Saskatchewan
April 2005 saw the unmasking of a closet racist in Saskatoon, who was engaged as a lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan
As early as February of 2004, an individual using the name “Mathdoktor” began posting extremist antisemitic and anti-black material to the Canadian section of the forum on the US neo-Nazi website Stormfront. His hate propaganda against blacks, said Mathdoktor, was motivated by his experiences after having taught in the Caribbean for a few years.
As an example of his antisemitism, on February 14, 2004 Mathdoktor wrote:
“The Jew cannot help being a Jew any more than a rat can help being a rat. The Jews have been a parasitic race for 5000 years and will remain so. No healthy host population can tolerate a parasite feeding on it without eventually rejecting it. Jewish media propoganda [sic] attempt to undermine aryan [sic] resistance to the parasitic practises of the Jew but it will not succeed. Europeans have demonstrated a healthy resistance in the past and will continue to do so. No conferences on ‘anti-semitism’ will help the Jew avoid his long-overdue fate.”
He gave out enough personal details in his profile and postings that it was possible to determine that he was, in fact, Terry Tremaine of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who had a Masters degree in Math. It was discovered that, in addition to computer contracting, he held a position as a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Saskatchewan.
Mr. Tremaine’s position with the University of Saskatchewan was terminated in April of 2005 following a complaint, accompanied by evidence of his activities, to the President of the University and the Head of the Department of Mathematics.
A federal human rights complaint had been filed against Mr. Tremaine in October of 2004. In response to a decision by the CHRC to forward this complaint to the CHRT for formal hearing, Mr. Tremaine wrote a letter expressing regret for his postings, indicating that he was deeply ashamed of them, and apologizing to the Jewish community. He also stated that he was the father of three mixed-race children, who were the offspring of his relationship with an Aboriginal woman. Despite giving assurances in his letter that he would not be engaging in such conduct in the future, Mr. Tremaine has recommenced posting hate propaganda to the Internet.
As a result, a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing was held in Ottawa in August of 2005 and the parties are currently awaiting the decision.
In May of 2005, Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal member Anil Pandila handed down his decision in a complaint filed by four Saskatchewan residents against William (Bill) Whatcott. The complaints alleged that flyers that were published and distributed in Regina in 2001 and 2002 by Mr. Whatcott and his group, Christian Truth Activists, promoted hatred of gays and lesbians on the basis of their sexual orientation, in violation of section 14 of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code (Code). Section 14 prohibits the display of material exposing or intending to expose persons to hatred, or that ridicules, belittles, or otherwise affronts the dignity of a person or persons on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.
Among other slurs, the material contained in the flyers associated gays and lesbians with filth and pedophilia, and described homosexuality as an abomination and perversion whose promotion would lead children to an early death. In his decision, Tribunal member Pandila stated that he had “…no hesitation in concluding that the material contained in the flyers can objectively be viewed as exposing homosexuals to hatred and ridicule.” In upholding the complaints against Mr. Whatcott, Pandila ordered him to pay a total of $17,500 in damages to the four complainants and issued a cease and desist order. The order prohibits Mr. Whatcott from distributing in the future the same or similar flyers that would promote hatred of individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.
