Trudeau’s Government to Criminalise “Online Hate Speech” to “Build a More Inclusive Canada”

Last week, Canada’s Department of Justice announced plans to add amendments to Canada's criminal codes and Human Rights Act to make online “hate speech” a crime. 

The proposals come after a 20-year-old man killed four members of a Muslim family with his truck in the town of London, Ontario, on June 6th. According to the government, they constitute an “important step towards creating a safe online environment that protects all Canadians from hate speech and hate crimes” and will “help protect the vulnerable.” 

David Lametti, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, said of the proposals:

“Canadians expect their government to take action against hate speech and hate crimes. These legislative changes would improve the remedies available to victims of hate speech and hate crimes, and would hold individuals accountable. The actions we are taking today will help protect the vulnerable, empower those who are victimized and hold individuals to account for the hatred they spread online.”

According to the Department for Justice, the amendments will enable people to seek damages from individuals writing on the Internet, with offenders being fined up to $20,000 (£11,678) if found guilty of hate speech against an individual. 

While the proposals do not cover social media specifically, the Canadian government pledged to “engage Canadians on a detailed technical discussion paper that will outline the proposal for making social media platform operators more transparent and accountable while combating harmful content online.” The motion will include rules for how social media platforms “address harmful material such as hate speech, terrorist content (and) content that incites violence.” 

Bill Blair, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, said that the government was “look[ing] forward” to hearing from Canadian citizens while “continuing to work with allies and social media platforms to prevent the internet from being used as a tool to incite and promote terrorism, violence, and hatred.” Steven Guilbeault, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, commented:

“Online platforms are central to participation in public life and have enormous power over online speech and Canadians’ everyday lives. While they allow us as Canadians to stay in touch with loved ones, learn and debate, they can also be used to discriminate, harm and silence. In consultation with Canadians, the Government of Canada is committed to taking action to put in place a robust, fair and consistent legislative and regulatory framework on the most egregious and reprehensible types of harmful content. This is why we will engage Canadians in the coming weeks to ask for feedback on specific, concrete proposals that will form the basis of legislation.”

Writing on its website, the Department for Justice affirmed its “recognition of the importance of freedom of expression” and said it would “take a balanced and targeted approach to tackle the most extreme and harmful speech.” Canada’s Constitution, which includes the 1982 rights bill Charter of Rights and Freedoms, offers protections for freedom of speech and expression. Specifically, Section 2 of the Charter states that Canadian citizens are entitled to the “fundamental freedoms” of “freedom of conscience and religion;” the “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;” and the “freedom of association.”