Nova Scotia’s leading newspaper, the Chronicle Herald, is being hauled before that province’s human rights commissions for… publishing the cartoon you see on the left.

The cartoon depicts 44 year old Muslim convert, Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal who said she “wants millions” in compensation from the federal government for the suffering her family allegedly went through after her husband was arrested in 2006 in an anti-terrorism raid.

The cartoon by Bruce Mackinnon was printed on April 18, and immediately drew the ire of Zia Khan of the Centre for Islamic Development who claimed that it went beyond the boundaries of free speech. Which it clearly doesn’t.

According to Khan, quoting someone in a cartoon is extremely offensive and has “far-reaching implications”.

“This is a horrendous thing in this day and age where you are feeding the seeds of hatred toward a whole community of 1.8 billion people.”

This is clearly nonsense and the cartoon is a comment on a single individual and has no bearing on any wider community, Muslim or otherwise.

Dan Leger, director of news content for The Chronicle Herald, has said the newspaper would vigorously defend the cartoon and that investigating the editorial content of a newspaper does not fall within the commission’s mandate.

Spokeswoman Theresa Rath of Halifax Regional Police said officers are investigating a complaint under Section 318 of the Criminal Code, which deals with hate propaganda. That section says: “Every one who advocates or promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.”

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