Justin Trudeau has told four of his cabinet ministers in his mandate letters to them that they are tasked with regulating online hate speech. Trudeau told the new heritage minister that he’s to “create new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a strong requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant penalties.” Except Trudeau doesn’t include a definition of “hate speech,” nor does he direct the heritage minister to come up with a definition.
True North’s Andrew Lawton, who covered the government’s online hate study last year, warns this could be the return of a supercharged version of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, meaning a limitation of free speech.
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Canada’s new heritage minister must work to regulate social media companies that don’t swiftly remove “hate speech” from their platforms, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau’s mandate letter for Minister Steven Guilbeault was released Friday morning, laying out what Trudeau sees as being the “top priorities” for the file.
“(You will) create new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant penalties,” wrote Trudeau.
“This should include other online harms such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children, or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda.”
The letter does not define “hate speech,” nor does it suggest Guilbeault must work to come up with a definition. While the Criminal Code defines it with a very high threshold, the government has entertained efforts to regulate online hate speech through human rights law instead.
Before the election, the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights conducted a study on online hate, based on the premise that the repeal of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which regulated online hate speech, left a void in Canadian law.
Appearing before the committee, free speech advocate and True North Investigative Journalism Fellow Lindsay Shepherd urged the government not reimplement Section 13.
“It would cast too wide of a net and extremists who are already intent on causing real world violence will go to the deeper and darker web to communicate whilst individuals who shouldn’t be caught up in online hate legislation will inevitably get caught up in it,” Shepherd said.
A Liberal member of the committee, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, suggested that the government implement a new body to ticket and penalize people who participated in online hate or harassment.
In June, the committee voted to erase comments made by Conservative MP Michael Cooper from the record after Cooper had challenged one of the committee witness’ statements for drawing links between conservatives and the mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonette.
Justin Trudeau has given Deputy PM and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Chrystia Freeland a leading role in the cabinet and has been assigned to lead on a number of the government’s top files including Indigenous issues, NAFTA, pharmacare and climate change.
The increase in responsibilities for the former Foreign Affairs Minister was outlined in a mandate letter released on Friday.
Among her tasks include working closely with fellow ministers, including Health Minister Patty Hajdu, Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
As part of her work on the climate, Freeland is charged with “introducing additional carbon reduction measures that exceed current 2030 targets and firmly put Canada on a trajectory to net-zero emissions by 2050,” writes Trudeau.
The Liberals have hinted at the possibility of raising the carbon tax cap after a report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer pointed out that the carbon tax would have to be $102 a tonne by 2030 in order for Canada to reach the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The prime minister also asked Freeland to work with Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan to “transition to a cleaner economy.”
Immediately after the Liberals were elected, Freeland travelled across Canada to meet with Western premiers after growing concerns over western separation.
In the mandate letter, Trudeau gave Freeland the principal role in mediating relations between the federal government and the provincial governments.
“As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, you are the Government-wide lead on all relations with the provinces and territories,” wrote Trudeau.
Andrew Scheer has stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, though that doesn’t change any of the problems facing the Conservatives.
As the party searches for a new leader, it also needs to find meaning. This means resisting the calls to make it a party that looks like the Liberals but with a blue logo. It also means ensuring that the party is grounded in a philosophy and not drifting wherever it thinks the media wants it to go.
True North’s Andrew Lawton thanks Scheer for his service to party and country, and offers some suggestions for how the Conservative party can move forward.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has assigned a mandate to the first-ever Minister of Middle Class Prosperity, Mona Fortier.
The mandate letter for Fortier outlines the duties and scope of her cabinet position. A majority of the assigned duties for Fortier are related to her role as the Associate Minister of Finance and provides very little detail on what she will do as the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity.
According to the letter, Fortier will help the Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, in preparing budgets, reviewing government spending and implementing new consumer protection measures.
“Work directly with the Minister of Finance in the preparation of Budgets and Fall Economic Statements, drawing on your experience as one of the leaders in our platform process and working with the Government Caucus, Opposition Members and the increasingly non-partisan Senate, as well as outside experts and stakeholders,” writes Trudeau.
When the new cabinet role was announced in November, many Canadians expressed confusion about what the minister’s exact duties would be.
As reported on by True North, even Fortier herself had a difficult time providing clear definitions during a CBC Radio interview aired on November 22. During the interview, Fortier repeatedly dodged questions about her role and the middle class.
When asked to define what she considered the middle class to be, Fortier said that it means you can send your kids to play hockey.
“I define the middle class where people feel they can afford their way of life, they have quality of life and they can send their kids to play hockey or even have different activities,” said Fortier.
A former federal employee who worked on the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives program claims that she was reprimanded after she spoke out against Justin Trudeau’s past blackface incidents.
The 39-year-old, Manjot Bains, claims that the negative response to her criticisms of the Prime Minister led to her quitting her job at the Department of Canadian Heritage in Vancouver.
During the election, several allegedly “non-partisan” public service unions campaigned for the re-election of Justin Trudeau. According to the Hill Times, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) was promised a “fair collective agreement” by the Liberals if re-elected in 2019.
The president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) Debi Daviau also stated that she expects the Liberal government to “reciprocate” them for their support before the vote.
According to Bains, her manager at the department told her she had made a big mistake after doing an interview with Huffington Post where she said she was shocked by Trudeau’s past behaviour.
“I was told repeatedly by senior leadership that I had broken the trust of my bosses, that I couldn’t be trusted as a public servant, and that I would have to earn it back. I could not critique the prime minister publicly, even though I didn’t disclose my job with the department in the article,” wrote Bains in an op-ed about the incident.
Bains notified her employer about the interview and was informed that public sector workers are not allowed to criticize the Prime Minister and that she would have to do “loyalty training” in order to keep her job. Her employer also allegedly told Bains that she would no longer be able to pursue her own projects, which included a website and podcast about South Asian culture and issues.
“I feel like by telling them I did the interview, it just snowballed into something really big. They escalated it so much when they didn’t have to,” Bains told the Huffington Post.
At an Oct. 11 meeting, Bains was also allegedly told that she couldn’t publicly speak about racism, despite her employment in the Anti-Racism Initiatives program. Her employment contract also claimed she had “the right to engage in political activities while maintaining the principle of political impartiality in the public service.”
The reaction from the federal government ultimately led to Bains’ resignation on Oct. 16.
Two weeks before Christmas, regional councillors from the municipality of West Hants, Nova Scotia, voted unanimously to remove all references to the word “church” from official documents on December 10.
The motion seeks to replace the term “church” with “place of religious congregation” in the municipal planning strategy and the area’s land use bylaws. Councillor Tanya Leopold brought forward the motion before the council approved it with no further discussion.
“Regarding rural churches, it’s recommended that council consider amending the text of the West Hants and Hantsport municipal planning strategies and land use bylaws to: a) remove the term ‘church’ from the definitions, b) add the term ‘place of religious congregation’ to the definitions as described … and c) replace the use of the term ‘church’ with ‘place of religious congregation’ in all documents,” said Leopold in a video of the council meeting.
According to Leopold, the term “place of religious congregation” is meant to encompass churches, synagogues, temples and could also include auditoriums or nursery schools.
Official National Household Survey data from 2011 shows that over 75% of Nova Scotians identified as Christians and 21% were non-religious. The remaining respondents self-identified with other religions including Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.
True North reached out to Councillor Leopold to ask her reasoning behind the motion and had received no comment.
In October, a Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia school was at the centre of a controversy after the administration decided to remove a prayer from its Remembrance Day ceremony. The decision provoked outrage from local veterans and received national media attention.
Shortly after the story came out, the school reversed its decision and reintroduced the prayer.
Lawyers representing the crown are arguing that the man found guilty of perpetrating the Edmonton van attack deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.
In 2017, Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, attacked a police officer and struck four pedestrians with a U-Haul van.
Crown lawyer, Shelly Bykewich described the actions as “unrelenting and deliberate.”
“A fit and proper sentence for the attempted murder of Const. Chernyk would be a life sentence,” said Bykewich.
During the attack, Sharif hit Constable Michael Chernyk with the van and then proceeded to stab him in the head and chest. He then went on to run over the four innocent pedestrians.
Sharif was found guilty of 11 charges in October, including several counts of attempted murder, fleeing from police causing bodily harm and aggravated assault.
He was able to avoid terrorism charges despite investigators discovering an ISIS flag in his car. According to a former co-worker Sharif allegedly held “genocidal beliefs” and would praise ISIS terrorism.
Authorities knew about Sharif before the attack took place but deemed he was no threat to society upon further investigation.
Sharif crossed into Canada illegally in 2012 and was granted refugee status despite the fact that U.S. authorities had ordered him to be deported. According to former Liberal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Sharif raised no “red flags” for Canadian authorities.
Prior to being found guilty, Sharif’s victims spoke out about the suffering they have had to endure. According to one victim, Kim O’Hara claims that she has been struggling with anxiety and depression since the attack took place and was even having suicidal thoughts.
Former U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy called on the Department of Homeland Security to investigate how Sharif was able to get into Canada and perpetrate the attack.
“More than one year has passed since the attack, and it appears there has been no comprehensive study of the incident. Therefore, the Committee requests the Office of the Inspector General investigate the circumstances that allowed Sharif to enter the United States, then Canada, and carry out the attack,” wrote Gowdy in a letter to the department.
During a sentencing hearing, Edmonton Police Chief, Dale McFee told the court that the incident is still remembered at the police department.
“The jury might have thought that for the officers involved, this was just another day at the office. But if they had seen past the badge the uniform the person wearing it, they might have had a different perspective. This was not just another day at the office, it was a stranger trying to kill people,” said McFee.
Greta Thunberg wins TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year” because it’s 2019 and we award temper tantrums over bravery and actual achievements.
Boris Johnson shows us what it’s like to run an effective conservative campaign.
The NHL tries to make locker rooms into college safe spaces. It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for “Fake News of the Week” and “Ask Candice Anything!”
The City of Edmonton has called on its partner in the LRT rail construction project to review workplace attire with its employees after a lawyer complained about a construction worker’s anti-Trudeau sticker.
Lawyer, Tom Engel, initially raised concerns about a “F*** Trudeau” sticker on Twitter after spotting it on a worker’s hardhat while he was out walking his dog.
Just saw an #LRT construction worker who had a "Fuck Trudeau" sticker on his hardhat. His employer, contracted to @CityofEdmonton, must condone it. Do these types know the funding sources for projects like these and what the #UCP is doing to cities? #AbLeg#abpoli#Deplorables
According to CityNews, the worker was employed by TransEd LRT which is partnered with the city to build the Valley Line.
During an interview with CityNews, Engel mentioned that the reaction to his tweet on Twitter had been “venomous.”
“Freedom of speech is a civil right but its subject to reasonable limitations and employers can limit your freedom of speech on the worksite,” said Engel in the interview.
In response to the complaints, the company said that it would take “appropriate action” over the incident.
“Our Labour Relations Manager has already reinforced this policy with site supervisors and appropriate action is being taken today,” wrote the statement.
On Twitter, Engel has made several pro-Trudeau comments in the past. In an April 7th tweet, Engel tweeted that he hoped Trudeau “pulls trigger” on Andrew Scheer and the Conservative party, referencing a proposed defamation lawsuit against the former Conservative leader.
In another tweet from 2018, Engels thanked the Prime Minister “for having the guts to stand up to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump “and his ilk” including Doug Ford, Andrew Scheer and Jason Kenney.
