Nobody actually admits to
hating human rights. But an
ongoing campaign is continually
chipping away at the ability of
human rights commissions to
combat hatred in Canada.
On Sept. 30, MP Brian Storseth introduced a private member’s bill to remove ss. 13 and 54
of the Canadian Human Rights
Act. These sections were
amended in 2001 to address
hateful messages over the Internet, where a largely unregulated
environment allowed hatred to
flourish.
“Section 13 suppresses the
basic right to freedom of speech
in our society that is guaranteed under the Charter of
Rights & Freedoms,” said Storseth. But as Canadian Human
Rights Commission investigator Dean Steacy said, “Freedom
of speech is an American concept.” Restrictions on freedom
of expression are acceptable in
Canadian law where reasonable
goals toward promoting democracy are identified.
In 2009, Tribunal Chair
Athanasios Hadjis decided in
Warman v. Lemire that the penalty provisions under s. 54 of the
Act were unconstitutional and
could not be saved by s. 1 of the
Charter. Storseth and his supporters rely heavily on Lemire to
demonstrate how the Act is
antiquated and in need of
reform. The conclusion that
these provisions need to be
OMAR
HA-REDEYE
“
[T]ribunals still provide
one of the best
forms for amicably
resolving hateful
messages online.
repealed completely could only
emerge from an oversimplification of Lemire, which dealt with
hateful messages online, including the neo-Nazi site “
Storm-front.” The tribunal found the
wording used in s. 13 was not
vague or imprecise, as pleaded
by the respondent. And it was
only the “sentencing considerations” under s. 54 that were
found unconstitutional.
One increasingly popular tac-
tic in Canada has been to record
videos of public protests and
post them online, naming indi-
viduals identified in the crowd.
The only purpose for doing so is
to intentionally belittle the tar-
gets and try to attach their name
to some form of racial contro-
versy for anyone who searches
them online. They are not inter-
ested in promoting expression,
but rather stifling public partici-
pation and speech through what
can only be called an emerging
form of cyber harassment. The
most antagonistic writers are far
less conciliatory than the
respondent in Lemire, who was
not even aware of all the offend-
ing material on his site and
removed it as soon as he discov-
ered the complaint.
Omar Ha-Redeye is a Toronto
lawyer and he dedicates a por-
tion of his practice to online
reputation management.
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Non-lawyer appointees receive substantial training
Laypersons
Continued From Page 1
cessful applicants, is a chartered
accountant who is currently vice-
chair of the Professional Conduct
and Enquiry Committee of the
Institute of Chartered Account-
ants of B.C. That panel hears
complaints from the public about
accountants. He told The Law-
yers Weekly the law society’s
changes will not only allow for
greater public confidence and
transparency in its activities, but
also give him ideas to take back
to his profession.
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