Former human rights tribunal chair blasts “sinister” online harms bill
By Harrison Faulkner
A former chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is sounding the alarm over Justin Trudeau’s new “sinister” and “shocking” Online Harms bill which could see Canadians thrown in prison for life for “hate-motivated” crimes and given steep fines for so-called hate speech.
“What we are likely to see right away is a chilling effect,” lawyer David Thomas said on True North’s The Faulkner Show. Bill C-63, or the Online Harms Act, will have “a big impact on free political discourse in this country and I think that’s what we should all be concerned about immediately,” he said.
“If this passes, God help us, because I don’t know where it will go.”
Thomas was appointed chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the body tasked with adjudicating violations of the Canadian Human Rights Act, in 2014 for a seven year term.
“The reason I am speaking out right now is that nobody who is on the tribunal is free to speak, they’re like judges sitting on the bench,” he said. “That’s why I think it’s important for somebody with inside knowledge to convey these concerns about this legislation.”
The Trudeau government’s new legislation proposes life sentences for anyone who “advocates or promotes” genocide and for anyone who commits a crime that is “motivated by hatred” based on a protected human rights ground, such as race, religion, or gender identity.