Warman v. Kulbashian

Warman v. Kulbashian
Collection
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
Date
2006-03-10
Neutral citation
2006 CHRT 11
Decision-maker(s)
Hadjis, Athanasios
Decision type
Decision
Decision Content
CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL TRIBUNAL CANADIEN DES DROITS DE LA PERSONNE
RICHARD WARMAN
Complainant
- and -
CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Commission
- and -
ALEXAN KULBASHIAN,
JAMES SCOTT RICHARDSON, TRI-CITY SKINS.COM,
CANADIAN ETHNIC CLEANSING TEAM,
AND AFFORDABLE SPACE.COM
Respondents
DECISION
MEMBER: Athanasios D. Hadjis
2006 CHRT 11 2006/03/10
I. THE COMPLAINT
II. WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES GAVE RISE TO THIS COMPLAINT?
III. WHAT QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ADDRESSED IN THIS CASE?
A. Question 1 - Is material sent over the Internet a communication within the meaning of s. 13 of the Act?
B. Question 2 - What is the Internet material that allegedly violates s. 13?
(i) Material on the tri-cityskins.com website
(ii) Material on the wpcect.com website
a) The Links page
b) The Thoughts page
c) The newsletter - Vinland Voice
C. Question 3 - Is the material likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that they are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination?
(i) The tri-cityskins.com material
(ii) The wpcect.com material
(iii) The evidence of Dr. Frances Henry
D. Question 4 - Did Mr. Kulbashian or Mr. Richardson, alone or in concert with each other or others, repeatedly communicate the Hate Messages, or cause them to be so communicated?
(i) Evidence gathered by Mr. Warman
(ii) Evidence gathered by the London Police Service
(iii) Link between Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kulbashian
(iv) Print media articles about Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kulbashian
(v) The Tribunal's findings regarding Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kulbashian
E. Question 5 - Has the complaint been substantiated against the other named respondents (Affordable Space.com, Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team (CECT) and Tri-City Skins.com)?
(i) Affordable Space.com
(ii) The Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team
(iii) Tri-city Skins.com
IV. REMEDIES
A. An order that the discriminatory practice cease (s. 54(1)(a))
B. An order for special compensation (s. 54(1)(b))
C. Interest
D. Penalty
(i) Mr. Kulbashian
(ii) Mr. Richardson
(iii) The Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team
(iv) Affordable Space.com
I. THE COMPLAINT [1] The complainant, Richard Warman, has filed a complaint alleging that in 2001 and 2002, the respondents, Alexan Kulbashian and James Scott Richardson, communicated messages over the Internet that exposed individuals who are non-Christian, non-Caucasian, or of other national ethnic origins, to hatred or contempt, contrary to s. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. In his complaint form, Mr. Warman named three additional respondents, identified as Tri-City Skins.com, Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team (CECT), and Affordable Space.com.
[2] The Canadian Human Rights Commission (Commission) fully participated at the hearing into the complaint and was represented by legal counsel. Neither Mr. Warman nor the respondents were represented by legal counsel, though it should be noted that Mr. Warman is a lawyer by profession. Mr. Kulbashian and Mr. Richardson were present at the hearing but neither of them opted to testify or call any witnesses after the close of the Commission's and Complainant's cases. Mr. Kulbashian and Mr. Richardson introduced some documents into evidence through their cross-examination of Commission witnesses.
[3] The other three named respondents did not formally appear at the hearing, although Mr. Warman and the Commission allege that Mr. Kulbashian and/or Mr. Richardson are closely linked to these respondents. I will be dealing with this issue in due course, later in the decision.
II. WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES GAVE RISE TO THIS COMPLAINT? [4] Mr. Warman is a resident of Ottawa. He has developed an interest in human rights issues over the past 15 years, and is actively involved in anti-racism groups. For a time, he worked for the Commission. Most recently, he has focussed his attention on hate propaganda disseminated through the Internet, by monitoring the Internet activity of what he describes as extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi groups.
[5] In 2001, Mr. Warman started monitoring the websites of two groups, the Tri-City Skins and the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team, both of which were allegedly based in south-western Ontario. According to Mr. Warman, their websites were respectively Tri-cityskins.com and wpcect.com (an abbreviation for White Power - Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team). After conducting some research, Mr. Warman also determined that both of these websites were made available on the Internet through the web hosting services that were provided by the respondent firm, Affordable Space.com. He also believed that both Mr. Kulbashian and Mr. Richardson were involved in the operation of Tri-cityskins.com, wpcect.com, and Affordable Space.com. In Mr. Warman's view, the material found on the websites violated s. 13 of the Act, so he filed the present complaint on February 5, 2002.
[6] The websites in question were no longer available on the Internet at the time of the hearing into the complaint.
III. WHAT QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ADDRESSED IN THIS CASE? [7] I must address the following questions in this case:
Is material sent over the Internet a communication within the meaning of s. 13 of the Act? What was the Internet material that Mr. Warman alleges violates s. 13 of the Act? Was this material likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that they are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination? Did Mr. Kulbashian or Mr. Richardson, alone or in concert with each other or others, communicate this material repeatedly, or cause it to be so communicated? Has the complaint been substantiated against the other named respondents (Tri-City Skins.com, Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team (CECT) and Affordable Space.com)?
[8] As I explain in this decision, I find that the material in question constitutes hate messages as contemplated by s. 13 of the Act, and that Mr. Richardson as well as Mr. Kulbashian and his firm, Affordable Space.com, were involved in various ways in the communication of these messages. I also find that the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team is a group of persons acting in concert that was responsible for conveying some of these messages, and is therefore in contravention of s. 13, as well. On the other hand, there is no evidence that tri-cityskins.com was anything more than the name of a website. It is not a person or group of persons acting in concert within the meaning of s. 13. As a result, I find that the complaint against the respondent identified as Tri-City Skins.com has not been substantiated.
A. Question 1 - Is material sent over the Internet a communication within the meaning of s. 13 of the Act? [9] Section 13 was originally enacted well before the pervasive global growth of the Internet, and there was no mention of the Internet to be found in the provision itself. In 2001, however, s. 13(2) was amended by the Anti-Terrorism Act, S.C. 2001, c.41, s. 88, to provide that, for greater certainty, the proscribed discriminatory practice extended to matter that is communicated by means of a computer or a group of interconnected or related computers, including the Internet. This amendment came into force on December 23, 2001 (P.C. 2001-2425, SI/2002-16, Canada Gazette Part II, Vol. 136, No. 1).
[10] Mr. Warman viewed the material that is the object of his complaint, on the Internet, in 2001 and 2002, before and after the coming into force of the enactment amending s. 13. As the Tribunal in Warman v. Kyburz 2003 CHRT 18, 43 C.H.R.R D/425 (C.H.R.T.) at para. 15 (Kyburz) noted, however, whether or not any of the communications occurred before the amendment is ultimately of no consequence. The earlier version of s. 13 was found to encompass Internet communications in both Citron v. Zündel (2002), 41 C.H.R.R. D/274 (C.H.R.T.), and in Schnell v. Machiavelli and Associates Meprizer Inc. et al. (2002), 43 C.H.R.R. D/453 (C.H.R.T.). In my view, the issue is now settled. Matter that was communicated over the Internet, whether before or after the amendments, is subject to s. 13 of the Act.
B. Question 2 - What is the Internet material that allegedly violates s. 13? (i) Material on the tri-cityskins.com website [11] The Commission produced copies of web pages from the tri-cityskins.com website that Mr. Warman testified having viewed between October 2001 and February 2002. The Internet address of the home page was www.tri-cityskins.com. A copy of the home page, printed out on February 2, 2002, was entered into evidence.
[12] The page has a banner at the top stating, Tri-City Skins Website is BACK, followed by a warning that Contained in these pages are views that many will find offensive. WE DON'T GIVE A FUCK!!!. Mr. Warman testified that by clicking on the word enter at the bottom of the page, he was redirected to the Main page. A banner at the top of the Main page said Tri-City Skins - Welcome to Our Official Website. Between two Canadian flags, the word Skinheads appears, near the top. On the left side of the page is a column of icons (or links) that when clicked, send the visitor to other parts of the website. One of those links connected to a part of the website that itself provided links to Good Sites, which included the sites for the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team, the Toronto Skinheads, the Heritage Front, and the White Aryan Resistance. There is also a link to a site called www.whitesonly.net. The icon that linked you to this site consisted of a rope with nooses at both ends along with the phrase Bring Your Nigger...We Got the Rope.
[13] Another page on the tri-cityskins.com website that could be accessed by clicking a link button on the main page, is entitled ...Of the Month. This linked page sets out featured songs, quotes, sites, jokes, and pictures of the month. The December 2001 joke of the month was:
What do you call 6 nigger's [sic] hanging from a tree??
An Alabama wind chime.
[14] The picture of the month contained two photos; one of a man wearing a type of turban, accompanied by the description This is a Sikh, and another photo, this time of a bearded man carrying a farm animal, also wearing a similar form of headdress, with the description This is a Muslim. Both photos were followed by the following caption:
Please beat accordingly.
Brought to you by the Don't Beat a Sikh foundation.
[15] The tri-cityskins.com website contained several pages devoted to jokes, which are entitled Nigger Jokes, Jew Jokes, and Other Ethnic Jokes. All could be accessed by clicking the Joke Page link from the Main page. The Commission filed copies that were viewed and printed out by Mr. Warman on October 13, 2001. There are numerous entries found on these pages. These are only a few examples of the jokes found on the Nigger Jokes page:
Q: What has four fuzzy legs and one black arm?
A: A happy pitbull.
Q: Why are a nigger's eyes red after sex?
A: Mace.
Q: What's missing from the unemployment line in Harlem?
A: 100 ft of chain, and an auctioneer.
The Jew Jokes web page contains about 25 entries, beginning with the following:
Q: What was the best thing to ever come out of Auschwitz?
A: An empty train.
Q: What did the German kid get for Christmas?
A: G.I. Jew and an easy bake oven.
Q: How do you fit 100 Jews into a Volkswagen?
A: Two in the front, three in the back, and 95 in the ashtray.
Q: What's the difference between a Jew and apple pie?
A: Apple pie doesn't scream when you put it in the oven.
The Other Ethnic Jokes page relates to persons of various ethnic backgrounds. The following is a sample:
Q: What's the most confusing day on the Indian reserve?
A: Fathers' Day.
Q: Why doesn't Mexico have a good Olympic team?
A: Anyone who can run, jump or swim is already in the U.S.
Q: Why do Pakis stink?
A: So the blind can hate them too.
[16] Another page on the tri-cityskins.com website was used to market White Power, Racist, and Skinhead Shirts. Instructions were provided on how to place orders for these shirts and listing the available sizes. The shirts displayed for sale bore inscriptions on the front including Aryan, ACAB - ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS, SKINHEADS, and Aryan Women Unite.
[17] One also found on the tri-cityskins.com website a page entitled HEROES AND WARRIORS OF OUR MOVEMENT. A printout from December 8, 2001, contains photos of Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, and Ernst Zündel, amongst others. In the side margins, the Nazi SS symbol and an Iron Cross with a swastika in the centre are displayed.
[18] There is a link on the main page of the tri-cityskins.com website entitled Weekly A.D.V. Broadcast - updated. Mr. Warman testified that clicking on this icon brought up a page on the tri-cityskins.com website containing the text of the Weekly American Dissident Voices Broadcast. He produced printouts of five issues of this Broadcast that were posted on the webpage, from August 2001 until February 2002. Each Broadcast consisted of a fairly long article (8 to 13 pages) ostensibly drafted by William Pierce, who, according to Mr. Warman, was the head of the National Alliance, the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States at the time.
[19] In one Broadcast, Mr. Pierce advises the white citizens of South Africa that the only viable long-range solution for [them] is to get rid of all the Blacks and other non-Whites. They should force them out, sterilize them, kill them - otherwise [they] will lose [their] country. He goes on to state elsewhere in this article:
If we want our kind to survive on this planet longer than another generation or two, then we must clear the cobwebs of Christian superstition and Jewish propaganda from our minds and face the facts without being squeamish. One fact is that we must have exclusive possession of those portions of this planet which constitute suitable habitat for us. Another fact is that in order to obtain and maintain that exclusive possession, we must be prepared to kill, to annihilate, any and all competitors. A third fact is that racism is God's gift to any race that wants to survive. Racism is healthy and natural and essential, and we had damned well better clear of [sic] minds of the Judeo-Christian lie that it is evil and wicked and nasty and low-brow.
(emphasis added)
[20] In another Broadcast, viewed and printed out by Mr. Warman on October 13, 2001, Mr. Pierce describes the Clinton administration as the most Jewish government America ever had, which he then contrasts to the administration of George W. Bush:
The people out front, in the public's eye, are Gentiles - of a sort: a mulatto secretary of state, a White gentile secretary of defence, a Negress as a national security adviser, a White Gentile Treasury secretary - and, except for Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, no really prominent Jews. That is, there are few Jews out front, where they can be seen. But the Jews are there, just as in the Clinton government, but working behind the scenes.
[21] In a subsequent Broadcast, viewed by Mr. Warman on January 22, 2002, entitled The Culture of Lies, Mr. Pierce dismisses what he refers to as the so-called Holocaust and the central myth of `six million' innocent, blameless Jews killed in `gas ovens' by the wicked Nazis. He ends the article by writing about Jewish media control in America that has allowed the culture of lies to prevail.
[22] Another Broadcast, which Mr. Warman viewed on February 2, 2002, referred to Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz. Mr. Pierce wrote:
Fundamentally, he's not a lawyer or a civil libertarian; he's not an American; he's not even a fellow human being. Alan Dershowitz is a Jew, and that says it all.
[23] The article goes on to criticize Mr. Dershowitz's position allegedly in favour of the use of torture by the U.S. Government to obtain confessions following the 9/11 attacks, by stating:
But I'll guarantee you that ultimately it's not just Muslims that Dershowitz and his tribe have in mind when they advocate torture; it's you and I; it's everyone who stands in the way of the total supremacy of their tribe.
(ii) Material on the wpcect.com website a) The Links page [24] The Commission filed with the Tribunal some excerpts from the wpcect.com website, including a copy of the Links page, which was printed out on January 18, 2002. The banner across the Links page reads C.E.C.T., an acronym for Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team. To the left of it is a logo comprised of a half-maple leaf and a half-Celtic cross. On the right side is another logo, which is only partially visible on the printout, but appears to resemble a maple leaf superimposed over a swastika.
[25] On the left side of the page is a column containing the following words: Start, News, Articles, Thoughts, Info, Flyers, Webhosting, Chapters, Newsletter, Contact, and Links. Mr. Warman testified that this column was found on all of wpcect.com's pages. Clicking on the words would open a corresponding page. For instance, clicking on Links from any page on the website would bring you to the Links page that was filed in evidence.
[26] Down the centre of this Links page is a series of icons that when clicked, connect you to their corresponding websites. These linked sites include tri-cityskins.com, White Aryan Resistance, the American Nazi Party, National Skinhead Front (whitevictory.com), and hatecore88.com. Mr. Warman testified that the number 88 is often used by neo-Nazi groups. The letter H is the 8th letter in the alphabet and 88 (denoting HH) refers to the first letters in the words of the phrase Heil Hitler. There is a heading found above all of these icons, which explains that these linked websites are Domains we are hosting for free.
b) The Thoughts page [27] Mr. Warman produced a printout of an article entitled Intro to Racial Woes. He had previously viewed it by clicking on the caption identified as Thoughts that was found on the left-side column of the wpcect.com website. On the printout that was filed at the hearing, half the date had been cut off, but Mr. Warman testified that he had viewed and printed out the text on October 13, 2001. It contains the following passage, which relates to immigration policies in Canada:
Over 35% of illegal aliens are convicted and/or wanted criminals. You see, now in Canada we don't do background checks on our Future potential citizens. For some strange reason we just let them into the country on the honor system. They are given every opportunity in the world and they just sit back and hope that none of the Third world rejects commit violent crimes such as rape, murder, and even terrorism. Not only are the blacks and Asians polluting our cities with gangs and drugs, they are sleeping with our women and doing everything possible to ensure that the white race does not exist through interracial breeding. They are being followed by young white teens that through the media think it's cool to be black. These wiggers, who I refer to as race traitors, have no idea that they are just a part of the plan that's only purpose is to exterminate the white race.
The Jewish media, who control everything that we see and hear through T.V. and radio, heads up this war against us. When, as a united race, will we learn our lesson? Because of recent events over the Millenium's Terrorist's problems, I don't think I need to mention anything about the east Indians. They are filthy and are nothing but bad for a young country like ours. If we keep letting all these alien come into Canada. Don't be surprised if one day Canada isn't known for our great living and beautiful country side, but as a country that aids and abets criminals, and a place where rapists and murders can hide out from the laws of their own country. Wait a minute. That has already happened.
(emphasis added)
The article concludes with the following statement:
[...] What are you willing to do for your country and the Proud White Race? I for one am willing to go all the way and do whatever it be that is needed of me to do to insure that the white race prevails as I am sure we will.
The text is signed:
White Pride Worldwide 14/88
-WHITE POWER CANADA: THE REICH WAY!
c) The newsletter - Vinland Voice [28] Another of the words found on the left-side column of the wpcect.com website is Newsletter. Mr. Warman testified that by clicking on it, he was redirected to a website called vinlandvoice.com. The opening page of that website welcomes the visitor to the homepage of the Vinland Voice, which is described as a newsletter that is meant to reach out to White Canadians and keep them up with issues in their communities. The text goes on to thank the supporters of the Vinland Voice and closes with the expression RAHOWA. Mr. Warman stated in his evidence that this term is used by white supremacist group members to greet each other. It is an acronym for Racial Holy War.
[29] Mr. Warman testified that when he proceeded further into the vinlandvoice.com website, he came across multi-page newsletters that were apparently published on a weekly basis. The earliest copy of the Vinland Voice newsletter filed in evidence is dated August 30, 2001.
[30] Mr. Warman explained that when he discovered the Vinland Voice site, he registered himself as a subscriber under a pseudonym, and began receiving the newsletters on a weekly basis, by electronic mail (e-mail). He adopted two methods of compiling the material from the newsletters that he believed offended s. 13 of the Act. In some cases, he cut and pasted the content of the newsletters from their location on the vinlandvoice.com website into a word processing file. In other cases, he simply printed out the e-mail messages containing the newsletters. The copies of the Vinland Voice newsletter that were filed at the hearing were in one or the other of these formats.
[31] I have no evidence before me to suggest that these copies were inaccurate representations of the actual newsletters communicated through the Internet. As I discuss later in this decision, Terry Wilson, a detective with the police service of London, Ontario, also testified about having viewed these newsletters on the Internet and having received them by e-mail as well. I am satisfied that these exhibits are true depictions of the actual newsletters that were posted on the vinlandvoice.com website.
[32] Every edition of the Vinland Voice in evidence contained an invitation on the first page to Check out our CECT flyers. The newsletters all ended with a link to www.wpcect.com, ie. the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team's website. In some issues, the link was accompanied by the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team's combined maple leaf-Celtic cross logo.
[33] The newsletters often reprinted articles from other news sources, to which some editorial comment was added. For instance, Newsletter no. 3, dated August 30, 2001, reproduced what appears to be a wire service article regarding the arrest in Toronto of an individual who was believed to be a member of an Islamic terrorist group involved in the bombings of U.S. embassies. The excerpt was prefaced by the headline, surprise, surprise, this is why immigration MUST stop!.
[34] The newsletters also often contained letters and commentary expressing disdain towards members of Anti-Racist Action (ARA). Mr. Warman testified that this is an anti-racist group with chapters throughout North America, whose objective is to combat neo-Nazi and racist groups.
[35] The writers of the Vinland Voice occasionally wrote pieces regarding some of their personal experiences. For instance, in Newsletter No. 3, there is an unsigned article describing what took place at a birthday party for one of the TCS [Tri-City Skins] boys, held it seems at a bar in Kitchener, Ontario. Several paragraphs into the article, the author writes the following:
[...] my buddy and I were outside with a few skinbyrds talking and having a smoke when a dumb monkey ass looking nigger came to the bar with a bat. LOL, 1 nigger 1 bat against 15 skins, that's why, and for no other reason, was this nigger particularily stupid. All the rest of the cities sewage chose to stay acros the street. Just as we were about to approach the nigger to show him what he can do with the bat the owner of this fine establishment jumped in and disarmned him, warning us that cops were coming back up the stairs. They were everywhere.
[sic throughout]
[36] Mr. Warman opted to highlight Newsletter No. 5 in his testimony. This issue, dated September 14, 2001, dealt extensively with the terrorist attacks in the U.S. that had taken place three days earlier. The opening column's headline was Editor's Voice. The name of the author, at the bottom of the text, was WPCanada. As will be discussed later in this decision, Mr. Warman contends that WPCanada stands for White Power Canada, and that it is in fact a pseudonym used by Mr. Richardson. The article reads as follows:
Hmmmm, Where to start? I have so much to say and the newsletter is already so huge. So I will try to keep it short. As I mentioned above, you will see opinions from many different people and I am defiantly not saying mine is the correct One but it is mine and now you are stuck reading it.
If there was ever a time to stand up and have your voice heard, it is now. War is on, and the gloves are off. I have held various opinions since the tragedy in The United States. But even though my anger and views have differed from one extreme to another I still stay focused on one thing. A lot of white folk died tragically, and as always the Jews are mixed up in it. I do not take kindly to innocent whites dying for nothing and especially because of those dirty Jews.
And yes I hold ALL Muslims personally responsible as well. Even the American government, for bringing this war onto American soil by supplying Jews with weapons to destroy the Muslims. It is now time to take back our streets. I am proclaiming my own act of war. I encourage all racialists and esp. all C.E.C.T. members to do the same. There are many targets on Canadian soil such as B'nai Brith offices, Mossad temples and as far as I am concerned any Jew/Arab temple, building, house and even cars. There are no innocent Jews especially in a time of war. I ask that you mourn the loss of many of our kin that perished in NY and Washington and I want you to channel that anger and use it to fight our enemies.
The world as we know it has changed, from this day on everything as we know it will be different. Many more whites will die fighting the Muslims and Jews. Perhaps this will be the final war? I don't know. What I do know is we must never let this happen to us again. We need to call upon our governments and stop all immigration into North America. We need to deport all Jews, Muslims, Arabs or any other known terrorist group or religion. By allowing them to live in our country and seek refuge we are allowing them to use our own resources i.e. (welfare or public records etc.) against us. These are our streets, this is our land and the time to Fight is NOW. This is in fact our RAHOWA! United we will win.
WPCanada
Onward to victory!
(emphasis added) [sic throughout]
[37] Several pages later in this issue of the newsletter, a press release from B'nai Brith Canada dated September 11, 2001, was reproduced. The press release condemned the 9/11 attacks, as well as the subsequent dancing in the streets of the West Bank by Palestinians that had reportedly taken place. The following editorial comment was added underneath the reproduction of the press release:
Obviously the Jews are trying to pass the buck and direct attention elsewhere. Well Fuck them all. We know who is responsible and they WILL pay on behalf of our American Brothers. I urge all Canadians who care at all to take action against B'nai Brith and all other Jew organizations. Certain cocktails are very cheap. DEATH TO ZOG!
Mr. Warman testified that ZOG stands for Zionist Occupational Government. A few paragraphs down, the newsletter states, SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Jews are hazardous to other Species.
[38] Newsletter no. 6, dated September 21, 2001, continued on the same theme of the 9/11 attacks. On the first page is an article that is presented under the heading Editor's Voice. The author is apparently WPCanada, whose name is printed at the end of the article. The author puts forth how he would have written President George W. Bush's speech to the U.S. Congress following the attacks:
[...] To the people responsible for the US tragedy, I say this: Are you fucking kidding me? Are the turbans on your heads wrapped too tight? Have you gone too long without a bath? Do you not know whom you are fucking with? [...]
Have you forgotten history? What happened to the last people that started fucking around with us? Remember the little yellow bastards over in Japan? We slapped them all over the Pacific and roasted 2 million of them in their own back yard. That's what we in America call a big ass barbecue. Ever seen Texas on a map? Ever wonder why it is so big? Because we wanted it that way. Mexico started jacking around with the Alamo and now they cut our lawns.
(emphasis added)
[39] Issue no. 7 of the Vinland Voice is dated September 28, 2001. The newsletter begins with four short sentences:
Jews are responsible for the immigration policies that let Arab bombers into the country. Jews are responsible for the foreign policies that made Arabs want to attack us. Jews are responsible for obscuring these facts in their media. End ZOG, end terrorism.
This passage is followed by a sentence modelled on the American pledge of allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the race-mixing rag, of the Jew-nited States of America, and to the New World Order for which it stands; one conglomerate, under Zionism, with Tyranny and Oppression for all.
[40] Newsletter no. 12, dated December 10, 2001, contains an Editor's Voice column criticizing Israel's policies in the Middle East. But in addressing the question, the editor refers to Jews as Conspirators of Rome and Betrayers of Christ. He goes on to write that he supports the suicide attacks against the Israeli people, and suggests that maybe England would like to allocate a piece of its own land to house the Zionist plague. He adds that he, for one, would put them in warm waters, somewhere in the tropical Pacific.
[41] In the same issue of the newsletter, the editor writes that he is sending a big hello to Mr. Warman for having filed a human rights complaint against the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team. The editor identifies himself at the end of these comments as Totenkopf. The reference is apparently to an initial complaint that Mr. Warman filed with the Commission in 2001, in advance of the present complaint, which came in February 2002. The article in the newsletter contains Mr. Warman's home address. It further states that we extend our thanks to that Jewish lawyer and we give [Mr. Warman] 300,000 real reasons - and 5.7 million made-up ones - to support the [Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team]! It will be a gas!. The message ends with a final note addressed directly to Mr. Warman:
Richard, we added you to our Christmas Card list this year. Who knows, we might even send you compensation in the amount of vacation pay your family didn't get while working at Auschwitz.
C. Question 3 - Is the material likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that they are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination? [42] In order to address this question, the meanings of the words expose, hatred and contempt must be considered. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, as well as the Federal and Supreme Courts of Canada, have had occasion to consider the sense of these terms in previous decisions. The Tribunal in Schnell, supra at paras. 85-89, provided the following synopsis of their findings:
In the first case dealing with s. 13(1) of the Act, Taylor and the Western Guard Party v. Canadian Human Rights Commission and Attorney General of Canada (1979), T.D. 1/79, the Human Rights Tribunal referred to the Oxford Dictionary as a source, defining hatred as:
active dislike, detestation, enmity, ill will, malevolence.
and contempt as:
the condition of being condemned or despised; dishonour or disgrace.
Expose is a more passive word as opposed to incite and indicates that an active effort or intent on the part of the communicator or a violent reaction by the recipient is not envisaged. Rather, expose means to leave a person unprotected; to lay open to ridicule, censure or danger; creating the right conditions for hatred or contempt to flourish leaving the identifiable group open or vulnerable to ill feelings or hostility or putting them at risk to be hated.
The Human Rights Tribunal in Nealy v. Johnston (1989), 10 C.H.R.R. D/6450, when dealing with a complaint under s. 13(1) of the Act accepted these definitions and elaborated somewhat on hatred and contempt. In the Tribunal's view, hatred involves feelings of extreme ill will towards another person or group of persons. To say that one hates another means that one finds no redeeming qualities in the latter. Contempt suggests looking down upon or treating as inferior the object of one's feelings. This reflects the dictionary definition of despise, dishonour or disgrace. But, hatred is not co-extensive with contempt. Hatred in some instances may be the result of envy of superior qualities such as intelligence, wealth and power, which contempt, by definition, cannot be.
The Nealy Tribunal also went on to say that the use of the word 'likely' in s. 13(1) means that it is not necessary to prove that the effect will be that those who hear the messages will direct hatred or contempt against others. Nor is it necessary to show that, in fact, anyone was so victimized.
Taylor was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada [1990] 3 S.C.R. 892, the main issue being the constitutionality of s. 13(1) of the Act relative to the s. 2(b) of the Charter. The Supreme Court, in concluding that s. 13(1) did not contravene the Charter, endorsed the Taylor and Nealy definitions of hatred and contempt. The Court concluded that s. 13(1) refers to unusually strong and deep-felt emotions of detestation, calumny and vilification.
(i) The tri-cityskins.com material [43] I find that the material found on the tri-cityskins.com website is likely to expose persons who are non-Christian or non-Caucasian, to hatred or contempt. Black persons and people of the Jewish faith are particularly laid open to ridicule, ill feelings, or hostility, creating the right conditions for hatred or contempt against them to flourish.
[44] The supposed humour found in the Jokes and the ...Of the Month pages unquestionably exposes these groups to hatred and contempt. The use of the term nigger in these jokes, with its inherent connotation of slavery, segregation, and racism, in and of itself displays hatred and contempt in regard to black people. Remarks portraying Blacks as rapists, slaves, and food for vicious dogs denote feelings of extreme ill will against them. These jokes blatantly treat black persons with disdain and as being inferior. The humour demeans the suffering of Blacks and suggests that they have no redeeming qualities.
[45] The riddles that make cruel light of the genocide of Jews in Nazi concentration camps are similarly demeaning and disdainful. Other racial, religious, or ethnic groups (Aboriginal people, Latin Americans, South Asians, Muslims) are not spared the disparagement either. These statements all serve to dehumanize persons belonging to these various groups.
[46] I should note that I have only excerpted but a handful of the jokes found on this website. The remainder all follow the same themes, replete with hatred and contempt directed at the groups identified.
[47] The extreme ill will and malevolence towards black persons pervades other parts of the tri-cityskins.com website as well. The Pierce articles encourage white South Africans to get rid of all Blacks and other non-Whites, and to force them out, sterilize them or kill them. His articles urge those whom he is addressing to be prepared to kill, annihilate, any and all competitors. Such statements (exhorting the death, sterilization, or expulsion of non-Caucasians) denote extreme ill will and hatred against non-Caucasians, and suggest that the victims of this violence lack any redeeming qualities, thereby dehumanizing them.
[48] Mr. Pierce's attempts at portraying Jewish persons as enemies of the state, working behind the scenes, and controlling media, serve to develop and encourage envy, mistrust or resentment of them, which in turn breeds hatred against them. These hateful messages are combined with signs of contempt: [Dershowitz]'s not even a fellow human being. [He] is a Jew and that says it all. Mr. Pierce reinforces his contempt directed towards Jewish persons and further exhorts hatred against them, by asserting that Dershowitz and his tribe advocate widespread torture of all non-Jews who resist Jewish supremacy.
[49] The website manages to encourage the visitor to feel contempt against these groups even through its links to other websites. It invites visitors to travel, with one click of a mouse button, to the site of the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team. Taking into account the opinions expressed in the Pierce articles, it is quite easy to draw the connection between this group's name and a call for the forceful exclusion from Canadian society of non-Caucasians. Another of the linked websites is named whitesonly.net, which has a logo that unabashedly harks back to the lynching of black persons.
[50] I find, therefore, that the tri-cityskins.com website contains messages that are likely to expose persons who are non-Christian (namely of the Jewish and Muslim faiths) or non-Caucasian, to hatred and contempt on the basis of their race, colour, religion, or national/ethnic origin.
(ii) The wpcect.com material [51] I have reached the same conclusion with respect to the messages found on the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team's website, wpcect.com, including the Vinland Voice newsletters.
[52] Mr. Kulbashian contends that the Vinland Voice material should not be considered to form part of the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team's website since it was found on a separate website, vinlandvoice.com. I do not agree. It is of no consequence that the material happens to be on a website the name of which does not incorporate the CECT abbreviation. The fact is that when clicking on the newsletter icon on the web pages of wpcect.com, visitors are brought directly to the Vinland Voice page. Once there, they are plainly told that they have arrived at a site that is run by the CECT. The second paragraph on many of the newsletters invites visitors to check out our CECT flyers, and to visit the CECT store. On the final page of every issue, the link to wpcect.com is prominently displayed. I am satisfied that the material found on vinlandvoice.com is an integral part of wpcect.com's Internet material.
[53] The Intro to Racial Woes article on wpcect.com's Thoughts page is littered with statements of extreme ill will to various ethnic, racial, and religious groups. Blacks and Asians are accused of polluting our cities with gangs and drugs and sleeping with our women. East Indians are treated as filthy and undesirables. Jews are again portrayed as enemies of society who control everything that we see and hear and who head up the war against us, meaning the white race. In this manner, the article has the effect of inspiring fear and extreme resentment against these groups, which is likely to expose them to hatred and contempt.
[54] The same themes wind their way through the newsletters. The account, in Issue No. 3, by an unnamed individual, of his exploits involving a black person who confronted him at a b