Doug Christie (lawyer)
| Doug Christie | |
|---|---|
| Leader of the Western Block Party | |
|
In office November 20, 2005 – March 11, 2013 |
|
| Preceded by | None - First Leader |
| Succeeded by | TBD |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Douglas Hewson Christie, Jr. April 24, 1946 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | March 11, 2013 (aged 66) Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Political party | Western Block Party (2005-2013) |
| Spouse(s) | Keltie Zubko |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Douglas Hewson "Doug" Christie, Jr. (April 24, 1946 – March 11, 2013) was a Canadian lawyer and political activist based in Victoria, British Columbia who was known nationally for his defence of clients such as Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, former Nazi prison guard Michael Seifert and right wing extremist Paul Fromm among others.
Christie was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and graduated from the law school of the University of British Columbia in 1970. He was the founder and general counsel of the Canadian Free Speech League and was best known for defending individuals accused of Nazi war crimes or racist, anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi activity. He was 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 enlisted the assistance of outspoken civil libertarian Dr. Gary Botting, who in 1984 had published a book on George Orwell and Jehovah's Witnesses. Christie subpoenaed Dr. Botting as an expert witness to both the Zündel trial in Toronto and the Keegstra trial in Red Deer Alberta, where Botting had conducted a survey demonstrating that Keegstra could not get a fair trial in Red Deer because of pretrial publicity. The Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the judge should have allowed Botting's evidence to be heard. Later, Botting became the first recipient of the George Orwell Free Speech Award after giving up his teaching post as a professor of English at Red Deer College and entering law school. He eventually articled for Christie in Victoria, from where he worked on several of Christie's most notorious cases. However, Botting subsequently went to great lengths to distance himself from Christie. "It is clear to me that your Canadian Free Speech League is merely a front for an anti-semitic, Pro-Nazi agenda." Botting wrote in a public letter to Christie, continuing: "In the Canadian Free Speech League, the only opinions truly allowed are those which conform to your own. And those opinions, as you well know, are antisemitic and almost blatantly pro-Nazi. It is no coincidence that both you and Ernst Zündel usually celebrate your birthdays [Both are on April 24] on April 20, Hitler's Birthday. It is no coincidence that most of the Canadian Free Speech League annual awards ceremonies have been held as close to that date as possible." Christie would act as Zündel's attorney in several cases over the subsequent two decades up to Zündel's deportation from Canada in 2005. Christie's advocacy on behalf of Keegstra and Zündel led to him acting as legal counsel in a number of notable cases involving far-right figures including:
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