Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 11 E zra Levant is obstreperous, out- spoken, and, according to his Twitter account, an "all-around troublemaker." The former televi- sion host, who is now a freelance jour- nalist and active blogger, also describes himself on his Twitter account as "a lawyer." Levant graduated from the University of Alber- ta's law school in 1997. But even though he no longer practises, the polarizing lawyer-cum- journalist has been summoned to appear before a disciplin- ary panel of the Law Society of Alberta. The society says Levant is still a member and thus subject to its rules and Code of Conduct. The hearing is set for three days starting in late February. Why the hearing? Because the LSA alleges Levant was "discourteous or disre- spectful to a Commissioner or Tribu- nal Chair of the Alberta Human Rights Commission." And furthermore that his public comments were "inappropri- ate and unbecoming and . . . deserving of sanction." What stirred the law society to action was a complaint regarding, at least in part, a scathing opinion piece Levant wrote for the Sun chain of newspapers. The headline on the piece published in the Edmonton Sun in March of 2014 was "Next stop, crazy town (also known as the Alberta Human Rights Commission)." Provin- cial human rights commissions have long been one of Levant's favourite targets. The Sun piece pilloried certain decisions made by the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Levant vari- ously characterized them as "crazy"; "the Stanley Cup of crazy"; "crazy so deep it's in the Earth's molten core"; and, "the supernova of crazy." He also included some critical comments about fellow lawyer Arman Chak, who was at the time with the commission. He points to two letters he says Chak wrote to a U.S.-based eth- nic publication called Pakistan Link, apparently in 2001, though Levant does not date them or indicate they are over a decade old. In those letters the writer makes potentially controver- sial observations about India's relationship with Bangladesh. Levant, not explicitly but rather infer- entially, seems to suggest the letters are evidence of radical views. Six days after the Sun article appeared, Chak complained to the LSA. Initially, the complaint was reject- ed on the grounds Levant was "not acting in his capacity as a lawyer at the time he made the comments com- plained of but was rather acting in his capacity as a journalist." Chak appealed that decision. In his submissions to the appeal panel, Chak's lawyer Raj Sharma broad- ened the issue beyond just the Sun story. Sharma submitted that Chak's "complaint is against a series of televi- sion newscasts and other written mate- rials that have been created by Mr. Ezra Levant who is a practising member of the Law Society of Alberta." Sharma continued: "It is our position that Mr Levant is not a journalist . . . [h]e's at most a legal commentator . . . the real- ity is that Mr Levant uses his television bully pulpit, his legal show, to harass and bully his victims." Sharma was per- suasive and the appeal panel granted Chak the right to a hearing. The decision to proceed has led to criticism that the LSA, by seeking to regulate his extra-professional conduct, is inappropriately hindering Levant's freedom of expression. The concern does not come just from Levant's friends; even such venerable institutions as the non-partisan writers' group PEN Canada is worried. The chairwoman of PEN's Canadian issues committee, Elise Moser, said: "Canadians must have the right to make informed comment on matters of public interest without being afraid that they will be threatened with professional sanctions." Chak has now been elected as an LSA bencher and as such he says he is restricted in any observations he can make about Levant's upcoming disci- plinary hearing. "I have had nothing to do with it since filing the appeal. I'm pretty focused on letting the regulatory body do what it has to do," he says. As for Levant, he could not be reached by Canadian Lawyer for com- ment, but in an article he wrote for the Financial Post last summer, he argued that politicians, many of whom are lawyers, are not disciplined for their attacks on regulatory institutions. So, while he thinks his disciplinary hearing is unfair and selective, he concluded in a typically Levant-esque burst of defiance: "I'm going to keep calling the human rights commission crazy for the rest of my life. And the fact is that their old prosecutor [Chak] is still trying to get me — that is a bit crazy, isn't it?" In his submissions to the LSA, Sharma dismissed suggestions the law society has no authority to regu- late Levant's work as a writer. "This invented novel defence that Mr Levant is entitled to a journalistic exemp- tion does not exist. . . . So let him do whatever he wants. Let him rant. But let him do so without the veneer . . . of attaching barrister and solicitor behind his name." The final word on the debate will come from the Law Society of Alberta, probably sometime this spring. — GEOFF ELLWAND writerlaw@gmail.com Ezra Levant faces law society hearing \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP W E S T Ezra Levant

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