Hate-speech law under attack

A section of Canada’s human-rights code that protects against hate speech on the Internet is under attack on two fronts just as three accused neo-Nazis in B.C. face charges of vicious, racist assaults.

An appeal got underway in Federal Court in Toronto this week scrutinizing Section 13 of the Human Rights Act, which says it’s discriminatory to spread hate messages online.

The case pits human-rights advocates against defenders of free expression.

Meanwhile, federal Tories are seeking to kill the provision via a private member’s bill in the House of Commons.

But those who keep an eye on incidents of hate and the so-called white- pride movement are worried if those provisions of the act are killed, Canada could see more incidents like the setting on fire of a Filipino man on a Vancouver street.

Police recently announced the arrests of two men in their 20s and a 30-year-old in connection with that assault and three others against minorities in Vancouver. Investigators allege the trio are members of Blood and Honour, a white-supremacist group linked to violence around the world.

All three suspects have provincial court dates on Dec. 23.

“Even after individual members are arrested for these kinds of degenerate crimes, they have a persistent ability to attract new recruits,” said Richard Warman, who is one of three parties in the appeal case and contends Section 13 must stay intact.

The Internet now disseminates the racists’ rallying call, he said.

“That’s why it has to be a constant concern not just for police, but the community and the government as a whole,” he said.

Warman has used the provision on 15 occasions to mount successful complaints, mostly against people accused of agitating online for ethnic cleansing.

But his record was turned on its head in 2009, when the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favour of a right-wing extremist webmaster.

The tribunal, which only handles cases referred to it by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, found Marc Lemire exposed homosexuals and blacks to hatred and contempt by publishing an article entitled “AIDS Secrets.”

But the tribunal also ruled it was unconstitutional to penalize him.

The commission is seeking the appeal.

Eight other groups are participating as interveners, including B’Nai Brith Canada and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.