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Originally Posted by CutiePie2000
We too have freedom of speech; however we also draw the line at inciting hatred, I guess you could say and we spell it out quite clearly in the Criminal Code of Canada and to a certain extent, in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"Section 319 deals with publicly stirring up or inciting hatred against an identifiable group based on colour, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. It is illegal to communicate hatred in a public place by telephone, broadcast or through other audio or visual means. The same section protects people from being charged with a hate crime if their statements are truthful or the expression of a religious opinion."
Quick question (and on another note): In your country, if some jackass yelled out "FIRE!" in a crowded theatre and there was no fire, could they hide behind the 'Freedom of Speech' plea? Just wondering.
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I'll deal with the last question first - yes, we actually have Supreme Court case law in this country dealing with the "shouting fire" hypothetical, discussing that it is not protected speech. The US also has "hate crime" legislation in some states, and makes certain crimes against racial minorities, homosexuals, etc. However, there's a high value placed down here on free speech, and there's a certain burden on legislators before they pass laws that infringe upon free speech, or upon law enforcement when they take action that appears to abridge free speech. It's not an absolute right, but it's a strong one.
I think that the way the law is spelled out in your country's criminal code would have some difficulty passing Constitutional muster in the US. The language stating "publicly stirring up," as well as the portion stating that it is "illegal to communicate hatred in a public place by telephone, broadcast or through other audio or visual means," seems incredibly broad. It would appear that an individual who writes "I hate xyz group" on a piece of paper in a crowded room would be subject to criminal sanctions under your code. Of course, I say this without any knowledge of the Canadian courts' interpretation of the code, so they may have narrowed it or built in exceptions to the rule.
It seems that Canada traded some freedom of speech for extra protections against what it perceived to be hate speech. If the Canadian citizens are ok with that, then it's not really an issue. It's just one of the trade offs that nations sometimes make when they place more or less importance on certain concepts.
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