Hate Speech Prosecuted in Other Countries, Including Canada
Hate speech about minorities and religions is protected by the First Amendment in this country. But elsewhere prosecutions are not that unusual.
In Canada, the newsweekly Maclean’s was on trial last week before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for publishing a cover story that contends the popularity of Islam is threatening Western values, the New York Times reports. In France, the actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot was fined $23,000 for criticizing a Muslim ceremony involving the slaughter of sheep.
Some academics have called for revisions in the U.S. standard, which bars hate speech if it poses an imminent threat of violence or lawlessness, according to the story. Increased penalties for crimes based on racial hatred are also allowed, and fighting words or threats may be banned. But the First Amendment has protected a hate march through a Jewish suburb and a Ku Klux Klan leader’s speech urging his followers to “send the Jews back to Israel” and to “bury” blacks.
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Association of Journalists intervened in the Maclean’s case in support of the magazine. A lawyer for the groups, Jason Gratl, observed some differences between views of free speech in Canada and the United States.
“Canadians do not have a cast-iron stomach for offensive speech,” Gratle told the Times. “We don’t subscribe to a marketplace of ideas. Americans as a whole are more tough-minded and more prepared for verbal combat.”
