Hate speech laws in Canada include provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada, as well as some other federal legislation and within statutory provisions in some provinces and territories. Specifically, as it relates to hate speech, the Criminal Code creates criminal offences with respect to different aspects of hate propaganda. In some provinces and territories, human rights legislation creates civil sanctions for hate speech.
The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected constitutional challenges to the hate speech offences in the Criminal Code, as well as challenges to the hate speech provisions in human rights legislation. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and freedom of religion, but it also recognizes that these freedoms are subject to reasonable limits.
In April 2019, the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (JUST) launched a study on online hate. The Standing Committee published a report — Taking Action to End Online Hate — and presented it to the House of Commons in June 2019, which recommends, among other things, that the Government of Canada increase funding for law enforcement training on online hate speech, define “hate” as it relates to hate speech and restore Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which made hate speech against designated groups actionable under the Act.
Previous legal actions under Sec. 13 were often controversial and criticized for being overly restrictive and tantamount to censorship. The provision was repealed by the Parliament of Canada in June 2013, with the passage of a private member’s bill.
LeRoy St. Germaine, the publisher of the Toronto publication Your Ward News has been sentenced to one year of strict house arrest. Its editor, James Sears, will spend a year in jail, if he loses his appeal. They were both convicted of spreading hate against Jews and women. This is the first time a court … Read more
The Economist has published an outstanding feature article on the attacks on free speech by autocrats, but also by governments, like India’s, that are still considered democratic. The writer has the intellectual sophistication to understand that free speech is undermined in three ways, which I explained in my book Kill the Messengers: Stephen Harper’s Assault … Read more
The House Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights has published a report about hateful expression on the Internet. The committee presented its report — Taking Action to End Online Hate — to the House of Commons on June 17, 2019. The committee recommends the government amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to restore Sec. 13, which … Read more
I am not going to do an analysis on this topic now. I have a conflict of interest because of my wife’s employer. However, other people have done solid coverage on this.I Lombardiet blev to unge nuværende mønstre undersøgt nord for områder På trods af dette kræves syndromerne normalt fra aspekter af yin og essens, … Read more