SASKATOON — A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a discrimination complaint against a former MP who distributed political pamphlets that included messages such as "Stop Indian Crime."

Jim Pankiw sent other similar messages to his Saskatoon-Humboldt constituents in 2002 and 2003 in taxpayer-funded mailouts called "householders" that are issued by MPs.

His pamphlets included comments that linked some aboriginals with higher crime rates, lack of accountability for crimes, extortion, blackmail and terrorism.

Complaints were filed against Pankiw that argued the pamphlets would be likely to expose aboriginals to hatred and contempt.

The tribunal ruled that the mailouts are not subject to the Canadian Human Rights Act because they do not provide a service to the public but rather to MPs by allowing them to share their political views with constituents.

"Not all discriminatory conduct is caught by the act," the tribunal wrote in its ruling, released Friday.

"The tribunal finds that the three householders in question sent by Pankiw are not subject to the provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Accordingly, the complaints have not been substantiated and are dismissed."

Pankiw was not immediately available for comment.

The three pamphlets in question called for the end of hiring quotas, court sentencing provisions, hunting and fishing rights and tax exemptions for aboriginals. The pamphlets also said treaties should not be valid in modern times.

One pamphlet, titled "Stop Indian Crime," showed a photograph of the Oka protest in Quebec in 1990. The caption under the photo described an aboriginal protester as a terrorist.

Daniel Poulin, a lawyer for the human rights commission, said since the pamphlets aren't subject to the act, the panel was unable to consider whether Pankiw's statements were objectionable.

"The tribunal did not look at the actual content of the statements or the householders," Poulin said from Ottawa.

"It's a complex decision. It is a difficult issue, and its deals with whether the pamphlets are a service under the act. It is a very unusual case."

The tribunal noted the act states that communication-related discrimination is limited to statements that are transmitted by telephone or over the Internet. It does not apply to parliamentary householder pamphlets.

During a hearing into the complaints last fall, Pankiw told the tribunal he simply believes aboriginals should not be given special treatment by governments or society.

"You can't discriminate in favour of someone without discriminating against someone else. Discrimination is wrong," he said. "I am an egalitarian. I believe in equality of all people."

Pankiw gave as an example the case of a woman he knows who didn't get into law school because a certain number of seats were set aside for aboriginal students.

"In my opinion, she was discriminated against," he said.

Pankiw served two terms as a Reform and Canadian Alliance MP before he left to sit as an Independent until his defeat in the 2004 federal election.

During the controversy over the pamphlets, Canada Post workers picketed Pankiw's constituency office in protest and refused to deliver the mailings.

Nine people filed official complaints that the pamphlets were discriminatory.

Pankiw fought against the tribunal hearing into the complaints, but lost appeals before the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court refused to hear his case.

The complainants have 30 days to decide whether to appeal Friday's ruling.

-By John Cotter in Edmonton

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Commission investigator Richard Warman has recommended a Canadian human rights tribunal be called as a result of the report's findings.

The pamphlets, titled Stop Indian Crime and It's Clear who the Racists are discriminate against aboriginal peoples and incite others to discriminate, wrote Derek Smith, a sociology professor from Carleton University who specializes in aboriginal affairs.

 Smith was commissioned to analyze the pamphlets for Warman's investigation into nine complaints about the two pamphlets, which were distributed in the Saskatoon area in 2002 and 2003.

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