Bill Tapuska introduced Ezra Levant as a lawyer, journalist, author and political activist. Ezra was the founding publisher of the Western Standard news magazine.

In 2006, that magazine published the Danish cartoons of Mohammed - the only media in Canada to do so. That step led to a 900-day prosecution for "hate speech" by the government of Alberta's Human Rights commission. Levant wrote about that experience, and what he learned about human rights commissions, in his best-selling book "Shakedown", now in its fourth paperback edition!

Ezra filled us in on the background of the infamous Danish cartoons that sent shock waves around the world, not for their content, but for the reaction from some quarters in the Muslim world, and what happened to him right here in Alberta.

The cartoons were originally drawn with the intended use in a child's version of the Koran. There were 12 in all, ten being pretty plain Jane children's illustrations. Two might have been considered a little more "edgy", but even then you'd have to work at that interpretation. However, in a theology class in a Danish university, a radical Muslim student took umbrage with the cartoons and the proverbial hit the fan.

In the West, we make fun in political cartoons in the leading newspapers of our politicians, religious leaders, celebrities, community leaders, etc., etc., on a regular basis and think nothing of it. Without that kind of humour, talk shows of many stripes would be dead, to say nothing of comedy shows and comedians on TV or the stage. We consider that an integral part of our freedom of speech.

In Denmark, two Danish Muslim Imams, who objected to Mohammad being depicted in any way, let alone in a "humorous" way, took the original Danish cartoons, added three "fake" and obscene cartoons to the mix, and took them around the world to stir up anger and hatred toward the western world.

At the same time, a couple of things happened. A top level politician was assassinated in Syria, and Iran was accused of building nuclear bombs. Suddenly there were "spontaneous" protests in the streets over cartoons the people had never seen, and in countries where protests were officially banned. The riots killed over 200 people and became front page news over the "outrage" of the Muslim world about the Danish cartoons. The West considered the riots a convenient cover-up for domestic doings.

So to shorten the story somewhat, Ezra considered the original Danish cartoons to be pretty innocent and, after all the fuss, people here might like to see them for themselves. He published them in his Western Standard magazine. No other media in the West had published them because there were death threats bandied about from some quarters of the Muslim world.

On February 13, 2006, Ezra was challenged by a Muslim Imam from Pakistan, living in Canada, to a debate on local CBC radio. He didn't like Ezra's answers or reasons for publishing the cartoons, ("and probably that I am a Jew didn't help"). The next thing he knew, Ezra got a call from the Alberta government Human Rights Commission and found himself accused of being a "hate speech criminal". It took 15 lawyers on the Human Rights Commission 900 days and $500,000 to prosecute Ezra under a section that reads that he was "likely to expose a person to hatred or contempt". It cost Ezra $100,000 to defend himself. "There is no winning, only degrees of losing."

In 32 years, the Human Rights Commission has had 100% conviction rate. Ezra is the sole exception. "We have less rights under the human rights laws than murders." He called this the "soft jihad of 'lawfare' where it only takes one complaint from one person to set off having to defend oneself in our free country." One complaint! The Imam did not have to pay any costs for his erroneous accusation of an ultimately innocent person.

Ezra recommends getting rid of the Human Rights Commission in a country like Canada where we have a very homogeneous population. He feels group peer pressure is more effective than formalized government laws. We need to take into account everyone is "the odd man out" at sometime, but political correctness has gone mad.

"After all 600,000 - 700,000 Muslims have come to Canada to be free."

Bob Kerr thanked Ezra for being a man of principle, and presented him with his second Boltman.

reported by Lynne Thornton