Mark Steyn Update: Totalitarians Spooked

Mark Steyn, the National Review reporter/commentator who was hauled before a British Columbian 'human rights' tribunal on charges of 'inciting Islamophobia' in an article he wrote for the magazine Mclean's, reports that his case has been dropped by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The Commission, which acts as a Canadian watchdog group, deciding what is and is not acceptable speech for citizens, decided that Steyn's words were not sufficiently unacceptable enough to appoint a national tribunal.

But Steyn still faces a 'verdict' from the purported 'judges' of the British Columbian Human Rights Tribunal following a trial spurred by the complaints of the Canadian Islamic Congress, which accused Steyn of inciting hate against Muslims by writing in Mclean's that the growth of Islam in Europe is having dramatic repercussions on society.

The kangaroo court of the human rights tribunal in British Columbia is the entity from whence came forth these words on free speech: 'Free speech is an American concept, and thus, I have no use for it.'

But apparently the totalitarians that have infiltrated the Canadian government have been sufficiently spooked by the possibility of the harsh condemnation of the free world that the national Commission trumped the decision of the British Columbian tribunal by throwing the Steyn case out of court.

This does not mean that the tribunal in B.C. will not find Steyn guilty. But it is curious that the national Commission issued a decision on the case before rather than after the B.C. tribunal makes its decision.

And it is worth noting that both Canadian entities have already received an avalanche of less-than-complimentary commentary on the fact that the Steyn case was brought in the first place.

Thus, the Canadian Human Rights Commission did the right thing, albeit under intense pressure from freedom of speech groups. We can only hope the British Columbian tribunal will follow suit.