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Canada Slams Report That It Will Use Hate Speech Law Against Anti-Israel Boycotters

Senior Canadian government ministers haven't clarified if amended hate speech provisions could be used to stifle criticism of Israel.
Photo by Amr Nabil/Associated Press

The Canadian government is accusing the national broadcaster of conjuring a "bizarre conspiracy theory" over its allegation that hate speech laws will be used against groups boycotting Israel.

In the midst of tough words from the Canadian government on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel movement, Justice Minister Peter MacKay said Monday that going after activists "was not contemplated, or not in the mix whatsoever" when it amended a section of law that makes it illegal to advocate for genocide or to publicly communicate hatred against someone based on their "national or ethnic origin."

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"This is not something the federal Justice Department is going to involve itself in directly in terms of the laying of charges or the pursuing of investigations," MacKay said.

MacKay, however, didn't say one way or the other whether it would be possible to do so under the amended law, which is what further fueled concerns from free speech activists. And it's still not entirely clear what the amended provisions are meant to achieve.

The justice department said the legal changes at the center of the story were intended to bring the Canadian law in line with an international treaty on online hate speech.

Reports came out Monday morning from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that Canada was "signaling its intention to use hate crime laws" against those who advocate for the BDS movement. Israeli news outlets picked up the story, describing it as more proof of the strong bond between Canada and Israel. CBC changed the story's original headline from "Ottawa considering hate charges against those who boycott Israel" to "Ottawa cites hate crime laws when asked about its 'zero-tolerance' for Israel boycotters".

After hours of questions being lobbed at the government about the story, ministers refuted it.

"This has been a ridiculous and inaccurate story from the beginning," wrote Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney. "As everyone knows, politicians cannot lay charges…We won't dignify this bizarre conspiracy theory with further comment."

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Even so, critics of Israel have felt targeted by the Canadian government's rhetoric before. Speaking before the Israeli Knesset in January, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called anti-Zionism "the new face of anti-semitism," specifically singling out campus groups within Canada.

Ottawa also signed a deal with Israel to develop "a coordinated, public diplomacy initiative both bilaterally and in international and multilateral fora to oppose boycotts of Israel, its institutions, and its people within three to six months."

It was tough talk from Blaney that prompted the CBC to ask what the minister meant when he told a United Nations meeting on anti-semitism, held following the attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, that Canada would take a "zero tolerance" approach to the BDS movement.

A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety responded by giving CBC a list of the sections of Canada's Criminal Code which deal with hate crimes.

Those sections were updated in March when the government passed Bill C-13 — which was supposed to be a bill combatting revenge porn, but actually expanded police surveillance powers, and updated the laws around hate speech against "identifiable groups."

The language there is lifted directly from a European cybercrime treaty that Canada says it wants to adhere to.

Asked about the provision when the bill was first introduced, in 2013, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that "the proposal to include 'national origin' in the definition of 'identifiable group' would ensure that the hate propaganda provisions protect individuals who are victims of hate-related offenses because of their national belonging or citizenship", a concept that is not currently caught by 'ethnic origin.'"

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The department said, for example, the changes would criminalize advocating violence against someone for being Kurdish.

Nevertheless, civil liberties groups and lawyers alike have worried that provision would encroach on freedom of speech. The logic is that, as ethnicity and religion are already protected, adding "national origin" is redundant and confusing, and could capture those who advocate the end of the state of Israel but who don't want harm to come to its citizens.

"Nobody who's talking about a boycott is talking about killing people," Micheal Vonn, policy director at the BC Civil Liberties Association told VICE News. "But what we know is that groups all across the country are feeling chilled and deeply concerned for the potential for this provision being used as tools for either actual prosecutions or increased surveillance of critics of Israel."

Canadian Quakers, who have supported boycotting products created in Israel settlements, see their activism as peaceful, not anti-semitic, Matthew Legge, program coordinator at the Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers) told VICE News. "Individual Quakers have already told me that they don't care what the situation with the law is," he continued. "They're going to support it anyway."

Follow Justin Ling on Twittier: @justin_ling