Justice minister to introduce legislation combatting online hate

Justice Minister Arif Virani says that he is planning to introduce legislation to combat online hate that has seen a sharp rise in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

Virani says that recent weeks have seen online rhetoric surrounding the war manifesting into violent attacks on religious and community groups.

“That’s not what we need in this country, and I think an online hate bill can help to address that,” he told reporters on his way into a weekly cabinet meeting in Ottawa.

Though when asked, he remained unsure on whether the bill will be brought into the House of Commons before the holiday break.

“My hope is that it’s tabled soon, because I’m hearing that from stakeholders and I’m hearing that from concerned Canadians,” he said.

Back in the 2019 election campaign, the Liberals’ promised to bring in a bill to combat hate speech, terrorist content and sexual abuse material. Though legislation was tabled before the 2021 election, it was never passed.

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Jewish and Muslim organizations have said it is crucial that the federal government correctly define what constitutes online harm in order for the bill to be truly protective.

Both the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and the National Council of Canadian Muslims said they have been talking with the government about the bill.

Virani has emphasized that the legislation remains an “absolute priority” personally and more broadly for other members of cabinet. Yet, he says it remains to be complex.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke of the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in and beyond Canada to reporters on Tuesday, calling the circumstances “really scary” and that it places the possibility of a two-state solution to the war at risk.

“There is such hurt, there is such grief, there is such anger across the country because of what’s going on in the Middle East, that people are forgetting a little bit that we’re a country that protects the freedom of expression, that protects liberty of conscience, that respects and supports people even when we disagree with them,” he said.

“We have to remember that just waving a Palestinian flag is not automatically antisemitism. And someone expressing grief for hostages taken is not an endorsement of dead civilians.”

This report was created with files from The Canadian Press 

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