Islamic Group Seeks Right to Rebut Columnist's Book

By: E&P Staff The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) is suing Maclean's magazine for the right to rebut excerpts the newsweekly published from syndicated columnist Mark Steyn's "America Alone" book, The Washington Times reported today.

CIC filed complaints against Maclean's with Canada's national human rights commission and provincial rights commissions in Ontario and British Columbia. It charged that Steyn's writings promote hatred against Canada's estimated 750,000 Muslims.

The commission in British Columbia accepted the case and scheduled a hearing for June 2008.

Steyn wrote that rising birthrates in Muslim countries and the declining number of babies in Christian and Westernized nations are a long-term security threat, according to Barry Brown's Times story.

The Times -- one of Steyn's client newspapers -- also said the excerpts in Maclean's compared Muslims to Native Americans in the Old West who infiltrated "the white cities" and suggested many Muslims are "hot for jihad" and favor a "bloody" war against the West.

Steyn declined to comment for the Times story.

CIC President Mohamed Elmasry said the complaint is not designed to prevent free expression but to ensure that large media outlets like Maclean's allow minorities to respond. The group is not seeking any monetary damages.