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OTTAWA, February 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Christian Heritage Party (CHP) of Canada and the CHP’s former leader have been notified by the Canadian Human Rights Commission that allegations of ‘hate’ by an Edmonton man against the Party, one of its Electoral District Associations and former leader Ron Gray have been dismissed.

Homosexual activist Rob Wells filed the complaint after he took issue with a 2002 WorldNetDaily news story that was republished on the CHP webpage as well as three Christian Heritage Party communiqués written by Gray. The communiqués all dealt with homosexual issues, including the bill to legalize same-sex “marriage” in Canada.

The CHRC dismissed the three complaints because “the content and context of the material which forms the basis of the complaint is not likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt based on sexual orientation,” says the letter from Lucie Veillette, secretary of the Commission, to Ron Gray. “Accordingly, the file on this matter is now closed.”

Gray, however, says he remains deeply critical of the CHRC’s procedures, arguing that its proceedings can have a “chilling” effect on public discussion of important policy issues.

“I wrote to the CHRC about these complaints Feb. 19, 2007—almost two years ago—and have not yet had a reply to that letter,” Gray said. “The proceedings have cost about $50,000. Fortunately, there were people across Canada who believed in free speech enough to cover those costs with voluntary donations.”

Gray reiterated the same complaints that have been leveled against the Human Rights Commissions by numerous critics over the past several years, observing that even though the CHP ostensibly “won” the case, “the process is the punishment.”

“The CHRC’s method of operation is both slipshod and unjust,” he said. “The complainant bore no costs at all for filing a frivolous and groundless complaint; as Ezra Levant has said, ‘The process is the punishment’—whether the respondent is innocent or guilty.

“The idea of protecting people and groups from ‘hate speech’ that incites to violence is still sound,” Gray said. “But such incitement is already a criminal offence, and the defense against it belongs in criminal court, where the normal rules of evidence and the presumption of innocence apply. In a real court, these ridiculous charges would never have been admitted.”

The new CHP Leader Jim Hnatiuk maintains that the CHP is the only federal political party in Canada that has and will continue to defend “traditional marriage” between one man and one woman.

Hnatiuk, re-affirmed the commitment of the CHP to fight for the repeal of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which permits the human rights commissions to investigate and prosecute “hate speech.””We are the only political party which is taking seriously the threat to our freedom of speech posed by this repressive piece of legislation,” he said.

This recent decision follows on the heels of last summer’s fight for freedom of the press, in which Human Rights Commissions were forced to back down from their investigations of Ezra Levant, Macleans Magazine and Mark Steyn.

“These cases against the CHP and Ron Gray were a test of the political mettle of our Party. Would we kowtow to having our freedom of political opinion taken away? We did not,” Hnatiuk states, “and we will not!”

Hnatiuk also affirmed that his Party will fight against the repression of freedom of speech such as that suffered by Rev. Stephen Boissoin and Dr. Chris Kempling. Pastor Boissoin was found guilty of hate speech by the Alberta Human Rights Commission for having sent a letter to the editor to the Red Deer Advocate expressing his disapproval of the homosexualist agenda. Chris Kempling is a B.C. teacher who has been persecuted by the B.C. teacher’s union for his stance against same-sex “marriage” and the radical homosexualist agenda.

“We’re in this for the long haul; for the sake of all Canadians,” Hnatiuk said.