Source: Canadian Press, as reported in the Victoria Times-Colonist
of Wednesday, Jul5 5, 1995 (A7)

Last-Modified: 1995/07/28

The Canadian Press
The B.C. Press Council will constitutionally challenge a new
provincial human rights law if it interferes with press freedom.

Council president Robert Yanow says the new Human Rights Amendment
Act gives the government new tools to harass newspapers and make
them toe a politically correct line.

The council, a self-regulating body for 17 B.C. daily newspapers and
106 community papers, said the law gives commissioners the power to
hold hearings into publications that infringe on its 1993 human
rights legislation even if no one makes a complaint.

"The provincial government will be able to prosecute perceived
'systemic' violations of the Human Rights Code publication bans; and
entire subject areas of public interest could be ruled off limits by
the new Human Rights Tribunal," Yanow said in a news release this
week.

Asfia Sultan, acting director of the human rights council, said she
wanted to study the criticisms.

The government's 1993 legislation banned publication of material
that indicates discrimination or is likely to expose a person or
group to hatred or contempt. The amendments give the B.C. Human
Rights Council powers to investigate and prosecute suspected
infractions, even if no one complains.

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