speechlesstx
Sep 3, 2009, 07:55 AM
Kudos to our northern neighbor for a victory for free speech:
Hate speech law unconstitutional: rights tribunal (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1954734)
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Wednesday ruled that Section 13, Canada's much maligned human rights hate speech law, violates the Charter right to free expression because it carries the threat of punitive fines.
The shocking decision by Tribunal member Athanasios Hadjis leaves several hate speech cases in limbo, and appears to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended against complaints of censorship.
It also marks the first major failure of Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, an anti-hate law that was conceived in the 1960s to target racist telephone hotlines, then expanded in 2001 to the include the entire Internet, and for the last decade used almost exclusively by one complainant, activist Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman.
Now if we can just restore free speech on college campuses here. On another note, it turns out Canadians aren't too keen on giving their sperm away. In 2004, Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which banned receiving payment to sperm and egg donors, leaving a total of 33 sperm donors in the country. Where are they getting their sperm? Why the good ol' US of A of course.
One of the biggest suppliers of donor sperm is Outreach Health Services which imports and distributes semen for assisted reproduction clinics across Canada. The company imports sperm from an agency that collects primarily from men in Georgia and northern Florida (http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090810/sperm_090810/20090810?hub=TorontoNewHome), where donors are paid about $100 per visit.
With so much sperm coming from the States, some estimate that up to 80 per cent of babies conceived in Canada through donor sperm have American DNA.
Looks like we're invading Canada one donor at a time.
Hate speech law unconstitutional: rights tribunal (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1954734)
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Wednesday ruled that Section 13, Canada's much maligned human rights hate speech law, violates the Charter right to free expression because it carries the threat of punitive fines.
The shocking decision by Tribunal member Athanasios Hadjis leaves several hate speech cases in limbo, and appears to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended against complaints of censorship.
It also marks the first major failure of Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, an anti-hate law that was conceived in the 1960s to target racist telephone hotlines, then expanded in 2001 to the include the entire Internet, and for the last decade used almost exclusively by one complainant, activist Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman.
Now if we can just restore free speech on college campuses here. On another note, it turns out Canadians aren't too keen on giving their sperm away. In 2004, Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which banned receiving payment to sperm and egg donors, leaving a total of 33 sperm donors in the country. Where are they getting their sperm? Why the good ol' US of A of course.
One of the biggest suppliers of donor sperm is Outreach Health Services which imports and distributes semen for assisted reproduction clinics across Canada. The company imports sperm from an agency that collects primarily from men in Georgia and northern Florida (http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090810/sperm_090810/20090810?hub=TorontoNewHome), where donors are paid about $100 per visit.
With so much sperm coming from the States, some estimate that up to 80 per cent of babies conceived in Canada through donor sperm have American DNA.
Looks like we're invading Canada one donor at a time.