By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
VANCOUVER, December 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kari Simpson, one of Canada’s best known advocates for the family, has written the Attorney General of British Columbia requesting that the Criminal Justice Branch reconsider its refusal to charge former radio talk show host Rafe Mair and CKNW Radio with inciting and promoting hatred against an identifiable group and for criminal defamation.
In a long and intricate battle that has seen court decisions overturned several times, Simpson has fought to clear her name of defamatory statements and allegations made by Mair on his radio show beginning in 1999 where he called Simpson “a mean-spirited, power mad, rabble rousing and, yes, dangerous bigot,” due to her defense of families who objected to the homosexual agenda being promoted in their schools. The case involved a homosexual teacher, James Chamberlain, whose teaching methods and “numerous egregious professional misconducts” caused some parents to pull their children out of school.
In the same diatribe Mair compared Simpson to Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan, saying that while Simpson did not explicitly or publicly call for a genocide, “neither did Hitler or Governor Wallace.” Mair also expressed contempt for Christian moral principles, and therefore, says Simpson, by extension the Christians who practice those principles.
Simpson said in a press release, “This situation was about parental rights and the proper role of teachers within the public education system. If Mr. Chamberlain had been heterosexual he would have been disciplined or fired a long time ago. This was an education fight. Instead Mr. Mair used Mr. Chamberlain’s declared homosexual orientation to declare a war against Christians. Mr. Mair made this a religious fight. Mr. Mair’s conduct offends the very foundation upon which this country is founded. Truth is fundamental to our civil society. Wilful deceptions and calculated campaigns of hate should not be tolerated. Mr. Mair and CKNW Radio should be prosecuted.”
In 2006, after Simpson took Mair to court for defamation and the lower court ruled that Mair’s comments were “fair comment,” and fully protected under the right to free speech. She appealed the decision and the BC Court of Appeal ruled unanimously to reverse the lower court’s decision.
The radio station for which Mair worked took that decision to the BC Supreme Court which overturned the Appeals Court ruling.
Subsequently Simpson provided Myron Claridge of the BC Hate Crimes Unit with a voluminous amount of published evidence detailing Mair’s campaign of “lies, hate and distorted facts.”
The BC Attorney General refused to give the required consent for hate crime charges to be laid against Mair, with a written explanation from the Criminal Justice Branch sent to Simpson that appeared to dismiss most of the evidence she submitted.
“It appears that the Office of the Attorney General relied on only one editorial and failed to consider the other forty-plus publications,” Simpson explained.
In her opening remarks to the Attorney General of BC asking for a review of the decision, Simpson writes, “I am a Christian and a Canadian citizen and therefore entitled to the full protection of the Law. I, like so many others, believe that ‘Christian Bashing’ has become an acceptable form of hate. This should not be tolerated. The case presented to Myron Claridge clearly and obviously demonstrated Rafe Mair’s campaign of hate against an identifiable group. A group he readily and publically admits to not wanting in government or in any place of influence.
“The written reasons provided to me by Mr. Claridge for refusing charge approval against Mr. Mair and CKNW are most distressing. It is plain that the Office of the Attorney General has failed to provide lawful protection to an identifiable group by deliberately and systemically discriminating against Christians and/or that Mr. Claridge is incompetent.
“I suggest if Rafe Mair had targeted any other identifiable group he would have been charged long ago,” Simpson concluded.
Simpson indicated that she will seek a Judicial Review of the Claridge decision within the Court if the Attorney General refuses to authorize charges against Rafe Mair and those responsible at CKNW.
See previous LSN coverage:
Christian Pro-Family Advocate to be Awarded Damages for Being Called a “Dangerous Bigot”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061604.html