"Oh, (no) Canada", Coulter

[amicus]

Angry protesters in Canada made Ann Coulter’s point for her. She said she came to prove the point that Canada’s free speech leaves much to be desired. It does, and it did. And now, Ann Coulter’s Human Rights Complaint will move forward against the University of Ottawa where she was to give her speech.

Coulter said, “Since I’ve arrived in Canada, I’ve been denounced on the floor of Parliament—which by the way is on my bucket list—my posters have been banned, I’ve been accused of committing a crime in a speech that I have not yet given, I was banned by the student council, so welcome to Canada!”

Before Coulter even arrived in Canada, University of Ottawa Vice-President academic and provost Francois Houle sent a letter to Ann Coulter essentially warning her to watch her mouth. You can read the letter here published in the National Post. In the letter, Mr. Houle graciously talks about how excited he is for her to come, right before warning her to “educate” herself on the differences of Canadian free speech.

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=5913

Keyword search: Coulter Ottawa

No doubt you can find a left wing source if you try.

Is there any Free Speech in Canada? Or is it restricted to true believers?



the everlovin' Amicus

 

[AngeloMichael]

Coulter's in Canada? Quick seal the borders!!!
(Sorry Rob, desperate measures, you understand.)

 

[amicus]

Coulter's in Canada? Quick seal the borders!!!
(Sorry Rob, desperate measures, you understand.)

~~~

What? You want to keep her?

Heh. I like EVA from WALL E, doing the Rubic's Cube almost instantly...used to hate those things...



ami

 

[PoppingTom]

Is there any Free Speech in Canada? Or is it restricted to true believers?

I think it's like in any other free speech country of the world: Say what you want, as long as you can take the echo.

 

[amicus]

I think it's like in any other free speech country of the world: Say what you want, as long as you can take the echo.[/QUOTE]

~~~

I suppose one can assume there are different definitions of 'free speech'.

A portion of what I pasted: "...In the letter, Mr. Houle graciously talks about how excited he is for her to come, right before warning her to “educate” herself on the differences of Canadian free speech. ..."

Perhaps some benevolent Canadian would advise upon what free speech is in Canada and why one might need be 'warned' about the differences?



Amicus

 

[PoppingTom]

~~~

I suppose one can assume there are different definitions of 'free speech'.

A portion of what I pasted: "...In the letter, Mr. Houle graciously talks about how excited he is for her to come, right before warning her to “educate” herself on the differences of Canadian free speech. ..."

Perhaps some benevolent Canadian would advise upon what free speech is in Canada and why one might need be 'warned' about the differences?

Maybe you can be charged for calling a politician "faggot".

In our country you can be charged for calling Holocaust a lie or saying anything that uses Nazi ideology.

In America , you can say everything in public - except "Fuck you"!

Right? Or prejudice?

 

[TE999]

Ann's received the same treatment on US campuses...no biggie...there's only room for one opinion in academia...and it's not hers.

If it was Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro showing up for a lecture on that campus there'd be a ticker tape parade and a key to the city.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=5913

Keyword search: Coulter Ottawa

No doubt you can find a left wing source if you try.

Is there any Free Speech in Canada? Or is it restricted to true believers?



the everlovin' Amicus

Only for Canadians, if your not Canadian you have no rights, just as Rob.

 

[MzDeviancy]

I think it's like in any other free speech country of the world: Say what you want, as long as you can take the echo.[/QUOTE]

~~~

I suppose one can assume there are different definitions of 'free speech'.

A portion of what I pasted: "...In the letter, Mr. Houle graciously talks about how excited he is for her to come, right before warning her to “educate” herself on the differences of Canadian free speech. ..."

Perhaps some benevolent Canadian would advise upon what free speech is in Canada and why one might need be 'warned' about the differences?



Amicus

Free speech in Canada does not include racial hatred, and since that's Ann Coulter's favourite thing Mr. Houle had some concerns.

"In Canada, advocating genocide or inciting hatred[9] against any 'identifiable group' is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code of Canada with maximum terms of two to fourteen years. An 'identifiable group' is defined as 'any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.' It makes exceptions for cases of statements of truth, and subjects of public debate and religious doctrine. The landmark judicial decision on the constitutionality of this law was R. v. Keegstra (1990)."

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Free speech in Canada does not include racial hatred, and since that's Ann Coulter's favourite thing Mr. Houle had some concerns.

"In Canada, advocating genocide or inciting hatred[9] against any 'identifiable group' is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code of Canada with maximum terms of two to fourteen years. An 'identifiable group' is defined as 'any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.' It makes exceptions for cases of statements of truth, and subjects of public debate and religious doctrine. The landmark judicial decision on the constitutionality of this law was R. v. Keegstra (1990)."

So free speech is not really free speech? Unless I pounding on a pulpit or in a public debate or what I say is the truth? Who decides if it's true?

 

[amicus]

Thank you MzDeviancy...

"...Free speech in Canada does not include racial hatred, and since that's Ann Coulter's favourite thing Mr. Houle had some concerns..."

Would you care to document that? I have listened to and read Ms. Coulter and did not find it so.

Hatred...hate speech...you know, I wonder about that whole issue and just how much is political correctness turned into punitive laws?

I, like many, grew up during world war two and 'Dirty Japs & Krauts' was part of the ambient education we all received in the media.

There are people, ethnic groups, ideological groups that I do not care to associate with and you might say I have a 'hatred' for babykillers at least; maybe even for the Warlords that dragged dead Marines through the streets in Somalia or the Republican Guard of Hussein's Iraq that tortured captured American and Coalition soldiers.

I suggest that to hate is a natural human response to that which is different and threatening to life and as such, ought be respected.

I hate bugs. Does that make me a criminal in Canada?



Amicus

 

[amicus]

Forthwith; the terrifying and terrible Ms. Coulter:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36191

Ah, from the horses mouth, so to speak....

(sorry Ann)

Ami

 

[TE999]

Free speech in Canada does not include racial hatred, and since that's Ann Coulter's favourite thing Mr. Houle had some concerns.

"In Canada, advocating genocide or inciting hatred[9] against any 'identifiable group' is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code of Canada with maximum terms of two to fourteen years. An 'identifiable group' is defined as 'any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.' It makes exceptions for cases of statements of truth, and subjects of public debate and religious doctrine. The landmark judicial decision on the constitutionality of this law was R. v. Keegstra (1990)."

Ann does not incite racial hatred...unless you consider criticizing Obama racial hatred.

You folks don't have free speech up there...you have Political Correctness run amok. What's next... thought crimes a la '1984'?

"What is truth?" asked jesting Pilate, but did not wait for an answer.

 

[PoppingTom]

Hatred...hate speech...you know, I wonder about that whole issue and just how much is political correctness turned into punitive laws?

I, like many, grew up during world war two and 'Dirty Japs & Krauts' was part of the ambient education we all received in the media.

I suggest that to hate is a natural human response to that which is different and threatening to life and as such, ought be respected.

I hate bugs. Does that make me a criminal in Canada?

Hate is one thing, hate speech another.

 

[Liar]

Free speech does not mean you're entitled to a podium.

Some parts of Coulter's complaints do concern free speech and the limits thereof, but mostly shes just pissed that the uni decided they had better thing to do than give a racist attention whore the spotlight she craves.

 

[amicus]

Free speech does not mean you're entitled to a podium.

Some parts of Coulter's complaints do concern free speech and the limits thereof, but mostly shes just pissed that the uni decided they had better thing to do than give a racist attention whore the spotlight she craves.

~~~

I also kill bugs..without remorse...

~~~

I do believe I read that the University invited Coulter to their campus?

I once took a podium in Hyde Park, London and spouted for a goodly while.

Did you receive the footage of the nasty crowd of protesters on the Campus?

Your Post disappoints me, Liar, you are better than that.

Amicus

 

[sadangel]

OTTAWA - In a brief statement Wednesday University of Ottawa President Allan Rock defended his institution and said that free expression is a core value of the school that bills itself as Canada's university.

"Freedom of expression is a core value that the University of Ottawa has always promoted. We have a long history of hosting contentious and controversial speakers on our campus. Last night was no exception, as people gathered here to listen to and debate Ann Coulter's opinions."

Rock's statement said organizers of the speech themselves decided at 7:50 p.m. Tuesday to cancel the event and informed the university's security services on site of their decision.

The statement said a crowd of about 1,000 people had "peacefully gathered at Marion Hall."

"I encourage our students faculty and other members of our community to maintain our university as an open forum for diverse opinions. Ours is a safe and democratic environment for the expression of views, and we will keep it that way," Rock, who is a former federal minister of Justice in the Jean Chrétien cabinet, said in the statement.

The university indicated it will make no further comment on the matter.

Ottawa police were also issuing statements about the Ann Coulter affair Wednesday

Ottawa police spokesperson Alain Boucher said the police did not shut down the event, but said a different venue was needed to hold the crowd of around 1,500 people.

"We strongly suggested that this venue was not large enough to accommodate all the people that had attended," he said. "We had safety concerns with the sheer number of people that were there...with different views on issues."

Rock's statement was issued in response to an event in which protesters prevented Coulter from giving a speech. She told the Citizen Tuesday night, that the cancellation proved the point she came to make — free speech in Canada leaves much to be desired.

Then she said what she really thought of the student protesters who surrounded Marion Hall, making it too unsafe, in the view of her bodyguard, for the pundit to attempt entry.

“The University of Ottawa is really easy to get into, isn’t it?” she said in an interview with the Citizen after the cancelled event.

“I never get any trouble at the Ivy League schools. It’s always the bush-league schools.”

Coulter said she has been speaking regularly at university campuses for a decade. While she has certainly been heckled, she said this is the first time a speaking engagement has had to be cancelled because of protesters.

“This has never, ever, ever happened before — even at the stupidest American university,” she said.

Coulter remarked on the reception she has had since entering the country.

“Since I’ve arrived in Canada, I’ve been denounced on the floor of Parliament — which, by the way, is on my bucket list — my posters have been banned, I’ve been accused of committing a crime in a speech that I have not yet given, I was banned by the student council, so welcome to Canada!”

The “accusation” Coulter speaks of is a reference to an e-mail she received from University of Ottawa vice-president and provost François Houle on Friday, warning her that freedom of speech is defined differently in Canada than in the U.S. and that she should take care not to step over the line.

Coulter said that letter set the tone for and encouraged the protesters. She said it’s well known on the campus speaking circuit that conservatives need to travel with security staff, as she did.

“I’m pretty sure little François A-Houle does not need to travel with a bodyguard,” she said. “I would like to know when this sort of violence, this sort of protest, has been inflicted upon a Muslim — who appear to be, from what I’ve read of the human rights complaints, the only protected group in Canada. I think I’ll give my speech tomorrow night in a burqa. That will protect me.”

Canadian conservative political commentator Ezra Levant, the other speaker travelling with Coulter on the three-city tour, presented by the International Free Press Society of Canada, told the half-filled hall that no more people would be able to enter and that Coulter had been advised it would not be safe for her to appear. Coulter’s bodyguard ultimately made the judgment, after conferring with security staff on site.

In a short speech, Levant said Tuesday was “an embarrassing day for the University of Ottawa and their student body, who could not debate Ann Coulter … who chose to silence her through threats and intimidation, just like their vice-president did.”

Levant laid the blame squarely on Houle.

“A fish rots from the head down,” he said. “François Houle got his wish. He telegraphed to the community that the University of Ottawa is not a place for free debate.”

Houle could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Levant said the spectacle showed “just how eroded our Canadian values of free speech have become” — especially on university campuses.

“I think this has turned into a teaching moment for the entire country, a reminder that freedom of speech is a Canadian value,” he said.

Rita Valeriano was one of several protesters inside the hall who, with chants of “Coulter go home!”, shouted down the International Free Press Society of Canada organizer who was addressing the crowd.

Valeriano, a 19-year-old sociology and women’s studies student, said later that she was happy Coulter was unable to speak the “hatred” she had planned to.

“On campus, we promise our students a safe and positive space,” she said. “And that’s not what (Coulter) brings.”

Outside the hall, Sameena Topan, 26, a conflict studies and human rights major at the U of O, spoke to the Citizen on behalf of a group of protesters.

“We have a large group of students that can very clearly outline the difference between discourse and discrimination,” Topan said of the protest. “We wanted to mobilize and make sure that’s clear on campus, that there’s a line between controversy and discrimination, and Ann Coulter has crossed it. Numerous times.”

“We had concerns about (the event) at the beginning, but especially after we saw what happened at the University of Western Ontario, when she called out a Muslim girl there and was saying she needs to take a camel because Muslim people shouldn’t fly. That kind of stuff just reaffirmed everything that we were afraid of and that’s when … we really got worried.”

Topan was pleased to hear the

students behind her shout, “Hate speech cancelled!” in unison.

“I think that’s great. I think we accomplished what we were here to do, to ensure that we don’t have her discriminatory rhetoric on our campus,” she said.

Jonathan Reid, 18, a Carleton political science student and a fan of Coulter, brought a book to be signed.

During the protest outside after the event was cancelled, Reid and a group of other students shouted a counter-chant, “No more commies on our campus!,” while pumping their fists. The Coulter protesters moved forward to face them, and TV crew lights lit angry faces.

“It’s a shame,” Reid said of the cancellation. “They claim we’re the intolerant ones, yet they’re the ones who refuse to allow a Conservative speaker to come to campus. That is the definition of intolerance.”

U of O political science student Faris Lehn, 23, said he doesn’t support Coulter’s message, but had hoped for a debate.

“It’s too bad she didn’t get to speak because I think she would have made herself look more ridiculous than anyone here could have made her look,” Lehn said.

“The problem with Ann Coulter … is that the arguments that she uses don’t necessarily promote good debate, they promote this,” he said, glancing at the chanting crowd.

Now, Lehn worries that people hoping for some of Coulter’s popularity might resort to inflammatory methods for attention.

“Your only hope is that this doesn’t … get into our media dialogue, that someone doesn’t pick this up and say, ‘I can make a career out of being a Canadian Ann Coulter’,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the best-selling pundit has been met by protesters who wouldn’t grant her the freedom to speak.

“I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am,” she reported told a crowd at the University of Connecticut when they began to jeer her, according to The Huffington Post website.

In a 2004 engagement at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Coulter was attacked by two pie-throwing men, says the blog site.

In 2008, student groups at Columbia University in New York City protested her presence by selling black T-shirts that featured Coulter’s face with a line through it.

Also in 2008, at a New Jersey college, students distributed armbands and pamphlets to protest her engagement on campus. In the midst of her speech, about 40 students stood up and started shouting: “Gay, straight, black, white! Same struggle, same fight.” Despite the interruption, Coulter earned $24,000 U.S. for her 40-minute speech, says The Huffington Post.

With files from Robert Sibley

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Organizers+university+cancelled+Coulter/2721580/story.html

 

[amicus]

Apparently, Coulter was dumped because she stated: "All Muslims should be on a no fly list...." according to a Canadian Feminist spokesperson.

Ah, racial profiling, whodathunkit? Or is it ethnic profiling. By the way what are we to call the Terrorist who are almost totally Muslim?

At what point does Islamic Terrorism threaten the security of the US or any other western nation under a Jihad?

We did afterall, intern both Japanese and German Americans in the 1940's, were they a possible threat? Was it an unkind gesture to protect the nation?

just askin'

Amicus

 

[Liar]

~~~

I also kill bugs..without remorse...

~~~

I do believe I read that the University invited Coulter to their campus?

I once took a podium in Hyde Park, London and spouted for a goodly while.

Did you receive the footage of the nasty crowd of protesters on the Campus?

The university invited Coulter. Then they changed their mind. Budged to student pressure, had a change of heart, whatever. They took away "her" podium. It could be argued that that is a less-than-classy way to behave.

So? That was not the issue. That has nothing to do with the principle of free speech. It has everything to do with Ann Coulter believing she is entitled to their microphone and spotlight.

She can go stand on a soap box for all I care. Or find some other venue that wants to give her a podium.

Your Post disappoints me, Liar, you are better than that.

Uhuh, how about we stick to the topic at hand instead of flinging ad hominems?

Riddle me this: Does free speech mean rights to someone else's venue? If so, where's my free talk show?

 

[alwayswantedto]

The guy was trying to inform Coulter to be careful so she didn't break a law about inciting racial hatred since she was likely unfamiliar with Canadian law. He was doing her a favor. She's either a nitwit or a real has-been craving attention at any cost, even if she has to go to Canada (shudder, a country who that believes in not leaving any citizen behind, not just saying it) to do it.

Of course, you can go ahead a slag a country you obviously don't know anything about; a true Coulter disciple.

 

[MzDeviancy]

Apparently, Coulter was dumped because she stated: "All Muslims should be on a no fly list...." according to a Canadian Feminist spokesperson.

Ah, racial profiling, whodathunkit? Or is it ethnic profiling. By the way what are we to call the Terrorist who are almost totally Muslim?

At what point does Islamic Terrorism threaten the security of the US or any other western nation under a Jihad?

We did afterall, intern both Japanese and German Americans in the 1940's, were they a possible threat? Was it an unkind gesture to protect the nation?

just askin'

Amicus

Did you seriously just defend internment camps? And the idea of putting all Muslims on a no-fly list?

I don't even know how to respond to this intelligently because this comes down to a moral issue of whether or not you believe it's reasonable to punish an entire racial/ethnic/religious group for the actions of a few. And whatever you think, Amicus, terrorism is the actions of a few. There are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims around the world; you think 1.5 billion people deserve to be punished for the actions of a few of their number?

 

[Pure]

lots of bs around here,

principally by Coulter and ami.

she was never in any danger of being prosecuted for 'hate speech', particularly since there was a single occasion.

her usual inflammatory and attention getting barbs, like 'ground all muslims' would not qualify.

as several have said, in any case, being denied a university podium, when your books are selling in stores all over town, and your horsey face is often viewable on anyone's tv, hardly seems as any kind of 'free speech' abridgment. her speech is freer and more widely disseminated than most of us, her violence inciting "act" has millions of admirers, such as the likes of amicus, around AH. they have access to her 24 hrs a day, from her website, etc. the hateful little bubbas of the US can hear their spokesperson anytime they please (and so can Canadian loonies, of similar persuasion).

being a wealthy white person, and public figure with loads of publicity, you'd think she'd have no need to resort to 'victim' talk. yes, wealthy white lawyers with their own tv and radio shows, a dozen books in the stores, speaking engagements up the wazoo, are SO victimized!

 

[MzDeviancy]

I also kill bugs..without remorse...

Following this train of thought from your original comparison of being allowed to hate bugs versus being allowed to hate entire ethnis/religious groups, it seems like you're advocating genocide here...

I would like to believe you're not quite that insane, but nothing you've posted so far is giving me anything to work with.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I wonder if Louis Farakkhan would be allowed to speak on campus.

 

[Carnevil9]

One must remember that the First Amendment of the US Constitution is not binding on Canada.

We citizens of the USA tend to take that freedom for granted, and assume that all "right thinking" nations have the same freedom.

They don't.

Canada, compared to the USA, sucks.