Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

The often-quoted Latin question above translates as: "Who is guarding the guardians"? It is often asked of rogue police forces etc. It seems that Canadians should be asking that too. In response to all the recent criticism aimed at them, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has set up an enquiry into their functions. They are reviewing themselves, in other words! The editor of the Canadian National Post -- excerpt below -- does not seem very impressed

"We don't hold out much hope that a review of the Canadian Human Rights Commission's powers to investigate allegations of hate speech will come to much. For one thing, the commission handpicked its own investigator. But mostly we are skeptical because even when calling for the review, chief commissioner Jennifer Lynch demonstrated no clear understanding of free speech or the value of protecting it....

The only splinter of hope we hold out for the review is that the chief reviewer, University of Windsor law professor Richard Moon, appears to be a fairly impartial expert on the constitutionality of free expression. He has upbraided judges in obscenity trials for trying to impose their personal value judgments simply by "dressing them up in the objective garb of community standards." Yet at other times, he has appeared favourable to more collectivist notions, writing that speech has a "social character," with great "potential for harm." And that expression, if left unchecked, "can cause fear, it can harass and it can undermine self-esteem." We hope the "free speecher" Prof. Moon conducts the review and recommends that CHRC rein in its overzealous regulation of speech.

Yet even if that happens, the main problems with the federal commission - and its provincial counterparts - will not have been addressed. It is increasingly obvious these commissions were set up deliberately to lower the standard of proof and get around rules of natural justice, thereby ensuring people who would never be convicted in court are punished to the satisfaction of the activists and special interest groups that hover around the tribunals.

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