Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights [Hardcover]

Skill-testing question: what do you get when you blend an Alice-in-Wonderland fantasy with a Simpsons'' farce and an Orwellian dystopia. Why, the story of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions, of course. You didn''t know? Don''t feel too badly; for many years, none of us knew. The HRCs, established as institutions with the admirable tasks of attacking bigotry and discrimination, and of protecting the rights of the weak against the powerful, have themselves been hijacked for devious and scurrilous purposes by third-rate intellects and whacky activists. They are now instruments of language and thought control, weird social engineering and total disrespect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law. They make up rules of procedure on the fly and invent new "rights" in order to justify their agenda-driven decisions. All this happened under the radar screen, while Canada slept. It's all true. You can look it up.

Everything was going swimmingly until the Alberta HRC made the mistake of taking on the wrong person. They tried to railroad Ezra Levant. Levant is a Calgary-based political commentator/activist/polemicist. Being Jewish, he may have an inkling as to the real meaning of "discrimination" and "bigotry". A few years ago he was the editor of a small magazine that published the so-called 'Danish cartoons' mocking Muslim extremism. His was a news magazine; the cartoons were huge news so it seemed appropriate to him to do what he did. Foolish man. As a result, he was dragged before the local HRC and put through the wringer for nearly three years. However, Mr Levant is not a man to go quietly. He is pugnacious; his style is in-your-face, never-back-down, never-go-quietly, feisty. Not my idea of a drinking buddy, but just right for the circumstances. He fought back aggressively against his accusers and launched a vigorous campaign to eradicate this HRC cancer before it destroys our liberal democracy. Hit and hurt by a flying Levant, the HRCs have now gone on the defensive. It's all true. You can look it up.

SHAKEDOWN is Mr Levant's story, both his own experience in "court" and his subsequent campaign; it is laced with numerous real-life HRC stories. Read about the woman who had the 'right' not to wash her hands even though she was a restaurant worker; the six foot transsexual athlete who had the 'right' to provide counselling in a rape crisis centre (and of the rape victims who were obliged to comply); the Christian pastor who is prohibited from expressing his opinions even though they are sincere and consistent with his religion. These are a just a few of the truly bizarre stories that help make this book compelling. It is well written; 'Mr Levant is an accomplished wordsmith. Read it; you will laugh and cry at the same time. It's all true. You can look it up.

Read about the marketing campaigns designed to increase business: Alberta's is hilarious, but Ontario's is, quite frankly, sinister.

Mr Levant skips rather lightly over the gradual degradation of the HRCs and his story would be even more fascinating if he had explored this aspect in more depth. Starting with noble ideals, how did we evolve into dystopian tragicomedy? How did this happen? The fact that HRCs were political dumping grounds for embarrassing whackos to whom politicians owed favours is obviously a major part of the explanation; for years they operated off the radar screen so nobody noticed that they were behaving like, well, whackos. A chronology of this evolution with an examination of the mentality of the culprits would be highly entertaining. Perhaps that is the basis for another book.

Mr Levant''s crusade is ongoing. Chronologically, SHAKEDOWN takes us to the state of play around the end of 2008. So far, Mr Levant is winning; it is to be hoped that this book will have wide circulation, more Canadians will be aware of the travesty, the campaign will attract wider publicity and the politicians will eventually put an end to the nonsense.

It''s all there in SHAKEDOWN. The story is so bizarre you may not believe it. But it's all true, and on the public record. You can look it up. But be quick. At least one HRC has made a concerted effort to hold a secret hearing, even trying to ban the defendant!

Shame on us that it happened. More shame on us that it continues, even after Mr Levant has lifted up the rock to show us what's underneath.

I only thought a country like Iran, Cuba or Saudi Arabia prosecuted people for expressing their opinions. I was wrong. It's scary to think that in a 1st rate country like Canada, a great country, such courts exist. These government sanctioned courts/tribunals make it hard to express your own thoughts and Mr. Levant has embarked on a crusade to expose these Stalinist kangaroo courts and defeat them in the real court of public opinion. I think he has been successful. This is an extremely well done book. Greatly researched, written by a very passionate man who cares deeply about his country and has done so to protect it from these HR courts. Buy this book and let others read it too. Every single Canadian of all stripes must know what's going on and how their tax money is spent. I, for one, am glad that brave men like Mr. Levant have the guts to go through such fights. For their bravery, Canada will be a much better place and a safer place to live. 5/5

Every totalitarian society has gone down the route that the Canadian Human Rights Commissions are taking us - unqualified political appointees or individuals with a special agenda who judge people according to their whims and political ideology. These "judges" follow no rule of law, precedent or evidence, are accountable to no-one, and impose arbitrary punishments including... incredibly, comically, tragically... orders to apologize and bans on speaking publicly on specific topics. No real judge can order this on even the most heinous criminal, but these kangaroo judges can impose such penalties on you if you have offended someone and they complain.

If someone complains about you, the government pays all expenses for your persecution, while you are on the hook for every cent of your defense, while your business or your job or your family life is destroyed on the whim of a complainant. If charges are dropped, you can't sue for damages. Hell, you won't even get an apology. The HRC just decides the day before the trial not to bother.

Here's a good one. A third party can complain on behalf of a potentially offended group. No members of said offended group need actually testify! It's happened. Several times.

And the HRCs can come in and seize computers and papers without a warrant from a real judge. The real police can't do this!

There are many other sordid details in the HRC saga that would do Stalin proud. Mr. Levant details them all.

People who have not followed Mr. Levant's struggle against the tyranny of political correctness and desire not to offend will not understand how insane and unaccountable our Human Rights Commissions are, and how this parallel quasilegal system offends every principle that a free society respects.

Please read this book, and then talk to your friends and family. Though Mr. Levant is entertaining, often Steynian, in his prose, the subject matter is no joke. Our freedom is at stake.