Ontario Human Rights Commission—we’re all guilty

Well, not all of us – just the white guys.

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Last Thursday the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released its preliminary findings in its report entitled, “Inquiry into Assaults on Asian Canadian Anglers”. For those who come to this country and don’t bother to learn either French or English, the preliminary report also became available in Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean. It is interesting how the report was not released in Urdu, Spanish, Sinhalese or any other language that immigrants who come to this country speak. But then again it doesn’t affect them; only Asians who are all victims and the white evildoers need be concerned about it.           During the summer of 2007, there was a series of attacks on Asian fishermen (or as the CBC would say, fishers). These attacks occurred primarily in Georgina on Lake Simcoe and in Westport, just outside of Kingston although incidents were reported in other Ontario locales. These incidents included verbal threats and/or physical assaults on Asian fisherman or throwing their equipment into the water. The most serious of these incidents occurred in Georgina where a young man was ejected from a moving car that he and his friends were in while attempting to escape their attackers. Nowhere in its 13- page preliminary report does the OHRC mention the serious consequences of this altercation. Perhaps that is because the victim in question was just a white guy who was fishing with some Asian friends.           The report admits that these incidents are outside of the mandate of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. On page 5 of the Report, it states:

          Not all manifestations of racism can be the basis of a claim under the Code; some are beyond its jurisdiction. Racially motivated conduct that takes place outside of the social areas of employment, housing accommodation, vocational associations, contracts, or services, goods and facilities falls outside of the scope of the Code and cannot be subject of a human rights claim.

          The report goes on to say that these incidents involved “encounters between individuals” that fell outside of the Ontario Human Rights Code. So why did the OHRC get involved? Well, according to the report, these incidents led to “very grave human rights concerns” and it is the Commission’s responsibility to amongst other things, “educate” the public even though what has happened does not give rise to a claim within its jurisdiction.           The OHRC set up a hotline to hear from Asian victims who were assaulted or threatened while fishing in Ontario lakes and who never contacted the authorities. And, of course they found some. But what the Commission didn’t seem the least bit interested in was how many perpetrators of these crimes there are out there. Although these incidents took place in various areas, it is highly unlikely that different attackers went after each of the victims. We’re probably looking at a very few attackers. Police have made some arrests and hopefully will make more. As the OHRC acknowledges those who are arrested can, if found guilty, be convicted of a hate crime if, as seems to be the case the crime was motivated at least in part by the race or ethnic background of the victim. But this isn’t enough for the Commission – they want to hold society responsible.           In their preliminary report, the Commission talks about the Chinese head tax and the detention of Japanese Canadians during World War II, strongly implying that we are all responsible not only for those acts but for what is currently taking place. It is a safe bet that many of those who have gone after Asian fisherman have no idea who Brian Mulroney is despite his picture being flashed all over the place in recent days, let alone know about those historical events. The Human Rights Commission is simply trying to portray all Asians as victims of a brutal society in order for the thought police to feel good about themselves.           There will always be racism and no amount of reeducation is going to change that. What is lost in the OHRC’s preliminary report is the fact that these crimes, which should be vigorously prosecuted, were committed by an extremely small segment of the population with nothing better to do – we are not all guilty.