David Ahenakew is back in court and is being tried a second time for apparently committing a hate crime. Ahenakew is being charged for an incident that took place at a 2002 Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations health information conference. He was noted as giving a speech in which he said Jews started the Second World War. Following the speech, in an interview with StarPhoenix reporter James Parker, Ahenakew said that "Jews were a disease" and Hitler was "trying to clean up the world when he fried six million Jews." This conversation was taped and published.

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In 2005,Ahenakew was convicted of willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group and fined $1,000 and Federal officials later stripped Mr. Ahenakew of his Order of Canada. Ahenakew then appealed the decision and it was overturned in 2006 which lead to the Crown appealing the overturned conviction to the provinces top court which in turn dismissed the appeal and unanimously ruled that while Mr. Ahenakew's remarks about Jews were "shocking, brutal and hurtful," that didn't mean he broke the law.

Ahenakew is being retried on something that when you actually look into, doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense. Although his comments were hurtful to some, I do not believe they incited hatred. I do not believe that people should be charged with crimes based on their opinions and thoughts, even when those thoughts come out of the mouth. Interestingly enough, yet not surprising is the fact that media often leaves out a crucial comment made by David, and that is when he said "And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries." Why is this left out of the media? Perhaps it is because it is the truth, and the liberal media doesn't want the truth to be out there? Face it folks, Israelis are killing innocent people, just as the Palestinians are, but if one dares point that out, they are often scoffed at and called anti-Semites.

David Ahenakew said some weird things, but does that deserve to go to trial? Freedom of speech is under attack in Canada and it is pointless court cases like this that will continue to occur. Hate crime legislation should deal with real crimes, not someone spouting off at the mouth. Go after the real criminals, the ones who act on their hatred and hurt people physically. You cannot legislate how one feels, you just can't, and the quicker the liberal minded judges start to realize this, the quicker we can move on to the real criminals.

What is with the double standard in Canada anyhow? People in politics like Tom Lukiwski can say mean spirited things on tape, and the guy gets re-elected? But an old guy says something about the Jews and is hauled into court. This country is going down the slippery slope and is setting a dangerous precedent. How about the comments made by Terry Nelson, Chief of Manitoba's Roseau River First Nation, when he said "There's only one way to deal with a white man. You either pick up a gun or you stand between him and his money". Did he go to trial? Why didn't he get charged? It seems in Canada, hatred only occurs when it is towards one group, the rest just have to suck it up.

You have the right to say whatever you want, just as long as it doesn't hurt anyone....

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