Alan Borovoy Reclaim the art of using controversy instead of coercion 11-May-1994

Alan Borovoy Reclaim the art of using controversy instead of coercion 11-May-1994

"There is no need to choose between legal restriction and social paralysis. We should try to reclaim the art of political controversy. It is less dangerous and often more viable than is legal restriction." � Alan Borovoy

Reclaim the art of using controversy instead of coercion

by A. Alan Borovoy
General Counsel
Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Commendably, Metro police services board chair Susan Eng has withdrawn the request that police association president Art Lymer be considered for discipline because of certain race-related remarks he made. But this withdrawl should not absolve the Metro police department.

In the aftermath of the recent Just Desserts murder of a young white woman allegedly by a black robber, Art Lymer reportedly declared that race-based statistics on crime would help our society to understand and therefore to control our crime problem. It would, of course, do no such thing. Most crimes are not even reported to, let alone prosecuted by, the police. The number of blacks who get charged and convicted might tell us something about police discretion; it would tell us little about the incidence of black-perpetrated crime. In any event, it's difficult to imagine what legitimate policies could be justified by such information.

Even if Lymer were more confused than malevolent, he risked encouraging the anti-black bigotry that was exacerbated by the murder. The public should not be induced to think that Lymer's statements represented the views of Metro's police department. It would be wrong, however, to achieve this goal by calling for possible discipline. The statements of union representatives acting in that capacity should not be subject to disciplinary action by their employers. The viability of collective bargaining requires that union representatives be accountable for such comments, not to their managements, but to their memberships.

But, even if Lymer is not disciplined, he should be rebuked. At the very least, police management should dissociate the force from what he said.

Unfortunately, there appears to be a growing trend in our society for political persuasion to be replaced by legal coercion. Consider also the recent attempts by the Canadian Jewish Congress to keep an American black activist from coming into Canada to make a speech that was expected to be anti-semitic. According to the Congress, there was "a real possibility .... his scheduled speech .... would break Canadian law", namely the prohibition against wilfully promoting racial, religious, or ethnic hatred.

While there might be an argument for the Immigration department to exclude the man � as it did � because of his previous criminal record, it would be downright dangerous to use the anti-hate law for such purposes. With a precedent like that, Canadian citizens might be denied access to foreign speakers on a wide range of subjects including the conflicts between Serbs and Muslims in Bosnia, Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, and Hindus and Sikhs in India. In those situations, there is "a real possibility" that speakers expressing their indignation would breach someone's interpretation of the anti-hate law.

In any event, the avoidance of such laws need not have denuded the Jewish Congress of all possible weapons. It could have responded politically. After all, the American activist had accused Jews of "sucking [black] blood." Thus, it was quite appropriate for the Congress to raise political hell with any Canadians who would dare to make alliances with such a vicious anti-semite. Political action could well have included appeals to various human rights organizations � the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, the Canadian Ethno-Cultural Council, for example � to join in a vigorous repudiation of the American activist and any Canadian allies he might have.

There is no need to choose between legal restriction and social paralysis. We should try to reclaim the art of political controversy. It is less dangerous and often more viable than is legal restriction.

Originally published on the Canadian Civil Liberties Association web site at www.ccla.org/pos/columns/lymer.shtml

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