Trubunalize this!

Chasing the whims of frustrated losers through hearing basis-less cases and covering Canada with ridicule distracts the do-it-yourself courts we know as HRCs from their real job: ridding the country of unfairness. A striking example of this is the recent difficulties faced by a blind house-hunter in BC, the very same BC hosting the sham trial against Mark Steyn and Macleans.

Although renting is completely at the discretion of the landlord (there's no human right to be a tenant), the case of Kim Hood is possibly an indictment of the current running of the Human Rights tribunals. Surely she is being discriminated against, and I for one would love to see her rights upheld. However, an HRC would find itself in a bind. Either, as these commissions do, they pluck a human right out of their backsides and all but abolish private property (by destroying your right to choose whom to let to) or they rule in favour of the landlord and wipe off any remaining credibility they have as custodians of our rights and freedoms (were they ever?).

There is a third solution: rent by attorney, i.e. using someone else who's legally registered to house-hunt for you. This would eliminate the guide dog as ground for rejection because there's no dog in the first place, and it wouldn't qualify as a pet. If there isn't a law for this the Commission would recommend it to the provincial legislature. As of now, this isn't a possibility as far as I know.

The HRCs should not draw rights and interpretations out of a hat or consider themselves courts. I would suggest their scope be changed to arbitration: less clamor, less legal fees, no precedent, more common sense. A possible solution would include capping maximum sanctions if both parties agree not to appeal the arbiter's decision in the normal courts of law.

Actually, why bother with legal ways at all? Instead of claiming a human right to attend a school grad ball, a Muslim student and observant family will attend because independently of her a group of students began a petition to ban alcohol at the event, and received almost every attendee signature. Persuasion, dialogue and common sense sometimes are the best way to achieve a peaceful society. Crying "Wolf", guilt trips and using backdoors do not do the cause of moderate Islam any good whatsoever.