Should offensive speech be banned? Where should we, as a society, draw the line where permitted speech is on one side, and forbidden speech is on the other? Should we even have that line? And should free speech be limited by things like trigger warnings and punishments for microaggressions? Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, answers these questions and more.
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Canada concerned about Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.(Taz).
Canada on Thursday said it was concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt following the military-backed ouster of President Mohamed Mursi last July Al Arabiya reported
"Canada has taken an aggressive stand when it comes to listings [of terror groups] ... but there is a certain process," John Baird, Canada's foreign minister, said at a news conference in Cairo.
"We are tremendously concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood ... but the listings are made on the basis of facts and intel."
Ottawa's standpoint comes weeks after Britain ordered a probe into the Muslim Brotherhood in a bid to investigate if the group has ties to extremist groups or violent acts. Alternating stances?
Cairo listed the Brotherhood as a "terrorist organization" last December following a series of attacks which the state claims were orchestrated by the Islamist group in revenge for Mursi's removal. The group was later blacklisted by Saudi Arabia.
Ammar Ali Hassan, an Egyptian political scientist, told Al Arabiya News that the Canadian minister's statement on the Muslim Brotherhood implies that the West was beginning to share Cairo's worries about the Islamist group.
"The foreign minister made a point that Canada cannot list the Muslim Brotherhood under its terror list unless clear evidence is available," Hassan said. The statements made by the minister "are hinting at the possibility of listing the group," he added.
"The West is moving toward protecting itself from the Brotherhood rather than criticizing the Egyptian authorities for its stance on the Brotherhood."
London ordered an investigation into the Islamist movement earlier this month over concerns that the group is planning radical activities in Britain.
A statement by David Cameron's office read: "The Prime Minister has commissioned an internal government review into the philosophy and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and the government's policy toward the organization."
If a conclusion that the Brotherhood is linked to acts of violence in Western countries, Hassan said that could in the future limit the rights granted to Brotherhood members in those countries.Hmmmm....I guess better tooo late then never?
Video - Oh Canada ! Hate speech provision in Human Rights Act struck down.HT: Scaramouchee. Sun News. By DAVID AKIN | PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU CHIEF
OTTAWA - An Alberta MP has succeeded in his bid to repeal a section of the Canadian Human Rights Act long seen by free-speech advocates as a tool to squelch dissenting opinions.
Conservative MP Brian Storseth saw the Senate give third and final reading late Wednesday to his Bill C-304 which repeals Section 13 of the Human Rights Act, an act that had been used to, among other things, attack the writings of Sun News Network's Ezra Levant and Maclean's columnist Mark Steyn.
Section 13 ostensibly banned hate speech on the Internet and left it up to the quasi-judicial human rights commission to determine what qualified as "hate speech."
But, unlike a court, there was no presumption of innocence of those accused of hate speech by the commission.
Instead, those accused had to prove their innocence.
With elimination of Section 13, producing and disseminating hate speech continues to be a Criminal Code violation but police and the courts will adjudicate rather than human rights tribunals.
Storseth drafted his bill in 2011 and enjoyed support from the highest levels in cabinet.
"Our government believes Section 13 is not an appropriate or effective means for combating hate propaganda," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in late 2011. "We believe the Criminal Code is the best vehicle to prosecute these crimes."
Last summer, Storseth's bill cleared the House of Commons in a free vote and, now that it's through the Senate, it will get royal assent and Section 13 should soon disappear.
