Western Standard

The Western Standard is an Alberta based news and commentary online magazine. It was founded in 2004 as a printed magazine, stopping publication in 2007. In 2019, Derek Fildebrandt bought the rights to the magazine and relaunched it.
Muhammad cartoons controversy
On February 13, 2006 the Western Standard attracted controversy when it became the first widely published English Canadian media outlet to republish the cartoons of Muhammad first published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Conservative Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor criticized this decision, saying that it put the lives of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan at increased risk.
In February 2006, Calgary Muslim leader Syed Soharwardy filed a human rights complaint against Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant. He was compelled to appear before the Alberta Human Rights Commission to discuss his intention in publishing the cartoons. In February 2008, Soharwardy dropped the complaint noting that "most Canadians see this as an issue of freedom of speech, that that principle is sacred and holy in our society."
In May 2006, the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities filed another Human Rights complaint against the Western Standard over the publishing of the cartoons. In August 2008, the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship (AHRC) Commission dismissed the complaint, the commission stated that, "given the full context of the republication of the cartoons, the very strong language defining hatred and contempt in the case law as well as consideration of the importance of freedom of speech and the 'admonition to balance,' the southern director concludes that there is no reasonable basis in the information for this complaint to proceed to a panel hearing."

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