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By John Jalsevac and John-Henry Westen

VANCOUVER, June 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an age when pro-life and pro-family advocates are increasingly being legally prosecuted for so-called “hate speech” and other similarly tenuous “intolerant” behaviour, one woman in British Columbia seems to have proven that life and family advocates don’t always have to lie down and take everything thrown their way.

This past week it was determined that a Vancouver radio host who berated a Christian pro-family advocate claiming on air she was a “dangerous bigot” is liable for damages after an appeals court in British Columbia overturned a lower court ruling dismissing the case as free speech.Â
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  Kari Simpson, one of Canada’s best known advocates for the family had asked Vancouver radio host Rafe Mair, to retract his defamatory statements made in 1999, but Mair refused. When Simpson took Mair to court for defamation a lower court ruled that Mair’s comments were “fair comment,” and fully protected under the right to free speech.

According to the court’s transcript of Mair’s on-air remarks in October of 1999, Mair called Simpson “a mean-spirited, power mad, rabble rousing and, yes, dangerous bigot.” Earlier in the broadcast Mair compared Simpson’s belief that homosexuality is immoral and destructive to society with the beliefs of the Nazis, saying “For Kari’s homosexual one could easily substitute a Jew.” And while clarifying that he did not believe Simpson to be a violent person herself, he added “the trouble is people who don’t want violence often unwittingly provoke it,” indicating that people like Simpson would have no problem with letting “the mob do as they wished.”

During the broadcast Mair also made a number of other statements of “fact” about Simpson’s actions as an activist, including allegations that Simpson supported keeping gay people out of schools or pulling children out of school because their teacher is gay, or that Simpson supported measures against gays similar to those Hitler employed, which Simpson has argued were “false and malicious.”

The BC Court of Appeal ruled unanimously Tuesday to reverse the lower court’s decision. Justice Southin, who authored the decision, wrote in overturning the former decision: “Applying these authorities, I come to the conclusion that the learned judge’s conclusion, both as judge and jury, as to the defamatory meaning of [Mair’s] words, excludes any further consideration of fair comment because there is no evidentiary foundation for a finding that the appellant would condone violence.”

Simpson successfullyÂargued that “In publishing and republishing these false, malicious and defamatory statements, the Defendants have caused irreparable harm and damage to the Plaintiff in her reputation, bringing the Plaintiff into public scandal, odium and contempt, and as a further result, the Plaintiff has suffered loss of income, a general ability to earn a living and earn future income, and special damages.”

The case was remanded to the lower court for the awarding of damages.
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  See the full ruling online:
https://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/ca/06/02/2006bcca0287.htm