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January 18, 2002
No response from Taiga
Retailer stays mum about tribute to Doug Collins.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
Having failed to get a response from a company that printed a tribute
to the late columnist Doug Collins, Canadian Jewish Congress is
asking members of the community to consider where they buy their
outdoor gear.
Dr. Mark Wexler, chair of the community relations committee of CJC,
Pacific Region, said his group is explicitly not calling for a boycott,
but wants community members to make up their own minds about whether
to shop at Taiga Works, an outdoor equipment retailer.
Taiga's winter catalogue included a short tribute to the longtime
writer who had twice been called before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal
over things he had written. The former North Shore News columnist
was noted for his inflammatory writings about Jews, homosexuals,
the Holocaust and immigrants.
What Congress does not want, he said, is to give Taiga any unnecessary
publicity and inadvertently encourage the mixing of political and
commercial messages. He also does not want to make people who have
purchased items at the store in the past feel guilty.
He simply wants Jews in the Vancouver area to make their own choices
based on the knowledge that Taiga refused to respond to requests
for clarifications. Store officials also rebuffed efforts by the
Bulletin to get a comment on the matter.
Numerous members of the Jewish community contacted the Bulletin,
CJC and Taiga over the flyer, which carried a picture of Collins
sitting on the lap of Santa Claus while wearing a Taiga jacket.
The comment accompanying the picture lauded Collins for standing
up for what he believed.
"Although many disagreed with his views, he has to be admired,
however grudgingly, for his lion's courage in asserting and defending
the rights of free opinion and free speech in these wimpy, politically
correct times," the item read.
Collins twice faced the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over charges
of inciting hatred against an identifiable group. In one case, he
was successful, in the other he was not.
On Dec. 21, 2001, CJC sent a letter to Ekkehard Behrmann, owner
of Taiga Works.
The letter, signed by Nisson Goldman, chair of CJC, Pacific Region,
accused Taiga of misrepresenting Collins' legacy.
"We strongly believe that the memory of Doug Collins does not
stand for free speech but rather for bigotry, anti-Semitism and
Holocaust denial," wrote Goldman." May we remind you that
our view was upheld and confirmed by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal
decision between Harry Abrams vs. Doug Collins and the North
Shore News. The tribunal ruled that the columns written by Doug
Collins and published in the North Shore News were likely
to expose Jewish persons to hatred or contempt because of their
race, religion or ancestry contrary to s. 7(1)(b) of the Human Rights
Code. Your tribute says Doug Collins was a defender of free speech
but does not inform its readers about the hate Doug Collins promulgated....
CJC, Pacific Region, would like you to confront the reality of Doug
Collins' words and to please inform us why you chose to honor him
in your catalogue."
The letter did not receive a response from Behrmann or any other
representatives of the company.
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