We Canadians often carry a quiet arrogance about how civilized and developed we are as a nation, yet we are blind to the very real and very dangerous short comings in our civil society. Most Canadians aren't aware of our collective lack of rights, Canadians wrongly assume our rights mirror those of our American cousins.
I think most young people sleep through the lesson on "Peace Order and Good Government" while in middle school. Unlike Americans, we have an extremely weak constitution whose rules only protect us as long as the government sees fit. There is not one clause in our constitution which cannot be overridden by either the Federal or Provincial governments! When I tell my good American friends, that at any point in our constitution can be thrown out due to the "Not Withstanding Clause" at any time for any reason they are horrified. What is the point of a constitution if it cannot stand up to our government?! The whole point of a constitution is to protect an individual from government.
If you want to be shocked, take a look at this, this is a transcript from a Human Rights Tribunal, May 10, 2007.
Of course this bullshit position by a Canadian government official barely raised an eyebrow from the Canadian public and media. Once again Canadian apathy strikes! Well fuck that, freedom of speech is not an American concept, its a human concept!
When the government tried to do some damage control due to the whisper of discontent about Mr.Steacy's comments, they came out with this gem:
What the fuck?!!? Canadian value of freedom of expression is different from the American value of freedom of speech?! Are you serious!? Well, legally there is some truth to the matter...care to compare how many books are banned in Canada each year compared to the US. Or how many people are prosecuted for so called "hate speech".
This is infact the bullshit which pisses me off so much. Are we that scared of people in Canada that we cannot allow some dipshits to spew hate?! If someone wants to say something about Muslims, or Jews, or Whites, or Blacks etc, they should be allowed to. What are we so scared about?!?!
Should there be limits to speech?! Well of course threats, fraud and criminal conspiracies should be illegal. But peoples opinions, well seriously what is wrong with people being able to spout all kinds of bullshit?! Should my anti-religious tirade be illegal because they offend someone?! In Alberta, if I say something which offends a particular religious group I can be dragged before the Human Rights commission where I could face fines or prison for simply offending someone!!! Think Im kidding?! Canadian journalist and fellow allumni Ezra Levant was dragged before the tribunal for daring to publish the Danish cartoons which offended muslims. He printed a fucking cartoon and that cost him tens of thousands of dollars because some fucking over sensitive douche bags were offended by a cartoon! Here's his take on it.
This is plain wrong. I am ashamed of a country which is so scared that words upset or hurt people, that we are willing to prosecute those who dare say something offensive. Canadians we should all be ashamed, and people should know their rights, or in this case, lack of rights.
I think most young people sleep through the lesson on "Peace Order and Good Government" while in middle school. Unlike Americans, we have an extremely weak constitution whose rules only protect us as long as the government sees fit. There is not one clause in our constitution which cannot be overridden by either the Federal or Provincial governments! When I tell my good American friends, that at any point in our constitution can be thrown out due to the "Not Withstanding Clause" at any time for any reason they are horrified. What is the point of a constitution if it cannot stand up to our government?! The whole point of a constitution is to protect an individual from government.
The federal Parliament or a provincial legislature may declare a law or part of a law to apply temporarily "notwithstanding" countermanding sections of the Charter, thereby nullifying any judicial review by overriding the Charter protections for a limited period of time. This is done by including a section in the law clearly specifying which rights have been overridden. The rights to be overridden, however, must be either a fundamental right (e.g., section 2 freedom of expression, religion, association, etc), a legal right (e.g., liberty, search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment, etc), or a section 15 equality right.Can you imagine the Americans putting up with this?! Ok, so in general this bothers me a great deal, today my specific concern about current Canadian law is free speech. In Canada it ain't so free!
If you want to be shocked, take a look at this, this is a transcript from a Human Rights Tribunal, May 10, 2007.
Q: MS KULASZKA: Mr. Steacy, you were talking before about context and how important it is when you do your investigation. What value do you give freedom of speech when you investigate one of these complaints?Mr. Steacy is an investigator with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. That's right!, his job since 1997 has been to investigate human rights complains within Canada for a decade at the point of this exchange. His job is to know the law inside and out, and look for violations, and his conclusion is what?! Let me spell it out again: Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value.
MR. STEACY: Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value.
MS KULASZKA: Okay. That was a clear answer.
MR. STEACY: It's not my job to give value to an American concept.
Of course this bullshit position by a Canadian government official barely raised an eyebrow from the Canadian public and media. Once again Canadian apathy strikes! Well fuck that, freedom of speech is not an American concept, its a human concept!
When the government tried to do some damage control due to the whisper of discontent about Mr.Steacy's comments, they came out with this gem:
What the fuck?!!? Canadian value of freedom of expression is different from the American value of freedom of speech?! Are you serious!? Well, legally there is some truth to the matter...care to compare how many books are banned in Canada each year compared to the US. Or how many people are prosecuted for so called "hate speech".This is infact the bullshit which pisses me off so much. Are we that scared of people in Canada that we cannot allow some dipshits to spew hate?! If someone wants to say something about Muslims, or Jews, or Whites, or Blacks etc, they should be allowed to. What are we so scared about?!?!
Should there be limits to speech?! Well of course threats, fraud and criminal conspiracies should be illegal. But peoples opinions, well seriously what is wrong with people being able to spout all kinds of bullshit?! Should my anti-religious tirade be illegal because they offend someone?! In Alberta, if I say something which offends a particular religious group I can be dragged before the Human Rights commission where I could face fines or prison for simply offending someone!!! Think Im kidding?! Canadian journalist and fellow allumni Ezra Levant was dragged before the tribunal for daring to publish the Danish cartoons which offended muslims. He printed a fucking cartoon and that cost him tens of thousands of dollars because some fucking over sensitive douche bags were offended by a cartoon! Here's his take on it.
This is plain wrong. I am ashamed of a country which is so scared that words upset or hurt people, that we are willing to prosecute those who dare say something offensive. Canadians we should all be ashamed, and people should know their rights, or in this case, lack of rights.
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