Canadians Abandon ‘Nice’ in Greeting Ann Coulter’s Roadshow

Ann Coulter got exactly what she hoped for when she took her roadshow to Canada: a canceled speech because of protests.

The conservative author and commentator is threatening to file a human rights complaint against the University of Ottawa after she was forced to cancel a speaking engagement last night because they didn’t get her “satire.”

Striking back at Canada’s less-than-nice reaction to her college speaking schtick–where she earlier told a Muslim student to “take a camel” instead of flying on an airplane–Coulter complained that she was a victim of a hate crime and she was taking her claim to a favorite target of both U.S. conservatives and civil libertarians, a Canadian Human Rights commission.

“I would like to know when this sort of violence, this sort of protest, has been inflicted upon a Muslim — who appear to be, from what I’ve read of the human rights complaints, the only protected group in Canada,” Coulter said in an interview with the National Post.”  I think I’ll give my speech tomorrow night in a burka. That will protect me.”

Coulter told the Globe and Mail that a human rights tribunal should take her claim seriously “because either [University of Ottawa provost] Francois [Houle] has created a climate of hate against me based on my membership in an identifiable group – or the whole human rights commission is complete horseshit.”

The speech was canceled after hundreds of protesters showed up at the university–which she called a “bush league school”–to protest her invitation and speech.  Houle had previously reminded Coulter that Canadians had a different view of free speech and that her trademark approach may not fly north of the border. The visit is being sponsored by the International Free Press Society, which promotes free speech, and the  Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, which encourages conservatism among young women.

The protesters and Houle played their roles perfectly in Coulter’s attempt to create a free speech furor and mock the Canadian approach to hate speech and free speech generally. Coulter had already lined up Canadian free speech gadfly Ezra Levant to portray Canadians as politically-correct censors and everyone appears to have played along.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.