Hate speech is a pervasive problem in our society. Whatever remedy we as Canadians use to combat it, it's something we have to recognize hasn't gone away.
Between David and I, we've probably been involved in almost every major hate speech case in the last quarter of a century, going all the way back to John Ross Taylor, an original Nazi—not a neo-Nazi but a Nazi Nazi—who was interred in Canada during World War II because of his vicious, seditious, pro-Nazi sentiments. We thought it would end with the demise of the neo-Nazi movement.
There are a few very brief lessons we've learned from Canada's legislative history of dealing with hate speech. First of all, legislation can work. Between section 319 of the Criminal Code, the prohibition on hate propaganda, and section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, a great many inroads have been made so that the neo-Nazi movement, if not completely destroyed, has been effectively minimized within Canada. That's a great success. And what it shows is that legislation can work and that legislation can balance the interest of freedom of speech on the one hand with the need for equality for all Canadian citizens in an increasingly multicultural country.
At the same time, as we've gone along, B'nai Brith, as a human rights organization, has recognized that even though it's been very effective, there have been problems with it.
Frank has talked about us really agonizing about it over the last year, but we've really been involved in that consideration for more than the last year. It's kind of come to a head in the last year. Even before the Moon report, we met with Professor Richard Moon. I remember that I drove him home after our meeting. We have strong memories of that. We spoke to him.
Some things that are important to recognize in moving forward are that section 13 has been effective, and it has dealt with only the worst of the worst. Even Professor Moon says that. However, we have recognized, and Professor Moon has recognized it as well, that there have been abuses. There have been procedural abuses. When you see a case like Elmasry v. Rogers, where Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine were brought before three different human rights authorities and three different jurisdictions at the same time until they finally found a human rights authority that would allow them to bring a hearing without any screening, nothing could be more vexatious than that. Because that's what happened in the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. David has talked about the provincial authorities.
B'nai Brith itself has been the victim of an abusive complaint before another provincial authority over a similar matter, which was a matter of great procedural abuse. So we're coming to this position understanding those problems. What we're saying to the committee, and hopefully to Parliament, is that if the inevitability of eliminating section 13 is clear, then we need to strengthen our other laws, and I'll leave it at that.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.