As I kept writing over the last few week, a mere observer like me (who’s not a politician or even a political analyst) managed to pick up on the salient points of the HRCs, whereas Levant still doesn't get it.
This is what I wrote about my moment of epiphany on the HRCs while watching a debating panel on the HRCs:
[T]here was nothing new or insightful that this group brought [to the debate].The black woman, with her strong Caribbean accent, was clearly an immigrant.
The only thing that happened was that I had an epiphany.
The HRCs are not going anywhere. If anything, they will just be fine-tuned to avoid the wrath of ordinary folks who may have realized their fraudulent nature from Levant's and others' exposures .
I got this affirmation when an older black woman, in all sincerity, asked when Canada was going to change the underlying problems of inequality and barriers to minorities, since the HRCs are only there to report the problems that this unequal society produces.
The main purpose of the HRCs is not to silence free speech, which is the battle that Levant is immersed in. Their main point is to follow the mandates of the Multiculturalism Act.
The Ontario Multiculturalism Act is responsible for:
Recognizing the pluralistic nature of Ontario society, to stress the full participation of all Ontarians as equal members of the community, encouraging the sharing of cultural heritage while affirming those elements held in common by all residents.What the government-controlled HRCs are doing is simply fulfilling the mandates of this Act, and specifically the "participation of all [Canadians] as equal members of the community."
But, there is a second twist to this. While the Multiculturalism Act protects the "pluralistic" nature of Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act continues to provide an unremitting source of people who make up this "pluralistic" society, and especially those who would require these government-mandated controls that ensures they participate as equal members of society; i.e. visible minorities.
Perhaps it is too much to ask Levant to take on these two behemoths: Immigration and Multiculturalism, both of which are ingrained in the government's laws and polices.
But, it is far better to be truthful about the problem, than to live in some kind of euphoria and excitement doing a Don Quixote-type of battle.
If (I still don’t think the HRCs will go anywhere) the HRCs are dismantled, other instituions will still stay in place, doing exactly what the HRCs are doing but in more subtle ways.
One very recent issue that has come up in a study by a diversity-promoting organization, DiverseCity:The Greater Toronto Leadership Project, is the under representation of minority leaders in Toronto’s public and private sectors. DiverseCity is calling for measures to rectify this problem.
This sounds innocuous enough, not like the hard-line HRCs. But the aim is the same: to change, by diversifying, an existing natural distribution of leaders.
DiverseCity’s funders include the Government of Ontario (and also other governmental bodies indirectly through their partner Toronto City Summit Alliance).
Levant is just scratching the surface with his HRC battles, and not only that, his focus on freedoms of speech and expression (and hate speech) is extremely narrow.
Maybe in five, six or ten years time, Levant will be sued by an HRC-type institution, again. Maybe this time, it will be some visible minority co-worker, who feels he got bypassed for a leadership position because of his ethnic and racial makeup, which Levant received. Of course, Levant says he is a minority (Jewish), but blacks, Asians and Hispanics will always trump Jewish in these battles. And institutions such as DiverseCity will be ready to fight for them to the bitter end.
Here is an interview with Pajamas Media where Levant, breezily, talks about "getting along, regardless of race, sex, etc.." and "life's little grievances and setbacks." The HRCs and their quieter sister organizations certainly don't think their cases are "life's little grievances and setbacks." Their grievances are so big, to them, that they are willing to bully a whole country and its institutions to get their way.
