- “We applaud Richard Warman for his tireless efforts combatting #racism and the scourge of #WhiteSupremacy.”
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs – August 2019
- “Who’d have thought we’d have a Nazi problem in 2017? Richard Warman did.” “Punching Nazis With the Law” with host Jesse Brown on Canadaland.
- “Mr. Warman’s argument, although novel… is not devoid of merit.” Justices Picard and Costigan of the Alberta Court of Appeal.
- “Richard – I’ve been following your successes and cheering you on – many congrats and thanks.”
Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport
- “I would like to commend you for your personal commitment to combat discrimination and for your successful efforts…”
Irwin Cotler, then Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada
- “Richard Warman (a Canadian civil rights lawyer and the bane of hate groups)” and “noted Canadian civil rights lawyer”
Justices Posner, Flaum and Williams
US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstating the conviction of US neo-Nazi Bill White for soliciting violence against foreperson of the jury that convicted fellow neo-Nazi Matt Hale. Hale was found guilty in 2004 of soliciting the murder of a US federal court judge. White will now be sentenced and Hale continues to serve his 40-year sentence.
- “Your … is an act of good citizenship, and I commend you for it.”
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario – February 2012
- “Richard Warman, one of Canada’s most prominent human rights lawyers.”
National Post – January 2012
- “Warman, obviously, was somebody who was intelligent and able to read.”
Unidentified Justice of the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
Stated during the October 2011 hearing of the appeal of the Bill White case where White had been convicted by a US jury of issuing death threats against Warman but the conviction was overturned by an activist judge.
- “No reasonable person being aware of the facts could harbour any reasonable apprehension of bias. [Richard Warman’s] past successes may be more fairly ascribed to the merits of the previous complaints than anything else.”
Justice Phelan of the Federal Court of Canada on allegations the Canadian Human Rights Commission was biased in my favour. 2007
- “Canada’s leading crusader against hate speech.”
Josh Wingrove – Globe and Mail
- After discussing death threats received from a US neo-Nazi leader – “Despite it all, the Ottawa lawyer hasn’t given up on his human rights work. Way to go Mr. Warman!”
Reader’s Digest
September 2010
- “Thank you Richard. And thank you for your own outstanding human rights work regarding violations of Internet content.”Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
Holocaust Memorial Day on Parliament Hill, 2008
- Toronto lawyer Warren Kinsella, whose 1994 book, Web of Hate, enraged the radical right, calls Mr. Warman “extraordinarily courageous. Most people do not understand that when you speak up against terrorists — in this case, far-right terrorists — they do not thereafter engage you in scholarly debate. Sometimes, they want to kill you. Warman knows that, but he keeps going.”
That makes him, in Mr. Kinsella’s estimation, “one of the bravest people in Canada.”
Warren Kinsella – 2007
- “He’s had an enormous impact,” says Michael Geist, the Canadian research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa. “In a sense, he’s got the mechanics of how we deal with online hate up and running. It’s fair to say no one has been as effective or persistent.”
The result is a body of jurisprudence that leaves little doubt Canadian law applies to online hate speech that originates in this country. The decisions, says Mr. Geist, “have sent a clear warning to those who engage in hate speech that this is not a no-law land.”
Michael Geist – 2007
- Last month, the Canadian Jewish Congress recognized Mr. Warman’s efforts with the prestigious Saul Hayes Human Rights Award. Yet despite the default assumptions of his neo-Nazi enemies, he’s not a Jew. In fact, he’s not a member of any of the racial or religious groups hatemongers routinely target.
“I’m a WASP boy from small-town Ontario,” confesses Mr. Warman, a fit-looking man in his late 30s with close-cropped blond hair.
To Len Rudner, the Canadian Jewish Congress’s national director of community relations, that simply makes Mr. Warman’s solo crusade all the more remarkable.
“The fact that Richard says through his deeds, ‘this is my problem, not because I’m a Jew, but because I’m a Canadian,’ is certainly meaningful to me, and it should be meaningful to everybody,” says Mr. Rudner.
“It’s easy to applaud from the back rows,” he says, “far more difficult to be in the orchestra pit leading the band. And that’s where Richard is.”
Len Rudner – 2007
- “Warman is a political animal.”
Western Standard (now defunct)
- “One of the top ten evil Jews in the World”
As selected by a Canadian neo-Nazi website with photo between those of Ariel Sharon and Ron Jeremy. Being a small-town WASP boy, I consider this to be a double badge of honour.
- “Richard Warman – bête noire of the extreme right.”
Kirk Makin – Globe and Mail
- “You’re the face of human rights in Canada aren’t you?†– Answer, “No.â€
David Damico, Esq. – defence lawyer for US neo-Nazi leader Bill White. Convicted by a jury in Roanoke, Virginia of issuing death threats against Richard Warman, the verdict was later overturned by an activist judge. White was convicted on 3 other counts and sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment.
- “We wish Richard well in his ongoing and well documented efforts to combat hatred against minority communities.” Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN)
- “Why should Richard Warman have to take on the mantle of fighting hate? He is a hero, but he shouldn’t have to do it.” – Marvin Kurz, B’nai Brith Canada
- “But in person, he’s all charm and mockery…”
Charlie Gillis, Maclean’s magazine
- “It is nerve-wracking to be in a room with this man…”
Joseph Brean, National Post
- “It was a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Ezra Levant after chatting outside of Giacomo Vigna’s libel trial against him
9 February 2010
- “Rick – look forward to seeing you in the House of Commons!” – Brian Mulroney
- Referring to Warman, “We always take comfort when the general population within a community takes a stand against racism and hateful speech,” said Shaukat Moloo of the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities. We are comforted when someone stands up and challenges them… by using the due process of law.
Edmonton Journal – ‘Heroic’ hate fighter brings the battle West – 16 July 2006