I don't think Ezra was in as much jeopardy as he portrayed in the media or even in this video. Though I fully agree that the HRC has many shortcoming, I also know that it is still in its infant stage and has MANY kinks to work out. But it took the common law 100's of years to progress to its current form and I have great hope that the HRC will be remedied with proper amendments and better procedures. In principle, the HRC is a really great thing for Canadians. It is just sometimes used by people as a last resort when all other reasonable avenues have failed.
In this video, Ezra is being interviewed by a complaint officer. This would be akin to being interviewed or interrogated by a police officer in a criminal proceeding. The interview is not the tribunal, it is only at the investigative stage. Ezra apparently spent a boat load of money on lawyers, which he did not need in the first place. I actually feel kind of sorry for this officer, as I do for police officers when people are rude to them, as they are just trying to do their job. Ezra does make a point however in his rambling, and may have set a tone for the interview to his benefit. What I think is kind of sad though, seeing as Ezra is a lawyer, is when she asked what his intention was. His response was essentially: what does it matter? Well, intent of a person in law is huge. If Ezra published the cartoon with the intention of spreading hate, then it would be a triable issue for the tribunal. However, if he did not, then it would not be. All he would have had to say, in my opinion at least, was that his intent was to re-produce the cartoon as to inform the public of Canada what it looked like. Further, I don't see how its re-publication spread hate. It would be different if Ezra drew the picture, however he simply re-produced it as the cartoon was the topic of controversy in Europe.
Though I don't agree with Ezra a lot of the time and find many of his writings misinforming, I do not think he committed an act of hate in breach of human rights. However, his financial detriment for legal costs in this situation was partly due to him mishandling himself and would have gone away very quickly if he calmed down a little.
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