CALGARY — Calgary gave American right-wing commentator Ann Coulter a mostly warm welcome, with a scattering of protesters outnumbered by the nearly 1,000 people who paid to see her speak Thursday night.
Security personnel at the Red and White Club, a University of Calgary-owned venue, say about 20 protesters broke a window while banging on the door during Coulter’s speech.
They held signs — one said “Calgary is Cold to Coulter” and a small child’s said, “I don’t have a camel or a flying carpet, can you lend me your broomstick?”, a reference to a comment Coulter made earlier this week to a Muslim woman at a university in London, Ont.
The scene was vastly different than the one Coulter faced in Ottawa a few days earlier, and she remarked how she felt so much safer and that she knew it would be the best of the three stops she made in Canada.
The polite crowd of 900 listened as Coulter talked about diversity, gays, and bias in the media.
The audience gave a huge cheer when Coulter proposed making Calgary the 51st of the United States.
She said Canada was the least diverse country she’s seen — which brought objections from the audience, but she pointed out that everyone in the crowd looked like she did.
Coulter spoke a lot about how there’s standards for Liberals but not for everyone else, especially Conservatives.
She cited late night talk show host David Letterman, who admitted on TV that he had an affair with one of his employees. Anyone else would have been fired for sleeping with an employee, and if that person happened to be a Republican, he would have been deported, Coulter added.
“In conclusion, if anything I’ve said tonight offended you, my work is done,” she said to end her speech.
The event was supposed to be held at the University of Calgary campus, but was moved after her speech at the University of Ottawa was cancelled earlier this week when hundreds of protesters came out after learning about comments she made at another university.
Coulter told a Muslim student at the University of Western Ontario that she should “take a camel” for international travel after the student challenged a previous Coulter statement that Muslims shouldn’t be allowed on airplanes and should take flying carpets instead.
She says she intends to file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission over the way she was treated by the University of Ottawa.
Provost Francois Houle sent Coulter a note before her speech on Tuesday, urging her to educate herself about Canada’s hate laws, saying that promoting hatred against an identifiable group could lead to criminal charges.
The inflammatory commentator pulled out of that appearance after 1,500 people tried to get into the venue that was already filled to capacity with pre-registered guests. Another few hundred loudly protested her speech outside the building.
In a column posted on the American conservative website Townhall.com, Coulter said she hopes the “august” human rights commission will find out whether the university has warned any other speakers to watch their words or if it’s a caution reserved for female conservatives.
“If a university official’s letter accusing a speaker of having a proclivity to commit speech crimes before she’s given the speech — which then leads to Facebook postings demanding that Ann Coulter be hurt, a massive riot and a police-ordered cancellation of the speech — is not hate speech, then there is no such thing as hate speech,” she wrote.
Canadian conservative Ezra Levant, who helped bring Coulter north of the border, confirmed he had been retained by the fiery pundit, but said he had been too busy with the tour to research what legal actions she could potentially take.
The school’s president, former Liberal cabinet minister Allan Rock, issued a statement underlining that the institution would remain “a safe and democratic environment for the expression of views.”
Calgary has been a popular stop on speaking tours for right-wing American figures. Former U.S. president George W. Bush gave his first speech after leaving office in the city, despite a small crowd of protesters. Former U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin recently received a warm reception after a talk in which she compared Alberta to her home state of Alaska.
Coulter has made a name for herself in the U.S. through appearances on Fox News and she has written a number of books. She is famous for saying “not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims” and accusing the widows of those who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of being self-obsessed and enjoying their husbands’ deaths.
Reaction to Coulter’s bumpy reception in Ottawa has been mixed. Protesters claimed victory, saying she is hateful towards religious minorities, homosexuals and women, but free speech advocates said stifling freedom of speech at universities sets a dangerous trend.
Clarification
An editorial that appeared in the Red Deer Advocate on Thursday, March 25, requires clarification. Craig Chandler, executive director of the Progressive Group for Independent Business, had secured a contract to bring Ann Coulter to Canada but ultimately declined to do so. Coulter’s Calgary appearance was organized independently by Ezra Levant.