I was saddened to read in this morning’s National Post that Jennifer Lynch, the former chair of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, had died at the age of only 63. (…)
One could say–and, indeed, I feel– that her death closes the book on an era in Canadian public life that saw broadly defined human rights trump the more fundamental right of freedom of speech.
This is because Lynch was the head of the CHRC at a time when it had the mandate to prosecute Canadian citizens for, essentially, hurting the feelings of other Canadians.
Thankfully, Parliament finally removed that power last year, as the Post story describes.
