All Posts Tagged With: "hate speech"
Trial for former U of S prof charged with hate speech
Court date not yet set for Terrence Tremaine
On Mar. 11, Regina Provincial Court Judge Bruce Henning decided that the crown had provided enough evidence at a preliminary hearing to proceed to a trial. A court date has not yet been set.
In the past Tremaine has declared himself to be the leader of the National-Socialist Party of Canada, an unregistered political party which is dedicated to white sovereignty. Tremaine was fired from the U of S in 2005 after the school was informed of comments he’d posted on a white supremacist site.
Coulter: the she-devil in her own words
Maclean’s speaks with Ann Coulter
Ezra Levant, who was present at the venue for tonight’s aborted Ann Coulter talk at the University of Ottawa, spotted my quickie weblog entry about the cancelled event and had me chat briefly with the leggy agitator. Coulter tells Maclean’s she never had the chance to move on from a private dinner reception at which she was signing books, meeting local conservatives, and waiting for the all-clear from her bodyguard, who was on the scene at the university. “I was just reviewing my speech. It was a fine little speech, and by the way, I cut it down so we could have an extensive question-and-answer period. I gathered that I was going to have a very exciting crowd tonight.”
The police, Coulter says, “had been warning my bodyguard all day that they were putting up [messages] on Facebook: ‘Bring rocks, bring sticks, you gotta hurt Ann Coulter tonight, don’t let her speak.’ And the cops eventually said, we’ve got a bad feeling, this isn’t gonna happen. And they shut it down.”
Coulter agrees with the suggestion that conservative speakers face greater dangers and nuisances in trying to encounter audiences on university campuses. “I speak at a lot of college campuses and I need a bodyguard… Michael Moore does not; Judy Rebick does not. I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could have spoken tonight with less controversy.” She dismisses the possibility, however, that things are ever likely to change. “Unfortunately, conservatives are too polite, so they will never get a taste of their own medicine in that regard, in terms of angry mobs with sticks and rocks.”
She accuses the University of Ottawa’s academic vice-president, Francois Houle, of “inspiring hatred” toward her with his epistolary warning to her that she needed to be conscious of Canada’s criminal prohibitions of hate speech. Indeed, she says she intends, with Levant’s help, to ask police to proceed with exactly the same charges against Houle.
“He described the law to me very carefully—any speech that incites hatred toward someone based on membership in an identifiable group can be criminally prosecuted. Well, before I even set foot in Canada, he had identified me as having criminal proclivities because I belong to an identifiable group: conservatives. Or it could be because I’m a Christian, I’m a Presbyterian. I’m a female conservative. If what Francois Houle did to me is not a hate crime, then nothing is.”
After the event was cancelled by the police, Coulter says she went to her hotel room to relax and had a surreal moment. “I was watching the local news, which was all hockey and Ann Coulter, and some nut came on claiming that he was the organizer behind my speech. [murmurs in background] OK, his name is Craig Chandler. I sent an e-mail to my bodyguard saying Craig Chandler is disinvited from the event in Calgary. He’s on TV claiming to be the organizer and denouncing me!”
Ann Coulter responds
And she still hasn’t been arrested.
Ann Coulter has responded to the University of Ottawa’s provost Francois Houle suggestion that she choose her words carefully, unless she wants to wind up with criminal charges. Coulter is scheduled to speak at the University of Ottawa this evening. In an email to the Ottawa Citizen, Coulter says that Houle is promoting “hatred” and “violence” against people with conservative views. She also told the newspaper that she would like to file a human rights complaint. Coulter spoke at the University of Western Ontario Monday evening, and will also be speaking at the University of Calgary this week.
As the Citizen reported:
“Now that the provost has instructed me on the criminal speech laws he apparently believes I have a proclivity (to break), despite knowing nothing about my speech, I see that he is guilty of promoting hatred against an identifiable group: conservatives,” Coulter wrote in an e-mail on Monday.
The Citizen had requested a telephone interview with Coulter. Instead, the newspaper received the e-mail from the author.
She questioned whether every speaker booked at the university received a similar warning or just the conservative ones.
“The provost simply believes and is publicizing his belief that conservatives are more likely to commit hate crimes in their speeches. Not only does this promote hatred against conservatives, but it promotes violence against conservatives,” Coulter wrote.
She added she would ask the human rights commission to investigate, but didn’t specify which one.
“I was hoping for a fruit basket upon my arrival in Canada, not a threat to criminally prosecute me,” Coulter said.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Coulter notoriously wrote of Muslim countries, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” She has also suggested that Muslims use “flying carpets,” as opposed to airplanes.
At Coulter’s University of Western Ontario talk, a Muslim student challenged her on her previous comments. The student said, as reported by the Sun media chain, “As a 17-year-old student of this university, Muslim, should I be converted to Christianity? Second of all, since I don’t have a magic carpet, what other modes do you suggest.” To which Coulter responded, “take a camel.”
Throw Ann Coulter in jail!
UOttawa’s provost should educate himself on Canada’s hate speech laws.
It isn’t just the student union that is having a fit over Ann Coulter’s planned visit to the University of Ottawa. Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost at the U of O, has sent Coulter an email warning her to watch her mouth, lest she find herself behind bars.
Coulter has posted the email online, which reads:
I would, however, like to inform you, or perhaps remind you, that our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate freedom of expression (or “free speech”) in a manner that is somewhat different than the approach taken in the United States. I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before your planned visit here.
You will realize that Canadian law puts reasonable limits on the freedom of expression. For example, promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges. Outside of the criminal realm, Canadian defamation laws also limit freedom of expression and may differ somewhat from those to which you are accustomed. I therefore ask you, while you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind.
There is little question that Coulter has written many things considered provocative, rude and inflammatory. For a few examples see here and here. But has she ever said anything criminal? Something so offensive that it would actually attract the attention of the police? Our criminal hate-speech provisions no doubt require an arbitrary line be drawn between what is acceptable and what is not. But the way the law has evolved is that it has become reserved for the most egregious and vile offences, like this case.
When Section 319 of the criminal code, the hate speech provisions, was subject to a Charter challenge and reviewed by the Supreme Court some two decades ago, it survived only because the judges reasoned that, as written, it should not have an overly broad interpretation, and that only the most extreme cases should be subject to prosecution. Such cases typically include a sustained effort by the accused to willfully promote hatred over a period of time, and, in such a way that there would be no redeemable political speech. Hate speech has to be near fully void of relevant comment on issues of public interest. In fact this is written right into the criminal code and anyone charged with promoting hatred has recourse to several defences. The defences include truth, commenting on religious topics, making comments that stem from religious beliefs, and making comments that are on a topic of public interest.
Even if Coulter repeated every inflammatory thing she ever wrote during her visit in Canada, she likely still wouldn’t be charged. And, if she was, she would have several legal defences at her disposal.
Provost Houle wants Coulter to educate herself on our hate speech laws, I would suggest he take his own advice.
Update: York student investigated for hate speech
University suspends Salman Hossain over internet postings that support genocide.
Updates to this story at the bottom.
A York University student is being investigated by the Ontario police hate crimes unit in relation to postings on a website called Filthy Jewish Terrorists, the National Post reported last week. On the website, Salman Hossain appears to have made several remarks supporting the genocide of Jewish people.
According to the Post, Hossain “refers to Jews as ‘diseased and filthy,’ ‘the scum of the earth,’ ‘psychotic’ and ‘mass murderers’ and writes that ‘a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.’ ”
Section 318 of the criminal code prohibits the promotion of genocide, and section 319 prohibits the “willful” promotion of hatred against identifiable groups. Hossain, who is being investigated by the Hate Crimes Extremism Investigative Team, first came to the attention of police in October 2007. Back then he was probed by the RCMP for internet writings that supported attacking Canadian soldiers on Canadian soil. No charges were laid in that case. At the time Hossain was a University of Toronto student.
In response to the allegations, York University says it will conduct its own investigation to determine if Hossain is in breach of the university’s code of conduct, which could lead to an immediate suspension while a panel of students and faculty consider his case.
UPDATE: Yesterday, York University officially suspended Salman Hossain. He will have to face a disciplinary panel, and is not allowed on the campus until that time. Spokesman Keith Marnoch told the National Post that the panel has to meet within 60 days, but that it should happen much sooner. He also emphasized safety concerns regarding the case, “We want all of our students, all of our community members, to be safe and knowing that they can be.”
Former USask prof accused of hate speech free on bail
Terrence Tremaine has been ordered to stay off the Internet
A former University of Saskatchewan lecturer charged with spreading hate and breaching his bail conditions is being released from custody.
Terrence Tremaine appeared via video in a Regina court where he has been ordered to stay away from computers or any devices that can access the Internet. Tremaine was arrested earlier this summer for allegedly breaching previous bail conditions not to post messages online.
The conditions were put in place after Tremaine was charged with spreading hatred in connection with comments posted on the Internet between Feb. 2004 and Nov. 2007.
He has pleaded not guilty and is to be back in court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 19.
- The Canadian Press
