JUSTICE REPORTER
A Regina mathematics professor with ultra-right leanings, Terry Tremaine, faces contempt of court charges for disobeying an order from the Canadian Human Rights Commission that he not post racist material on the Internet.
A Federal Court of Canada motion served on Mr. Tremaine alleges that anti-Semitic, racist material posted on websites by Mr. Tremaine - including a description of Jews as "highly-evolved parasites" - contravenes a 2007 cease-and- desist order issued by a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
Mr. Tremaine is the self-described head of the National Socialist Party of Canada, a far-right group that is viewed as a cousin of various white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.
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In addition to the contempt charge, which carries a penalty ranging from an unlimited fine to five years in prison, Mr. Tremaine also faces a criminal charge for willfully promoting hatred.
Yesterday's move was precipitated by Richard Warman, a federal government lawyer who has made it his mission to roust out far-right propagandists on the Internet.
In a 2004 affidavit that precipitated the CHRC's original action against Mr. Tremaine, Mr. Warman accused him of posting racist hate material on Internet websites that could expose blacks, Asians, aboriginals, other non-whites and persons of the Jewish faith to hatred or contempt.
On Feb. 2, 2007, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal agreed. It ordered Mr. Tremaine to cease posting his material on the Internet, and fined Mr. Tremaine $4,000.
Mr. Warman alleges in an affidavit that since the tribunal's decision, Mr. Tremaine's postings have disparaged immigrants and predicted that "the brown masses" will rise up and destroy Jews.
"Mr. Tremaine is free to hold repugnant views but Canada and virtually every other Western democracy have made it illegal to spread hate propaganda," Mr. Warman said in an interview yesterday.
"It's up to Mr. Tremaine to change his heart, but in the meantime he needs to obey the law."