It's Time to Upgrade Free Speech to Fair Speech
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Bill Whatcott was charged with promoting hate after he distributed flyers in Regina and Saskatoon in 2001 and 2002 that condemned gay sex as immoral.
Whatcott published and distributed four anti-gay flyers in Saskatchewan that used words like "filth," "propaganda" and "sodomy" to describe gay relationships and discussions of equality.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court held that the first two flyers, titled "Keep homosexuality out of Saskatoon's public schools" and "Sodomites in our public schools," did constitute hate speech and reinstated the Saskatchewan tribunal's finding, including $7,500 in fines against Whatcott.
Whatcott published and distributed four anti-gay flyers in Saskatchewan that used words like "filth," "propaganda" and "sodomy" to describe gay relationships and discussions of equality.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court held that the first two flyers, titled "Keep homosexuality out of Saskatoon's public schools" and "Sodomites in our public schools," did constitute hate speech and reinstated the Saskatchewan tribunal's finding, including $7,500 in fines against Whatcott.
No, it's part of yours. You believe that a democratically elected leader should have that power. You keep saying so.
I didn't realize that Billy Joel knew Mentalfloss:
There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And likes to be known as the angry young man
Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand
He's been stabbed in the back he's been misunderstood
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good
And he sits in his room with a lock on the door
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man
I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right
And there's always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes
So he can't understand why his heart always breaks
And his honor is pure and his courage is well
And he's fair and he's true and he's boring as hell
And he'll go to the grave as an angry old man
Yes there's always a place for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And likes to be known as the angry young man
A leader in a democracy is very limited no matter how much they want to 'dictate', so you have nothing to fear.
It would be an overwhelmingly supported measure except for a small fringe group of liberscaredians.
John Ross Taylor, a self-described fascist, was jailed in Ontario in the 1980s for telephone hate messages.
In 1990, the case reached the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled against Taylor. The majority ruled that although Canada's Human Rights Act restricts freedom of expression, that restriction is justified.
"Parliament's objective of preventing the harm caused by hate propaganda is of sufficient importance to warrant overriding a constitutional freedom," Chief Justice Brian Dickson stated in the majority opinion.
In 1990, the case reached the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled against Taylor. The majority ruled that although Canada's Human Rights Act restricts freedom of expression, that restriction is justified.
"Parliament's objective of preventing the harm caused by hate propaganda is of sufficient importance to warrant overriding a constitutional freedom," Chief Justice Brian Dickson stated in the majority opinion.
Which simply proves that the Charter is counter-productive. A trudeaupian assault on the civil rights of Canadians.
Only an idiot believes that rights exist at the pleasure of the state.
The left and the right both have members that qualify as being 'radical'. That seems to be a foreign concept to the collective.
As usual, you completely misrepresented the story. This was about using telecommunications to spread hate, not the message itself.
And in order to hear the messages, YOU had to call THEM.
Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits the communication of messages by telephone which are likely to expose a group to hatred or contempt because of, inter alia, their race or religion.
Taylor and the Western Guard Party were found to have contravened s. 13(1) of the Act, and a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a cease and desist order.
What landed them in shit was not abiding by the cease and desist order. So ultimately, this was about contravening s.13(1) and not the message per se.
Your rights may be denied by the state, but that does not mean they do not exist.
A violation of rights is not the elimination of the concept.
Despite what the idiots on our SCC think.
Mr. Heinlein, much as I like his writing, is wrong in this instance.
And here I thought you were a constitutionalist. Certainly the US Constitution recognizes rights as inherent.
So does ours....
26. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed as denying the existence of any other rights or freedoms that exist in Canada.
I'm also a realist.
Let's go with the basics: Life, Liberty, and the Purfoot of Happinefs.
The first is meaningless. No "right to life" will protect you from an armed robber or a drunk-ass redneck in Las Vegas. It won't even protect you from the government. Just ask Tamir Rice or Freddy Gray.
Liberty. Your liberty is constrained in a myriad ways from before you get up until after you drop off to sleep: social, financial, and legal.
The Purfoot of Happinefs isn't a right at all, it's a universal condition. In any circumstance, I will choose among the available options whichever one I consider most likely to make me happy. As will you. As will everybody.
Even the "rights" the government recognizes are limited. The Fourth Amendment does not protect you from search and seizure; it does not even protect you from warrantless search and seizure. I protects you from unreasonable search and seizure. And if ever there was a nice, squishy word just begging to be interpreted a thousand different ways, it's "reasonable." And the Supreme Court doctrine for when a violation of basic Constitutional rights is permissible is when the violation serves "a compelling government interest." In the name of "compelling government interest" we sent thousands of young men off in deadly involuntary servitude in a war in which the government had almost no interest at all, much less a compelling one. All legal as church on Sunday, and approved by the Supremes.
I value the notion of "rights," but I recognize them for what they are: the most cherished and highly regarded of our liberties, that should only be abrogated or abridged when it's really, really important. They aren't bestowed by Sky Daddy, they're bestowed by the culture in which one lives, which is why different cultures have wildly different ideas of what "rights" are. They are our hard core values, but to pretend that they exist apart from the culture that recognizes them is silly.
And my message here is "Don't assume that your 'rights' will not be abrogated by just about anybody for just about any reason. Because they are so dear, you must work, study, spend, and prepare to fight to uphold them."
Yeah, you did. He wasn't told to cease and desist with his message, he was told to stop using the phone to spread it. I don't care about some worthless CBC article, the simple fact is he was prosecuted for violating s.13(1), not for the message itself.