Editorial: Federal Government introducing “Combatting Hate Act.”
Have you noticed, over the past few years, a rising tide of intolerance for people of other ethnicities, other backgrounds, other religions, other political views, other just-about-anything? More recently, that intolerance has burst out into violence more often – most notably, south of the border, but it’s also happening in Canada.
The federal government’s recent introduction of the “Combatting Hate Act” addresses mainly the criminal outcomes of that flood of intolerance for “the other” – and it makes certain actions crimes. The press release from the federal government states that the new act intends to “amend the Criminal Code to:
- Make it a crime to intimidate and obstruct people from accessing places of worship, as well as schools, community centres and other places primarily used by an identifiable group;
- Make hate motivated crime a specific offence, ensuring such conduct is more clearly denounced and that offenders are held accountable; and
- Make it a crime to wilfully promote hatred against an identifiable group by displaying certain terrorism or hate symbols in public.”
In my opinion, there is no excuse among civilized and educated people for racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia or transphobia – or for swallowing or perpetuating internet conspiracy theories designed to stoke suspicion of and hatred against any group.
The government press release also states that it intends to “streamline the process to lay hate propaganda charges by removing the requirement to obtain the Attorney General’s consent” and to “codify a definition of “hatred” to clarify when conduct constitutes a hate crime.”
I look forward to seeing its actual wording when the legislation has been finalized and made law.
Legislation is nearly always reactive, and therefore lags behind the need for it. In this case, I might compare it with developing a vaccine well after a raging pandemic has taken many lives and continues to kill or impose life-altering injury on the vulnerable.
The question is, can citizens do anything to curb the pandemic of intolerance and hate against ”the other”? And, are we – or many of us – willing to try?
Don’t turn a blind eye
How often do we hear someone bullying or being cruel to or about “the other” – whether it’s someone of a different colour or religion or gender (or whatever)? Do we just turn away and ignore it, or do we challenge the speaker of hateful comments? Do we let them know it’s contemptible to speak to or about anyone that way? Or do we just tell ourselves that it’s regrettable, but not our business?
I submit, dear reader, that cruelty and intolerance and hatred on the basis of ethnicity, gender, colour, religion, and so on IS everyone’s business; we all live in this society, and if we silently consent to cruelty and hatred, we also consent to its amplification until our entire society is cruel and hateful.
But what about freedom of expression?
The government press release states, “The proposed changes respect Canadians’ Charter freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, and would not unreasonably impact the freedom to protest, or voice concerns peacefully. It targets criminal behaviour that intimidates or obstructs access to community spaces, making clear where the line is drawn.”
Freedom of expression already is, and should be, subject to limitation; we should not be able to say or publish things that are false and intended to harm others. That is reflected in the law on defamation. Let us hope that the new law when it happens, actually will combat hate. Life is hard enough; we don’t need any more cruelty in anyone’s lives.
What do we need? I suggest we need more kindness. We need more teaching of critical thinking in our schools – and empathy, too. Yes, empathy is a school subject in Denmark, which consistently ranks among the happiest countries in the world. In Denmark, school students aged 6 to 16 spend an hour a week learning empathy. Curious? Here’s a link to an article about it: https://www.adeccogroup.com/future-of-work/latest-insights/empathy-in-denmark
Give the gift of kindness
If you’re a person who harbours ill feelings or contempt toward others because they are different from you, try – just try – to understand their situation.
And try to be kind. To everyone. Please.
