Complaint against Levant before courts, again
Law society alleges comments were ‘ inappropriate and unbecoming’
The Law Society of Alberta has cited lawyer and media commentator Ezra Levant for remarks he made in a newspaper column about the Alberta Human Rights Commission and another barrister.
The citations centre on a March 2014 column headlined, “Next stop, crazy town,” in which Levant criticizes the Alberta Human Rights Commission’s handling of a case involving a Muslim man who claimed discrimination when he was fired from his electrician’s job in Edmonton.
The column ran in the Calgary Sun and its sister Sun newspapers across the country. The Sun newspapers are now owned by the Herald’s parent company, Postmedia Network Inc., but weren’t at the time.
The law society citations allege comments Levant made in the column were “inappropriate and unbecoming” for a lawyer and violate the Law Society of Alberta’s code of conduct.
Levant doesn’t dispute he remains a member of the law society, but he argues he made the comments in his capacity as a media commentator. Sanctioning him for a piece of opinion journalism would set a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech and freedom of expression, said Levant.
“The human rights commission is a government agency and I’m being prosecuted for criticizing a government agency. That should concern any Canadian, even if they don’t agree with me,” he said in an interview Thursday.
The complaints were initiated in March 2014 by Arman Chak, an Edmonton lawyer who worked for the human rights commission at the time Levant wrote his column and who was also criticized in the piece.
A law society official tasked with reviewing the complaint dismissed it without a hearing in June 2014, ruling Levant wasn’t acting in his capacity as a lawyer at the time and that the law society’s code of conduct has a high threshold of misconduct before sanctioning lawyers for actions done in their personal lives or outside the profession.
Chak appealed that ruling, triggering legal arguments before a three- member law society panel last October. The appeal panel overturned the initial finding, which will send the case to a disciplinary hearing to be held at a later date. Chak, who has since been elected to the law society’s board of directors, declined to comment on the case Thursday.
At the appeal hearing, Chak’s lawyer argued the law society’s code of conduct requires lawyers to encourage public respect for the administration of justice. Chak contended the rules of the profession compel lawyers to avoid “petty, intemperate” criticism of decisions by courts and tribunals because those bodies are usually forbidden by law or tradition from defending themselves.
The law society sided with Chak, writing in its memorandum of decision that Levant’s comments could be subject to sanction.
“Mr. Levant may well have his personal opinions with respect to the Alberta Human Rights Commission and this appeal panel is not commenting as to his personal opinions, however, when he makes those personal opinions public and continues to be a lawyer who is active and a member of the Law Society of Alberta he is subject to the code of conduct,” the panel wrote.
Levant remains a member of the law society, but his status is listed as “inactive,” which means he isn’t authorized to practice law. If Levant is sanctioned, the penalties include a fine, reprimand, suspension or being disbarred.
Levant said he has no further interest in practicing law and intends to resign from the law society — but only on his own terms, after he is done fighting the complaints against him.
“The moment they’re all done, I’m out of here,” he said.
The human rights commission is a government agency and I’m being prosecuted for criticizing a government agency.