TORONTO, May 3, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Ontario Superior Court Friday rescinded the Ontario Film Review Board’s authority to censor films. The Review Board was sued by the Glad Day Bookstore in 2000 after the bookstore was charged for distributing an unapproved homosexual pornographic film imported from the U.S.
Normally, all films must be submitted to the Review Board for rating. The Film Review Board still has the authority to rate films such as PG for parental guidance, or R for restricted to adults 18 years of age or older. The court ruling disqualifies them, however, from censoring films.
An earlier court decision ruled in favour of the Review Board; for contravening the Theatres Act, Glad Day’s owner, John Scythes, faced $25,000 in fines and a possible six months in prison, while the store could have been levied fines in excess of $100,000. The Glad Day Bookstore and their lawyers, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, argued that the Review Board’s powers were unconstitutional. They took issue with the Review Board’s authority to censor films—the Film Review Board could compel distributors to make cuts to their movies in order for them to receive approval.
The court also criticized the Film Review Board for its “ineffectiveness,” as it censors almost exclusively pornographic-content films. According to the Globe and Mail, the Review Board censored 152 films in 2000, 146 of which were pornographic. The Ontario Liberals have 30 days to file an appeal in the courts or re-write the Theatres Act to incorporate the directive mandated by the court. Read Globe and Mail coverage: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20040501/FILM101/National/ Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage, “CRTC Controls Religion, Can’t Control Hard-Core Porn,” at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/apr/010402.html