Richard Warman - Praise & Criticism

Praise & Criticism

Journalist Don Butler of The Ottawa Citizen newspaper wrote in a front-page profile of Warman:

Part of motivation comes from having relatives who fought Nazis in the Second World War. "It's really a betrayal of the veterans and all those who contributed in World War II to ignore the ongoing threat from these groups that are seeking to resurrect an idea that should have died 60 years ago in a bunker in Berlin."

He also feels it's incumbent on him as a lawyer to repay the investment society made in his education by working for the societal good. Ignoring the problem, he insists, would be "betraying my duty to the profession."

"It's imperative that individuals and groups take steps as strong as they can to defend human rights in Canada," he says. "Because if they're not defended, they get undermined. Eventually they get worn down through disuse. I could never bear to see that happen."

Anti-Semitism and racism, he argues, are a community problem and need to be treated as such. "There's never been a history of genocide that hasn't been preceded by demonization."

Butler also reported:

"He's had an enormous impact," says Michael Geist, the Canadian research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa. "In a sense, he's got the mechanics of how we deal with online hate up and running. It's fair to say no one has been as effective or persistent." The result is a body of jurisprudence that leaves little doubt Canadian law applies to online hate speech that originates in this country. The decisions, says Geist, "have sent a clear warning to those who engage in hate speech that this is not a no-law land."

Blogger and former magazine publisher Ezra Levant, who is being sued by Warman and others for libel, has argued that Warman's actions as a plaintiff before the Canadian Human Rights Commissions are tantamount to censorship in the name of human rights. Levant also says the Warman's libel lawsuits generally are "nuisance suit" that are part of Warman's "maximum disruption" policy.

Maclean's, which had been the subject of an unrelated human rights complaint concerning hate speech, has reported that "Richard Warman says he's fighting hate. Critics say free speech is the real victim." That article included commentary or allegations that

...he slam-dunk quality to Warman's Section 13 cases are a cause for worry, symbolizing the drift of human rights commissions into the boggy territory of covert investigation and speech control. Those concerns deepened two weeks ago with revelations that, for a time, Warman was acting both as a complainant and an investigator at the commission. Even after he left in 2004, he seemed to enjoy easy access to commission offices, stopping by to chat with staff or get documents printed. ... Of the fact Warman and investigators were going online undercover, Martin says simply, "That's appalling."

At the conclusion of his complaint against Jason Ouwendyk and the Northern Alliance, in March 2009, the CHRT criticized Warman for having posted messages on neo-Nazi sites, as if in agreement with other racist and antisemitic posts. During the hearing Mr. Warman initially lied and denied that he was the individual who had made the posts under the pseudonyms Axetogrind and Pogue Mahone. In one post, in response to a comment in January 2005 about American neo-Nazi leader Jeff Schoep, Warman wrote, "Keep up the good work Commander Schoep!" The CHRT ruled that Warman's posts could have precipitated further hate messages from forum members, and that “his participation on Internet sites similar to the Northern Alliance is both disappointing and disturbing and it diminishes his credibility.” The CHRT therefore did not prescribe any penalties beyond a cease-and-desist order against Mr. Ouwendyk.

In his defence, Warman said his posts had helped him identify members of the neo-Nazi movement and that at the time there was no "road map" for such investigations. "With hindsight, he said, "things might have been done differently today."