Source: The Jewish Western Bulletin, Sept. 1, 1995, p. 8
CJC seeks funds for court battles
Cost of mounting legal action turning into thousands
Brock MacDonald, Staff Reporter
The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) Pacific Region Legal
Defence Fund (LDF) is the war chest for a fight against racism
and anti-Semitism. The battlefield is the Canadian legal
system.
To date, the CJC has fought successful skirmishes against Tony
McAller’s Canadian Liberty Net and revisionist historian David
Irving.
But according to CJC Pacific Region legal committee chair Neal
Steinman, the victories did not come cheap. He said the costs
of mounting legal actions can run into the tens of thousands.
As it now stands, there are only a few thousand dollars in the
fund.
And in the CJC’s next campaign before the B.C. Human Rights
Council (BCHRC), against the _North Shore News_ and its
columnist Doug Collins, the cost could be high.
Mr. Steinman explained that before the case even gets to the
BCHRC, Mr. Collins’ lawyer has launched a constitutional
challenge based on the right to free speech in the Canadian
Charter. That challenge will be heard in B.C. Supreme Court.
To fund the campaign CJC has contacted lawyers and other
professionals in the Jewish community seeking tax-deductable
donations to supplement the Legal Defence Fund.
In a recent fundraising letter, CJC explained that it has
charged Mr. Collins and the NSN under section two of the B.C.
Human Rights Act for subjecting the Jewish community to
contempt and ridicule in his columns.
The columns in question, said the letter, alleges a Jewish
Hollywood conspiracy in connection with the film _Schindler’s
List_, which Mr. Collins refers to as Swindler’s List, and
calls the Holocaust a propaganda exercise, exaggerated by Jews
to promote hate and prosper financially.
Lawyers who belong to CJC would be in a conflict position,
according to Mr. Steinman, so legal counsel not involved with
the Congress must be hired.
Mr. Steinman noted that the committee has until the middle of
September to run its fundraising campaign so as not to
interfere with other groups seeking donations from the
community.
Asked what he would say to anyone who asked why they should
donate, Mr. Steinman simply replied, “Remember the Holocaust.”
For more information, call the CJC office, 257-5101.
Last-Modified: 1995/09/11
