Calgary Herald

Failure for being to cowardly to include the name of the writer and to print the following letter of complaint.

Calgary Herald
Editorial Department
Calgary, Alberta

December 16, 2008

To whom it may concern:

The December 14, 2008 editorial makes a number of slanderous remarks and libellous statements about Ontario lawyer Richard Warman.

The editorial alleges that Mr. Warman, who has made a number of successful complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission about hate websites and website postings, that he “was among those who would post provocative messages to the [web]site using fake identities, in the hope of entrapping other [web]site users”, citing Marc Lemire – a Canadian webmaster charged in one complaint with promoting hatred.

However, the Calgary Herald should have known better than to print statements likely to damage Mr. Warman’s reputation without first checking the facts. The Herald should have known that the National Post made the very same allegation about Mr. Warman’s alleged Internet activity and was forced to retract the hearsay and apologize for the potential damage the unsupported statement may have caused to Mr. Warman.

But the difference between the National Post and the Calgary Herald’s lapse in journalistic standards seems to lie in malice. The last two sentences of the Calgary Herald’s editorial state that “It is just unfortunate that White has bestowed a martyr’s mantle upon Warman who may now garnish his resume with White’s threats... He really doesn’t deserve it.”

The malice harboured against Mr. Warman is apparently because he has filed a number of complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission against webmasters and others who have made racist statements. For most people Mr. Warman would be a hero and has received several prestigious awards for his pioneering and courageous work, despite death threats.

For the Calgary Herald writer, who does not provide a name and remains anonymous, Mr. Warman deserves only disrespect and contempt.
It is incumbent on the Calgary herald to at the very least retract the editorial, name the writer, and apologize to Mr. Warman.

A more balanced editorial would have pointed out that Canada, like most civilized countries of the world, does not protect as “free speech” child pornography or to advocate genocide, incite hatred or make public statements that promote hatred against an identifiable group, based on ethnicity and/or colour of skin. We also have courts that protect persons from slander and liable as well as death threats.

Yours,

Alan Dutton M.A.
Executive Director

cc
Canada.com
Richard Warman