The title of my last post - regarding Keith Martin's Private Member's Motion to delete subsection 13(1) from the Canada Human Rights Act - ended with a question mark. To be clear, I think it is great news. But I deliberately wanted to indicate some uncertainty about this development. There are uncertainties: on one hand, this is not a sure thing - it is only the beginning of the process; on the other hand, I wondered, if the resulting bill were to be passed, what consequences it would have for provincial HRCs as well as pending and past cases.
One question I haven't heard asked is why subsections (2) and (3) are not included in this motion. Since they both refer back to subsection (1) are they automatically deleted as well?
But there's another question that's nagging me: What is Martin's motivation? Many bloggers have encouraged readers to write a note of thanks and/or encouragement to Martin for taking the initiative on this important matter. But I'm not so sure. My approval is partly dependent on his motivation. I'd be delighted to know that Martin is an advocate and defender of freedom and that this motion is solely an outworking of that conviction. But as the saying goes, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. I can't help but think that Martin is doing this for some political gain. If so, the means does not justify the end, and, though I support the means, I won't thank him for using it for his political gain. At
NoApologies.ca, Al Siebring asks some of the same questions.
Nevertheless, all Canadians should write to their MPs in support of this motion.
NoApologies and
Pundita have some great summary material to help us get started.
