Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. When the subject matter is international human rights violations and Iran, we regrettably have a wide range of subjects that we can discuss. Today we are focusing on Iranian anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism not just because we represent B'nai Brith; we do so because ant

Justice committee  This jurisdiction is a very particular one. It's basically telephone and Internet, because it deals with the federal jurisdiction on the issue. There are other problems with section 13. The hate jurisdiction federally is split up: the CRTC deals with broadcasting, the post office

Justice committee  You present a hypothetical and ask if we're open to it. Sure, we're open to everything. We can only react to what we see in front of us right now. We have no views on parliamentary process. That's not the ambit of our organization. Obviously, Mr. Cotler sees the same problem we

Justice committee  We have, very much so. You can look at our website. We've advocated for years for many of the procedural reforms we're mentioning to you now. We've had something posted on our website for years on this issue. We have shopped it around, so to speak. Unfortunately, this is the situ

Justice committee  In fact, in my opening statement I proposed a number of suggested reforms to the Criminal Code to try to make them work. Statistics Canada just came out with a report—it was from 2010, but they just came out with it—about hate crimes. Over the period they were looking at, they i

Justice committee  I appreciate the intent of those. Those two amendments in the abstract, I think, are part of the solution to the problem we've identified. But I think what we have to look at, and what really caused us pause in all this, is the phenomenon that we're seeing domestically, and have

Justice committee  In theory, the Human Rights Commission does have a power to initiate complaints on its own when there is no complainant. That hasn't been, I must say—

Justice committee  Do you want to say something?

Justice committee  I think there is room for a civil remedy. As I say, structurally what was.... I mean, if it weren't for the procedural problems, I think the law would make sense. The civil law doesn't send anybody to jail. It doesn't penalize anyone. All it does is say don't do that again, and w

Justice committee  The actual terminology in the law is “likely to incite hatred”. The issue that has arisen here is that there is no intent requirement; there's an impact requirement. As I said in answer to your previous colleague, our concern is not actually with the substantive content of the

Justice committee  I don't know if I'd put quite the same emphasis.... I don't think we should underestimate the problem of abuse. We're very familiar with the jurisprudence. The decisions on the whole I don't have a problem with, and my colleagues don't. The problem is invoking the process in such

Justice committee  My colleague, Marvin Kurz, will say something. Before he does, I wanted to add that I'm very involved with the international human rights system. I have seen the international human rights commission and then the council totally corrupted by people with an anti-Zionist agenda,

Justice committee  Excuse me, but I will answer you in English. Yes, I think basically you've understood it. Obviously, we don't draft legislation. We don't get it through Parliament. Our ideal world wouldn't either support Bill C-304 or defeat Bill C-304, but faced with the choice, which is the c

Justice committee  Thanks. I'll be equally brief, if not briefer. One of the lessons of the Holocaust is the need for an effective effort to combat hate speech. The Weimar Republic had laws against hate speech. They did not work. If eliminationist anti-Semitism had been effectively combatted in

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In terms of unintended consequences, I do not think the situations in Sudan or the Congo are comparable to the situation in Iran, because what you're dealing with in the Congo is a non-governmental force and in Sudan you're dealing with the head of state. Ahmadinejad is the presi