Stop Trudeau’s Censorship Bills Contact your Canadian Senator NOW!
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Monday that he wants to rush through a bill this fall that would target free speech by banning certain legal internet content.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Mendicino said that he would push to pass the new internet censorship bill as soon as “possible” once MPs return to Canada’s parliament this fall.
“I assure you that Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez and others within our government are leaning in on this and will bring forward the legislation as quickly as possible,” Mendicino told reporters.
However, Mendicino offered no timeline as to when te yet-to-be-seen bill would be introduced.
“I know that Minister Rodriguez is very eager to bring forward this legislation,” Mendicino said.
“And others (Rodriguez and Attorney General David Lametti) within our government are very eager to take the feedback they have received,” he said.
Mendicino claimed that the new bill would “ensure that people can have robust free speech.”
However, he then noted that the bill would “also delineate some clear boundaries on what is not acceptable.”
The fact is, Canada has had fairly robust laws against hate speech since the 1970 amendments to the Criminal Code.
This has not stopped Canada’s federal government from targeting law-abiding, day-to-day users of the internet.
Last summer, Canada’s federal government released plans to create a “Digital Safety Commissioner” who would have the power to shut down websites deemed a threat to “democracy” and to promote content deemed “harmful.”
Over the past two years, the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has brought forth legislation that has raised serious concerns about their apparent attack on both freedoms on the internet and in the press.
Both Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 seek to regulate the internet and force Big Tech companies to champion selected media outlets based on a special designation given by the federal government.
Bill C-11 passed the House of Commons in June by a 208-117 vote with support from the socialist NDP party and separatist Bloc Québécois.
The bill is now before Canada’s Senate for second reading, and it is anticipated the upper house vote on it this fall.
Some senators have said they will vote against Bill C-11.
Dr. Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who is the Canada research chair in internet and E-commerce law, commented that Bill C-11 will allow the government’s broadcast regulator, the CRTC, a “virtually limitless reach” in what is deemed acceptable or not for programming.
Mendicino’s new bill could be new version of another failed law attacking free speech online
Mendicino’s new bill could see the reintroduction of Bill 36, “An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act and to make related amendments to another Act (hate propaganda, hate crimes and hate speech).” This bill was introduced in the summer of 2021 by Lametti.
It was blasted as a controversial “hate speech” law that would give cops the power to “do something” about online “hate.”
It was feared that if passed, it would target bloggers and social media users for speaking their minds.
Bill C-36 included text to amend Canada’s Criminal Code and Human Rights Act to define “hatred” as “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than dislike or disdain (haine).”
If passed, the bill would theoretically allow a tribunal to judge anyone who has a complaint of online “hate” leveled against them, even if he has not committed a crime. If found guilty, the person would be in violation of the new law and could face fines of $70,000 as well as house arrest.
Bill C-36 would also resurrect Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Section 13 was a controversial hate speech law under the Human Rights Act that was abolished in 2013.
This bill never proceeded far and died on the order paper when Trudeau called an election in late 2021.
Bill C-11 has been blasted by Conservative Party MPs as legislation that will allow more government control of free speech through potential new draconian internet regulations.
Said Conservative Party MP and leadership candidate Dr. Leslyn Lewis about Bill C-11, “A Lewis-led government will repeal C-11 and any other measure the Liberals put in place to try to control our thought and speech, and let Canadians go back to exercising the freedoms that already exist in our Charter.”
“I will restore a culture of respect for our constitution, our charter, and our inalienable gift of freedom.”
It is feared that Bill C-11 might force websites under the CRTC – including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook – to remove content deemed “harmful” within 24 hours and compel services like Netflix to have more Canadian content.
Canadians are being urged to contact their senators to tell them to vote no to Trudeau’s internet censorship bills.
Stop Trudeau’s Censorship Bills Contact your Canadian Senator NOW!