CHRC Main Office
I take a dim view of the Human “rights” Commissions in Canada; and have written to my M.P. a few times about it. I am also opposed to Hate Speech and racism, and feel that it is unbecoming of any civilized person in our society; yet, I feel that the Canadian Human Rights Commission has things a bit wrong. You can read about all sorts of lovely problems that the CHRC has been having over at Mr. Levant’s website. They run from minor infractions, to conflicts of interest, to lying under oath, to the posting of hate messages as bait to try to get others to follow suit.
Getting to the heart of the matter, the thing I dislike the most is that they are technically redundant. The applicable section of the Canadian Human Rights Act, and the part which is redundant, is section 13. It’s reproduced below:
13. (1) It is a discriminatory practice for a person or a group of persons acting in concert to communicate telephonically or to cause to be so communicated, repeatedly, in whole or in part by means of the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking within the legislative authority of Parliament, any matter that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that that person or those persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.
R.S., 1985, c. H-6, s. 13; 2001, c. 41, s. 88.
Now, this may seem fairly straightforward, and it probably is, except for the way that it has been corrupted by the Human Rights Commissions, again see Mr. Levant’s website. The redundancy happens when you take a look at the Criminal code of Canada:
Part VIII 318-319
Hate Propaganda
318. (1) Every one who advocates or promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
319. (1) Every one who, by communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.
(3) No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (2)
(a) if he establishes that the statements communicated were true;
(b) if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text;
(c) if the statements were relevant to any subject of public interest, the discussion of which was for the public benefit, and if on reasonable grounds he believed them to be true; or
(d) if, in good faith, he intended to point out, for the purpose of removal, matters producing or tending to produce feelings of hatred toward an identifiable group in Canada.
Well, if you noticed, that basically covers the exact same thing as the Human Rights Act. Yes, we have two laws covering the same thing… lovely. But of course no one would ever abuse that… um… well… I’m actually not that naive, I’m sure people just go to the Human Rights Commissions once they’ve been turned down by the police. And why might they be turned down by the police? Because there isn’t enough evidence to prove that something was hate speech and not just… oh I don’t know… insensitive.
I trust the Police. I believe that they try to do what is best. I believe that now and then they mess up. When they mess up they are held accountable by the rest of the Police force, by the City, by the Province, by the Federal Government, and most importantly by every single one of us.
I do not trust a Federal agency which has no oversight or accountability, and claims jurisdiction over something which is supposed to be covered by the Police.
Although I agree that there is a reason for the HRC, I think that it should cover things like people being fired from jobs for their race or sexuality, not things which are actual crimes, and for which the perpetraters deserve actual jail time. You wouldn’t want a murder to be investigated by someone who has no power to stop them from doing it again beyond slapping their wrist and making them pay a fine. In the same way you woudln’t want someone who was declared innocent of murder early in an investigation to be investigated by an unacountable agency.
This is Canada. Leave the law inforcment to a group which we can publicly examine and hold accountable. If someone commits a crime as bad as hate speech I want them to be taken down. But I want them to be taken down by a group which will respect the rights and freedoms we have in this country. Personaly I’m a fan of this one:
Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication [Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms section 2(b)]
Whenever Parlement is done their reshuffling (more on the election later) I hope they get down to removing section 13 from the Canadian Human Rights Act.
I wonder if they're signing our rights away
1 Comment
November 24, 2008 at 2:15 pm
[...] talked about Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights act a bit ago. I claimed that it was redundant as it covers the exact same thing as Part VIII 318-319 of the [...]