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« Can I Put Michelle Malkin in a Cage in My Basement? Please? | Main | All I Have Ever Needed to Know About Human Nature, I Have Learned From John le Carré »

April 27, 2004

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Unpopular speech is unprotected in Canada. Most of what I've read about it concerns people feeling legal heat for arguing against homosexuality. I'm surprised you hadn't heard.

"First they came for the religious fundamentalists, and I said nothing, because, hey, let's be honest, those guys are nuts. Then they came for the kinky women in leather, and I said, NOW WAIT JUST A DAMNED MINUTE HERE!"

No, I have heard (Volokh, et al), but I have also heard that the concern is overblown (e.g., Leiter). It is obvious that Canadian protection for sexual expression is lower than the US's, but I am ignorant of their law so far, so I can't say how much lower.

Most of the rightwing criticism of the Canadian hate-speech crime laws have focused on bashing the left (Bernstein), so it's been easy to ignore so far. I want to read more, but am strapped for time.

Canada does have a Charter Of Rights And Freedoms; 'freedom of speech, thought, and expression' is, as I recall, the first mentioned.

However, as usual in any society, there are in reality restrictions. The usual legal ones about uttering threats, saying you have a bomb in your luggage, that sort of thing. There's also hate-crime law which restricts speech, and of course obscenity laws. These things go back and forth between 'say anything' and 'but not that.'

Interestingly, a judge in Ontario recently abolished the movie censorship comission on the grounds that they hadn't provided any evidence that they needed to exist.

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