OTAWA –
The Liberal government is proposing “draconian penalties” in the Criminal Code as part of its sweeping plan to combat online hate, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association warns.
Justice Minister Arif Virani introduced the long-awaited bill earlier this week, presented as a way to address the dangers children face online.
It also includes the introduction of tougher penalties for hate crimes.
The bill proposes increasing the maximum penalty for advocating genocide to life in prison and allowing sentences of up to five years in prison for other hate propaganda crimes.
The national civil liberties group says higher sentences risk crippling freedom of expression and also undermining “the principles of proportionality and fairness” within the legal system.
Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, its chief executive and general counsel, said in a statement Wednesday that the bill needs significant changes, including a proposed digital security commission that would be given powers to regulate social media giants. .
Richard Moon, a law professor at the University of Windsor who specializes in free speech, said the sentencing changes are “concerning” because there is no reason to believe they will serve as an effective deterrent.
And it’s unclear, he said, how the government’s plan to create a new stand-alone hate crime offense would work, given that hate can already be used as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
As proposed, the new crime would carry a possible sentence of life in prison.
“The idea that this could carry a life sentence makes little sense to me,” Moon said in an interview Wednesday.
He pointed out an example of mischief or vandalism that could be motivated by hate and considered a hate crime.
It is unlikely that a judge would consider sentencing someone accused of such a thing to life in prison, Moon said.
But “the simple idea that in theory it is an available sentence seems surprising, shocking to me,” he said.
“I find the dramatic increase in (sentences) available for hate crimes quite worrying.”
Jewish advocacy groups have welcomed the proposed changes, citing a sharp rise in anti-Semitism since the war between Israel and Hamas began last fall.
Revealing the possible life sentence to defend genocide, Virani said that after consulting with stakeholders, he heard that the sentence should be increased.
He also said the creation of a new hate crime offense is intended to give police and Crown prosecutors more options.
To bring a charge of hate propaganda under the current provisions of the Penal Code, such actors must obtain permission from the attorneys general. The new crime would not require that.
Virani said after the bill was published that there had been some “misunderstanding” around the proposed offense and whether it would carry a sentence of life imprisonment.
He said the intention is not for the crime to be used alone, but in conjunction with other crimes.
“Think about a robbery, think about an assault, think about a rape, think about a murder – in certain contexts, what this will make available to a judge is that when they combine the fact of a murder with a motivation of hate, they could potentially apply something as significant as a life sentence,” he said.
The life sentence under Canadian law is 25 years.
Virani said judges have discretion over how and whether to use that sentencing level.
“It is not a mandatory minimum. It is a potential maximum.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2024.