Barbara Kulaszka (1952/1953 – June 15, 2017) was a Canadian lawyer who practised law in

Brighton, Ontario Brighton is a town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston. It is traversed by both Ontario Highway 401, Highway 401 and the former Ontar ...

, known for her work with far-right causes, defending alleged

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

war criminals and

Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...

s, and free speech cases.

Practice

Kulaszka earned a law degree and was admitted to the

Law Society of Upper Canada The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; frenc ...

in 1980. She began her law practice in 1987 and acted with Doug Christie as co-counsel to

Ernst Zündel Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature.

in the 1980s, and then assisted Christie as a legal researcher in a subsequent Zündel case in the 1990s. She also assisted Christie in the defence of alleged Nazi war criminal

Imre Finta Imre Finta (2 September 1912 – 1 December 2003) was the first person prosecuted under Canada's war crimes legislation. He was charged in 1987 and acquitted in 1990. Early life Finta was born in Kolozsvár (modern-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He ...

, who was acquitted in 1990 (see ''

R v Finta ''R v Finta'', 9941 SCR 701 is a case decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court found that a 45-year delay before charging an individual under the crimes against humanity provisions of the ''Criminal Code'' does not fall within the meaning ...

)''. In 1990, she represented former Nazi rocket scientist

Arthur Rudolph Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph (November 9, 1906 – January 1, 1996) was a German rocket engineer who was a leader of the effort to develop the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany. After World War II, the United States Government's Office of Strategic Ser ...

when he entered Canada and unsuccessfully sought visitor status when the government ruled he was inadmissible due to his suspected culpability in war crimes. Rudolph ultimately left Canada of his own accord and an immigration hearing held in his absence, at which he was represented by Kulaszka, ruled that Rudolph could not return to Canada due to his use of slave labour to produce V-2 missiles during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. She addressed meetings of Paul Fromm's

Canadian Association for Free Expression The Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) is one of a number of groups run by neo-Nazi and white supremacist Paul Fromm. Established in 1981, CAFE states that it is committed to the promotion and defense of total freedom of speech, and ...

. In 2005, she defended Heritage Front leader Marc Lemire before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against a complaint filed against him by Richard Warman. While losing the case, resulting in Lemire receiving a lifetime ban from publishing hate speech on the internet, the case is credited with resulting in the decision of the Canadian government to repeal Section 13.1 of the

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...

which had given the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal jurisdiction over the communication of hate speech online. More recently, she unsuccessfully defended the operators of the conservative online forum Free Dominion after they were sued for defamation by Warman. Her legal practice was based in

Death

On June 15, 2017, Kulaszka died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

at the age of 64. Her memorial service, held in a

Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) (french: Bibliothèque publique de Toronto) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other pub ...

branch in

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

on July 12, 2017, became a source of controversy due to plans to have speeches by

white nationalists White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

such as Paul Fromm and former Heritage Front leader Marc Lemire; Jewish and anti-racist groups urging the library to cancel the booking due to fears that it would promote hate speech and Holocaust denial.

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...

was among those calling on the library to cancel the event.

Written works

Kulaszka edited ''Did Six Million Really Die? – Report of the Evidence in the Canadian "False News" Trial of Ernst Zündel'', 1988 and wrote a second book, ''The Hate Crimes Law in Canada, 1970–1994: Effects and Operation''. Both books were published by Zündel's Samisdat Publishers.

References

External links

Affidavit filed by Barbara Kulaszka on December 16, 1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulaszka, Barbara 1950s births Date of birth missing 2017 deaths Canadian women lawyers Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from lung cancer Holocaust denial in Canada Lawyers in Ontario People from Northumberland County, Ontario