WHAT’S IN A NAME? APPARENTLY, QUITE A BIT
Lawyers in the case of a Nova Scotia retiree who is fighting to regain a personalized licence plate argued Thursday over a report that links derogatory comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump to the GRABHER plate.
Lorne Grabher had his licence plate with the text GRABHER — his last name — revoked in 2016 after government officials agreed with an anonymous complainant that it was a “socially unacceptable slogan.”
In court Thursday, Grabher’s lawyer Jay Cameron fought to strike a Crown report that claims the licence plate “supports sexual violence against women.”
The report was done by Mcgill University professor Dr. Carrie Rentschler, who has expertise in communications and gender studies. She referenced Trump’s boast that he could grab any woman he pleased by her genitals, which was caught on a 2005 tape released during his presidential campaign.
Cameron told Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Pierre Muise the Rentschler report does not consider GRABHER as a word or name, but instead infers that the plate relates directly to the phrase used by Trump.
He said Trump is irrelevant to Grabher’s case.
Cameron said the document has a “sustained and pervasive focus on Donald Trump,” and that it attempts to link Grabher’s plate with rape culture.
“There is zero evidence in this case that refers to Donald Trump, with the exception of this report,” said Cameron, who works with the Justice Centre for Constitu- tional Freedoms in Calgary.
The battle over evidence comes ahead of Grabher’s trial on Sept. 5 and 6, where he will make constitutional arguments against Registry of Motor Vehicles regulations and its decision to revoke the plate.
Outside of court Thursday, Cameron said Rentschler’s report does not meet the criteria set out by the Supreme Court of Canada to be submitted as evidence in the case.
“She has created her report so that when she views his name, she infers other words. She assumes their existence as being self-evident to the remainder of the population ... She’s assumed things that aren’t there and then crafted an expert report,” said Cameron.
He said there’s no evidence to suggest there were acts of violence related to the plate over the 27 years it was in use, and no evidence to suggest Nova Scotians are “more safe today because Mr. Grabher doesn’t have his licence plate.”
Crown lawyer Alison Campbell argued the report is relevant and necessary in deciding the case, saying the expert was simply asked to objectively determine: “Is this phrase offensive?”
“Dr. Rentschler’s report is not a salacious magazine. It is a review of academic literature on the ways in which gender violence is represented and reinforced in society,” said Campbell, adding that the report notes that language can take on new meaning as the context changes.