B.C. man files complaint over 'Jesus sucks' banner

B.C. man files human-rights complaint
over 'Jesus sucks' banner

Susan Lazaruk

Saturday, August 02, 2008

VANCOUVER - A B.C. man has filed a human-rights complaint alleging religious discrimination after a TV personality flew a plane pulling a "Jesus sucks" banner over Toronto.

Dean Skoreyko of the northern B.C. town of Coldstream filed the complaint against Kenneth Hotz and Showcase TV.

Skoreyko, who viewed the stunt online, said in an online form filed with the B.C. human rights tribunal that "my Christian beliefs and upbringing were publicly ridiculed."

Hotz is half of the "Kenny vs. Spenny show", which broadcasts their attempts to compete with one another. The offending stunt was part of a contest between Hotz and co-host, Spencer Rice, to see who could offend the greatest number of people.

Skoreyko, who once sought the nomination to run for the federal Conservatives in Okanagan-Shuswap, told the National Post he filed the complaint on behalf of the silent majority that would object to such antics. He said he wanted to make the point that the human-rights system applies double standards, favouring only minority interests.

Meanwhile, B'nai Brith Canada, which supports Canada's human-rights system, said it's time to reform and modernize the human rights commissions.

It calls for investigators to be trained to distinguish between hate and protected political speech, and for complaints to be made to only one commission.

And it asks for commissions to assess costs against complainants who file complaints to further a political agenda.

Complainants' legal costs are now paid by the government, while respondents must pay for their own defence.

B'nai Brith said it has successfully used the commissions to combat Nazism and neo-Nazi ideologies.

"We have to ensure that commissions do not become abusers of the very human rights they are charged with protecting," said spokesman Frank Dimant in a release.

The B.C. tribunal controversially agreed to hear a complaint by Toronto Muslim law students who filed a complaint against author Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine after it excerpted his book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, an intentionally provocative book about Muslims in the Western world.

And the Alberta human rights tribunal came under similar fire for hearing a complaint against former publisher Ezra Levant, who published the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that sparked riots in some parts of the world.

Both decisions are pending.

Vancouver Province

slazaruk@theprovince.com

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=b120c918-ce63-426a-8406-3cf50d2025f2
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