Canadian Human Rights Commission Free Speech Controversy - Challenge To Section 13(1)

Challenge To Section 13(1)

In the case of Warman v. Lemire, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that s. 13(1) infringed the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression and could not be saved by s. 1 of the Charter. Since the Tribunal did not have the authority to declare sections of the Act which created it invalid, the Tribunal simply declined to apply s. 13(1) in that case. The case is now on appeal to the Federal Court of Canada. If upheld, the precedent established will effectively negate the hate speech provision for future cases. The prohibition of genocide advocacy (s. 318) and the anti-hate speech provision of the Criminal Code (s. 319) are unaffected by this ruling and remain in force.