This thread should serve to expose any events happening in Canada against its citizens.
A new dangerous law is being voted at Federal Level : C-63
C-63, une atteinte à la liberté d'expression extrêmement grave
C-63, an extremely serious attack on freedom of expression
According to Me Olivier Séguin, the additional powers that Bill-63 would confer to the federal government would allow the Trudeau cabinet to control and censor all social media services in Canada. Analysis of a new Orwellian slippage.
It would take a dozen pages to deal with all the threats to freedom of expression contained in the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63), presented to the House of Commons on February 26. Here are some of the more serious aspects, in the limited space available to us.
It is commendable to require online platforms to remove revenge porn and other non-consensual sharing of intimate images, content that intimidates children, sexually victimizes them or encourages them to harm themselves, as well as content that incites violence, terrorism or hatred.
However, all hell is paved with good intentions, and there is no justification for passing additional laws that duplicate what the Criminal Code already prohibits.
Crimes already prohibited
Section 162.1(1) of the Criminal Code already prohibits the publication, online or offline, of intimate images without consent. Section 163 already prohibits the publication of obscene material and child pornography.
Section 319 (1) already prohibits public incitement of hatred towards a group identifiable by race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and other personal characteristics.
Finally, section 22 of the Criminal Code already prohibits advising, procuring, soliciting or inciting another person to participate in a criminal act, with guilt being recognized if the person who received the advice commits the offense.
Section 464 goes even further by criminalizing the act of advising the commission of a criminal act even if this offense is not committed.
A citizen who has not committed a crime may be subject to court-ordered restrictions on his liberty simply because someone fears that he will commit a "speech offense."
The onus is on supporters of the Online Harm Act to clearly justify why they believe existing legislation is inadequate to tackle “harmful” online content.
New Orwellian powers
If passed, the Online Harms Act will establish a completely new body, the Digital Safety Commission, which will be responsible for ensuring compliance with regulations adopted by the federal cabinet without intervention by Parliament.
This is how, under their new regulatory powers, Mr. Trudeau and others will have the freedom to control and censor all social media services in Canada, by defining what we have the right or not. to say.
Concretely, the Online Harms Act will add section 810.012 to the Criminal Code, under which a complainant will be able to assert that they "fear" that a person will promote "genocide", hatred or anti-Semitism.
If a judge considers that his fear is justified by “reasonable grounds”, he can immediately require the accused to take one of the following measures: wear an ankle bracelet, respect a protective covering fire and stay at home, refrain from consuming alcohol, drugs, or both, provide bodily substances (e.g., blood or urine), refrain from communicating with certain designated individuals, do not not go to certain places, etc.
In other words, a citizen who has not committed a crime may be subject to court-ordered restrictions on his freedom simply because someone fears that he will commit a “speech offense.” A person's refusal to accept these restrictions can result in imprisonment of up to two years.
With regard to the Criminal Code offense of glorifying genocide, the Online Harms Act would increase the maximum prison sentence from five years to life.
Also read: The noose is tightening around freedoms in Quebec
L’étau se resserre autour des libertés au Québec
Are the pro-Palestine demonstrators who chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” advocating genocide? Some will answer in the affirmative, others in the negative. Estonia, Germany and the Czech Republic called the slogan criminal speech. The Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the slogan was acceptable.
Within our borders, in Calgary, a man was recently charged by police for using this same slogan, before the charge was dropped.
Do we really want the government to be able to use its powers to decide whether a controversial slogan constitutes a call for genocide? Given the eminently subjective nature inherent in such an exercise, we agree that the current sentence of five years' imprisonment is already largely sufficient.
The Online Harms Act would give the Canadian Human Rights Commission new powers to prosecute and punish offensive (but not criminal) comments if, in the subjective opinion of bureaucrats, a person is deemed "hateful."
The dictatorship of feeling
Moreover, the Online Harm Act will offer endless possibilities to those who, offended, will fight against their ideological adversaries by filing a complaint, even anonymously.
Worse, people found guilty by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal may be required to pay up to $50,000 to the government, and up to $20,000 to the person designated as a "victim", the latter not having no need to prove that she suffered damage, other than by showing that she felt offended.
Many citizens will self-censor to avoid being prosecuted by the Commission. Canadians who demonstrate the courage to continue to exercise their freedom of expression will find many of their opinions removed from the Internet by the operators of social media sites and platforms, for fear of falling foul of federal regulations. .
Also read: Justin Trudeau: an authoritarian leader?
There is no doubt that all of the above promises to have a considerable chilling effect on freedom of expression.
Olivier Séguin is a lawyer and Quebec director of the Legal Center for Constitutional Freedoms (jccf.ca).
www.jccf.ca
www.zerohedge.com
And I am not even talking of the Northern Territories and Yukon and Nunavut.
tnc.news
nationalpost.com
globalnews.ca
