FIRST READING: Another NDP bill threatens to jail Canadians for speech
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/first-reading-another-ndp-bill-threatens-to-jail-canadians-for-speech
For the third time in two years, a member of the NDP has introduced a private members’ bill that would jail Canadians for speech.
Last week, the House of Commons completed its first reading of Bill C-254, a private members’ bill introduced by the NDP’s Leah Gazan that would criminalize “residential school denialism.”
As the bill’s text states, any Canadian found to be “condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system” could be punished with up to two years in jail.
A judge would also be able to order the forfeiture of “anything by means of or in relation to” the speech offence.
“Since the discovery of unmarked graves (we have seen) an increase in denialism about what occurred in the residential schools. This is horrific,” said Gazan in a Friday statement on Parliament Hill.A judge would also be able to order the forfeiture of “anything by means of or in relation to” the speech offence.
“Since the discovery of unmarked graves (we have seen) an increase in denialism about what occurred in the residential schools. This is horrific,” said Gazan in a Friday statement on Parliament Hill.
This is the second time Gazan, the MP for Winnipeg Centre, has put forward a bill to jail who she’s called “residential school denialists.” She introduced an identical bill in the 44th Parliament.
Bill C-254 also comes just 16 months after a private member’s bill by the NDP’s Charlie Angus that proposed to jail Canadians for speaking well of fossil fuels. Continue…