---------- Original message ----------
From: David Amos motomaniac333@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 20:56:25 -0400
Subject: Round One Alberta Trolls Chucky Leblanc's, Glen Canning's and your old blogging buddy Mr Baconfat AKA Barry Winters has FINALLY been charged N'esy Pas Danny Boy Bussieres?
To: media-medias@gnb.ca, dave.breakenridge@sunmedia.ca, cjerema@postmedia.com
Cc: David Amos david.raymond.amos@gmail.com
http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.ca/2017/06/round-one-alberta-trolls-chucky.html
This was the document attached to the email
https://www.scribd.com/document/351474935/4-Letter-of-Informal-Request-for-Oral-Hearing
Clearly some computers were honest with me but everybody I called afterwards played dumb as usual. Hell One reporter ms Simons of Postmedia accused me of being Mr Baconfat aka Barry Winters just like her very corrupt Edmonton Cop pals did years ago. How dumb was that?
---------- Original message ----------
From: "Jensen, Jan" jan.jensen@justice.gc.ca
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 13:37:50 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Oh My MY I see that Chucky Leblanc's, Glen
Canning's and your old blogging buddy Mr Baconfat has FINALLY been
charged N'esy Pas Danny Boy Bussieres?
To: David Amos motomaniac333@gmail.com
I will be out of the office until Monday June 19 2017 and I not be
checking email during that time. If you require immediate
assistance, please contact my assistant at (902) 426 1798.
---------- Original message ----------
From: Jason Kee jkee@google.com
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 06:37:49 -0700
Subject: Out of the Office Re: Oh My MY I see that Chucky Leblanc's, Glen Canning's and your old blogging buddy Mr Baconfat has FINALLY been charged N'esy Pas Danny Boy Bussieres?
To: motomaniac333@gmail.com
Thanks for your message. Please note that I'm out of the office this week at the Banff World Media Festival and will be slow to respond to email.
Thanks!
Jason
image: Inline image 1
Jason J. Kee
Public Policy and Government Relations Counsel
Google Canada
jkee@google.com
M: 613 513 9325
---------- Original message ----------
From: "Gallant, Premier Brian (PO/CPM)" Brian.Gallant@gnb.ca
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 13:37:51 +0000
Subject: RE: Oh My MY I see that Chucky Leblanc's, Glen Canning's and your old blogging buddy Mr Baconfat has FINALLY been charged N'esy Pas Danny Boy Bussieres?
To: David Amos motomaniac333@gmail.com
Thank you for writing to the Premier of New Brunswick. Please be assured that your email will be reviewed.
If this is a media request, please forward your email to media-medias@gnb.ca mailto:media-medias@gnb.ca. Thank you!
*************************************
Nous vous remercions d’avoir communiqué avec le premier ministre du Nouveau-Brunswick. Soyez assuré(e) que votre courriel sera examiné.
Si ceci est une demande médiatique, prière de la transmettre à media-medias@gnb.ca mailto:media-medias@gnb.ca. Merci!
---------- Original message ----------
From: Green Party of Canada | Parti vert du Canada info@greenparty.ca
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 13:38:06 +0000
Subject: Re: Oh My MY I see that Chucky Leblanc's, Glen Canning's and your old blogging buddy Mr Baconfat has FINALLY been charged N'esy Pas Danny Boy Bussieres?
To: David Amos motomaniac333@gmail.com
-- Please reply above this line --
---------- Original message ----------
From: David Amos motomaniac333@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 09:37:43 -0400
Subject: Oh My MY I see that Chucky Leblanc's, Glen Canning's and your
old blogging buddy Mr Baconfat has FINALLY been charged N'esy Pas
Danny Boy Bussieres?
To: oldmaison@yahoo.com, andre@jafaust.com, markandcaroline@gmail.com,
upriverwatch@gmail.com, Stephen.Horsman@gnb.ca, David.Coon@gnb.ca,
david.eidt@gnb.ca, serge.rousselle@gnb.ca, brian.gallant@gnb.ca,
premier@gnb.ca, blaine.higgs@gnb.ca, john.gamblin@bellaliant.net,
john.green@gnb.ca, Leanne.Fitch@fredericton.ca, leader@greenparty.ca,
leanne.murray@mcinnescooper.com, randy.mckeen@gnb.ca,
mckeen.randy@gmail.com, Davidc.Coon@gmail.com,
BrianThomasMacdonald@gmail.com, briangallant10@gmail.com,
peter.dauphinee@gmail.com, kedgwickriver@gmail.com,
jbosnitch@gmail.com, mike.obrienfred@gmail.com,
Jacques.Poitras@cbc.ca, nmoore@bellmedia.ca, steve.murphy@ctv.ca,
macpherson.don@dailygleaner.com, sallybrooks25@yahoo.ca,
ron.tremblay2@gmail.com, Kevin.leahy@rcmp-grc.gc.ca,
jan.jensen@justice.gc.ca, angela.green@justice.gc.ca,
david.hansen@justice.gc.ca, bill.pentney@justice.gc.ca,
Jody.Wilson-Raybould@parl.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca,
Gerald.Butts@pmo-cpm.gc.ca, Katie.Telford@pmo-cpm.gc.ca,
Michael.Wernick@pco-bcp.gc.ca, hon.ralph.goodale@canada.ca,
andrea.huncar@cbc.ca, kwells@ualberta.ca, psimons@postmedia.com,
lgunter@shaw.ca, dave.loken@edmonton.ca, Robert.Jones@cbc.ca,
sylvie.gadoury@radio-canada.ca, hon.melanie.joly@canada.ca,
jean-pierre.blais@crtc.gc.ca, ht.lacroix@cbc.ca,
Hon.Dominic.LeBlanc@canada.ca, ddesserud@upei.ca,
DDrummond@google.com, jkee@google.com, Tim.RICHARDSON@gnb.ca
Cc: david.raymond.amos@gmail.com, grcanning@gmail.com,
dan.bussieres@gnb.ca, Paul.Lynch@edmontonpolice.ca,
patrick_doran1@hotmail.com, sunrayzulu@shaw.ca,
teddyspalace@gmail.com, themayor@calgary.ca, don.iveson@edmonton.ca,
Kathleen.Ganley@assembly.ab.ca, JUSTMIN@novascotia.ca,
ministryofjustice@gov.ab.ca, bob.paulson@rcmp-grc.gc.ca,
Liliana.Longo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca,
I can't help but wonder if the Jan Jensen and all the other very
unethical "Crown Counsels" recall what the Crown opted to docket
without my signature last year. If not trust that some folks will
enjoy the document hereto attached.
Trust that the RCMP and many Crown Counsels will have lots to argue
about the malicous work of Barry Winters, Patrick Doran, Dean Roger
Ray and their many fellow Trolls all over the world in short order.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-police-lgbtq-hate-blogger-kris-wells-1.4158528
Edmonton police charge blogger with hate crime against prof
'It made me concerned for my own safety,' said Kris Wells, one of the LGBTQ advocates allegedly targeted
By Andrea Huncar, CBC News Posted: Jun 13, 2017 4:32 PM MT
Edmonton police have laid hate crime charges after a
complaint from LGBTQ advocate Kris Wells, pictured above. (CBC)
Court records show police have charged Barry Winters, 62, with wilful promotion of hatred in ongoing posts for his blog The Baconfat Papers over a two-year period ending Dec. 31, 2016.
The charge is the result of a lengthy investigation after Kris Wells, professor and director of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, and at least one other LGBTQ advocate, complained more than a year ago.
As an advocate for human rights, Wells said he is regularly harassed by phone and online.
"But this particular kind of message really did cross the line and targeted me personally," he said in an interview. "It made me concerned for my own safety."
Over the past year there have been several high-profile investigations by the Edmonton Police Service's hate crimes detail but the threshold is high to lay a hate-related charge.
But Marni Panas, another well-known activist, said when she first stumbled upon the blog in May 2016 she feared for her personal safety and decided to report it.
"I was quite concerned because this person was from Edmonton, and if you read it you will see this person has a clear level of hate towards gay people, transgender," said Panas.
Marni Panas said the Edmonton charge is a reminder to all communities to report hate-based incidents. (Submitted by Marni Panas)
Panas said she was emotional when police called her two weeks ago to inform her of the charge.
"They took it incredibly seriously and clearly they took the due diligence that they needed to find grounds to charge this man," said Panas. "It just reinforces how important our police service is, and how actively engaged they are in trying to stop hate. And a reminder to the rest of community, all communities, that when you see something you report it."
The Alberta Hate Crimes Committee advocacy group Tuesday put out a news release expressing concern about the most recent data from Statistics Canada showing that, overall in Alberta, hate incidents were up by 39 per cent in 2015, climbing from 139 to 193, compared to a five per cent rise nationally.
The Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council, which tracks Islamophobic-related incidents, says members are seeing an upsurge.
'When we see it we must point it out and talk about it and report it' - Marni Panas, advocate
"It seems in the age of Trump that some people feel more and more emboldened to spew this hateful rhetoric and they're going to be held accountable," said Wells, singling out those "hiding behind keyboards" to send hateful messages.
"I think that's the key message that comes out of this case with the Edmonton Police Service — that you cannot hide if you're going to promote hate," said Wells.
EPS declined comment on the charge. But a police spokesperson said the issue will be discussed Wednesday at a news conference planned to talk about hate crimes.
Wells said he doesn't favour stifling free and fair speech and respects differences of opinion expressed through constructive conversations. "But no one should have to experience this level of victimization and trauma," he added.
Hate incidents don't just target the individual but also send a message that tells the wider community they don't belong and "they're not safe here," he said.
Lewd, homophobic flyers target Eggen, Wells
In another case involving Wells, Education Minister David Eggen's department has made a complaint to police after the distribution in his Edmonton riding of lewd, defamatory, and homophobic flyers.
The flyers, which CBC isn't printing due to their highly offensive nature, falsely claim Eggen and Wells sought to educate school children about sexual acts, including one described in crude detail.
Homophobic and defamatory flyers were recently distributed in Education Minister David Eggen's riding. (CBC)
The pamphlet also notes that a government-funded website, overseen by Wells' organization and meant to support students who belong to gay-straight alliances, was forced to remove some online links in March after complaints from Edmonton blogger Theresa Ng.
CBC requested comment through the email address provided at the bottom of the pamphlet but received no response.
Pride complaints
Meanwhile, several incidents that occurred during last weekend's Pride celebrations in Edmonton have also been reported to police, including a rainbow flag cut down at an Edmonton high school.
Police confirmed alleged harassment of some revellers caught on video are being looked at by hate crime investigators.
But Wells said "the love and energy" at the Pride festival "far outweighs the small-minded actions of hate and homophobia" in the community.
"We we will not be afraid, we will not hide away," said Wells. "In many cases these hateful responses only embolden us where we can turn this hurt to help ... and a force for building inclusive communities all across our province and country."
Wilfully promoting hatred carries a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison. Winters appeared in court June 9 but no further court appearances have been scheduled.
andrea.huncar@cbc.ca @andreahuncar
with files from Kelly Banks
http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/blog-taken-down-blogger-facing-charges-for-hate-based-content-1.3459148
Blog taken down, blogger facing charges for hate-based content
Published Wednesday, June 14, 2017 11:15AM MDT
Edmonton police said a man had been arrested and charged for the operation of a number of hate-based websites.
The Edmonton Police Service Hate Crimes Unit started their investigation in June 2016, after a number of complaints came in over hateful content published on a number of websites – the sites included daily posts containing strong, hate-based rhetoric targeting a number of communities.
It’s alleged some posts included violent threats of harm against specific people – targeting the LGBTQ community and political leaders.
“There is often an assumption of anonymity when crimes are committed in an online forum,” Const. Trevor Shelrud with the EPS Hate Crime Unit said in a statement. “We want citizens to know that regardless of the forum, we take hate crime seriously.”
It’s believed the websites dated back as far as 2014 to the present.
Barry Winters, 67, has been charged with willful promotion of hatred.
Police said Winters had amassed an online following with thousands of members, and one of his targets was Marni Panas, a well-known transgender advocate.
“You’re always wondering, is the next one going to be Barry Winters, or more importantly is it going to be someone who read his blogs and have been motivated by his words to act out on these things,” Panas said.
Panas told CTV News she ‘Googled’ herself, and came across a blog called The Baconfat Papers, which had thousands of followers.
“Very disturbing comments from people on many faiths, many races,” Panas said, in addition to the threats she found that were against her specifically.
“As I read more and I shared with my friends, we realized this person was from Edmonton, that was certainly concerning, that’s just very close to home,” Panas said. She called police, and an investigation was launched.
EPS said this may be the first time that this type of charge has been laid. Police said the charge can be difficult to prove, but police said the case had extreme concerns as the accused often promoted harm against others.
Police said Winters posted daily, and his posts included violent threats against specific individuals, including the Prime Minister.
“We went from political figures to certain races, to genders, sexual orientation, no one was safe from his comments or hatred,” Willits said.
Meanwhile, the blog has been taken down, and Winters has been released on conditions – including he can’t publish content online.
The charge carries a sentence of up to two years in jail.
With files from Dan Grummett and Jonathan Glasgow
http://globalnews.ca/news/3524284/edmonton-police-charge-alberta-man-with-wilful-promotion-of-hatred-due-to-blog-posts/
Edmonton police charge man with wilful promotion of hatred due to blog posts
WATCH ABOVE: Marni Panas, an Edmonton LGBTQ advocate, said she
was mortified by the comments she read on a website now the subject of a
police hate crime investigation.
A charge of wilful promotion of hatred has been laid against an Edmonton man, 67-year-old Barry Winters.
Edmonton police said Winters was arrested in connection with the operation of multiple hate-based websites, dating back to 2012. Police said the Hate Crimes Unit began investigating in June 2016, following multiple complaints related to allegedly hateful content published across several sites. He was arrested on June 1, 2017.
WATCH: A charge of wilful promotion of hatred has been laid against a 67-year-old Edmonton man. Sgt. Gary Willits with the EPS Hate Crimes Unit speaks about the accused’s blog and following.
“Basically, Winters had several blogs which he was authoring stories and derogatory words and comments towards certain individuals, political leaders,” Sgt. Gary Willits with the EPS Hate Crimes Unit.
“Some of these messages including wishing harm on the individuals and promoting, in some cases, wishing death upon them and promoting that they be killed.”
WATCH: Sgt. Gary Willits with the EPS Hate Crimes Unit speaks about hate crimes in Edmonton and the fact more people are feeling comfortable reporting hate crime.
The websites included daily posts that used strong, hate-based rhetoric that targeted various communities, according to Edmonton police. Some posts allegedly alluded to violent threats and harm against specific individuals.
“A lot of people have been hiding under the anonymity that they can make comments and not be held accountable for it, but we will hold you accountable,” Willits said.
“It’s one thing to post a comment – something you don’t like – but when you’re starting to promote hatred and threaten an individual, threaten harm upon an individual, and create a following, that’s when we’re going to start getting involved.”
Global News has learned Winters was the author of a blog called The Baconfat Chronicles.
The blog has since been taken down, but more than 600 posts were published when it was active targeting Muslims, First Nations, Palestinians, politicians, women, bullying victim Rehtaeh Parsons, victims of sexual abuse, media, the homeless, and those living with mental illness and addictions.
“Every community that you could think of. He went from political figures to certain races, genders to sexual orientation.
“Nobody was safe from his comments or hatred,” Willits said.
WATCH: Edmonton police said a man charged with wilful promotion of hatred was targeting “every community that you could think of.”
Police were alerted to the blogs by members of the community, including local transgender woman and LGBTQ advocate Marni Panas.
“You know when you see things online, when you see things spoken about a community or even greater society, you need to speak out because you don’t know when words are going to turn into actions,” Panas said. “When those words are directed at you personally, and your name is mentioned in that, that is particularly concerning. There’s a fear about, you know, do you come forward because are you going to be a bigger target?
“I’m already a visible person, I’m already a target so I get that — but people like this will work on that fear, and that fear silences you, and by remaining silent you remain vulnerable.”
Panas found the blogs while googling her name — something she said she does to see what is being said about her and other visible members of the transgender community.
“We’re seeing this culture shift where people have this moral license now to take their thoughts and put them into words, and those few that will take their words and put them into action. That’s very scary, and when it’s local — when you’re named and when other people are named in your community — that is a particular level of fear that is … not welcome,” she said.
WATCH: Marni Panas, an Edmonton LGBTQ advocate, came forward in 2016 after reading comments about herself on a website now the subject of a police hate crime investigation.
Some of the titles of Winters’ posts include NO MORE MUSLIMS, NO MORE MUSLIMS, NO MORE MUSLIMS, #Ibelievesurvivors NOPE! They’re All Lying Sluts and Thank Goodness Rehtaeh Parsons is dead.
Parson’s parents, Glen Canning and Leah Parsons were mentioned several times, with posts accusing them of cashing in on their daughter Rehtaeh’s death.
Wilful promotion of hatred is an indictable offence and, if convicted, the accused could spend up to two years in prison. The charge is rare and can’t be instituted without the consent of the Attorney General. Willits said Edmonton police researched the charge and could not find the last time it was laid in the city.
“Wilful promotion of hatred is a very difficult charge to prove,” Willits explained. “Obviously in this case, the concerns were, ‘this was extreme.’ [The accused] had a following and he was constantly promoting harm upon others.”
WATCH: Police in Edmonton say they are working with police across Canada on the investigation.
Tuesday, Statistics Canada released the number of hate crimes that happened across the country in 2015, showing a five per cent increase from a year earlier. Alberta alone helped boost those numbers with a 39 per cent jump: 193 incidents in 2015 compared to 139 in 2014.
Edmonton saw the biggest jump of Canada’s largest cities, with 45 more incidents in 2015 over 2014. The city also had the sixth highest number of reported hate crimes, at six for every 100,000 people.
WATCH: A 67-year-old Edmonton man has been charged with wilful promotion of hatred in connection with the operation of multiple hate-based websites, dating back to 2012. A veteran police officer said no one was safe from the comments being made on the blogs police uncovered. Quinn Ohler reports.
© 2017 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc
http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmonton/2017/06/14/edmonton-police-charge-blogger-with-hate-crime.html
Advocate urges people to speak out against online hate after blogger charged
Woman targeted by hateful post says she was 'mortified,' but couldn't stay silent
Kevin Tuong / Metro
Order this photo
Local activist Marni Panas is urging people to speak out about online hate after she was targeted by an Edmonton blogger.
An Edmonton woman is urging people to speak
out against online hatred, after she was targeted in a blog post by a
man who police have charged with a hate crime.
“Staying silent is being complicit. Staying
silent is reinforcing that message that this is OK. And it’s not OK,”
said local transgender activist Marni Panas. “There are people who are
seriously affected by this, who live in fear every day because of words
like this.”
Police have arrested Barry Winters, 62, in
connection with blog posts that made disparaging and threatening remarks
toward politicians, people of colour, women, sexual assault victims and
members of the LGBTQ community.
Winters is facing a rare charge of “wilful promotion of hatred” for several websites dating back to 2012.
Panas was specifically named in one of his posts and filed a complaint with police early last year.
She said she was “mortified” when she read the post, which implied that she deserved to be killed.
“You don’t know who’s on the other end of these keyboards. You don’t know what they’re capable of,” Panas said.
The EPS Hate Crimes Unit started investigating
Winters in June 2016 after getting multiple complaints related to
hateful content published on blogs, including The Baconfat Papers.
Sgt. Gary Willits said the sites were gaining followers and some had hits in the thousands.
“This was extreme. Mr. Winters had a following and he was constantly promoting harm upon others,” Willits said.
“Some of these messages included wishing harm
on the individuals and in some cases, wishing death upon them and
promoting that they be killed.”
Winters has been ordered to disable public access to his websites and not transmit information via the Internet.
Willits said police are sending a clear message they will not tolerate online threats.
“A lot of people have been hiding under the
anonymity that they can make comments and not be held accountable for
it,” he said. “But we will hold you accountable.”
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-man-charged-after-hateful-content-published-on-websites
'Nobody was safe' from man charged with hate speech over 'extreme' blogs: Edmonton police
“Nobody was safe from his comments or hatred,” said Sgt. Gary Willits of the Edmonton Police Service hate crimes unit, speaking at police headquarters on Wednesday.
Hate crimes investigators said the websites included daily posts that used “strong, hate-based rhetoric” targeting various communities and allegedly alluding to violent threats and harm against specific individuals.
“This was extreme,” said Willits. “(The accused allegedly) had a following and he was constantly promoting harm upon others. When we see a pattern of that and a following he is creating and the fear that he is putting in individuals, that’s a major concern for us.”
Barry Winters has been charged with wilful promotion of hatred.
He allegedly authored two blogs, the Baconfat Papers and the Baconfat Chronicles, while contributing to other websites.
Kris Wells, a professor of education at the University of Alberta and the director of the Institute for Sexual Minorities Studies and Services, said he was one of the targets of the two blogs and a complainant in the case.
“I hope this sends a message to all those people hiding behind their keyboards that there will be consequences,” he said Wednesday morning.
Willits said he hopes this charge sends a strong message to those who think they can use the anonymity of the Internet to escape the consequences of their actions, warning, “We will hold you accountable.”
Wells said the investigation was long and complicated, and took more than a year.
Willits said detectives focused their investigation on comments dating back to 2014, but found hateful posts going back to 2012 targeting political figures and people of various genders, sexual orientations and racial groups.
“When I met with police, they had binders and binders of material,” said Wells.
Complainant Marni Panas, a vocal transgender rights advocate, said while seeing hateful messages written about her wasn’t new, being written about by name by someone inciting violence who lives in the same community made these threats “particularly disturbing.”
“You don’t know who is on the other end of these keyboards; you don’t know what they are capable of,” Panas said.
While she was concerned reporting the hateful messages could make her subject to more hatred, Panas thanked police investigators who made her feel safe in reporting the crime.
“People like this work on that fear, and that fear silences you. By remaining silent, you remain vulnerable. The Edmonton Police Service, I can’t thank them enough for taking this as seriously as they did,” Panas said.
The charge of wilful promotion of hatred is rare. It is the same charge that Eckville social studies teacher Jim Keegstra faced in 1984 after teaching Holocaust denial and Jewish-conspiracy theories in his classroom.
Editor’s note: The age of the suspect has been updated in this story after corrected information was provided by the Edmonton Police Service.
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/paula-simons-he-may-be-canadas-ultimate-troll-but-is-an-edmonton-blogger-also-a-criminal
Paula Simons: He may be Canada's 'ultimate troll,' but is an Edmonton blogger also a criminal?
That’s an extremely rare charge under the Criminal Code. The Edmonton Police Service can’t recall any other time when they’ve charged someone under its provisions. There’ve been just three charges under that section in Alberta in the last six years.
Winters’ appalling blogs, the Baconfat Chronicles and the Baconfat News, have been a cancer in Edmonton for years. They contain horrible references to indigenous people, using the most scurrilous racist terms, calling them animals and subhuman. They contain equally terrible terms about gays, lesbians and transgender people. They attacked feminists. Muslims. Fat people. Chinese people. Black people. Rape victims. The homeless. People with developmental disabilities. People from the Maritimes. Catholics. The United Church. Cyclists. Pre-schoolers.
The blogs are a spray of hate diarrhea, spewed in the most vile vocabulary.
The blogs also contain rants about public figures, including Edmonton actor and anti-racism activist Jesse Lipscombe, First Nations writer and politician Wab Kinew, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Rachel Notley. They attack local gay academic Kris Wells, and local trans activist Marni Panas. The blogs repeatedly threatened to post nude pictures of young Halifax sexual assault victim Rehteah Parsons, who had committed suicide following her assault. They also accused her father, Glen Canning, of molesting her.
“He’s just mean and cruel,” says Canning. “It’s very sick stuff. He called for Elizabeth May and me to be tied to stakes and bayoneted, while he watched. He’s the ultimate troll in Canada right now. He’s just a disgusting bigot.”
One post described how wonderful it would be to watch a gorilla rape and kill a prominent female Alberta politician. Another post fantasized about watching feminist journalists, lawyers and academics forced at gun point into a gas chamber.
In another era, the blogs’ author would be a bitter crank yelling at strangers in the food court. Instead, police say, the blogs had thousands of readers, with a growing audience. And so after years of complaints, and a 13-month investigation, police finally laid the rare hate charge, with the written consent of Alberta’s deputy attorney general, Philip Bryden.
I’m grateful to see Edmonton police taking the case seriously. It’s sickening to think the blogs found an eager online readership. Already, the courts have forced Winters to take them down, as a condition of his pre-trial release.
Yet is this the way to deal with speech — even awful speech — in a free and democratic society? Quite apart from the possible impact on the Charter free speech rights we all enjoy, we run a risk in taking a relatively anonymous loser and giving him national notoriety.
When Jim Keegstra, the anti-Semitic Eckville teacher was charged with promoting hatred in 1984, he wasn’t silenced. Instead, 12 years of appeals and retrials gave him a platform to posture as a free-speech martyr.
Even after his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1996, his sentence was a mere 200 hours of community service. Meantime, he used his infamy to become leader of the federal Social Credit party.
“It doesn’t make a free society look very good when we criminalize speech we find offensive,” says Eric Adams, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Alberta. “Maybe you cause more harm than you fix, when you bring down the heavy arm of the state on crazy people.
“Ultimately, I think it is a reasonable limit to have some criminal sanctions on some forms of speech. But then you have to set a very high bar to charge someone.”
It probably does symbolic good for our community to signal our collective denunciation of the loathsome blogs. They don’t just express views; they encouraged violence. They don’t make explicit threats, but they incite specific hatred. And I applaud the brave Edmontonians who stood up to the bullying and complained to police.
But arresting a crackpot blogger makes me nervous, and not just because it erodes freedom of speech for us all. Hate is a hydra. Cut off one head, and two or three more grow in its place. I worry less about Barry Winters, and more about what darkness marches in his wake.
twitter.com/Paulatics
www.facebook.com/PaulaSimons
http://glencanning.com/2017/06/barry-winters-gets-his-day-edmonton-rehtaehparsons/
Barry Winters Gets His Day #Edmonton #RehtaehParsons
Edmonton police said Winters was arrested in connection with the operation of multiple hate-based websites, dating back to 2012. Winters has been writing since at least 2009, although many of his older blog posts have been removed or deleted. Police said the Hate Crimes Unit began investigating in June 2016, following multiple complaints related to hateful content published on several blogging sites. He was arrested on June 1, 2017.
The Edmonton police hate crimes unit contacted me a few months ago regarding an investigation they started into Winters for hate related offences. I was first in touch with the Edmonton police after Winters told me he had accessed nude photos of Rehtaeh. He made this claim in August, 2013, in a blog post and an email he sent me that week.
Barry makes numerous other outlandish claims about Rehtaeh in a YouTube video interview with John Patrick Doran, a men’s rights activist based in Calgary, Alberta. It’s a pile of filthy victim-blaming bullshit by two men who’ve found much in common with each others sick views of women; especially when it comes to sexual violence.
I’m glad Winters was arrested and charged. More so once he had to take his ignorance and hate offline as part of his release conditions. Winters is facing two years in jail.
It shouldn’t have taken the police to have Winters hate removed from the Internet. I just gave up trying to get WordPress, Blogger, and BlogSpot to remove the mountain of abuse he was posting. The only time anything was removed was when I threatened to take legal action. Repeatedly, they hid behind an argument of free speech while ignoring clear violations of their own standards.
In the end I’ve tried to ignore Winters and just hoped he’d go away. It’s exhausting trying to fight a monster that feeds on the pain of others.
Related News Articles
CBC (EDM): Edmonton police charge blogger with LGBTQ hate-related offence
GLOBAL NEWS (EDM): Edmonton police charge man with wilful promotion of hatred due to blog posts
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Edmonton man charged after hateful content published on websites
Paula Simons (EDMONTON JOURNAL): He may be Canada’s ‘ultimate troll,’ but is an Edmonton blogger also a criminal?
Email Messages from Barry Winters
These are quotes from some of the emails Barry Winters has sent me over the past few years.
“I do have one question for you, how does it fail to a daughter, and contribute to her death?”
“No Glen, you are a sad man. I didn’t ever fail my children in raising them like you did.”
“I challenge you to call the police! Call them now. In fact I encourage you to call the police. My children are successes….yours is dead. It is because of your failure.”
“Glen, what’s the matter, no balls? Call the police! Do it. Do it now! My daughter is a MacGill Law School grad. Yours is dead because her Father let her down.”
“Again Glen, call them. Call them now! Post my name, I do that here all the time. Rehtaeh is dead. Rehtaeh is dead because her Father failed her!”
“No wonder Rehtaeh got drunk, got laid and offed herself. YOU are the problem. Did you lie to her… ? Well that would indeed explain a lot. Well Glen so much for the cops huh? Glen, you are really pathetic, … How many pieces about little Rehtaeh should I write?”
“Oh dear, I am so frightened. You pathetic little man. I do hope you had a snip and clip job done. We wouldn’t want your ilk to have any more kids.”
“Rehtaeh’s behaviour, promiscuity at any early age, alcohol and possible drug abuse, are all indicators of child abuse. Did you abuse Rehtaeh? Did your abuse of Rehtaeh end before she ended her life? Do the people who engage you in business know you are a child abuser?”
“Glen, little fellah! How do Rehtaeh’s surviving grand parents feel about the suicide of their grand daughter? How do they deal with the reality that she is dead because you and Leah permitted a fourteen year old child to be promiscuous, and abuse both drugs and alcohol.”
“Mr. Canning, You and your ex wife are culpable in a significant way for the death of Rehtaeh. I am not the only one that says that. Rehteah is dead because YOU are, or were rather an incompetent parent. Here endth the lesson.”
“Little Glen. Do try to behave your self little Glen. You are an embarrassment to the memory of your daughter.”
“Little Glen. My wife and daughter have indeed saw my posts. In fact last year I had over 80,000 page views on my blog. And most people or correspondence on e mail seem to concur with the idea you and Leah failed Rehtaeh.”
“There is nothing sick about the posts because they aren’t about Rehteah. They’re about her parents failure, and negligence. I stand behind every word I write. Little Glen, as you no doubt already know, there is nothing criminal about my posts or writings directed at you and your ex wife. You simply are full of hot air. I shall continue to write about you and your criminally negligent behavior as a parent whenever I so chose, or think of different ‘take’ on the issue.”
“It is good for you Rehtaeh is dead! Dead girls tell no tales, do they? Do you think Glen, little Rehteah hanged herself because she had enough of you and Leah?”
Winters blogging goes back to at least 2009.
Barry Winters
Screen Capture from the BaconFat Papers
Screen Capture from the BaconFat Chronicles
Screen Capture from the BaconFat Papers
Screen Capture from the BaconFat Papers
February 20, 2014
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Edmonton Police Press Release
Police arrest male in connection with hate-based websites
For Immediate Release:14-Jun-2017 @ 8:25 AM MRU #:17R083
The Edmonton Police Service has arrested a 62-year-old male in connection with the operation of multiple hate-based websites.
In June 2016, the EPS Hate Crimes Unit began investigating following multiple complaints related to hateful content published across several websites. The websites included daily posts that used strong, hate-based rhetoric that targeted various communities. Some posts allegedly alluded to violent threats and harm against specific individuals.
Following a thorough investigation, that included websites dating from 2014 to the present, Barry Winters, 62, was charged with willful promotion of hatred.
“There is often an assumption of anonymity when crimes are committed in an online forum,” says Const. Trevor Shelrud with the EPS Hate Crime Unit. “We want citizens to know that regardless of the forum, we take hate crime seriously.”
Please contact Carolin Maran at (780) 421-3544 for more information.
Police arrest male in connection with hate-based websites
For Immediate Release:14-Jun-2017 @ 8:25 AM MRU #:17R083
The Edmonton Police Service has arrested a 62-year-old male in connection with the operation of multiple hate-based websites.
In June 2016, the EPS Hate Crimes Unit began investigating following multiple complaints related to hateful content published across several websites. The websites included daily posts that used strong, hate-based rhetoric that targeted various communities. Some posts allegedly alluded to violent threats and harm against specific individuals.
Following a thorough investigation, that included websites dating from 2014 to the present, Barry Winters, 62, was charged with willful promotion of hatred.
“There is often an assumption of anonymity when crimes are committed in an online forum,” says Const. Trevor Shelrud with the EPS Hate Crime Unit. “We want citizens to know that regardless of the forum, we take hate crime seriously.”
Please contact Carolin Maran at (780) 421-3544 for more information.
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