The Decline of Public Discourse the Attack on Human Rights Commissions

Abstract

During the last few years there has been a disinformation campaign against human rights commissions. While it is not surprising that Internet blogs post things about HRCs that are false and malicious, these claims have seeped into mainstream discourse. This paper sets out some of the claims made about the CHRC and describes how they are misleading or just plain false and it considers how these deceptive and invented claims have entered mainstream discourse. This will involve some general observations about the state of public discourse in Canada.

Keywords: Human Rights Commission, HRC, HRCs, mainstream discourse, CHRC, misleading, false, deceptive, public discourse, Canada