Jay Currie

To the great dismay of many Canadian Jews, The Canadian Jewish Congress continues in its relentless and misguided defense of censorship via its support of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

In its most recent, public stance on the matter, published yesterday in the Globe and Mail, CJC counsel Mark Freiman patronizingly suggests that the Canadian criminal code is a ‘blunt tool’ and in no way able to effectively ‘deal’ with ‘dehumanizing’ and ‘demonizing’ speech that may be found on the Internet. It is his contention that by censoring ‘hate’ speech, Canada “protects its members, including vulnerable communities”. As a Canadian Jew, I reject the characterization of my community as vulnerable and wholly decline this type of ‘protection’. I’ll fight my own battles, thank you very much, in person, or on the Internet. laura rosen cohen at blazing

Ms. Cohen goes on from there so go read the whole thing.

Part of the s.13 issues is a conflict between two views of minorities in Canada. One view is that minorities of every sort are vulnerable and weak. On this view minorities need protection from real threats (Warman’s Canadian genocidaires one presumes) via the criminal law and from anything which might be deemed offensive via the HRCs. The other view is that minorities are little different from the rest of Canadians and, given an equal chance, will take their place as Canadian citizens. On this view the only speech issue is direct incitement which can be dealt with in the Criminal Code.

Professional minority spokespeople know that their livelihoods depend on the myth of the vulnerable, easily offended minorities and the requirement that these minorities be coddled. Little wonder that they are fighting the repeal of s. 13. They realize such repeal would represent a victory for those of us who want to see Canada’s “minorities” become, simply, “Canadians”.