FOR much of the past century Maclean's, Canada's main newsweekly, has been as colourless as its name. But since early 2005, when slumping sales prompted a management overhaul, it has become livelier and more provocative. Too provocative, it seems, for some Canadians.

One of its star attractions is Mark Steyn, a columnist who is a sparkling, often side-splittingly funny writer and, by his own admission, “a Zionist neocon Bush shill”. Some readers added “Islamophobe” after Maclean's published an alarmist screed by Mr Steyn in October 2006 predicting, among other things, that Europe was becoming a “Eurabia” overrun by Muslim hordes, intent on jihad and sharia.

The piece, an excerpt from Mr Steyn's book “America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It”, was notable for its simplistic demographic projections—Yemen (population 22m) will outnumber Russia (141m) by mid-century, he wrote confidently—and for the reaction it generated. Maclean's published 27 letters, many of complaint. That was not enough for some offended Muslims. Last spring a group of Toronto law students marched into the magazine's offices demanding equal space for a rebuttal by an author of their choosing. Ken Whyte, the editor and publisher, told the group he would rather see Maclean's go bankrupt.

Last month the students and the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), a lobby group, filed complaints against Maclean's at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, as well as those of Ontario and British Columbia. The article, the CIC claimed, harmed Muslims' “sense of dignity and self-worth”.

Their choice of forum has brought protests. The criminal code has hate-propaganda provisions, but using these requires convincing a prosecutor. The bar is much lower for Human Rights Commissions and their tribunals. These were set up to deal with discrimination on grounds such as race or sex in jobs, housing or services. Even the man who inspired them, Alan Borovoy, a civil-liberties lawyer, is dismayed at their misuse to limit free speech. The tribunals can only levy small fines and give an order to desist. But the proceedings involve steep costs for defendants, whereas plaintiffs pay nothing if the commission decides there are grounds to proceed.

Much of Canada's press and many broadcasters are already noted for politically correct blandness. Some fear that the case can only make that worse. Mr Steyn and others hope it will prompt a narrower brief for the commissions, or even their abolition. As he put it in his blog, “I don't want to get off the hook. I want to take the hook and stick it up the collective butt of these thought police.”