Oops! CHRC’s own reviewer recommends repeal of Section 13
Richard Moon, of the University of Windsor, was brought in by the Canadian Human Rights Commission to head up “a review of the most appropriate mechanisms to address hate on the Internet, with a specific emphasis on the role of the Commission and of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.” Most freespeecher bloggers, I think, thought that the “Moon Report” would turn out to be a whitewash, a blanket “no harm, no foul” statement that would suggest that the CHRC was doing its job just fine, thank you.
Turns out we were wrong.
Professor Moon has recommended, first and foremost, that the much-debated, much-objected-to section 13 of the CHRA be scrapped.
The first recommendation is that section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) be repealed so that the CHRC and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) would no longer deal with hate speech, in particular hate speech on the Internet.
Hate speech should continue to be prohibited under the Criminal Code but confined to expression that advocates, justifies or threatens violence. In the fight against hate on the Internet, police and prosecutors should make greater use of section 320.1 of the Criminal Code, which gives a judge power to order an Internet service provider (ISP) to remove “hate propaganda” from its system.
Each province should establish a provincial “Hate Crime Team,” composed of both police and Crown law officers with experience in the area to deal with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes including hate speech under the Criminal Code.
There’s still some things there to disagree with — the potential exists for spurious use of section 320.1 to silence speech which, while perhaps technically “hateful,” does not fit the category of incitement to, or justification of, violence — but this is, overall, a major step forward for human rights (especially freedom of expression) in Canada.
If the government under Stephen Harper ever wanted to preserve the right to freedom of speech in Canada, now is an ideal time. The ideal time, even.
(hat tip)
I started blogging back in 2004 -- in May, if the Wayback Machine is to be believed. Not that I remember the exact day. To be honest, I didn't take it that seriously then; it was a fun distraction, but nothing more.
That all changed, I think, once the Danish cartoons were published, and the assault on the right to freedom of expression became very visible. With the recent issues in Canada concerning the "human rights" commissions, the gravity of the matter has only increased, and my interest in blogging has increased right along with it.
I used to blog at a domain called Time Immortal, but it seemed to be the right time for a change -- there's been a lot of that in my life of late. Hence this blog: a fresh start, and proof positive that I won't shut up even if I get shut down once in a while.
