The Conservative Party adopted a resolution at its policy convention in Winnipeg last week that would nullify application of the federal human rights provision that restricts free speech.

The one-paragraph resolution was adopted with broad support of delegates, including Justice Minister and Attorney General Rob Nicholson, left,

The resolution affirms the Conservative Party’s support for “legislation to remove authority from the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Tribunal to regulate, receive, investigate or adjudicate complaints related to Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.”

The section has come under fire in recent months for permitting encroachments on the Charter right to free speech in the name of preventing the promotion of hatred or contempt. Cases involving commentator Mark Steyn writing in Maclean’s magazine along with the Western Standard and its publisher, Ezra Levant, brought the provision under intense scrutiny.

Critics such as Levant said the section permitted bureaucratic censorship of free expression while proponents – including three mainstream Jewish advocacy organizations – argued the section was needed to prevent the vilification of minorities. While maintaining their support for the legislation, Canadian Jewish Congress, B’nai Brith Canada and the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) have acknowledged the need for procedural reforms to prevent abuse of the section.

Last week, Levant and the Jewish groups again found themselves on opposite sides, this time on their evaluation of the significance of the Tories’ resolution.

Levant called passage of the resolution “enormous. It was 90 per cent in favour of repealing section 13 in the workshop but over 99 per cent in the policy plenary, which means Canadians from across the spectrum… voted for this.

“When the justice minister publicly announces that he wants to repeal the law, that’s incredible.”

Congress CEO Bernie Farber saw it differently. “The delegates at the convention do one thing; the caucus does another.”

Farber said there is also no evidence the Liberals, NDP or Bloc Québécois endorse changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act and in a minority parliament, “there’s no stomach to take it on.”

Leo Adler, director of national affairs for FSWC, agreed passage of the resolution “does not necessarily mean it’s going to end up Canadian government policy.”

Despite flaws in the legislation, “At a fundamental point, if you look at the cases where Section 13 [was applied], it’s very clear they do constitute hate speech,” he said.

FSWC is “in the process of re-evaluating the issue, because there have been problems identified within these types of proceedings,” but he added FSWC along with B’nai Brith and Congress are intervenors in a recent human rights case against Marc Lemire, who is alleged to have posted hate messages online. The Jewish organizations have filed joint legal arguments in support of the constitutionality of the section, which Lemire is challenging.

The Lemire case has further discredited the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Levant asserted. Evidence at the hearing showed Commission staff went online to join neo-Nazi organizations where they posted hundreds of bigoted messages.

“The CHRC is a leading disseminator of anti-Semitic, anti-black and anti-gay bigotry in Canada. In fact, I believe they’re the largest, and certainly the best-staffed and best-funded, hate group in Canada,” Levant said.

“It’s hard to believe, I know. I only found out about it because the CHRC had admitted to it under oath.

“In various Section 13 cases, CHRC employees and ex-employees have testified that they joined neo-Nazi organizations, like the U.S.-based Stormfront and Vanguard.”

Levant said the Tories would find support in all political parties for a move to rescind Section 13. Canadians from all ends of the political spectrum – including most Jews – would back such a move, he said.

Late last week, the RCMP declined to lay charges in connection to allegations that the CHRC hacked into an Ottawa woman’s wireless Internet account to surreptitiously post material on extremist websites. No reasons were given.

“This albatross hanging over the CHRC is no longer there, and now we can focus more on the issues around Section 13, rather than silly allegations that go nowhere,” Farber said.