Thank you to the committee for inviting the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to participate in its study on online hate.
As you all know, the CCLA is a national, non-profit and non-partisan public interest organization with over 50 years of experience in promoting respect for and observance of fundamental human rights and civil liberties. CCLA is deeply committed to protecting equality rights for all and has campaigned against discrimination in its many forms. Freedom of expression has also been a cornerstone of our work since the organization's inception.
Any attempts to regulate online hate will inevitably bump against freedom of expression, because contrary to what some say, the precise contours of hate speech are not easily discerned. As a result, we have argued that the Criminal Code prohibition on the wilful promotion of hatred, and prohibitions on hate speech contained in human rights codes, are vague and unreasonably restrict freedom of expression. In our view, a mature democracy like Canada does not achieve equality by limiting freedom of expression.
I'd like to start by addressing what was formerly section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, as I understand it is a subject that the committee has a great deal of interest in.
CCLA appeared before the Senate committee on the bill that ultimately repealed section 13. We supported the repeal, and continue to believe that asking human rights tribunals to play the role of censor does not fit well with the functions of tribunals.
Human rights tribunals are focused on dealing with discriminatory acts in a variety of areas. In order to address issues of systemic discrimination and to help achieve substantive equality, they need to interpret human rights statutes liberally. However, when it comes to hate speech provisions, our Supreme Court has made clear that only a very narrow interpretation is appropriate, in recognition of the fact that a broad restriction on hateful content would unduly or unreasonably limit freedom of expression.
As a result, only the very worst and most extreme forms of speech are caught, even though we know that many more subtle forms of offensive messaging may have harmful impacts.
A human rights commission or tribunal charged with prosecuting hate speech is put in a situation of conflict. In their core anti-discrimination work, they seek to protect minority groups, but in addressing hate speech complaints, they may often have to tell such groups that a very offensive expression simply doesn't rise to the level of hate speech for the purposes of the act.
In our view, section 13 was not an efficient or effective way of dealing with online hate. I'm aware that some witnesses you've heard from have suggested that section 13 should be reinstated in either its original form or modified in some way, but for the reasons I've just outlined, CCLA disagrees with this approach.
More broadly, I want to emphasize that while the committee may be considering how the Canadian Human Rights Act or the Criminal Code can be amended to deal with the problem of online hate, it should consider that these and other strictly legislative tools may not be well suited to addressing the very complex issue of hatred, because, of course, underlying the issue of online hate is the issue of hatred more broadly.
Canada's experience with prosecuting those who are alleged to promote hatred shows that these individuals often use their prosecution as a way to further promote their message and to cast themselves as martyrs for free speech and gain a wider audience. Pursuing haters through our legal system can have counterproductive effects.
CCLA believes that the government does have a role to play. The government should focus efforts on education and counter-speech. The Canadian Human Rights Commission currently has a relatively narrow public education mandate. That body or another entity could engage in much more robust education efforts, including programs that bring people from diverse communities and backgrounds together in ways that can help to address the root causes of hatred.
There's also a need for education around digital literacy. We need to be focusing on ensuring that young people understand that content on the Internet can come from anywhere and everywhere, that not all sources are credible and that information can be easily manipulated. Organizations like MediaSmarts are already doing excellent work in this area, and I understand that some of their work on online hate is being done with support provided by Public Safety Canada. More work like this, and more support from the government on work like this, is what we recommend.
The government also has a role to play in countering hateful content online with its own counter-speech that focuses on messages of inclusion and equality, and that provides resources and support to groups that engage in counter-speech.
Because it would be more interesting to try to answer your questions, I'm going to stop there. Thank you again for inviting us to appear.