Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government proposed legislation on Wednesday, Bill C-36, that is aimed at combating “hate speech” and “hate propaganda.”
Bill C-36 will “better protect Canadians from hate speech and online harms,” according to a news release from the federal government. The statement includes 33 mentions of the word “hate.”
The bill’s summary includes a proposed legal definition of “hatred” to be included in Canada’s Criminal Code. It defines “hatred” as “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than dislike or disdain … For greater certainty, the communication of a statement does not incite or promote hatred, for the purposes of this section, solely because it discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends.”
The bill’s text does not specify if or how non-verbal messages such as images or videos would be regulated to control “hate.”
Under a section titled “Fear of hate propaganda offence of hate crime,” Bill C-36 would allow provincial court judges to impose restrictions on those accused by an “informant” of a likely future commission of an offence “on reasonable grounds.” In other words, a judge would be able to issue restrictions against accused parties if the judge believes the accused is likely to commit an offense related to “hate.”
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