Supreme Court Rejects Ernst Zündel's Appeals

Had Appealed For Citizenship

OTTAWA, Updated 10:55 a.m. EST December 14, 2000 -- The Supreme Court of Canada refused Thursday to hear the latest round of appeals by Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel.

The rejection would appear to end Zündel's bid for Canadian citizenship, although such words have been written before.

As usual, the high court gave no reason for rejecting the leaves to appeal.

Zündel's appeal was the latest in a series of increasingly arcane legal gambits over the rejection of his 1993 citizenship application.

Zündel, who was born in Germany but entered Canada as a permanent resident in 1958, wanted to challenge a report by the minister of citizenship and immigration that labelled him a threat to the security of Canada.

That report, in turn, set in motion a review by the Security Intelligence Review Committee (or SIRC), which ultimately helped scuttle Zündel's citizenship bid.

Having failed in various court challenges over SIRC's role in the proceedings, Zündel was seeking to appeal the minister's initial report on the grounds that it didn't spell out circumstances under which he might be considered a threat to Canadian security, nor did it provide reasonable grounds for the allegation.

Two other Zündel appeals rejected Thursday dealt with a 1997 hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Commission over material on his Web site, including a pamphlet denying the Holocaust entitled "Did Six Million Really Die?"

Zündel wanted one member of the commission dismissed and the case dropped because of what he termed an apprehension of bias on the part of the commissioner.

He also wanted the right to cross-examine witnesses as to the truth of some statements published in the pamphlet.

Zündel's lawyer, Doug Christie, submitted that if statements on the Web site could be shown to be true, then the person or group in question would be exposed to hatred because of their own actions and not as a result of race or ethnicity.

The commission cut off the cross-examination, ruling the truth was immaterial in this context.

"It is somewhat disingenuous to say that it is their behaviour and not their group membership which exposes them to hatred or contempt," ruled the commission.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal - which adjudicates cases forwarded to it by the commission - is to hear final arguments in the Zündel case on Feb. 28, with a ruling not expected for several months after that.

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