The.Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) is concerned with the federal government’s intention to make Holocaust denial a criminal offence, stating the criminalization of opinion is “incompatible with a free and democratic society.”.“By its false logic, the government could equally criminalize expression — including questions and calls for independent investigations — about other events of national or global significance, such as wars, public health crises, and natural disasters,”.said Joseph Hickey, executive director of the OCLA..In Budget 2022, the Liberal government proposed to amend Criminal Code to “prohibit the communication of statements, other than in private conversation, that willfully promote antisemitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust.”.According to the 40th Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents by B’nai Brith Canada, a new record was set for incidents in Canada for the sixth consecutive year in 2021, an uptick of 7.2% from the previous year..In a letter sent to all Canadian MPs and Senators on April 22, Hickey said regardless of the federal government’s good intentions, the proposed provision criminalizing the denial or downplaying of the Holocaust is “explicitly and directly contrary to international law, as expressed in U.N. General Comment No.34.”.That law states that laws penalizing the expression of opinions about historical facts are “incompatible with the obligations that the covenant imposes on states parties in relation to the respect for freedom of opinion and expression.”.Hickey said for hate speech in Canada, “no evidence of any kind” is needed for a conviction except for the “impugned expression itself” and the context of the expression..“There need be no evidence of actual harm or actual threat of harm to any actual person, in the as-designed statutory provisions. This is a recipe for arbitrary impression-based state censorship,” he said..Hickey said while the proposed law would make it illegal to “publicly express opinions, questions, conflicting evidence, or alternative views” about just one aspect of the Second World War, this could easily apply to more subjects..Hickey argued all statements of fact and opinion about all historical events must be open to questioning, because otherwise “we are inhabiting a regime of dogma,” where the search for truth is essentially outlawed..“The criminalization of expression on state-controlled or taboo topics does not belong in any free and democratic society. The government’s project to criminalize ‘the communication of statements, other than in private conversation, that willfully promote antisemitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust’ should be abandoned,” Hickey said..“It is structurally harmful to society, and unjustifiably unjust to individuals.”.Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
