Winnipeg NDP MP Leah Gazan has introduced legislation that, if passed, would amend the Criminal Code to allow for charges to be laid against those who question the truth of residential school abuse.
The bill would allow for people to be charged with promoting hatred against Indigenous people by condoning, justifying or downplaying the historical and lasting impact of residential schools.
This follows demands in 2022 by Kimberly Murray, the federal government’s “special interlocutor” appointed to probe residential schools, that denial of residential school abuse be made a hate speech.
This is not a path this country should take. Full and frank discussions of topics are the best way to investigate the past and find a way forward.
Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of any democracy. That includes the right to be offensive and say things that may be repugnant. A view may be unpopular or even be hurtful. It doesn’t mean we have to gag those who express such views. If you disagree, you have an equal right to refute that opinion as you see fit.
Existing hate laws allow for those who incite “wilful hatred against an identifiable group” to be charged criminally. People or publications that disseminate falsehoods can be sued for libel.
While it’s true this country also has a law specifically outlawing Holocaust denial, there’s incontrovertible proof that six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis. The veracity of those claims has been tested in courts of law. In the eight decades since the end of the Second World War, people such as Deborah Lipstadt have toiled endlessly to refute the claims of Holocaust deniers and in so doing have documented the truth of what happened.
We are still in the early stages of discovering what happened in residential schools. The way to silence those who deny residential school abuse is to provide unassailable evidence, through archeology, documentation and through careful study of the facts. That way we’ll know what’s being denied.
A disturbing trend has emerged lately to outlaw unorthodox views and punish those who express them. Who decides what’s hatred and what’s not? Criminalizing commentary is not the democratic way.
In a healthy, free society, vigorous debate and views that challenge mainstream orthodoxy should not be criminalized.