Death Calls A Warrior

Impending death cannot be taken lightly by anyone; not the affected individual who has been informed that a dread disease is causing his life to seep relentlessly toward death, and not the onlooker who must feel some measure of compassion for the victim of fate and an early death. But then, better men than Douglas H. Christie have faced the prospect of leaving life before they feel they are adequately prepared to do so.

Mr. Christie feels regret, doubtless, that his self-assigned role of aid and support to the odious haters of the world will leave his former clients and others like them without champions under the laws of Canada. He can rest assured; there will always be those, like himself, who feel compelled to act in the name of justice in supporting the outrageous views of those for whom hatred is the motivating force in their lives.

Mr. Christie would prefer it be believed that his motivation is love for justice, that everyone and anyone must have due access to lawful interpretation of their right to free speech. That their version of free speech represents a societally-harmful, volatile mix of wretched slander, ignorance and hatred appears so obviously irrelevant. Mr. Christie has an honourable profession to uphold and its traditions to observe.

Irrespective of how vile the smears and accusations, denials and offensive verbal and descriptive assaults on all that is decent, these miscreants deserve support and a haven under the law. And Mr. Christie was just the very man to provide it. "I don't know anybody that's willing to take these on with the type of commitment I think is necessary, because it certainly is a costly process, in time, in effort, and in reputation", he explained with appropriate sanctimony, to a reporter.

There was no hatemongering cretin within Canada with poisonous messages of blame, suspicion and damning lies that he would not go out of his way to support - from John Ross Taylor to Ernst Zundel, SS guard Michael Seifert to Jim Keegstra - he was their man; reliable, skilled in the interpretation of the law and its useful precedents to give them hope and the kindly support of a fellow believer.

Believer in the law, that is. He does not admit to sharing the murky damnation of their racist, bigoted convictions. The chair of the discipline panel of the Law Society of Ontario had once issued a report remarking that Mr. Christie "Made common cause with a small, lunatic, anti-Semitic fringe element in our society". A worthy epitaph on human relations to be etched into his gravestone.

He is not expected to live longer than six months, he has been forewarned, by oncologists who have informed him he is suffering from advanced liver cancer. "If the doctors are right, it's the end of everything", said Mr. Christie. Not quite everything, but everything related to Douglas Christie, aside from his reputation that will long outlive his corporeal essence.