Quote:
Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz
Can it?
Has it ever?
Can you show me one example that would be analogous to your position on transgender pronouns?
This thread started talking about precedents quite a bit, so here is your chance to show me an actual precedent that shows this is how this law (that already existed long before it was amended by C16) has been interpreted in the way you are saying it could be.
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The Supreme Court of Canada upheld some elements against hate speech in Saskatchewan's Human Rights Code while striking down others on Feb. 27 in the latest case to pit free speech against hate propaganda laws a sometimes blurry line that is a legal, political, ethical and emotional minefield.
Bill Whatcott was charged with promoting hate after he distributed flyers in Regina and Saskatoon in 2001 and 2002 that condemned gay sex as immoral.
He was found guilty by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal in 2005, but that decision was later appealed and overturned in 2010. The tribunal then appealed to the country's top court.
On Wednesday, a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court found that most of Saskatchewan's human rights code was constitutional. The legislation infringes the right to free speech and religion, but the court found it was a reasonable limit.
The court struck down the part of the legislation that includes speech that "ridicules, belittles or otherwise affronts the dignity" of a person or class of persons. The court found those words are not rationally connected to the objective of protecting people from hate speech.
The court left in place the ban on speech that exposes, or tends to expose, persons or groups to hatred.
Whatcott published and distributed four anti-gay flyers in Saskatchewan that used words like "filth," "propaganda" and "sodomy" to describe gay relationships and discussions of equality.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court held that the first two flyers, titled "Keep homosexuality out of Saskatoon's public schools" and "Sodomites in our public schools," did constitute hate speech and reinstated the Saskatchewan tribunal's finding, including $7,500 in fines against Whatcott.
The Court upheld an appeal court's decision on the second two flyers photocopies of classified ads with Whatcott's handwritten comments on them stating the ads were for "men seeking boys" ruling against the human rights commission.