Tories repeal parts of rights act banning hate speech

Alberta MP says criminal courts should deal with issue

OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives voted late Wednesday to repeal controversial sections of the Canadian Human Rights Act banning hate speech on the Internet, backing a bill they say promotes freedom of expression and would have the courts play a larger role in handling hate- crime cases.

In a free vote of 153 to 136, the Tory caucus passed a private member’s bill from Alberta Conservative MP Brian Storseth that would scrap Section 13 of the human rights code, which deals with complaints regarding “the communication of hate messages by telephone or on the Internet.”

Storseth argues the human rights code fails to protect freedom of speech, which is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“It’s a really important step for freedom of expression in our country,” Storseth said Thursday.

Senior cabinet ministers supported the bill and the results generated loud applause from Conservative MPs. Most opposition politicians voted against the bill.

Storseth, a backbencher, said the human rights code allows too many frivolous cases and the Criminal Code already covers hate speech that could generate harm against an individual or group.

Acts of hate speech are serious crimes that should be investigated by police officers, not civil servants, he said, adding that the cases should be handled by “real judges and real lawyers,” instead of a quasi- judicial body such as the human rights commission.

The bill would effectively strip the federal human rights commission of its ability to rule on cases of hate speech over the phone and Internet, he said, and instead hand responsibility to the courts.

Storseth said he has also been speaking with colleagues in the Conservativedominated Senate in hopes the bill will pass through the upper chamber and receive royal assent by the end of the year.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission says it received 1,914 complaints last year, but that it has received only three hate- speech complaints since 2009. Two of those three complaints were dismissed and one is being examined by the commission.

Canadian police departments reported 1,401 hate crimes in 2010, or 4.1 hate crimes per 100,000 population, according to recently released data from Statistics Canada.

New Democrat public- safety critic Randall Garrison said Wednesday that, due to the large number of hate crimes, the human- rights commission needs to have the power to combat the issue online and force individuals and groups to remove hateful speech from websites. Removing the sections from the human- rights code will effectively strip the commission of its power to shut down inappropriate websites, he said. “If you take away the power to take [ websites] down, it’s not clear they have any mandate to even to talk to people about it and educate them about it,” Garrison said.