Ahenakew begins appeal for hate conviction

CTV.ca News Staff

David Ahenakew never intended to spread hatred against Jews, his lawyer claimed in court Monday, where the disgraced former head of the Assembly of First Nations is appealing his conviction for willfully promoting hatred against Jews.

Court heard that Ahenakew referred to the Jews as a "disease" in 2002 when he was approached by a Saskatoon StarPhoenix reporter after giving a speech in which he blamed the Jews for the Second World War.

Lawyer Doug Christie contended that the section of the Criminal Code under which
Ahenakew was convicted applies only to hate spoken "other than in private conversation," and that the taped one-on-one interview with the reporter meets that exception.

"I would like to submit that 'private' means anything to which the public does not have access to by right," Christie told Justice Robert Lang.

"If it had not been for the existence of the tape recorder, unknown to Mr. Ahenakew, the words would not have gone any further than six feet from the speaker's mouth."

The trial judge heard that Ahenakew consented to the interview at first, but Christie argued that his client was caught off guard and angered when he was asked questions about how he felt about the Jews.

Ahenakew testified that he felt confronted and didn't see the tape recorder the reporter was using.

Christie argued Ahenakew didn't have the required intent for the crime, pointing out that the reporter first approached Ahenakew, who was the one to end the conversation.

The Canadian Jewish Congress, however, says Christie's position threatens the integrity of Canada's hate laws.

"The anti-hate laws are extremely important for minority communities that are targeted and vulnerable, and Canada would not remain a multicultural democracy for very long if segments of its society could be attacked and vilified with impunity," said executive vice-president Manuel Prutschi.

"To be called a disease is obscene and of course when something is a disease you are supposed to cure the body ... from that disease."

The Canadian Jewish Congress has been granted intervener status at the appeal in Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench.

After his trial last year, the now 72-year-old Ahenakew blamed Jewish lobby groups for his conviction and for getting him stripped of his Order of Canada.

Ahenakew's appeal is expected to last two days.

What Ahenakew said

Ahenakew made the first of his anti-Semitic comments in December 2002 during a fiery, profanity-laced speech he gave at a Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations conference. In that speech, he accused Jews of starting the Second World War.

He went further in a tape-recorded interview with a newspaper reporter from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, who approached Ahenakew after the speech.

"The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war. That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe," Ahenakew said on the tape.

"That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the God-damned world. And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries."

Judge Marty Irwin ruled against Christie's argument that the interview was a private conversation and exempt from hate laws.

The reporter, James Parker, testified he held the tape recorder right in front of Ahenakew's face. But Christie says there is nothing to prevent people from calling themselves a reporter.

"Anyone can be a tattletale," Christie said. "Reporters are just professional tattletales. They have a little more experience in the field, but what is to stop anyone else from doing the same thing?"

Calling it a "matter of significant importance," Christie suggests he is willing to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if he's not successful this week.

With files from The Canadian Press