Doug Christie (lawyer)

Doug Christie
Leader of the Western Block Party
Incumbent
Assumed office November 20, 2005
Preceded by	First Leader
Personal details
Born	1946 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Political party	Western Block Party
Residence	Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Lawyer

Douglas Hewson "Doug" Christie, Jr. (born April 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and far-right political activist based in Victoria, British Columbia.

Career

Christie was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and graduated from the law school of the University of British Columbia in 1970. He is the founder and general counsel of the Canadian Free Speech League and is best known for defending individuals accused of Nazi war crimes or racist, anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi activity. He is also the founder and leader of the Western Canada Concept, a separatist party which ran in British Columbia and federally, and The Western Block Party, a right-wing federal political party advocating the separation of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from Canadian Confederation.

He first came to national attention as a lawyer in 1983 when he became James Keegstra's attorney after the schoolteacher was fired from his job and criminally charged with willfully promoting hatred by teaching his students that there was a Jewish conspiracy, along with spreading other antisemitic ideas. His defence of Keegstra brought him to the attention of Ernst Zündel who retained Christie in September 1984 to defend him against criminal charges related to Holocaust denial with co-counsel Barbara Kulaszka. Christie would act as Zündel's attorney in several cases over the subsequent two decades up to his deportation from Canada in 2005. Christie's advocacy on behalf of Keegstra and Zündel has led to him acting as legal counsel in a number of notable cases involving far-right figures including:

• Ernst Zündel - A case which went to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the False News Law (s. 177 of the Criminal Code) was declared unconstitutional.
• Terry Long, former leader of the Aryan Nations in Canada;
• Malcolm Ross of New Brunswick who, like Keegstra, was a teacher fired for anti-Semitic activity, and went to the Supreme Court of Canada, challenging the constitutional validity of the New Brunswick Human Rights Code prohibition on hate speech;
• three alleged leaders of the Ku Klux Klan in Manitoba;
• Rudy Stanko of the World Church of the Creator;
• Tony McAleer after he was charged with broadcasting hate speech over the phone and online;
• John Ross Taylor of the Western Guard Party and Aryan Nations, whose case went to the Supreme court of Canada on Douglas Christie’s challenge to Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act. This case is the leading case on Section 13(1)’s constitutional validity. It was decided by a majority of 4-to-3 with now Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin in the minority. The same issue is being revisited in 2012 in the case of Marc Lemire, currently in the Federal Court trial division;
• Imre Finta who was alleged to be a Nazi war criminal and collaborator (see R. v. Finta) His case went to the Supreme Court of Canada after a jury acquitted mr. Finta in less than two hours, after a nine-month trial. The Crown appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada against the acquittal and lost. The Supreme Court held that obedience to superior orders that are not manifestly unlawful is a defence, contrary to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg. The Supreme Court’s decision in Mr. Finta’s favour was over 100 pages in length;
• Doug Collins, a late newspaper columnist brought before the British Columbia Human Rights Commission for antisemitic and racist comments;
• Paul Fromm, head of the far-right "Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform" and "Canadians for Freedom of Expression", and participant in neo-Nazi and racist gatherings, who was fired from his job as a teacher for his political activity;
• Lady Jane Birdwood, a British follower of Oswald Mosley and alleged distributor of hate propaganda who was tried in the Old Bailey, where she was convicted by a hung jury to the Court of Appeal in London, England;
• Wolfgang Droege of the Heritage Front;
• David Ahenakew, who acknowledged making antisemitic comments in a 2002 interview with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix Mr. Ahenakew, founding Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, was convicted by Judge Irwin of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court. Mr. Christie assisted him in an appeal to the Court of Queen’s Bench and the judgement was set aside. The Crown appealed to the Court of appeal and lost. Mr. Christie represented Mr. Ahenakew before Judge Tucker in a second trial, where he was finally acquitted. David Ahenakew died shortly thereafter, having been mortally ill during his last trial;
• Jack Klundert, a Windsor optometrist who does not believe the Constitution of Canada grants the Federal Government the power to collect income tax Dr. Klundert was charged with income tax evasion, and tried before Superior Court Justice Rogin and a jury. He was acquitted of evasion and convicted of a false statement. He appealed to the Court of Appeal, as did the Crown, and a new trial was ordered. A new trial occurred before Mr. Justice Quinn in 2006. The accused was only charged with evasion and the jury once again acquitted him. The Crown appealed this acquittal and a new trial was ordered. In the third trial, Klundert was convicted of evasion and sentenced to one year in jail, from which he appealed. His appeal on conviction was dismissed, but his sentence was reduced to a one-year conditional sentence to be served in the community.

Christie posted material on the former website operated by Bernard Klatt, on what had been called "Canada's most notorious source of hate propaganda."

In addition to his extensive work on freedom of expression cases, Christie has participated in wide range of causes touching on issues of individual liberties more generally. He has represented numerous individuals in civil actions against the police, in an effort to ensure police accountability.

"There is a growing gulf between the police and public trust, which can only be fixed and crossed with any hope of restoration of faith when the police are judged for their conduct by the public themselves and not by their constant co-workers in the system itself," Christie wrote in a letter to the Times Colonist. "The essential ingredient of a society where citizens and police are in agreement on the enforcement of the law is simply that the law applies to police and citizens in equal measure. The police cannot be above the law. With the present system of accountability, that impression is well-founded."

Christie has also acted in child apprehension cases most notably that of Paul and Zabeth Bayne, a Hope, BC couple whose children were seized by the Ministry of Children and Family Development for four years, then eventually returned.

From 2007 to 2010, Christie represented Bruce and Donna Montague in a constitutional challenge of Canada's gun registry and other firearms laws. The constitutional challenge was ultimately dismissed by the Ontario Court of Appeal, but Christie continues to represent the Montagues in their efforts to resist civil and criminal forfeiture applications by the Crown.

In January 2012, Christie became the first lawyer to successfully challenge an application under British Columbia's Civil Forfeiture Act, when the BC Supreme Court found that the retroactive forfeiture of a truck subsequent to a criminal prosecution was "clearly not in the interests of justice."

Politics

He became leader of British Columbia's provincial WCC, and led it through provincial elections in that province through the 1980s and 1990s. Christie never won a seat at the provincial or federal level, nor did the BC WCC ever win any seats in the provincial elections it contested. Christie continues to run an organization with the "Western Canada Concept" name, but it is no longer a registered political party except at the provincial level in British Columbia, which has relatively lax party registration laws.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Christie announced his intention to form a new federal political party to be called the Western Block Party which would be a Western Canadian version of the Bloc Québécois in that its role in the Canadian House of Commons would be to act as a regional separatist party.

The WCC and WBP are not affiliated with the Separation Party of Alberta or the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan. Officials in these parties have distanced themselves from Christie - for example, they do not include links to the WCC or WBP on their websites even though the SPA and WIPS do link to one another.

The WBP was officially registered with Elections Canada prior to the 2006 federal election. Christie ran in the riding of Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca in British Columbia, finishing fifth in a field of six.

Canadian Free Speech League

Christie is general counsel for an organization called the Canadian Free Speech League (CFSL), which has presented its "George Orwell Award" to controversial figures including BC columnist Doug Collins, who authored an article titled Swindler's List attacking Steven Spielberg's Holocaust film Schindler's List.

Professional misconduct

Law Society of Upper Canada

The Law Society of Upper Canada looked into disciplining Christie for his conduct during the Imre Finta trial. The Society's discipline chair, Harvey Strosberg, declined to issue a complaint against Christie but stressed that Christie's remarks during the trial "clearly disclose that he has crossed the line separating counsel from client: he has made common cause with a small, lunatic, anti-Semitic fringe element in our society. We know who Mr. Christie is. Suffering Mr. Christie's words and opinions is part of the price one pays for upholding and cherishing freedom of speech in a free and democratic society. And society must be willing to accept this price. Mr. Christie's anti-Semitic comments were not akin to the cry of fire in a crowded theatre. His theatre was mostly empty."

The Law Society of British Columbia

On 11 September 2007, The Law Society of British Columbia issued a hearing report finding that Christie had committed professional misconduct in his civil litigation practice. Christie had been cited for his role in preparing and signing certain improper documents headed ‘Subpoena for Documents’ and having them served on parties uninvolved in the litigation. Christie was seeking, from a hospital, a bank, and a traveller cheque company, private health and financial records. In British Columbia, according to expert testimony heard by the Law Society’s hearing panel, “litigants are not entitled to compel testimony from a third party prior to trial without a court order nor to compel the production of documents from a third party prior to trial or from a third party not called on a trial without a court order.” The Law Society hearing panel found that some of Christie’s testimony in his own defence was not believable. The panel found that Christie’s conduct was dishonourable, and that in his zeal to pursue the case on behalf of his clients, Christie had overlooked his professional responsibilities.

On 17 December 2007, the Law Society’s panel gave its decision on the penalty to be imposed on Christie. The panel noted that prior to this incident, Christie’s professional conduct record had been unblemished for over 30 years. The panel accepted that Christie’s professional misconduct arose out of stress and an excessive zeal to help his client, rather than a desire for personal gain. The panel therefore imposed a fine on Christie of $2,500. The panel ordinarily would have ordered Christie to pay the Law Society’s costs and expenses of the hearing, which in this case amounted to approximately $50,000. However, the panel had evidence that Christie’s annual income over the past five years had averaged slightly over $50,000 net before tax. Therefore the panel required Christie to pay $20,000 in respect of costs, rather than the full amount.

Electoral record

By-election on 29 September 1986 Electoral district of Pembina
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Walter van de Walle	16,525
	New Democrat	Ivor Dent	16,251
	Liberal	Chris Seirson	6,505
	Independent	Doug Christie	2,765
	Independent	Ernie Jamison	1,241
	Confederation of Regions	Elmer Knutson	926
	Independent	Anne McBride	423

Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca - Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Keith Martin	20,761	34.93%	-0.36%	$79,041
	New Democratic	Randall Garrison	18,595	31.29%	+0.67%	$75,094
	Conservative	Troy DeSouza	16,327	27.47%	+3.31%	$83,818
	Green	Mike Robinson	3,385	5.70%	-3.54%	$1,911
	Western Block	Doug Christie	272	0.46%	-	$98
	Canadian Action	David Piney	89	0.15%	-0.10%	$3,523
Total valid votes			59,429	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			112	0.2%
Turnout			59,541	68.9%

External links

• Douglas Christie official site
• Western Block Party official site
• Western Canada Concept official site

Preceded by Party Created

Leader of the Western Block Party 2005–present

Succeeded by incumbent