UPDATE: JE SUIS ERIC!
In case you have not been following his case, Eric Brazeau is most definitely Canada’s Political Prisoner.
OK, so he may not be a very likeable guy – I’ve heard from people who are frustrated with him but support his cause as well as from people from the freedom of speech movement who cannot stand him. Having never met the guy, I am unable to pass my own judgment.
BUT!!!
And this is the crux of the matter ‘BUT!!!’.
Regardless of anything else, it would be irresponsible to not bring the facts of the matter to public knowledge.
Fact #1:
Eric Brazeau had a politically incorrect conversation while using Toronto’s public transit.
Fact #2:
Eric Brazeau was very, very careful to restrict his commentary to a codified, dogmatic doctrine – without any allusions to peoples or cultures.
Fact #3:
As a direct result of this conversation (and, I have seen a private video of it, so even though I am not permitted to publish it, I can honestly report to you, my dear reader, that this conversation was limited to factually accurate criticism of a doctrine without any allusions or references to people, individuals or practitioners of any doctrine), Eric Brazeau was arrested and jailed without any possibility of bail.
Fact #4:
Eric Brazeau charges criminal charges as a result of this private conservation because it is charged that the conversation ‘offended’ some people who eavesdropped on it.
Fact #5:
The judge said that the possibility that Mr. Brazeau might have another politically incorrect conversation while on bail was sufficient reason to keep him in jail to await his trial without any possibility of bail.
Fact #6:
By now, he has spent more time in jail awaiting trial than the longest possible sentence he could receive for the charges he is facing!!!
Yes!!! Please, allow me to repeat this: Eric Brazeau has ALREADY SPENT MORE TIME IN JAIL THAN HE COULD BE SENTENCED TO IF FOUND GUILTY!!!!!!!
If being held in jail for longer than the maximum potential sentence – and for speech, not deeds – is anything other than the very definition of being a ‘political prisoner’ (and I say this as the daughter of a former dissident in a communist country – not some naive idealist), then the term ‘political prisoner’ has been rendered meaningless!!!
OK – disclosure: this really, really gets under my skin!
Many of the ‘free speechers’ will not stand up for this guy, because he is not likeable.
The last time I looked, being an asshole did not mean you did not have human rights – or that setting a precedent of our society being OK with stripping a jerk of his human rights because we don’t like him is OK….because when people who don’t like you come to power, the legal precedent of it being OK to treat YOU as less than human will have been set…
So, I planned to be there tomorrow morning, in the Toronto courtroom, to witness Canada’s baby-step towards tyranny. By the way, his case number is 4815998145000366701, in case you can follow it or go to 2201 Finch Av W in Toronto this Monday, 5th of January, 2015 and report on it (if you can and do go, I will be very happy to publish your report on the case – just contact me with your account!).
I had planned for months to attend – I planned to travel to Toronto the day before and attend this trial and then, on Wednesday, the ‘Concerned Citizen’s appeal’ in the Presto scandal case. But…
…you may have noticed, my dear reader, that I have been unusually ‘quiet’ lately… I’ve been a little under the weather and am simply not fit to travel and so, unhappily, I will miss both court dates. You cannot imagine how angry and sad this makes me, but, as the saying goes: the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak…
So, if you can make it there, do let me know and I will do my best to spread the word!
EDIT: P.S. There are two trials scheduled for 10 am in courtroom #211 at the Finch Street Court location in Toronto – so, there is no way to tell whether Mr. Brazeau’s trial will be first or second…but, scheduling two trials for one day….having witnessed quite a few civil cases (but no criminal ones), I find it difficult to believe two trials which could strip people of their civil liberties could possibly be sufficiently heard by one judge in one day…
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
December 27, 2015 at 21:19
Unreal but not surprising. I would like to know more about Eric. The Koran 5:51 say: “O Muslims do not take Jews and Christians for friends.”
January 7, 2016 at 08:59
Eric is currently in jail awaiting trial. He was arrested (again) on the same day as the Paris attacks: he was out in the streets of Toronto condemning the attack when he himself was attacked and beaten by someone who did not like his message. Bystanders called the police, 5 cruisers showed up and promptly arrested Eric, paying no attention to his attacker.
He has been in jail ever since and, to the best of my knowledge, has not been in court yet.
January 9, 2016 at 11:48
Well there is some measure of balance, you can also become a political prisoner in Canada by being critical of Jews. Brad Love and Arthur Topham come to mind. Not saying I agree with these guys on much, but I don’t wish to silence them or throw them in jail. But anyone who wants to be critical of the other major religion can pretty much have at it, no problem (I suppose because those of us who adhere to that one aren’t so thin-skinned that we have little armies of thought police minding our business). As for anyone who might choose to flail away at our more exotic faiths, I don’t think that’s been tried yet. Apparently they are either darned near perfect, or darned near irrelevant. But I’ll give one a try as a starter project for some industrious busybody somewhere. Those damn Zoroastrians …