Brian Storseth introduced Bill C-304, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) into the House of Commons Sept. 30. The bill would repeal Section 13 as well as section 54, the penalty clause associated with it.

“I am a firm believer that freedom of speech is one of the building blocks of our society,” Storseth said in an interview. “It is one of the core freedoms all the freedoms are built on. What is freedom of assembly if you don’t have freedom of speech?”

Henry faced complaints based on a similar clause in the Alberta Human Rights Act. He said Bill 13 exposes religious leaders to human rights complaints for expressing firmly held religious views on moral issues. It also causes publishers to be hauled before “the kangaroo court of a tribunal hearing” for printing cartoons, and censors comedians for “making remarks that might offend somebody’s sensitivities.”

“In Canada, we do not arrest people who are likely to break the law. The law must actually be broken,” the bishop said. “To hurt someone’s feelings doesn’t constitute discrimination, nor hatred.”

Henry believes he was actually the aggrieved party when charges were levelled against him.

“I believe that the complaints that were lodged against me were an attempt to intimidate and silence me, and in point of fact, the lodging of these complaints constituted a violation of my right of freedom of expression and freedom of religion guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedom, and has revealed a multitude of problems with the Alberta Human Rights Commission and its processes,” the bishop said.

The complaints were eventually dropped.

The bishop also objected to the process human rights commissions employ when people face complaints under these sections.

“Based on my experience, it is not difficult to point out a number of imbalances and flaws in (rights commissions’) current operations such as the presumption of guilt until you can prove your innocence, the open-ended time lines for dealing with a complaint and unjust incurring of financial expenditures for the defendant in the simple event of a complaint being lodged,” he said.

“However, there is no punitive action imposed on the complainant as his or her legal fees, if there are any, are covered by the commission.”

Muslim activists used Section 13 and similar provincial versions to file complaints against Maclean’s magazine for running an excerpt of Mark Steyn’s bestselling book America Alone. Though the complaint was eventually dismissed in 2008, the magazine spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending itself, as complaints were also filed before Ontario Human Rights Commission and the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

Storseth is focusing on the federal CHRA. First elected in 2006, Storseth filed the motion that led to the House Justice Committee’s investigation of this section in the last Parliament, with the calling of witnesses, including Professor Richard Moon, a law professor who did a study commissioned by the Canadian Human Rights Commission that recommended Section 13 be eliminated.

“I believe I’ve got very good support in my own caucus,” said Storseth. “I believe I have enough support to pass this in the House of Commons.” 

He is also working with Senator Doug Finley to garner support in the Senate. But he urged the Canadian public to engage in the battle.