites, and then complaining about it. Comparing them to Pee-wee Herman is more accurate.