Canada moves to punish ‘hate speech’ with life imprisonment

New legislation introduced in the Canadian Parliament this week would make online hate speech punishable with life imprisonment.

Bill C-63, also known as the Online Harms Act, had its first reading Monday but is already drawing fire for what critics say is an open challenge to free speech.

The legislation aims to curtail “harmful content,” which is defined by the bill as “intimate content communicated without consent; content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor; content that induces a child to harm themselves; content used to bully a child; content that foments hatred; content that incites violence; and content that incites violent extremism or terrorism.”

Social media companies would be held responsible for harmful content on their platforms and could be penalized with hefty fines for not suppressing it.

The bill also makes online hate speech a standalone offense for Canadian taxpayers punishable with life in prison. 

“Every person who advocates or promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life,” reads the bill.

“Everyone who commits an offence under this Act or any other Act of Parliament, if the commission of the offence is motivated by hatred based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life,” the legislation also reads.

Hatred is defined by the bill as “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike.”

“I’m the father of two youngsters and, like parents and grandparents around Canada, I’m terrified by the dangers that lurk on the internet for our children,” said Justice Minister Arif Virani Monday in defense of the proposed law. 

“I’m also a Muslim. The hatred that festers online is radicalizing people and that radicalization has real world impacts for my community, and for so many other communities,” added Virani.

Bill C-63 also would also establish the Digital Safety Commission, a government body whose purpose would be to police online content and enforce the bill. A Digital Safety Office and Digital Safety Ombudsperson would also be created to support the commission.