Trudeau government’s move to ‘protect Canadians against hate speech & hate crimes’ is road to hell for freedom of expression
26 Jun, 2021
Many Canadians consider their country to be a free one, but unfortunately the Trudeau government is moving toward levels of censorship and control over language that should gravely concern those who support freedom of expression.
With language like that (FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION), it would be easy to assume that freedom of speech is as protected in Canada as it is in the US. However, unlike the Bill of Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually begins with, strangely enough, a limitations clause, which explains that:
"1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
So, sadly, no,Canadians do not have inalienable rights, in the American sense.Any “rights” that Canadians have are subject to “reasonable” and “justified” limits, which in practice, essentially means any limits that the government wants. And although Canadian free speech has always had tenuous legal protections, historically, a sense of common law protection has shielded Canadians from at least the most egregious violations of freedom of expression.
However, under the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership that is no longer the case.
moar at https://www.rt.com/op-ed/527682-trudeau-hate-speech-freedom/