As you all may or may not be aware, while in law school I joined a group of Osgoode students who initiated human rights complaints against Macleans for their Islamophobic material, and especially an article authored by Mark Steyn (The Future Belongs to Islam).
This issue has recieved a TON of press (google it!) but much of it is based on some misinformation.
I want to clear the air - first of all, our goal was never to stifle free expression.
In fact, our group of law students met with Macleans representatives before we launched any type of action in the belief that Macleans would be willing to allow a ** mutually acceptable ** author to publish a response to the article.
We thought that Macleans would be interested in furthering the debate by allowing the same community that they had targeted a chance to fight back. Unfortunately, we were told that Macleans would "rather go bankrupt" then publish such a response.
I believe that this is contrary to the goal of freedom of expression in its truest form - to encourage a debate among interested parties.
We then felt it necessary to launch human rights complaints. These complaints do NOT name Steyn as a Respondant. We have NEVER asked for an apology from Macleans or Steyne. The issue is NOT about attacking journalists or any one viewpoint - it's about ensuring that a media outlet with the national coverage and respect that Macleans enjoys remains balanced and fair.
Currently, we are looking for individuals to help clear the air by either submitting full op/ed peices to papers or at a very minimum, by sending letters to the editors of major newspapers. A sample is attached below for the Globe and Mail.
If all you can do is cut/paste this to the Globe and Mail that would be great - all newspapers track the number of responses they get to an article. If you wish to tailor it to another newspaper [ie; the London Free Press] I can help you with that.
Email it to:
letters@globeandmail.com.
If you wish to do more, PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me - I can help you write articles to submit, etc.
This message ESPECIALLY goes out to students with access to student newspapers.
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Dear Editor,
On December 6, your paper dedicated significant space to Margaret Wente’s strong criticism of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC). In it she also ridicules a handful of earnest law students working with the CIC to inform human rights commissions about Maclean’s track record of publishing biased and Islamophobic stories. In a particularly Islamophobic article, author Mark Steyn makes assertions like “…not all Muslims are terrorists—though enough are hot for jihad to provide an impressive support network of mosques…” and that multiculturalism has resulted in Muslims having far too much freedom of movement in Western society.
I am shocked to know that Canadian’s national magazine is being used to promote these arguments. I am even more shocked that people are attempting to shut down a national dialog on media fairness by attempting to riducule the complainants for bringing this matter to light.