Hate crimes in Canada

Barack Obama supports hate crimes legislation. Those who think this is a good idea might want to consider where such legislation has led in Canada:

British Columbia now bans all words and images "likely to expose a person ... to hatred or contempt" because of race, religion, age, disability, sex, marital status or sexual orientation." This sounds like a libel law for groups, except that libel is a misstatement of fact that damages an individual reputation. In the United States, for a public figure to be libeled, the false statement has to be made maliciously or recklessly.

The Canadian idea of hate speech is less specific and more dangerous. Hate is like obscenity, about which Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, "I know it when I see it." The difference is that a ban on obscenity does not touch political
discourse, and a ban on hate does (Seattle Times).

Yeah, I know. America has the First Amendment so it could never happen here. I find it ironic that supporters of hate crimes bills who think it could never happen here are often the very ones who complained so bitterly about how the Bush Administration has supposedly trampled on our Constitutional protections over the last seven years. (Hat tip: Kevin).

More on Herouxville

A few days ago Recliner Commentaries posted on Herouxville, a town in Canada that posted information for new immigrants. Now, "Two prominent Canadian Muslim groups want to file a human rights complaint" against the town. Read the story at Dhimmi Watch.

Herouxville standards

The residents of Herouxville, Quebec are getting a lot of flack because they decided that their town needs to have certain standards "So that the future residents can integrate socially more easily..." Some of these standards appear below:

We consider that men and women are of the same value. Having said this, we
consider that a woman can drive a car, vote, sign checks, dance, decide for
herself, speak her peace, dress as she sees fit respecting of course the
democratic decency, walk alone in public places, study, have a job, have her own
belongings and anything else that a man can do. These are our standards and our
way of life.

However, we consider that killing women in public beatings, or burning them
alive are not part of our standards of life.

Our children are required to attend public or private schools to insure
their social development and to help integrate into our society. Any form of
violence towards children is not accepted.

We listen to music; we drink alcoholic beverages in public or private
places; we dance and at the end of every year we decorate a tree with balls and
tinsel and some lights. This is normally called "Christmas decorations" or also
"Christmas tree" -- letting us rejoice in the notion of our national heritage
and not necessarily a religious holiday. These festivities are authorized in
public, schools, and institutions and also in private.

In our public swimming pools we have men and women lifeguards for our
security to protect us from drowning. Don't be surprised, this is normal for
us.

You can read the rest at Canada's National Post.