Little Sisters Gay and Lesbian Bookstore Loses Censorship Battle

Vancouver's Little Sisters bookstore has lost it's long-running censorship battle.

Yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada handed down it's decision denying the bookstore the right to upfront funding to allow the bookstore to continue it's fight against Canada Customs. Due to the bookstore's lack of financial resources they will have to discontinue their fight.

Presently, Canada Customs agents can confiscate and ban materials which are deemed to be obscene as they cross the border. Numerous books and comics being imported by the bookstore have been banned at the border, and some estimates state that 70 percent of all materials banned at the border are of a gay or lesbian nature.

Little Sisters has been fighting this fight since 1986, the core of the battle was over Canada Customs right to censor materials at the border, stating that the delicate decision of what should get allowed or banned should not be left to whim of customs officers. In 2000 their court battle began, going through the BC Supreme Court, and Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court of Canada. In 2004, facing huge looming legal costs, Little Sisters asked for a portion of their legal costs to be funded by the government. In order for a court case to qualify for this funding two conditions have to be met; first, that the litigator is in dire financial straits, and second, that the case that is being decided is important to Canadians. The BC Supreme Court decided that Little Sisters did meet the requirements and asked that their legal costs be funded. This decision was later overturned in the court of appeals after vigorous lobbying by Canada Customs. Facing legal costs of perhaps half a million dollars, they appealed this decision with the Supreme Court of Canada, the decision to which has just been handed down.

The disturbing precedent that this sets is that only the wealthy can expect to see justice in Canada when taking the government to court. This case is important to Canadians, and the financial need of a small bookstore when facing million dollar legal bills cannot be denied. What I fear is that what is at play here is not simply about the validity of the legal question being decided, but instead that we are seeing the first manifestations of a growing conservatism in Canada, which will impinge on the freedoms that we as Canadians hold dear.