Senate Holds Hearings on Bill C-304
Last week, the Senate of Canada passed Bill C-304 on Second Reading and sent the bill onto the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights. Bill C-304 is a private members bill which will repeal the ravenous censorship of Section 13, of the Canadian “Human Rights” Act. Section 13 makes it an offence to “likely” “expose” privileged groups to “hatred and/or contempt.” There are NO defences under Section 13! Even truth and intent are considered irrelevant to a finding of discrimination. The law was enacted in 1977 in order to silence a man named John Ross Taylor for messages he recorded onto his telephone answering machine. In the intervening 32 years, not a single person who has been hauled up on Section 13 charges has ever been acquitted – a 100% conviction rate. Section 13 has been used and abused since its inception.
Bill C-304 passed the Canadian House of Parliament in June 2012 by a vote of 153 to 136. [See video of the Parliamentary vote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4Svybr07c]
On June 25-26, 2013, the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights is set to receive testimony from the following individuals:
Pearl Eliadis, Lawyer (As an individual)
Richard Moon, Professor, Faculty of Law (University of Windsor)
Brian Storseth, M.P., sponsor of the bill
Kerri Froc, Staff Lawyer, Law Reform and Equality (Canadian Bar Association)
Mark H. Toews, Member of the Executive, Constitutional and Human Rights Law Section (Canadian Bar Association)
Cara Faith Zwibel, Director, Fundamental Freedoms Program (Canadian Civil Liberties Association)
Jane Bailey, Associate Professor (University of Ottawa)
Jo-Ann R. Kolmes, Co-counsel, Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) v. Whatcott (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund)
Kathleen E. Mahoney, Professor, Faculty of Law (University of Calgary)
(It is interesting to note that the only supporters of Section 13 now are just LAWYER$… how much more out of touch can they be? Don’t want to see their cash-cow repealed?)
On June 25, 2013, Brian Storseth appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights to defend Bill C-304, his private members bill to repeal Section 13. Mr. Storseth made some great points even through the onslaught by Liberal committee members who were desperate to try to claim his bill would only benefit “white supremacists”. It is a pathetic Liberal move to link the repeal of Section 13 with “white supremacy”, but what can you expect from a party, stuck in the 1980’s, that is totally out of touch with Canadians. The Liberal hacks tried the same schtick, when Liberal MP Dr. Keith Martin introduced his motion to repeal Section 13 (M-446) back in 2008. Of course, the “white supremacist” comments were laughable, since Dr. Keith Martin is as far from a “white supremacist” as possible and even describes himself as a “brown guy”.
original story here