Richard Warman

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Richard Warman (born 1968) is a Canadian human rights lawyer based in Ottawa. [1] Formerly with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Warman is best known for initiating complaints against members of white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements for alleged violations of the Canadian Human Rights Act, regarding the content of websites maintained by those organizations.

Contents 1 Background 2 Legal activism 3 The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal 4 Political activism 5 References

[edit] Background

Warman was born in Lahr, West Germany. He holds a BA (Hons.) in Drama from Queen's University, an LLB from the University of Windsor, and an LLM from McGill University. [2]

[edit] Legal activism

Organizations and individuals who have allegedly violated the Canadian Human Rights act and whom Warman has initiated complaints against include David Icke[3], the Canadian Heritage Alliance and its leader Melissa Guille,[4] Jason Ouwendyk and the Northern Alliance[5], Paul Fromm[6], Marc Lemire[7], Tomasz Winnicki[8], Alex Kulbashian[9], James Scott Richardson[10], Craig Harrison, Jessica Beaumont and Ciaran Paul Donnelly[11], Wally Dove, Terry Tremaine[12], Glenn Bahr and Peter Kouba[13], Alex DiCivita, Liz Lampman[14], Fred Kyburz[15] and Eldon Warman[16]. He has also sued two far-right figures for libel. As a result Warman, who is not himself Jewish[17] but has been presumed to be so due to his last name, has been the target of various anti-Semitic smears by neo-Nazis and anti-Semites[18].

Richard Warman has written a detailed report on Internet hate in Canada for national Jewish group B'nai Brith's Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. [19]

Warman is also known for his attempt to have the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CTRC) block access to two United States-based hate websites that included what Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress described as a "murder warrant" against Warman.

In rejecting the petition the CRTC stated: "In the Commission's view, given the unprecedented nature of the relief sought in the Application and the serious and fundamental issues it raises, as well as the fact that the specific approval is being sought in favour of Canadian carriers without notice to such carriers, it would be inappropriate to consider granting the interim relief sought in the Application on an ex parte basis, and in particular without affording Canadian carriers and all other interested parties the opportunity to comment."^{[1] [2] [3]}

Warman was the subject of death threats after Tomasz Winnicki was sentenced to nine months in prison for violating a court injunction.^[4] Part of the threats included website Vanguard News Network's webmaster Alex Linder posting material inciting the murder of the Federal Court judge, employees of the Canadian Human Right Commission, and Warman who had testified against Winnicki at the contempt of court hearing. Linder suggested on the main VNN website and in a VNN Internet radio broadcast that their killing would be a "genuine act of patriotism." Other individuals posted similar violent rhetoric to the VNN forum. Both the main VNN website and the VNN forum were temporarily shut down on July 26, 2006 by their website hosting company's upstream provider after being contacted about the threats.

The decision of the Federal Court of Canada to issue an injunction in Richard Warman's federal human rights complaint against Tomasz Winnicki can be found here [20] The decision of the Federal Court to sentence Winnicki to 9 months imprisonment for contempt of court for breaking that injunction is here: [21].

[edit] The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal

The decisions on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal cases upholding findings of human rights violations against the following individuals/groups may be found in the links after their names: Fred Kyburz[22]; Eldon Warman[23]; Alexan Kulbashian, James Scott Richardson, Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team, Affordable-space.com[24]; Tomasz Winnicki [25]; Craig Harrison for postings on Marc Lemire's 'freedomsite' [26]; Peter Kouba of Edmonton [27]; and Glenn Bahr and Western Canada For Us [28].

[edit] Political activism

Warman previously ran as a candidate for the Green Party of Canada in the 1997 federal election in the riding of Windsor West and in the 2000 federal election in Ottawa—Orléans, placing fifth on both occasions[29]. He also ran as the candidate of the Green Party of Ontario in the 1995 Ontario provincial election in Simcoe Centre, placing fifth[30], and in 1999 in Ottawa West—Nepean, placing fourth[31].

More recently he served as a contributor to the Renewal Commission of the Liberal Party of Canada's 'Report on Human Rights'. [32]

[edit] References