Lawyer Doug Christie known for controversy
VICTORIA — A lawyer who forged his reputation by representing Canada’s most reviled hatemongers will be revered by supporters for championing free speech and filling a vital role in the justice system, while his detractors say he was too closely aligned with the racist views of his clients.
Doug Christie died in hospital on Monday night at the age of 66.
His wife, Keltie Zubko, said her husband, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011, was surrounded by his family when he died of metastatic liver disease.
“( We) were all with him and able to say all that was in our hearts to say before he let go of the pain and suffering to leave us with the immense gifts of his love for us and the lessons of his life,” Zubko said in an email forwarded by one of his supporters.
Christie’s client list includes former Nazi prison guard Michael Seifert and Holocaustdenier Ernst Zundel. Seifert was convicted of war crimes and was eventually extradited to Italy, where he was to spend the rest of his life in prison. Zundel, who maintains the Holocaust never occurred, was convicted in 1985 for “spreading false news” about Jewish people and was sentenced to 15 months in jail.
On his website, Christie, who attended law school at the University of B. C. from 1967 to 1970, described himself as “Canada’s most prolific defender of free speech.” Christie also acknowledged that because of the clients he represented, he was seen as a right- wing extremist, a Nazi, or an anti- Semite — smear words he said were inaccurate and unfair.
He said he was an individualist who recognized every other person’s right to be so assessed.
“It was principles of freedom that caused me to step off the beaten path,” wrote Christie. “It is the love of freedom that keeps me off the path of slaves.”