Alex Kulbashian

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Alexan (Alex) Kulbashian (born 7 December 1981 in Lebanon), also known as Alex Krause was the ISP and contributor to the defunct white supremacist website Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team (CECT) which was based in Ontario, Canada. The website was hostile to Jews, Muslims, ethnic minorities, and immigrants.[1]

The content of that website brought Kulbashian and James Scott Richardson to the attention of lawyer Richard Warman, who filed a federal human rights complaint. The complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in early 2004 sought $80,000 in punitive fines and damages. One commission investigator stated: "The material posted and maintained on these websites would likely expose individuals who are not Christian, non-Caucasian, and individuals of other religions, other races and other national ethnic origins to hatred and/or contempt."[2]

On March 10, 2006, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal fined Kulbashian $1,000 for communicating hate messages, and also ordered him to pay Richard Warman $5,000 in damages for having personally named Warman as a Jewish lawyer in a mocking reference to the Holocaust, gas chambers and the Auschwitz death camp. The website displayed Warman's home address as part of a Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team online newsletter.[3] The Canadian media described the tribunal's decision as a "landmark ruling" on hate and the Internet.[4] Kulbashian's Internet service provider, Affordable Space, was fined $3000. The tribunal issued permanent orders barring Kulbashian and Richardson from posting further hate messages to the Internet.[5][1]. Richardson and Kulbashian are currently appealing the decision on the grounds of error in judgement, as well as challenging the constitutionality of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.[6]

On October 17, 2007, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution banning Kulbashian and Paul Fromm from the Canadian Parliament buildings after they attempted to hold a press conference about irregularities in the Canadian Human Rights Commission in the parliamentary press theatre.[7][8][9] Conservative member of parliament Jason Kenney said: "If they want to get a soapbox and go out in front of the Parliament Buildings in this free country, they're welcome to do so, but this House isn't going to let them use public, taxpayer-funded resources." New Democratic Party MP Joe Comartin stated that that Canadian MPs took the same step when Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel attempted to speak in the parliament buildings in 1998. Comartin said, "While we recognize the broad scope of free speech in this country, you're not allowed to libel and slander anyone, you're not allowed to use hate literature."[10][11][12]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Warman v. Kulbashian Decision Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, 10 March 2006
  2. ^ "London man faces rights tribunal" by Randy Richmond, London Free Press, 23 February 2004
  3. ^ paragraphs 136-139 of the CHRT ruling
  4. ^ "Racists ordered to stop spreading hate over Web: Landmark decision" Natalie Alcoba. National Post. Don Mills, Ont.: Mar 11, 2006. pg. A.11
  5. ^ paragraph 135 of the decision
  6. ^ "Kulbashian & Richardson v. CHRC et al.", Federal Court of Canada Docket, March 29, 2006
  7. ^ MPs unite to ban 2 speakers from Parliament Buildings
  8. ^ "MPs pass all-party motion banning Zundel's legal representative from Hill", National Post, page A5, October 18, 2007
  9. ^ "Commons ban on right-wing extremists raises freedom of speech questions", The Canadian Press, October 18, 2007
  10. ^ MPs unite to ban 2 speakers from Parliament Buildings
  11. ^ "MPs pass all-party motion banning Zundel's legal representative from Hill", National Post, page A5, October 18, 2007
  12. ^ "Commons ban on right-wing extremists raises freedom of speech questions", The Canadian Press, October 18, 2007

[edit] External links