Civil Life in Canada

"[The government's new bill to target use of hate and terror symbols is not a] blanket ban [on any particular imagery]." 

"We see it in our streets. We see it in our parks. We see it in our grocery stores."

"Frankly, we see it almost everywhere."

"This behaviour is not just morally culpable, the impact has reverberations through the entirety of the community. And, I would argue, tears at the seams of the social fabric of the nation." 

"[The bill includes specific language exempting peaceful protest from prosecution and would only apply to conduct where the] motivation [is to intimidate or prevent someone from practising their faith]."

"We have included specific provisions to exempt peaceful protest."

Justice Minister Sean Fraser 

Justice Minister Sean Fraser tabled a bill Friday adding four new offences to the Criminal Code. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

"Merely displaying this symbol, in and of itself, is not the sole harm we're trying to target." 

"It does have to be tied with the wilful promotion of hatred. This is difficult, because it could take a thousand different forms, and it's going to be for police on the ground and Crown prosecutors to identify when that threshold has been crossed."

Justice Minister Sean Fraser

 

"It is still necessary to show that there is an intention ... an intention to promote hatred by displaying these symbols."

"It's not even clear to me that this law would do what they want it to do, given that you would have to prove, in a criminal context, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the person displaying the flag intended to promote hatred on racial or religious grounds, obviously, in particular, hatred towards Jews." 

Richard Moon, professor, freedom of expression, University of Windsor 

A group of people hold signs at a pro-Palestinian rally. (Travis Golby/CBC)

 

Warning that the Canadian government's new bill that targets the use of hate and terror symbols is not to be considered a 'blanket ban' on any particular imagery, the Justice Minister explained that it would depend on a variety of factors to be evaluated by police and prosecutors in laying a charge, along with questions over implementation.  

 

The measure represents the first piece of legislation since Parliament's resumption this week, representing one of five changes Prime Minister Mark Carney has prioritized in changes to the Criminal Code for an effort to respond to the viral hate messages proliferating in Canada. Those messages have been amplified and become more pointedly vociferous and sinister in the past two years, when the Liberal government in an earlier iteration chose to do nothing.

 

And in doing nothing, merely mouthing the words that 'antisemitism has no place in Canada' -- those who used an inverted triangle, those who flew the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis, championing the groups that Canada lists as terrorists, those who chanted and carried banners shouting 'final solution', symbolizing another Holocaust, who burned the effigy of Israel's prime minister, along with Israeli flags -- were lent tacit encouragement to the  raging mobs accusing Israel of 'Apartheid', and 'genocide'.

 

Immediately on news of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas leading a flood of thousands of terrorists trained and armed with instructions to rape, mutilate, murder at will on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, it was well understood that the nation being  savagely attacked would respond. Which led Palestinian groups in Canada to quickly organize protests against the Jewish state mounting its response in Gaza in a determined effort to root out Hamas, its leaders, weapons depots, and deadly operatives. Taking to the streets of Canada along with supporters in the thousands, Jew-haters went on a  rampage of hate, threatening Canadian Jews.

 

Blocking traffic arteries, entrances to hospitals and universities, synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses, the protest organizers cited their constitutional rights to free speech. And they were permitted to freely speak libelous slanders, inciting to violence, accusing and indulging in vituperative threats against Canadian Jews, even targeting Jewish children attending parochial schools with taunts and accusations. Police presence meant a minimum of physical violence, but no action was taken against verbal violence.

 

The Hub

The new legislative proposal would include criminalizing "willfully promoting hatred against any identifiable group by displaying certain symbols in a public place"; a crime carrying a two-year penalty. Hate symbols defined for the bill's purposes as a Nazi swastika or SS lightning bolts. Defining as well a terror symbol linked to a currently listed  terrorist entity under Canada's designated terrorist lists, including Hezbollah and Hamas. Deliberate alteration of such symbols to be included.

 

The proposed change, according to Richard Moon, professor at the University of Windsor specializing in freedom of expression, raises the question  of assigning motivation to anyone who displays such a symbol. Response to the presence of flags representing Hamas and Hezbollah has Jewish community groups and leaders specifically calling for government action. All such appeals to government have gone unanswered despite the fact that Canada already has anti-hate law legislation.

 

Accordingly, Professor Moon questions whether the government proposal is simply 'performative', since the episodes and symbols new legislation is meant to address are already covered by existing criminal law. In response to the new bill, a spokesman for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, sensitive to any issues that might be addressed to impede the Muslim narrative, insists greater clarity is required on the plan to criminalize the display of terror symbols, since white supremacist symbols "remain untouched". 

 

There are, needless to say, no marches, protests, rallies led by white supremacists interfering with civil life in Canada. 

 

People on both sides are taking issue with some of the signs and social media posts about recent events in the Middle East. (CBC)