The House of Commons heritage committee Wednesday opened hearings on whether to ban hate symbols like swastikas and confederate flags in Canada..Liberal MPs proposed hearings in response to the Freedom Convoy, but deleted a specific reference to “the swastika and the Confederate flag” after one Conservative suggested the ban should also apply to blackface..“This cannot continue,” said New Democrat MP Peter Julian (New Westminster-Burnaby, B.C.), a sponsor of Bill C-229 An Act To Amend The Criminal Code. The bill would prohibit the “display or sale of symbols or emblems” deemed hateful under the threat of two years in jail..“There is obviously in my mind a vacuum that needs to be filled,” said Julian. “We have these appalling symbols that are openly displayed even on Parliament Hill.”.Blacklock’s Reporter says a lone man carrying a Nazi flag was photographed last January 29 among the Freedom Convoy demonstrators protesting on Parliament Hill. Convoy organizers disavowed any connection to the Nazi, who was never identified..“The sight of someone openly waving the Nazi flag on the steps of the Chateau Laurier during the truckers’ convoy brought deep feelings of horror and fear to our community,” Richard Marceau, vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told the heritage committee. “To be clear, when I see a person wave a swastika, what I understand is that person wants me dead.”.“That was not the only instance of a hate symbol displayed openly during the truckers’ demonstration,” said Marceau, a former Bloc Québécois MP (Charlesbourg-Haute St. Charles, Que.). “The truckers’ convoy was not the only instance of hate symbols being displayed openly on Parliament Hill. Now is the time to act.”.The Criminal Code sections 318 and 319 already prohibit any conduct that “advocates or promotes genocide” or “incites hatred against any identifiable group.” Parliament passed the hate speech provisions in 1970, which were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1990..Liberal MP Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal, Que.). last February 9 proposed committee hearings during the Freedom Convoy, “a small study to just basically educate and inform Canadians in a non-partisan way,” he said..Housefather’s original motion asked that the committee review the “display of hate symbols and emblems such as the swastika and the Confederate flag in Canada.”.The motion was rewritten to delete references to specific hate symbols after Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis (Haldimand-Norfolk, Ont.) asked the committee also condemn blackface. “It is both a symbol and an emblem of hate,” Lewis told the committee.earlier..“It’s not just dressing up,” said Lewis. “It’s not just playing theatre. It is a symbol of being in bondage for black people. It is a mockery and a caricature of oppression and suffering that we’ve endured.”.In 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly apologized following disclosures he repeatedly appeared in blackface, including as a 29-year-old faculty member at Vancouver’s West Grey Point Academy. “It wasn’t a good idea,” Trudeau said at the time. “Darkening your face regardless of the circumstances is always unacceptable.”.Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
