Following a trend of promoting anti-speech legislation in Western Countries, Canada’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the House of Commons has a disproportionate and highly politicized interest in the vaguely-defined concept of “online hate”.
According to an April Press Release, the Committee is working on “potential amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Criminal Code, or any other act, could help stem the propagation of hateful acts and the enticement of hatred through racism, sexism, antisemitism, islamophobia, or homophobia in online platforms.”
A RAIR Foundation journalist captured the session held on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, 8:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., which featured free speech activists Lindsay Shepherd, John Robson and Mark Steyn, who each gave statements on why legislating speech online is harmful, not helpful, to public discourse. As illustrated by the audio recording featured here, the witnesses in this session were treated in a hostile manner, ridiculously forced to defend previous out-of-context and cherry picked statements made by themselves or others in their sphere.
The session was one in a series of hearings, with numerous witnesses representing themselves, or various organizations. The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is composed of 11 Members of Parliament. It is chaired by Anthony Housefather, MP for Mount Royal.
Relevant links:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/JUST/news-release/10418091
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/JUST/meeting-154/notice
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/JUST/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=10543157
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