CRRF Welcomes Supreme Court Clarification on the Promotion of Hatred

TORONTO, Feb. 27, 2013 /CNW/ - Rubin Friedman, Principal Operating Officer of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and a former trainer on Hate Crimes and Hate speech commented on today's Supreme Court Decision involving Section 14 of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code dealing with the promotion of hatred based on sexual orientation.

"The Supreme Court has again taken a balanced approach to dealing with conflicting Charter Rights.  The case of William Whatcott is significant across the board in defining the boundaries of what it means to promote hate and may set a precedent that applies to all grounds of discrimination, including race, religion and ethnic origin. Parts of Section 14 were deemed to be too broad but the Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of a more narrowly defined concept of the promotion of hatred that has to be beyond action or speech that 'ridicules, belittles or otherwise affronts the dignity' of people.  This would be a welcome clarification.  It will help encourage us to distinguish between speech that is offensive and speech which more clearly and actively promotes hatred and discrimination."

SOURCE: Canadian Race Relations Foundation

Rubin Friedman
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