Hate speech no longer part of Canada’s Human Rights Act

[The Straight Story]

A contentious section of Canadian human rights law, long criticized by free-speech advocates as overly restrictive and tantamount to censorship, is gone for good.

A private member’s bill repealing Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the so-called “hate speech provision,” passed in the Senate this week. Its passage means the part of Canadian human rights law that permitted rights complaints to the federal Human Rights Commission for “the communication of hate messages by telephone or on the Internet” will soon be history.

The bill from Alberta Conservative MP Brian Storseth passed in the House of Commons last summer, but needed Senate approval. It has received royal assent and will take effect after a one-year phase-in period.

An “ecstatic” Storseth said the bill, which he says had wide support across ideological lines and diverse religious groups, repeals a “flawed piece of legislation” and he called Canada’s human rights tribunal “a quasi-judicial, secretive body that takes away your natural rights as a Canadian.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/27/hate-speech-no-longer-part-of-canadas-human-rights-act/

[PDJane]

1. I had a certain fondness for that provision.

It made us different from the US and promoted civility.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I respect your opinion but the antidote to bad speech is good speeech

"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectant."

-Louis Brandeis

[PDJane]

3. The trouble is that free speech, as practiced in the US, leads to a cacaphony of misinformation.

[Scootaloo]

5. Well, there's a problem with that

In any social gathering, who tends to speak the loudest? Assholes. But by dint of being loud and obnoxious, they can drive the entire conversation, overpowering people who aren't assholes. This is further abetted by the problem wherein people who aren't assholes also make an effort to not "rock the boat," further ceding ground to the assholes. Thus assholes can set the discourse and deform the gathering, even if nobody present likes them or what they say.

I'm not familiar with the specifics of Canada's hate speech law, I'll admit. But the notion as a concept doesn't bother me - History has plenty of examples of what happens when assholes are allowed to dominate the discourse, after all, and the tendency of good people to just stand by and let it happen. A bureaucratic regulating mechanism isn't the best option, but all others rely on a conversational equivalent of "The Invisible hand."

[Whisp]

4. I'm sad to see it go too.

I didn't feel threatened by it at all, in fact, as you said - it felt civilized.

[roamer65]

6. Canada, you need to get the CONS out of power ASAP.

They are doing to your country what the far right has done to ours.

They're imposing that Albertan right wing poison on the rest of your country.